How Harry Potter Changed the World

I like the idea of a magical story impacting the lives of children. Just this week I witnessed it several times.

The first time I heard about Harry Potter was from a teenager many years ago. She was a huge fan and kept making references to magic I wasn't getting so I started reading the books to get up to date. Since then, it seems everyone just lives and breaths the magic, and if I wasn't in the know, I'd be missing out on a lot of fun.

I was walking through the school to pick up some kids for an after school program when a six-year-old randomly stands in front of me all serious. He took a deep breath and just blurted out, "So where are you on the Harry Potter Lego Game? I'm stuck." Ha! Love it. Of course it ended up being a very in-depth gamer discussion.

And so I'm reading a book with my teen and after a shape-shifting scene she jokes, "Someone drank their polyjuice." I won't ever be able to read a shifting scene again without chuckles.

And I'm standing out in the cold, wrapped in my scarf when a young boy asks if I went to school at Hogwarts. He looked so serious. Why would someone ask that? Confused, it took me a moment to realized I was wearing my Gryffindor scarf. And so I played along and asked if he had attended the school of Wizardry and Witchcraft also. Of course he had.

Have you noticed the magic of a Potter fan?

I like it when a magical story impacts my life like that.