Ok, so I recently finished reading Dear Mr. Potter and it was absolutely amazing. It got me thinking about my own story and how Harry has affected my life. I wrote this letter about a month ago and haven't touched it since. It probably doesn't totally make sense, nor is it edited at all, but I felt like I should share it. So here it is. I hope you enjoy my story :)
Dear Mr. Potter,
I am a part of the Potter Generation. I found Harry in 3rd grade. The year was 1999 and Prisoner of Azkaban had just been published, although I didn’t know that. I picked up a copy of Sorcerer’s Stone during class, when I had finished all my work and had nothing to do. I don’t think I even finished the first chapter before I got bored and put it down. Now, that was a very unusual moment for me, given that at that age I was already an avid reader and would read almost anything. But, it just didn’t grab my attention.
If I had actually looked at the back of the book and knew what it was about, I probably would have had a very different opinion. But I didn’t. I was just looking for something to pass the time.
Fast forward to June of 2000, right before Goblet of Fire. My grandma got me the second book for my birthday, and to be nice, I figured I would give the series another go. I fell in love. I finished the first book in a week, which was pretty good for my 9 year-old self. I devoured books two and three just in time for the release of Goblet of Fire. I begged my mom to buy a copy for me at the bookstore, but she said it was too much money and I would have to wait for the paperback copy to come out. HOW UNFAIR, I thought to myself.
It was a Saturday morning and I was about to play a game with my sister when my dad came home with a copy of Goblet of Fire in HARDCOVER for me. I was thrilled. I quickly ditched my sister and sat on the couch all day reading. Even now, she still teases me about how I chose a book over hanging out with her. But I truly believe that was the moment I got hooked. Although I loved the first three books, I didn’t understand that feeling of craving to find out what happens next until the fourth book, when I wanted it so bad, but couldn’t have it.
I didn’t go to the midnight release for Order of the Phoenix, mostly because I was still a bit too young and my parents weren’t willing to stay up that late with me to get a book. But I did buy it the very next day and I remember I spent most of our family vacation that summer in our condo reading. I told my parents it could be their birthday gift to me; letting me sit inside and read in peace.
Half-Blood Prince came out the summer before I started high school. By then I was old enough to attend the midnight release and I was so excited. Unfortunately, I got pneumonia the week before. I really shouldn’t have been out that night, let alone awake at midnight to get a book, but I somehow convinced my mom to let me go anyway. We had an agreement though. I could go to the midnight release and stay up and read the first chapter, but then I had to go to bed. I did just that, and when I woke up Saturday morning, I sat in bed resting (and reading) all day long.
In November 2005, I met my best friend. We had been in health class together all semester, but one day, a couple of weeks before Goblet of Fire came out in theaters, I noticed she was wearing a Harry Potter pin. The fact that we had been in a class together for 3 months and didn’t know seemed crazy. We became instant friends, and we still are. In fact, we just attended LeakyCon 2011 together. Six years later, Harry is still bringing us together even though we are 3000 miles apart.
The rest moves pretty rapidly. I discovered The Leaky Cauldron not long after Karina and I became friends and I was instantly sucked into the online fandom. I attended my first con in 2006; it was Lumos in Las Vegas, NV. Somewhere in between that and Deathly Hallows, I attended my first wizard rock shows. Then Karina and I went together to get Deathly Hallows at midnight and we sat up all night reading and eating brownies in my living room. And then it was over.
Except that it wasn’t. In January of 2010, I came across The Harry Potter Alliance, though not for the first time. They were doing a campaign called Helping Haiti Heal, and it touched my heart. My dad had just been diagnosed with stage four melanoma and I was looking for a way to do something good because I wanted to help people. I became very involved in the campaign and that March I started an HPA chapter on my campus.
The point of this really long letter is that Harry Potter has changed my life, as it has for so many people. It’s a series that has been with me through the good and the bad. And it led to something amazing, something that I never would have seen myself doing, although I know now that I have the heart for it; advocacy work. I believe in standing up for what is right and I believe that it is our duty to help those in need, whether it’s people in our local communities or people across the world.
That is something I don’t think I would have figured out if it weren’t for Harry.
So thank you JKR, for writing books that have changed my life, allowed me to meet amazing friends, and allowed me to go crazy at THREE Harry Potter cons. Without those experiences, I would not be who I am today. I cannot wait to share these same experiences with my children someday. I hope you will do for them what you have done for me.
With Love Always,
Beverly
