Anonymous asked: "how has harry potter changed your life?"
Harry Potter is one of those series that will, I believe, go down in history as classic children’s novels. It’s loved and adored by people of all ages, such as The Chronicles of Narnia, and instills its readers with a certain sense of morals.
Harry Potter’s been with me most of my life. The first film came out when I was between the ages of five and seven, and since I first watched Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone with my friend at such a young age, I’ve been in love with the series. I think everyone takes different things from the tales of Harry and his friends—things that they find particularly fascinating or life-changing.
For me, I think it was the vulnerability of the characters. No character was made to be perfect: not even Harry himself was an idolized and perfect heroic figure. Rowling was able to give life to the characters in a way that a lot of series with heroic figures weren’t able to.
Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger changed my life more than most did—perhaps that’s one of the reasons I ship them together. Hermione showed me that girls can be intelligent and strong; that beauty can be more than just a bottle-blonde with a low IQ and a large amount of cleavage. She’s a role model for females everywhere—sure, she can be obnoxious and a bit of a know-it-all, but she’s such an inspiration for girls who feel like they aren’t stereotypically pretty just because they don’t walk around in tube tops or prefer to spend their time reading.
Draco Malfoy changed my life in several ways, and I can’t even say some of them because of how personal they are. I understand him, and while I don’t always approve of his actions, I understand his character more than I think a lot of people are able to. Yeah, he was an asshole—he used sarcastic remarks and insults to boost his ego and to cover up for the neglectful home life I suspect he had. I know what it’s like to cover up an internal struggle with remarks—not nearly as vicious as his, of course, but you get the point—and so I understand why he became a bully in the first place. That doesn’t excuse him of being a bully and it never will, but I like to think I at least understand where it came from. He was such a vulnerable creature—covering up his insecurities and weaknesses with a cool exterior. The Half-Blood Prince shows that, like all humans, he’s prone to vulnerability and flaws. He wasn’t perfect, and it helped to remind me that I don’t have to be, either.
I apologize for the novel-length response, and this doesn’t cover half of what I feel, but at least you get the basics.
