User blog comment:JoePlay/Wizarding World Giveaway/@comment-4160166-20110718232531

The world of Harry Potter is in itself magical, to a level beyond what is said in the books and the movies. It transcends imagination and shows us the wonders, the greatness, the virtues, and even the vices of a Wizarding world, breathing new life into the imaginations of children and adults alike. I remember when I read my first Harry Potter book, my brother recommended it to me. I took one look at it and thought to myself, "Wow, that's a really long book!",(I was about seven at the time) but then as I dove deeper into the magical realms that J.K. Rowling created, I realized that the length of a book is just that, the length, and what is truly important is the contents and the way that the book utilizes your imagination in order to bring a story to life. Harry Potter is, by far, my favourite book series and I think that it will always be. It is a classic that will withstand the test of time, rather then corrode into oblivion. Harry Potter has taught me so much. I mean, until the age of eleven, Harry was a boy who lived a miserable life with his evil aunt, uncle, and I guess you can even say, a sadistic cousin, until the arrival of Hagrid and the discovery of his magical destiny. In his first year at Hogwarts he had to protect the Sorcerer's/Philosopher's stone from Voldemort to prevent his rebirth, with the help of his two friends Ronald Bilius Weasley, and Hermione Jean Granger. How could he pull such a feat off? Voldemort was using the body of Quirinus Quirrell, a teacher who's magic was far superior, but this did not faze him, though he was just recently introduced to magic, and came from a life in which his hierarchy was equal to or less than that of vermin, and taking into account Voldemort's silver tongue whispering tantalizing thoughts into his ear, through his determination, he manages to defeat him. This book taught me that no matter how bleak your odds at victory seem, to not fight is to have lost the battle before it has begun, to stand up for what you believe in, to choose your friends wisely, and to remember that not all first impressions are accurate,(such as Hermione's) so give people a chance to prove themselves. In the Chamber of Secrets, Harry must stop the heir of Slytherin from releasing the millennia old basilisk from the Chamber of Secrets. I learned that things are not always as they seem,(Riddle and his diary deceived Harry into believing Hagrid opened the Chamber of Secrets and that he was a protagonist) and you must be very careful in all that you do, and also that doubt in yourself, can be the ultimate weakness(Harry's doubt that he may actually be the heir of Slytherin). In Prisoner of Azkaban the fact that things are not always as they seem is further proven by the literary genius of J.K. Rowling, as she brings to life the characters of Sirius, Pettigrew, and Lupin and twists the plot in the most unpredictable way possible, and teaches us that instincts are often correct, and to seize every moment (Pettigrew's escape). The moral that "things are not always as they seem" seems to be a predominant element in Rowling's work. With "the Goblet of Fire", it seemed that Harry had entered the Triwizard tournament of his own volition, it seemed as though the Professor ex-Auror Mad-Eye Moody was who he said he was, but these events were not the case. Another theme that the brilliant Rowling repeats is the theme of perseverance. Harry was cornered in that graveyard, surrounded by Death Eaters and he was to duel for his life to survive, against the person who was powerful enough to kill his parents, to kill so many others, and who was magically superior to anyone Harry had ever met, with the exception of Dumbledore. How could he escape alive? But he didn't allow that to stop his determination. The cornered rat will bite the hungry cat. And that is exactly what happened. Against all odds, Harry Potter dueled the stubborn Voldemort into a stalemate, and escaped with the corpse of Cedric Diggory, that had been killed by the pathetic coward Pettigrew. Against all odds, he won. Later it is discovered that though Harry is an exceptionally gifted wizard, the twin cores had saved him. As long as the holly and Phoenix wand was in Harry's possession, and he was armed with it, he could not be killed by Voldemort. Had he surrendered himself, it is very likely that he would have died. Following the rebirth of Voldemort in "the Order of the Phoenix" the Ministry of Magic and the Daily Prophet try to delude the public claiming that the events are false. I think that this event teaches the dedicated readers of Harry Potter that fear can cloud judgement. By deluding the world into believing something of great importance, such as the revival of the most dangerous and powerful dark wizard in history, you give the element of surprise to the evil side and thereby make them more powerful. Later when the MInistry begins to get involved with the affairs at Hogwarts