*Alohomora!*
(That’s me unlocking this article for you.)
On 30th June 1997, Harry Potter was introduced to us, and it has affected our lives in more ways than we can imagine. People loved it so much that they have dedicated an entire theme park to it in Florida, the USA, where you can get magic wands, Bertie Bott’s every flavor beans, and chocolate frogs!
Last year, the College of Wizardry held in Czocha Castle, Poland, offered an almost Hogwarts-like experience.
In fact, at a recent Hackathon at DropBox, San Francisco, they made a ‘Marauder’s Map’ app that would locate you using your Wifi signal strength. Incredibly cool, right? I bet you want the app as much as I do.
So, after all this, it’s not much of a surprise that we all LOVE Harry Potter and are grateful to Rowling for this wonderful journey!
1. The Hogwarts letter – How many of you had wished to get that Hogwarts letter when you were 11? And how many of you STILL secretly hope that you would get it? Well, according to J.K.Rowling, all of you did. She tweeted this in response to all the fans asking about where their Hogwarts letter was:
“All these people saying they never got their Hogwarts letter: you got the letter. You went to Hogwarts. We were all there together.”
2. Friendship – It taught us that your true friends are always there for you no matter what. If you are lucky and blessed enough to have such friends, then it won’t matter how deep, dark and crappy your situation is. You will never feel alone even though the darkest, most vicious, and ruthless wizard has his mind set on killing you! I mean, how many people you know would put the memory charm on their parents and send them on a world tour to help you out? Could you imagine what it takes to do that?
3. True Love – No, I’m not talking about Lily Potter dying to protect her beloved son. To love someone so unconditionally that even though you never got to be with them, even though they married the person you absolutely loathed and had their kid, who, by the way, happened to be in your class and was a complete brat like his dad (not really! :P) except for having his mother’s eyes, you still willfully die to protect him. To save him. For the greater good. Such an incredibly multi-faceted character, Severus Snape.
4. Enemies – “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.”
Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter became instant rivals when Harry decided to choose Ron over Malfoy on the first day of school. But you know there is that one rival that you don’t really want to die. Maybe because you need them to compete with or just for the sake of creating an inferiority complex, or maybe on some level, you have a tiny bit of respect for that person.
Harry pays off his debt to Malfoy by saving him from the Fiendfyre that Crabbe had put up in the Requirements Room. What debt? Remember how Malfoy failed to recognize a bee-stung, swollen-faced Harry?
5. Death – “And he embraced death like an old friend.”
What are we most afraid of? Let’s be honest, and it’s death. We do so much to avoid dying. But to pluckily walk into the face of death is commendable. To surrender to the person who slaughtered your mom and dad, because of whom you lived a nightmare instead of enjoying childhood and every other person you loved died directly or indirectly because of him (Dobby! Sirius! Fred! Dumbledore! ) takes a whole different level of courage.
Now, these are some life lessons that one can learn and appreciate throughout their life. It doesn’t matter if you are 10 or 40! Harry Potter is not just a splendidly written piece of fiction. It’s so close to our hearts that ‘Muggle’ has literally become a word to describe us, and ‘Voldemort,’ ‘Mudblood’ and ‘Umbridge’ our swear words!
With this, I end my note.
*Mischief Managed*