Being A Harry Potter Fan Makes You A Better Friend — Plus 15 Of The Best Harry Potter Quotes About Friendship
A new study claims that reading Harry Potter actually has an effect on how you treat other people.
It has been 21 years (#HappyBirthdayHarryPotter) since the first Harry Potter book was released and according to Pottermore the sales of the Harry Potter series in the start of 2018 reached a gigantic milestone as their number of books sold reached 500 million copies all over the world, in an amazing 80 different languages.
The world of Harry Potter struck everyone in a way that J. K. Rowling never expected; not only did the books fly off the shelves but the world began to see a changing force in how people treated other people. The Journal of Applied Social Psychology conducted a study on how reading the Potter Series affected the view of how others socialized with stigmatized groups ( i.e. homosexuals, immigrants, refugees).
These studies showed that children ranging from elementary age to university students felt more of a connection towards the character Harry Potter and his life and less with Voldemort, thus supporting their main hypothesis that the reading of the series improved individuals' attitudes toward different stereotypes.
For many people, devastation came when they found out that the Potter Series would only have seven books and that would be the end. When the final book in the series was released it was the fastest selling book of fiction of all time but the love of Harry Potter and what it stood for did not stop there. People started writing their own version of fanfics to add their desires of how they wanted things to play out including stories called The James Potter Series. There were tons of people that wanted to find a place to live out the life of Harry Potter taking classes and meeting new friends who had the same interest as them and thus the world of Harry Potter Roleplay was born.
Many different sites started to pop up allowing people to not only create a character within a virtual Harry Potter world but take classes and meet people from all sorts of backgrounds and countries. Hogwarts Online and Hogwarts School Online became the schools to beat when it came down to wanting to play out your life in a Harry Potter world where anything is possible if you have the imagination.
As the world continued to grow more in love with Harry Potter, many other Harry Potter-related things were created. The Cursed Child, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, and many new interactive ventures popped up. The game of Quidditch has been brought to life and played all over the world allowing people to play out their dream of playing Quidditch with their Hogwarts teammates. Many different Live Action Roleplay came out of the woodworks allowing people all around the globe to travel to a castle and spend three to four days getting sorted into your school houses, taking lessons and gobbling down some amazing foods.
But the best part about it all is that you get to come together making new friends from different cultures from all over and live as they would in the wizarding world. Bothwell School of Witchcraft based out of the UK is a new addition to College of Wizardry that is located in Poland and is some of the more well-known LARP’s that are around.
Seeing how popular Harry Potter and the Wizarding World is, it is safe to say that everywhere you turn you will find someone who loves the series. That gives you an instant connection allow you to open up and be yourself to someone new.
Through my own personal experiences with the Harry Potter books, I can say that there is so much out there that I did not expect as I went through and fell in love with the series. It truly changed my life. My views on the different stigmatized groups out there did change and I found myself being open to getting to know and understand not only different people but different cultures of the world.
J. K Rowling brought a world to everyone that will live on not only throughout love of the series but through the lasting friendships that are made and kept close all over the world. Here are 15 Harry Potter quotes that prove the series made its fans better friends.
1. Friendship is so important.
"Books and cleverness. There are more important things — friendship and bravery." — Hermione Granger
2. You can't stop a bond from forming.
"There are some things you can’t share without ending up liking each other a..." — J.K. Rowling
3. It's who you are that matters, not where you're from.
"One of my best friends is muggle-born and she’s the best in our year!" — Harry Potter
4. Friends do what's best for each other.
“It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends.” ― Albus Dumbledore
5. Friends know your worth.
"I don’t think you’re a waste of space." — Dudley Dursley
6. Friends stick together.
"Why is it when something happens it is always you three?" — Minerva McGonagall
7. A good friend will always have your back.
"Believe me. I never betrayed James and Lily. I would have died before I betrayed them." — Sirius Black
8. Teasing is a part of friendship.
"You tell those spiders, Ron." — Harry Potter
9. Friendship never dies.
"Always." — Severus Snape
10. When you're with those you love, nothing else matters.
"What a beautiful place to be with friends." — Dobby
11. Friendship is the best thing in the world.
"And you’ll never know love or friendship and I feel sorry for you." — Harry Potter
12. Friends are like peas in a pod.
"You’re just as sane as I am." — Luna Lovegood
13. Friends become family.
"While you’re here, your house will be like your family." — Minerva McGonagall
14. They're always in our hearts.
"People die every day! Friends, family. Yeah, we lost Harry tonight. He’s still with us, in here. So’s Fred, Remus, Tonks, all of them. They didn’t die in vain. But YOU will!" — Neville Longbottom
15. Love never dies.
"The ones that love us never really leave us." — Sirius Black
Kaylee is a writer who covers astrology, pop culture and relationship topics.