Dear readers,
The Hogwarts Express has arrived on platform number nine and three quarters. So, tuck up your luggage to embark on your journey to Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and wizardry. Here you will be taught how to bewitch the mind and ensnare the senses. You will be told how to bottle fame, brew glory, and even put a stopper to death. So, let us begin the journey into this intriguing world of dreams and fantasies.
I am your fellow Gryffindor and the narrator of the story who sometimes considers switching over to Slytherin!
From coincidentally seeing an ad of the television premier of the renowned Harry Potter series, to have read the books and watched almost every fan-film, I certify myself eligible to take you to the wizarding world and talk about my own experience.
So, ‘Harry Potter’ is a well-known name, even in non-English speaking countries. Even if you haven’t watched the series itself, you would have definitely heard the name. Same was the case with me. I had heard of it but never really watched it myself until there was this television premier of the entire series in my native language- one movie on each Sunday. So I would wait eagerly for the clock to strike eleven on Sunday afternoons and from here my journey on the Hogwarts Express started.
………I was hooked on the series.
Everything about Harry Potter- the plot, settings and characters were top-notch. ‘Yer a wizard Harry’ and ‘ Its LeviOsa , not LevioSAR’ being some of the iconic lines. Snape’s sassy walk, with his cape moving beautifully as though it were ripples in the ocean, would forever be iconic. Interested and fascinated myself, I decided to dive deeper into the bewitching world of Harry Potter.
My obsession grew exponentially. I rewatched the series countless times. Tell me, who didn’t have a little crush on Draco and his silky grey hair (sorry Emma).
I started searching for characters, spells and plot holes on the internet. To my rescue, Wikipedia, Harry potter wiki, Pottermore and numerous other fan-blogs hosted content lasting for a lifetime. I started dwelling upon the characters. My favourites being the Marauders especially Sirius Black, the Godfather (he was Harry’s Godfather). Sirius has always had a special place in my heart. A corner of my heart had sympathy for him too. Spending twelve years of your youth among dementors on an isolated island for a crime you didn’t even commit can definitely wrench somebody’s heart and soul, but not his. Sirius’s immense love for his best friend James and his godson Harry, his unwavering loyalty to his people and the resilience to maintain his saneness in such an excruciating environment were commendable. He even sacrificed his life fighting against the death-eaters. These qualities made him dearer to my heart. Loyalty, love and resilience are the qualities I appreciate the most and try to instil in myself too. Furthermore, the lack of a trustworthy friend or a caring guardian (as I thought, which was obviously not true) made me want to have Sirius Black as my godfather too.
I was so much inspired by Sirius that I was contemplating leaving my own house and running away, as Sirius did when he moved in with James. (I was just being a rebellious teen here) Surely enough, I did not have a best friend to move in with. One day, I expressed this overwhelming desire of mine to a friend who then gave me a much-needed reality check. She cited a scene from Iron man-2 where Tony gets lost and his suit says, “Food and water ran away two days ago”. As intended, I chose to wake up to reality and never had the same thoughts again, thankfully!!!!
This led me brooding over all the deaths in the series, the “Gray” nature of the characters and the sequence of incidents which led up to the last battle.
The next step in my journey was skimming over all the fan films available on YouTube- Severus Snape and the Marauders, Neville Longbottom and the Black Witch, Sisters of House Black, Lily Evans, Voldemort-rise of the Dark Lord and many more. Even until a year back I was eagerly waiting for ‘The House of Gaunt’ to be released on YouTube, but unfortunately it never did. Then I read the Cursed Child and the Sorcerer’s stone. Currently, I am reading the Prisoner of Azkaban, my favourite instalment of the series.
As far as I can anticipate, my admiration for Harry Potter is not dying soon. And I don’t even want it to. It is my temporary refuge into a world of fantasy and everlasting dreams.
Therefore, when people ask me, you are still obsessed with Harry Potter, even after all this time. I reply, “always”.
Feel free to share your stories in the comments below, not necessarily Harry Potter. I would be glad to hear your perspective.
Sparkle_sparkles 
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