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| Trying to get onto Platform 9 and 3/4 at King's Cross Station in London, Summer 2007. |
For those of you who don't know, Dear Mr. Potter is a project run through the Harry Potter Alliance that collected letters to Harry about how the series changed their lives. So many people wrote letters, including other authors and actress Evanna Lynch, who plays Luna in the movies, and many of them were eventually compiled into a book. I wrote mine more for myself than anyone else, as a way to try and put into words what the series actually meant to me. I haven't really shared it because I was really emotional while writing it, but two years after the fact... I'm actually still emotional about it, but whatever. I hope you all enjoy reading it.
Dear Mr. Potter,It’s been twelve years since we first met. I was nine and I had seen my best friend Jessica reading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and I wanted to read it too. She let me borrow it when she finished and started in on Chamber of Secrets and I was immediately hooked. Wizards and witches and an entirely new world I could escape to. In fourth grade, I walked around with a book in my face constantly, but I liked historical fiction mostly. This was something completely new, and almost, in a way, like the pages of the historical fiction books to which I so desperately clung. It was a new world for me to escape to, and suddenly I had three new best friends in you, Ron, and Hermione. I waited patiently for most of the books because my parents thought midnight book releases were silly and I waited for most of the movies thanks to soccer tournaments that always fell on premiere weekend. But the months before the releases I was constantly looking at Mugglenet, trying to find new clues as to what would happen, reading people’s theories and thinking up my own (I did an entire project for AP Language in 11th grade analyzing the newly-released Deathly Hallows cover art) and looking at pictures and just doing everything I could to immerse myself in your world. And this is mostly thanks to a certain Hermione Granger.
I have never in my life identified with any character or any actual person as much as I immediately identified with Hermione. There was some physical resemblance: unruly hair (I still hadn’t figured out how to tame the curly mess of brown hair I had), bad teeth (I was almost through with my first of two long spells with braces), and just sort of average looking. Before the movies, I always imagined Hermione looked exactly like me. Personality-wise, Hermione was also exactly like me. I was always at the top of my class and I made sure everyone knew it. My hand was always the first to shoot up when a teacher asked a question because I almost always knew the answer. And so many people, whether they would admit it or not, thought I was an insufferable know-it-all, so unfortunately I never really had many friends. Generally I had one or two best friends and then just other friends.
I saw so much of Hermione in myself, and as Hermione grew as a character, I grew as a person. We learned to tame our hair and that you can’t be the best in every single class. We learned that there’s more to life than books and cleverness. We learned about the terrible inequality in the world and tried to change it. And as smart as I thought I was, I still had a lot to learn. Hermione taught me how to throw a punch like you mean it. She taught me a million different spells that I wish I could use in real life. But most importantly, Hermione taught me taught me to be brave and stand up for what I believe in and to be proud of who you are, no matter what people may say about you. I’m not nearly as brave as Hermione but I’ve tried to channel her bravery as much as possible.
So, Mr. Potter, thank you for being the brave Gryffindor that you are and searching for Hermione that night Quirrell let the troll in. I always strived to be like Hermione and I think it made me into a better person today.
Always,
Rebecca N., Ravenclaw, Evans, GA
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