Potterhead

Anyone who knows me will be well aware of my love for 'the boy who lived.' I followed his story from the very first book, to the very last film, and I continue to learn about him now with the progression of the website Pottermore.

The past few weeks people seem to have been picking up on it and mentioning my 'obsession' in conversation. I don't know why. It isn't more apparent now than it has been before. And I'm not entirely sure whether or not some are trying to make fun of me for it.

But think what they will, I don't care.

Harry Potter isn't just a book or film character to me, he's a friend. I know a lot of people out there will think me sad for saying so, but whatever.

I get attached to characters in books. Books are my escape, they always have been and always will be. When I was younger I was in dire need of somewhere to escape to. There were things going on, things I didn't understand. And I had nobody to talk about it, because I didn't know how to. On the times I tried it was passed off as an overactive imagination. I needed to get out, of reality, my own mind... Just away to somewhere that felt safer and more comforting. I found that place in Hogwarts.

I found out I had magic, I got chosen by my wand, I travelled across the lake to the castle and got sorted into my House with the rest of the first years. I attended Potions, Transfiguration, Charms, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Care of Magical Creatures, Herbology. I rode a broomstick, watched my first Quidditch match and played some myself, I collected the cards from Chocolate Frogs, snacked on Pumpkin Pasties and Cauldron Cakes and Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans. I explored the hidden world of magic, visiting Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley, having a Butterbeer at the Three Broomsticks with Rosmerta, an ice cream sundae at Flotesques, and avoiding the pea soup at the Leaky Cauldron. I rode the Knight Bus, made friends with Dobby, Hedwig, and Buckbeak. I watched the Triwizard Tournament and danced at the Yule Ball, became a member of Dumbledore's Army and The Order of the Phoenix. I met Hippogriffs, Blast Ended Skrewts, Dragons, House Elves, Threstrals, Boggarts, Goblins, Cornish Pixies, Basilisks and Pygmy Puffs. I faced down beasts, and wizards alike. And in the end I collected the three Deathly Hallows, I fought alongside the rest at the Battle of Hogwarts and watched the destruction of the Dark Lord Voldemort.

Hogwarts was my safe place. Harry, Ron, Hermione, Hagrid, Sirius, Lupin, Fred and George, McGonagall, Dumbledore, Snape, Pomfrey, Sprout, Trelawny, Draco, Neville, Luna, Cho, Seamus and Dean, Oliver, Angelina, Lee, Alicia, Moody, Tonks, Kingsley, Molly and Arthur, Bellatrix, Scrimgeor, Scabior, Fenrir, James and Lily... They were all my family.

I lived in the wizarding world more than my own. It was my lifeline. It kept me going when I didn't know how to handle what was going on within my mind. It kept me safe and alive. And I have found many other people along the way that feel just the same.

Harry Potter was a series that was so creative and enchanting and affecting that somewhere along the line it stopped being fictional for a lot of us fans.

Hogwarts will always be my home whenever I return to it. And I am not ashamed to say so. I will never be ashamed of my love of something that kept me sane and existing.