Last month in Texas, 15 year-old Cassidy Stay witnessed the shooting of her parents and four younger siblings, surviving only by playing dead when a bullet grazed her head.

The gunman, Ronald Haskell, had once been married to her aunt and opened fire on the family when the parents refused to reveal the location of his ex-wife, who had left him because of domestic violence. After he murdered her family members and left the house, Stay called the police to report what had happened and to warn them that his next target were her grandparents. The police were able to chase Haskell down and arrest him before he made it to the grandparents’ house.

In her speech during a public memorial for her mom Katie, 34, her dad Stephen, 39, her brothers Bryan and Zach, 13 and 4, and her sisters Emily and Rebecca, 9 and 6, she quoted Albus Dumbledore from "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban." “Happiness can be found even in the darkest of times if one only remembers to turn on the light”; after which she stated that she knew her family members were in a much better place and that she’d be able to see them again someday. Once news of this spread, author of the Harry Potter series J.K. Rowling promptly sent Stay an acceptance letter to Hogwarts, a wand, a signed copy of the third Harry Potter book, and a handwritten letter by “Dumbledore,” offering the orphaned girl solace and encouragement.   

For Cassidy Stay to show grace and optimism in the face of unimaginable violence and sorrowful times, demonstrates the hope that the Harry Potter series offers its readers for any heartbreaking or frightening scenario they may face in this life. Listed below are 10 Harry Potter quotes that offer wisdom and hope in any situation and will remind you that no matter how lost you may get in life, Hogwarts will always be there to help you find your way back home.   

1. “It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live.”  – "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone"    

2. “It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.” - "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets"   

3. “Numbing the pain for a while will make it worse when you finally feel it.” - "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire"    

4. “Difference of habit and language are nothing if all our aims are identical and our hearts open.” - "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire"     

5. “It is the unknown we fear when we look upon death and darkness, nothing more.” - "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince"       

6. “Things we lose have a way of coming back to us in the end, if not always in the way we expect.” - "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix"    

7. "We must try not to sink beneath our anguish, but battle on." - "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince"     

8. “You think the dead we loved truly ever leave us? You think that we don’t recall them more clearly in times of great trouble?” - "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban"

9. "It was, he thought, the difference between being dragged into the arena to face a battle to the death and walking into the arena with your head held high. Some people, perhaps, would say that there was little to choose between the two ways, but Dumbledore knew- and so do I, thought Harry, with a rush of fierce pride, and so did my parents- that there was all the difference in the world." - "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince"    

10. “We do not need magic to transform our world. We carry all the power we need inside ourselves already.”  -J.K. Rowling