Part of Your World| D.M., M.R., C.D., H.P., F.W., G.W., and N.L.

Chapter 1- The Reader With a Wish

 I sat in the corner of the small coffee shop with my best friend, Frankie Watkins. In 3rd grade, when I was 8 years old, Frankie and I had formed a bond because of our obsessions with Harry Potter. We both dreamed of the days when we would each turn 11 years old and receive Hogwarts letters, like the books said.

It was now the day before my 11th birthday, and I was excited to talk to Frankie about how I had dreamed of the day that was less than 24 hours away. "Frankie," I said, "can you believe I'm turning 11 tomorrow? I'll finally receive my Hogwarts letter!" Frankie looked at me with a saddened look on her face, and I instantly knew something was wrong. "Hey, are you okay? Sorry for bragging about getting my letter when your birthday is still 2 months away! Please don't be sad!"

"That's not it y/n," she stated, with a sharp tone in her voice.

"What is it then?" I asked, confused. "Are you scared of leaving all the muggles in this town behind?"

At that moment, I could see that something in Frankie had snapped. She stood up abruptly, and started yelling at me. "Y/n, you need to wake up! We're never going to Hogwarts, we're just going to go to a normal middle school next year! Stop calling everyone a 'muggle', because they're normal human beings with no magic, just like us!"

I stared at her blankly. This was not anything like I had expected. Frankie stepped over to the chair I was sitting in, and grabbed my right hand with both of hers. "Y/n, I know that you love the Harry Potter universe, and don't get me wrong, I love it too. But, you need to wake up and realize that none of that is real. It is all a wonderful work of fiction created by someone else. It was never and will never be real. We are the ones who are real. You're going to grow out of your Harry Potter phase one day and realize that you were chasing imaginary dreams. You're never going to board that train, or be sorted into a house, or learn to cast spells. Please, for the sake of your sanity, and for the sake of everyone else, grow up." And with that, Frankie let go of my hand and walked out.

I sat there trying to process it all, and once I finally did, the tears began to pool out of my eyes. I sat in silence for a few minutes, and then got up and went home. I locked myself in my room and began to read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Once I finished reading it again, it would mark the 7th time of me rereading the entire series.

There was a slight thrill in rereading it for the 7th time, since 7 was my lucky number. 7 had a great significance for me since there were 7 Harry Potter books, 7 characters that were really important, and I had a birthmark in the shape of the number 7 on the back of my left hand.

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"The scar had not pained Harry for years. All was well."

As I read the final line, tears began to slip from my eyes onto the page. I hated the last line because it snapped me back to reality and ended the fantasy I had enjoyed. The last line was a cruel reminder that I was just a reader, and that Harry Potter was just a series of books I read. Remembering that I was a reader made me feel pathetic and powerless, as I could only read and imagine what was happening and not have an impact.

I hated that I was a reader and couldn't prevent all the deaths that happened, or the bad things. When Cedric, Sirius, Dumbledore, Fred, and any other character had died, I wished that I could become real in that moment and save them. But since I was a reader, I could only suffer as I read them meet their end.

I laid back in my bed, and stared up at my ceiling. I then pulled out my phone to check the time, and I saw that it was already 11:59 pm. I was less than seconds away from turning 11. I I closed my eyes and counted down the seconds. Once I was certain it was midnight, I decided to believe in magic one last time and made a birthday wish.

I wish that I could be a part of the Harry Potter universe so I could stop all the bad things from happening, and allow it not to be just fiction for me.

I crossed my fingers and decided to repeat the wish seven times out loud for good luck. I vowed to myself that if the wish didn't work, I would wake up and face reality, leaving magic behind for good.

I then peacefully fell asleep, holding onto my last sliver of hope.

The last thing I heard was a small voice whispering something to me that I couldn't understand. All I caught were the words, "...be happy."