and they completely take over and purposely eliminate progress in the students' magical abilities and then Rowling teaches us that we must fight for what we believe in. With the creation of Dumbledore's army the students rebel. And then Dumbledore duels Fudge, Umbridge, Kingsey, and Dawlish, but later flees. This taught me to always think things through, and if you don't have the time, buy it. Also, when Sirius is killed by Bellatrix, Harry goes on a rampage and uses the unforgivable curse "crucio" to try and torture her, but then once she began to take him seriously as an opponent, he realized he couldn't win. This taught me that anger may provide determination and help at a time but in the end, it may backfire and cloud your judgement just like fear. Then we arrive at the Half-Blood Prince. This book stirred up so many emotions for me; anguish, melancholy numbness, shock, anger, confusion, and unusually, at the same time a childish sort of curiosity. With the death of Dumbledore and the killer Snape, I thought to myself, "How could she do that? Dumbledore is THE headmaster, THE professor, THE ultimate mentor. What could she be thinking, killing him?" In hindsight, its surprising to me now that I didn't really feel shocked that Snape was the killer. He always seemed sinister, in his own quiet way, but its difficult to believe that the speculation was true, especially when you take into account the incident with his master in the Sorcerer's/Philosopher's Stone. That I think even further reinforces the lesson that things are not always as they seem. In addition, it taught me that there is a solution to every problem. Prior to Half-Blood Prince, Voldemort was though to be generally immortal, but with the discovery of the existence of his horcruxes, and their nature as ropes that tethered him to life, Harry discovers that if he can cut those ropes, in other words, destroy the horcruxes, Voldemort will no longer have anything tethering him to life any longer, making him mortal. However, at the same time, Voldemort has incredible skill as a wizard so at the same time, to kill him, would still be incredibly difficult. This taught me that hard work is a necessity for any success. Then came the ultimate culmination of the creative efforts of J.K. Rowling; the ultimate grand finale: the Deathly Hallows. My brother had it ordered on amazon.com, and it came in the first week of its release or so. Until this point in the book I never really noticed the loyalty that the trio have towards one another. I mean, I kind of thought it was a given norm, and all friends were like that. But that was naive of me as I soon discovered. I learned that true loyalty knows no bounds. True friends will have the same degree of loyalty as Ron, Hermione, and Harry have for one another. Theey will be willing to sacrifice anything to help you. They will attempt to overcome even their most powerful, and even their most trivial fears. I also learned that if given the chance people may surprise you. Draco does not rat out Harry, Hermione, and Ron, when they are captured in the Malfoy Manor, yet he knew that it was Harry. Despite the fact that while they attended Hogwarts, Malfoy was their arch-enemy, he always sought to get the trio in some sort of trouble. He always tried to come out on top. This convinced me that everyone has some virtue, well, I suppose Voldemort is the exception to that rule. These books have taught me so much, but the world of Harry Potter did not only benefit me with valuable life lessons, it made me discover my love for reading and writing. Prior to Harry Potter's existence, or rather my discovery of its existence, I could not tolerate the bland feeling of staring at a page of text and pondering its meaning, or so I thought it was bland. I later discovered that a book is as bland or as incredibly fascinating as our minds make it, as our lively imaginations give birth to our images of the characters we read about and the stories of them. This lead to my discovery that the world we live in can be magical too. We just have to find value in what we experience. I think that one of the most magical things about this world is the very existence of words and literature. In the words of the ghostly apparition of Dumbledore in the Deathly Hallows part 2 movie, words have the power to both inflict pain, and heal wounds, and I think that J.K. Rowling is a wizard with skill beyond anyone else's in this complicated branch of magic. This is only a fraction of what Harry Potter has done for me and what it means to me, for I fear that if I type any more, my fingers will fall off but I think I can add these last few statements: It has made me feel the familiar sting of nostalgia as I wrote this. J.K. Rowling has done so much for the world in literature, and she is an idol truly worthy of worldwide recognition. The world that we live in should feel indebted to her for that idea she had on a train.

Long Live Harry Potter! You will forever be a big part of many of our childhoods.