Harry Potter saved my life. It did. My parents divorced when I was five. At that point I was too young to understand anything that was happening, and my little brother was even younger.All I knew, all I needed to know, was that Daddy came back home every Tuesday and Thursday night, and left at seven o'clock on the dot. But within a few years, things started getting pretty bad. Dad looked through my mother's bedroom, and with that ended the home visits. We ate dinner at Subway and did homework at the library Tuesdays and Thursdays instead. Pick ups and drop offs became laden with insults and shouting matches.But then, a light in the darkness. I read my first Harry Potter book when I was seven, and just like that, I was in love. I would read those books over and over again, and when things got bad at home, or when visitation came around, I would lock myself in my room and immerse myself in another world. Over and over again. Suddenly, I could be magical, there could be something more to my life than fights and custody battles. I could live a different life, have friends like Harry, Hermione, and Ron. This isn’t meant to garner pity. But I know that others have similar experiences. I know I'm not the only one who wanted to run away from home, the only thing stopping her was there wasn’t enough room in her backpack for her book collection. I know that others drown their pain in finding a world, with it’s own problems yes, but an adventure is always there to distract you.. We don’t have fandoms because we’re crazy with no social life (that’s not how it starts out at least. I can’t count the number of school functions I’ve forgone for a Doctor Who episode nowadays.) but because we know that we’ve found a place where we can be safe and loved. We can be brave, we can have an adventure. We can be distracted from the world we try so hard to escape. Things still get bad at home, I still lock myself in my room to try and find solace in a Gryffindor common room. But because of Harry Potter, I know that Hogwarts will always be there to welcome me home, and everything might just end up okay.