The Boy Who Lived

Sunday, September 25, 2011

The Boy Who Lived

Privet Drive was where it all began.... I was thirteen when I got on to Hogwarts express and started on a journey that would define my childhood.
As a kid, you do tend to believe in magic, in tooth fairies, in the Easter bunny and in Santa Claus. As a kid, I could believe that Harry Potter did exist. My villain was Voldemort and my best friend was Ron. I fell in love with Cedric Diggory and I hated Cho Chang. I was smart like Hermione, a red head like the Weasleys, forgetful like Neville and vicious like the Malfoys’.
And each year passed, each new book that came out... it grew with me. Harry turned a year old, as did I. From the first day of school, to the first prom...we went through it together.
Today I am 21 and its all come to an end. The day was here when I thought to myself, ‘that is it’. No more Harry Potter, just like that child who realised Santa didn’t exist or the boy who waited for the tooth fairy who never came. Should I break down and cry? Should I question the purpose of my life?
It is now that I realise, J’K Rowling has given me a gift that no one could have ever given me. The gift of childhood. I know, that when I’m 85 and in a wheelchair, I can turn open The Philosophers Stone, and be back on that train to Hogwarts... I can look for Ron and Harry and Hermione besides me. I can feel young again. I know this because at 21, if I open up any of the Harry Potter books. I feel the excitement I felt when I first read them.
I can still feel the nervousness before the Triwizard Tournament, the sadness when Fred died, the tingles when Harry kissed Ginny...I know I can feel the pain at turning to the last page of The Deathly Hallows, that I once felt, all over again... but then I remember. I can go back to the beginning... and just like the Mirror Of Erised I can be exactly where I want to at that moment.

If I ever get a chance to meet J.K Rowling, I would thank her. I would thank her for giving me something to believe in, for giving me something to have faith in... something to relive when times got tough. I would thank her for making my life a lot more exciting than it could have been.
Harry Potter, is a time-turner, the fountain of youth and the potion of happiness all in one. It is the greatest gift anyone could ever ask for.
I know that when my first child is old enough to read, I will gift him/her the first Harry Potter book and tell them, that no matter what... they’re childhood will never leave them behind. No matter what, this is one journey that will never end...
Harry Potter, the boy who lived... would forever live on, whether J.K Rowling continues to write...or not.