Even though it was years ago, I still remember where I was when I turned the last page of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I had read it in one sitting in my dorm room, staying up all night and skipping class to finish it. I remember closing the book, and then laying down on my bed. A dual sense of satisfaction and loss came over me. The story felt so real, and I was captivated by the magic of Hogwarts in a way that I had never been and have yet to be with a book. The satisfaction was because I knew I had just read one of the great stories of my lifetime, and I knew that I would read it over and over in years to come. The sense of loss came from the emotional ending, but it also came from the understanding that Harry Potter wasn’t real, and I would never get my Hogwarts letter.

Not long after the series came to a close, Universal Studios announced the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Along with every other potterhead out there, I was ecstatic. More than four years after the grand opening of Hogsmeade in Orlando, I finally made it.

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