User blog comment:JoePlay/Wizarding World Giveaway/@comment-4142153-20110713192545

What does Harry Potter mean to me? That is a question that most Potter fans cannot answer simply. I, for one, don't think that there's a way in which I can completely express how much the Harry Potter novels have meant to me. I wish I could say that they changed my life in some extreme way, because for some reason, I feel like if they had, they would occupy a bigger part of me; that the magic would stay with me for longer, maybe even forever. With the series departing for good, what with the very last film about to release worldwide, it really does feel like a piece of me is slowly shriveling away. My childhood, the imaginary Wizarding world in which I basically grew up in, is now about to end for good. It puts a lot into perspective, really. Not only the fact that I am now an adult, but also all that the books, the characters, have taught me. Throughout the Harry Potter series I learned valuable life lessons; life lessons that I now realize have stuck with me as I’ve grown. If I could thank the characters I would thank Harry, Ron and Hermione for showing me the power of friendship, and Severus Snape the power of love and loyalty. I would thank Albus Dumbledore for teaching me the importance of being able to see both the good and the evil in everyone, Luna Lovegood, for her carefree outlook on life, and Neville Longbottom, for his bravery. All fiction aside, the one person I would care to thank more than anything would be the incredible author of the Harry Potter series. Were it not for J.K Rowling’s phenomenal writing abilities and momentous creativity, millions of children around the world would have never been able to experience such an enthralling story. It is truly amazing how one being could, with only words, create a world so vivid that it could literally be in existence somewhere here on Earth. She created a world with characters so real that the millions of readers could feel every wound, and every emotion. We cried with them. We laughed with them. We even mourned with them, upon every fallen character. For many of us, including myself, we did not simply read this series. We lived this series. And as my “life” comes to a closing, I can only hope for these words to be true, “So whether you come back by page or by the big screen, Hogwarts will always be there to welcome you home.”