Why I Appreciate “Harry Potter” More as an Adult
Harry Potter has been a part of my life for nearly two decades now. As a child, I adored the books, and I always wanted to go to Hogwarts to experience the magic for myself. As an adult now, it is through growing up and the experiences that came with it that make me appreciate the wizarding world so much more.
Like many, I was eight years old when I read my first Harry Potter book. As a family, we had gone down to the library for the afternoon, and my mum had pointed them out to me. It was 2006, and though the hype regarding the series was massive online, I knew very little about the series itself, but I was looking for something new to read, so I decided to try it. Our library only had two of the books, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, so I found myself a chair, and with the rain outside showing no signs of stopping anytime soon, I started reading. And instantly, I fell in love. There was just something about this orphan wanting to get back to school that intrigued me. Three weeks later, when I returned the books, I had already finished Book 2 and started the fourth. Later that day, I went down to my local bookshop and purchased a copy of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.
Over the following years, I read and reread the books. I kept noticing more and more details that I hadn’t before. How different plot points were connected. How things were foreshadowed in previous books. Every time I picked up the books, there seemed to be something new that I hadn’t noticed that made me just fall in love with the series all over again. The wizarding world seemed endless, full of so many amazing characters, some who I fell in love with instantly and others who I grew to care about. There was just so much to explore and discover, and I found myself understanding and emphasizing different characters as an adult. It was characters such as Remus Lupin and Andromeda Tonks I find myself loving more who have such a tragic story but are still strong. Their stories are told through other characters and within the background, but they are woven in such a way they play a vital part in the overarching story. This is something that I adore as it shows just how strong the storytelling is within the series. It also shows how developed the wizarding world is as their stories exist in conjunction with the main plot, something I cannot help but adore.
As I got older, I also appreciated the darker undertones the latter books have. I understand the politics of the series much better now. Even though the series is fictional, there are so many life lessons in it that I appreciate all the better now. It has helped to teach me the importance of friendship and family, how to stand up for what I believe in, and how important that is. As a child, I never fully understood all the messages and undertones of the series, but as with the details in the book, I have grown up to understand and appreciate them so much more. These books helped to shape me as a child, and I hope that growing up with the series and understanding the core aim of the series has made me a better person.
Over time as I started high school, the wizarding world became a place of comfort. People who know me personally know I struggled with my mental health in those first few years of high school, and anxiety is still something I struggle with today. I make no secret of it, it’s a topic that needs to be discussed, but when I was younger, I felt stuck some days. I struggled to say just how I felt and with the world in general sometimes. The uncertainty about everything scared me but being able to curl up with the books or rewatching one of the films made everything so much easier. It brought me so much joy. Even with the uncertainty and the struggles that the last two years have brought, returning to the wizarding world has made it so much easier and allowed me to escape and forget my worries, even if it’s only for a few hours.
Harry Potter has also given me so much I would never have gotten had I never fallen in love with the series. It helped me find my passion for reading and writing and allowed me to share my writing online, something I never once thought I would be able to do. Through this writing, I have found friends around the world I would never have otherwise found. I have gotten to see and experience so much of the world because of these friends.
They are some of the most important people in my life. They are wonderful, supportive people who have stuck by me during my darkest days, but they have also been with me during the best moments in my life. We have laughed together, traveled together, and had so many wonderful experiences. They mean the world to me, and I am so thankful that we found each other due to the shared love of the series.
Harry Potter has changed my life in so many ways and has made me the person I am today. There is so much the series has taught me, and I hope as I continue to grow, Harry follows me on my adventure. I hope I can continue to discover more about the wizarding world and the world I inhabit. There’s still so much out there to discover with the people I love, and I can’t wait to see what is out there. And deep down, I would still love to get my letter for Hogwarts.
