matt_doyle | What Harry Potter means to me.

I got into Harry Potter sometime in 1999. When my little sister

celebros started reading them, I mocked her -- not entirely sure why, except that I was a big brother and I hated the look of the cover art on Sorcerer’s Stone and Chamber of Secrets. But something about Prisoner of Azkaban was more interesting to me. I’m not sure what.

I just know that by the time the next two books came out,

celebros & I had to read alternate chapters of the hardcover, because we couldn’t wait the few hours until the other one was done.

I was already involved in internet fandoms -- Star Wars and Ronin Warriors -- and Harry Potter rapidly took over my waking hours and my online time as well. FictionAlley and its forums (and FAPchat, the official chatroom for the forums) became like a home to me. It was the only place I could be surrounded in geeks my own age (Star Wars nerds were mostly older than me). Harry Potter is the first series that ever truly gave me a sense of community -- the first time I ever felt like I was a citizen, a part of a genuine in-group.

The biggest thing it did to change my life, however, was a little more obvious. When I got involved with a Harry Potter-based RP on livejournal, I met a group of people who would continue to be some of my best friends through and beyond college -- most of you, oh my friendslist, even today, are people I met through HP fandom. And of course, there’s

handgun , the first person I ever fell head-over-heels in love with, and who I got engaged to not once but twice. For that matter, while I already knew

lesyeuxouverts , my second fiance, it was through the same Harry Potter RP that I reconnected with and fell for her.

Harry Potter and RPGs have pretty much defined my adult social life. And that’s not really an accident. Both are full of ideas and full of loose ends, perfect for encouraging imagination, discussion, interaction -- maybe not the best fantasy stories out there, but among the best to geek out about.

So when I say that, despite the many inconsistencies, flaws, and suchlike that I intend to pick on for the next few months, I love these books, and they are part of me... that’s what I mean. I could trace in more detail how the people I met because of Harry Potter have shaped my life, but I think most of you who are still reading me know, because the majority of my readership has watched it happen -- you are those people.

Thanks, guys.

Later this week I’ll tackle Sorcerer’s Stone for the second time, and Chamber of Secrets for the first re-read. Then we’ll really get into it.