We're All Muggles in A Wizarding World
Every child across the world will forever hate their eleventh birthday. I spent the day waiting for the arrival of an owl that should have been delivering my letter, and then the night waiting for a half-giant to burst down my door, give my brother a pig tail, and tell me those famous words: you're a wizard, Harry (even though my name is not Harry and I am not a boy).
J.K Rowling did not just write a book. She created a world. It is a world that has taken a whole generation under its cloak (of invisibility) and ensured that the magic of words are not lost on those who are at constant risk of losing their souls forever to the real world dementor: technology.
The Harry Potter franchise has become much more than a fictional world. It has embedded itself in our reality. The characters have been brought to life by the films; Quidditch has become a real sport—yes, broomsticks are included; and The Wizarding World of Harry Potter means that it is now possible to visit the Weasley’s joke shop, drink Butterbeer, and eat vomit flavoured sweets.
Harry Potter blurs the lines between fiction and reality; it makes us believe that the impossible is possible. Harry Potter is magic; Rowling is the magician.
Thanks to J.K. Rowling, eleventh birthdays are no longer a celebration, but rather a day to mourn the dreams that are lost. It was the day I went to bed, hugging my copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, facing the heart breaking truth: you’re a muggle, Ashleigh.
