Cassidy's #8: Community

Hogwarts: Moving staircases, secret rooms, the sorting... We all waited for our letters when we turned eleven years old. Personally, I expected Hagrid to come bursting into my home to tell me, "You're a wizard, Cassidy." because my parents had been hiding my letters. Days, months, and, finally, years passed and I gradually gave up hope that I would ever go to Hogwarts or even do magic. At the ripe old age of eighteen I still wistfully mutter "Lumos" as I flip a light switch or velcro a finger-flashlight to the end of my handmade wand when the power goes out. Not even AP US History class can measure up to Charms or Transfiguration but Hogwarts is just as much ours as it is Harry's, Ron's, or Hermione's.
Third grade Cassidy had two friends and both of them were bitches. I retreated into a world where they could not invite me to sit with them in the cafeteria and then whisper to each other about me from across the table. Like Harry escaping the Dursleys and finding a home for the first time, I found a haven in Hogwarts. I think that's true for a lot of kids. Hogwarts makes us feel like there is some place where we belong. And once we budding nerds had taken our place in the imaginary wizarding world, we found community in other budding nerds and the Rise of Nerddom was upon us.
One day, Sarah (polo-wearing new girl from Boca Raton, FL) and I (rolly-backpack-sporting weird kid with a shaved head) were forced to sit next to each other in the computer lab to take the Meyers-Briggs personality test. After we received our results (opposite in every category), I glanced side-long at Sarah's screen and found that she was viewing stills from the upcoming Order of the Phoenix movie. My eyes caught Sarah's, who was mimicking my dumb, wide-eyed gape, for I, too, had been viewing stills from the upcoming OOTP movie! The next thing I remember is the two of us nearly running down the hall in excitement, animatedly sharing our impersonations of Alan Rickman as Professor Snape, and clutching each other for balance as we soundlessly laughed all of the air out of our lungs.
That is power of Harry Potter. Like I said before, this series is more than the sum of its parts. Despite our many differences, it brought Sarah and I together because it represents a shared experience: The Harry Potter Childhood. Hogwarts castle was our safe place. SO! To little girls all over the world who crouch in the corners of their third grade classrooms with their faces intentionally hidden by enormous copies of Chamber of Secrets, you are not alone with your books. There are millions of people just like you and we are all connected in an invisible web of love and friendship and acceptance. Find friends in Harry Potter, my children!