When I was in the third grade I was introduced this 11-year-old boy who lived in the cupboard under the stairs at 4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging. If you haven’t read the books or weren’t as obsessed with them as I was; this was the home of Harry Potter. I am now 19, in college, and I am still as obsessed with Harry Potter as I was when I first started reading them.

But recently I was able to go to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios. And in case you were wondering I was speechless at how amazing it all was. It was just how I always thought it would be like if I went to school at Hogwarts. It fulfilled my childhood dream of being there, in the books that I have read until they have started to fall apart and the movies I have watched way more than twice.

Harry Potter for me was always much more than a book or a movie. It was this place that was filled with magic and hope. It showed me that being “normal,” like the Dursleys leads you to be filled with fear and judgment. Or that being like the Malfoy’s can cause you to hate something that never needed to be hated.

Those books taught me that even someone in a position of power, like Corneilus Fudge or Albus Dumbledor, can be scared of anything and imperfect. Or that someone who is intelligent, like Hermoine Granger, can also be brave.

These books taught me so much. And having them brought to life not only on screen but in the park; was like living in the books.

Those books were what dreams were made of, where all those little boys and girls who dreamed of getting their Hogwarts letter when they turned 11; got to read about a place that also had good and evil but where there was also magic and true relationships. It imparted wisdom about how to deal with things that are different than you; what to do when hate is pointed at you.

Harry Potter was and is a huge part of my life, and for J.K. Rowling to be able to write these books and make my childhood full of love and magic is just amazing.