Happy 3rd Birthday Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows!

"It feels weird to be going home doesn't it?" asks Hermione as she, Harry, and Ron board the Hogwarts Express.

"I'm not going home," replied Harry, "not really."

Well said little buddy. Well said. There is this fantastic theme in the Harry Potter books, and throughout the fandom in fact, of searching for a sense of belonging. Harry, Snape, Voldemort, and countless others were children who had felt outcast and alone throughout their childhood. Until, of course, they finally attend Hogwarts, the home they had been looking for all along.

I think a majority of the people who became very invested in these books can relate. We were all outcasts and we found the story of this boy as an escape from the reality of our loneliness. The idea that there was a school, a school as fucking awesome as Hogwarts, that we could go to and just get away from all the pain and hell of real life was simply majestic.

I think for a lot of people Harry Potter still serves as that escape. That one place where they fit in. Personally, as an active member of the Harry Potter fandom, going to conferences and concerts, where I get to be surrounded by tons of people who love this book as much as I do, is the only time in my life when I have ever known what it means to feel "at home". The HP fandom serves as a kind of Hogwarts for me and countless others. We simply need each other to get by, and I love it.

I hope this never, ever, ends. Ever. I am not sure I could manage without it.

While I was at Infinitus this last weekend (and the Wizarding World of Harry Potter GASP!!), it occurred to me how alive and at home I felt, in comparison to the rest of 2010. HP Fandom, you ARE my home, my freaking life source. And so when people say they cannot attend this con or that con because of their "real life" getting in the way, I have to disagree. "Real life" is not the miserable muggle life that fills out forms and pays bills, all that is just filler space. "Real life" is when you truly feel alive. If you feel alive in the muggle world, then good job, but if you feel alive in the Wizarding World, then lets keep it going. Because I want to feel alive, with you, forever. (Well you know...until I am no longer alive? Haha. When I die I am going to the real Hogwarts, so let us just worry about the alive part. :D )

I could talk forever about Harry Potter and how it has impacted my life, but for now I will just say thank you and Happy 3rd Birthday to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. The last enemy to be defeated is Death. heart.

Any HP stories? Opinions? TATTOOS? How are you celebrating?!?!

PS. What do you think about me getting a tattoooo? I am actually liking "The Last Enemy to be Defeated is Death" as a symbol of me never wanting these things to end... But I was thinking more along the lines of the Deathly Hallows symbol or the HP Alliance heart/lightning bolt thing. Eh? Eh??