One regret I have with the ‘Harry Potter’ series is that no amount of wand swishing and flicking will ever transport me to the wizard world.
Oh yes, yes! I am the proud owner of a wand! It was a gift from my husband when he visited the Universal Studios at Orlando, back in 2013. A Wand and a Time Turner! Can there be anything better than those two possessions!?
I love them so dearly but I always wished for them to serve their purpose.
My obsession with the series began when I was twelve.. The books had worked their magic on millions before me. It took me some time because for some ridiculous reason I had started with the fourth book only to find absolutely no sense in it! I’m grateful to whoever it was that forced me to give the series an other chance and start with the first book, after which there was no looking back. I’m an avid reader. I love magic, romance, happy endings, et al. But there was something special about Harry Potter and his world that I instantly connected with. It was mesmerizing and addictive!
My gang of friends shared the same passion and together we made lives of those untouched by this magic, miserable!! We had each chosen a character for ourselves and took it more seriously than the actors playing the role in the movies would! For hours along we discussed the books, the characters had become our second identity. We laughed with them, drowned in their sorrow, mourned the death of dear ones. Each one of us secretly hoped for our Hogwarts- Admission letter, as absurd as it sounds!
Today, it has been more than ten years since we last got together as a gang, but in our hearts, we still stand united.
It is at such nostalgic times that I pray I could get my Time Turner to work. To travel into the past and experience those moments all over again. But it is not that easy! It wasn’t for Hermione either. Dumbledore entrusted her with the Time Turner only after warning her of the dangerous consequences were she to misuse it.
We, more often than not, wish to relive those special moments or to undo and edit some wrong. But wishing is one and happening is another altogether.
There is no magic in this world that will grant us the wish. I have come to realize that that is true magic, the inability to meddle with the past. Why go into the past that is over already? Why not live fully in the present and make it as memorable as the past?
Our lives are engulfed in magic, the flames of which we need to feel, from our hearts. Wands can be done without!
I’m no philosopher to be honest with you. But after years of reading about magic, I know the world I live in, is magical and beautiful. ‘Love’ is the wand we all possess. All we need to do, is use it in the right way for the right purpose! It hardly boasts of its powers but there is nothing more powerful.
Dumbledore himself advocated ‘Love’ to be the most powerful weapon.
In the sixth book, Harry, on being told by Dumbledore that it is he who will have to kill Voldemort, argues “But I haven’t got uncommon skill and power,” to which Dumbledore calmly but firmly states “Yes, you have. You have a power that Voldemort never had. Love. You are protected by your ability to love. The only protection that can possibly work against him.”
Thank you J.K. Rowling for giving birth to Harry Potter and giving us Muggles a chance to be Wizards. Our lives, touched by the magic, will never be the same.
C.A.: Confused Aquarian 