Yesterday, I went to Universal Studios Hollywood. Yes, it's a big, overpriced amusement park, as most of them are. But, what enticed me to pay the ticket prices, and spend my day in a fake world was their newest attraction: The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. I've been a huge Harry Potter fan since I was 6 years old, and saw the first movie. After watching "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," I begged my mom to take me to Barnes and Noble and get me the books. At the time, only the first four books were out, and I devoured them all, even getting in trouble for reading in class in the second grade, when I was supposed to be doing schoolwork.
I grew up with Harry Potter. I was 12 when the last book came out, going to every midnight book release along the way, and I was 15 when I went to see the last movie. I dressed up as Hermione Granger for many Halloweens, even up to last year. Now I'm 21 years old, and I still love Harry Potter. I've read and re-read the books, and had to buy new copies of the DVDs because the old disks were so scratched and abused.
Sometimes, I feel like now that I'll be graduating from college in a few short months, I have to be more serious. I'm an English major, so I spend most of my time at school reading, researching, and writing about 18th and 19th-century novels. I love what I do, and I love the classics, from Shakespeare to Jane Austen and Thomas Hardy. But I also will never forget the books that taught me to love reading. Series like Harry Potter, "A Series of Unfortunate Events," "The Chronicles of Narnia," and many others weren't just books for me, they were a part of growing up. And just because a book was written for kids, doesn't mean you can't enjoy re-reading them as an adult, and throwing yourself back into Quidditch tryouts at Hogwarts, or watching the Pevensie siblings go back through the wardrobe.
When my friend and I got into the park at Universal Studios yesterday, we made a beeline for Hogsmeade Village, and Hogwarts Castle. From the moment we walked through the gray stone gate, and saw all of the snow-covered cottages, my jaw dropped, and I was in awe of everything. They did such a great job putting together this place, including all of the little details, like fresh pumpkin pasties at Honeyduke's, and wizard's luggage in the rafters of the Three Broomsticks. My friend and I got to be kids again, and go to Ollivander's and look at wands. We drank butterbeer and got an up-close view of Hagrid's Hut, complete with a very lifelike animatronic Buckbeak. The Hogwarts castle was so incredibly intricate, and I didn't even mind standing in line, because we got to look into Dumbledore's office, and the potions classroom. We even had an encounter with the Whomping Willow.
Yes, I know it's not real. But that didn't make it any less magical, just like when I first entered Hogwarts while reading the first Harry Potter book. In the words of Dumbledore, "Of course it's happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean it is not real?"
Even though we all get older, and have to leave some parts of our childhoods behind, it's comforting to know that you can always return to your bookshelf, and Hogwarts, or Narnia, or wherever else you want to go, will always welcome you home.
