I once told someone that Harry Potter defined my childhood. This person then proceeded to laugh in my face, and even though that's not entirely what I meant to say, I still felt strangely hurt. I started reading Harry Potter when I was eight when I got Prisoner of Azkaban for my birthday. I remember feeling rather odd trying to read the third book and a series and failing rather completely to understand a single thing. It was then that I picked up Sorcerer's Stone, the book I credit in helping start my reading life. 8 years. It's been more than 8 years since I picked up that copy of Prisoner of Azkaban. 8 years of my life that has been dedicated to reading Harry Potter, granted on and off, but 8 years all the same. For 8 years, I have been able to look forward for the next book to speculate on how everything was going to end, and to talk to my fellow Harry Potter fans about how amazing these books were. A few weeks ago, I was asked to give a 150 word response to this question, "What have you learned from Harry Potter?" Now, then, I responded that I didn't really learn anything. That Harry Potter was always a way to escape, a place where you could fall into a wonderful story, where no one will judge you, and where you could be someone else entirely. That Harry Potter will always be part of me, the part that will always believe in magic even when I have to pay taxes or an working 9-5. Now, while that's still true, I think I can revise my answer now to say that I have learned things from Harry Potter. Love will conquer all just as Harry's love conquers Voldemort, or my love for the books has lasted and grown for eight years. Magic is real, without a doubt. How else would you explain these amazing books, or the following they have developed. And finally, I have learned, that if you love something enough, that in it's own little way, it will reward you. With the final page of the Deathly Hallows, I knew that some part of my life was over, and while all things must come to an end, it wasn't easy to swallow. It's the end of an era, if just for me. There will never be another Harry Potter, and when I think of that my heart wrenches. It's hard to bear, or even think of. So, back to my original thought, did Harry Potter define my childhood? Maybe not define, but shape. There's no doubt in my mind that Harry Potter shaped my childhood in ways that it would never have if I had never read them.