Harry Potter & College
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Harry Potter & College

There's a magical similarity.

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Harry Potter & College

Seventeen years ago, the first of seven books was published by J.K. Rowling and consequently changed the lives of every individual that went on the journey with “The Boy Who Lived”. Like many of you, I fell in love with Harry’s story and the magical world he lived in. 

I got my hands on the books as soon as they were released (thank you Mom for waiting in those long lines for me) and wouldn't put them down until I finished them. When I was eight years old, I went and saw the first movie in theaters, becoming even more entranced with the series. 

Rowling’s story was a powerful one, filled with many life lessons. I still catch myself re-reading the series over and over again whenever I have the time. I’ve also made it a habit to study while listening to the movies.      

At twenty-one years of age, I can happily say the magic of Harry Potter still resides strongly within me. Recently, I’ve caught myself reflecting on Harry’s adventures and have realized our greatest adventure, college, isn’t too different from his. Sure, we don’t have to fight off Dementors or hunt down Horcruxes; but as you will see, our time in college can closely relate to Harry’s trials and tribulations at Hogwarts and the world around him. The similarities between Harry’s world and ours are uncanny. 

Harry’s Scar

Like Harry, we came to school with a scar. More likely than not, we came bearing even more than him. Our scars, unlike Harry’s lightening bolt however, can’t necessarily be physically seen with the naked eye. We all have had moments in our lives that have shaped us, molded us, into the individuals we are as we enter our freshmen year of college. These scars can be received from our relationship with other individuals, individuals that have greatly impacted our lives. 

Harry received his from Voldemort in this fashion. Harry didn’t ask for the scar or the life changing impacts that it would bring with it, nor did he get a chance to see it coming. We cannot predict when the next person we come in contact with will have a life-changing impact on us. The consequences of these individuals putting weight into our lives can either be positive or negative. 

Regardless though, they impact us greatly, moving on and throughout our growth into adults. They follow us throughout our lives and will undoubtedly have an impact on our futures. Harry’s initial encounter with Voldemort, at first, can be viewed negatively. Yet, if Harry had not received that memento from him, I highly doubt he would’ve ever met his two best friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. 

Scars, they helped both define Harry before he went to Hogwarts and while he was enrolled there. Our own scars, act in accordance to this too. Whether we realize this now is unimportant. What is important is that we take ownership of these marks left upon us, both the negative and positive ones, and allow them to shape our four years of college into something more than just textbooks. 

Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw, & Hufflepuff 

When students first come to Hogwarts, they are sorted into four different houses: Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw, or Hufflepuff. The students are paired to each house based primarily on their personal qualities. The pairing of students to a house falls upon the duties of the Sorting Hat and a majority of the time, the students don’t have a say in where they are placed. However, if we remember correctly, Harry’s input was accounted for with the Sorting Hat. Instead of Slytherin, the hat placed Harry in Gryffindor. 

Many of us when coming to college, decide to go Greek. Instead of the Sorting Hat, the body of fraternities/sororities decides for the most part where each freshmen will end up. Each Greek organization takes the time to analyze and examine the personal qualities of an individual in order to see if they would fit in with their prospective chapter. Similarly to the Sorting Hat, we usually don’t really have a say where we ultimately end up. Yet we can impact the ultimate decision, by expressing ourselves in certain ways, such as Harry did with the hat. 

Our ultimate destination essentially sets the tone for our college experience, just as Gryffindor’s set Harry’s path. The individuals we become closest too, our living arrangements, and the experiences we get to have are greatly influenced by the Greek organization we affiliate ourselves with. Harry would’ve never befriended Neville Longbottom or Dean Thomas, etc. if he was put into Slytherin. He would’ve never called Gryffindor Tower is home if it wasn’t for his placement within the house. Harry would’ve never been the man he ended up growing into if it wasn’t for the setting that Gryffindor provided him. 

I can’t say I would’ve befriended many of the individuals I now call close friends if it wasn’t for my fraternity. We would not be in the living quarters we occupy now if it wasn’t for the influence of our Greek chapters or the body of people that make it up (i.e. fraternity/sorority house). Experiences would certainly vary greatly from the ones we have now, if we ended up in a different chapter.  

It’s not to say that we are only influenced by the Greek organization we belong too. Harry still interacted with others in Hogwarts whom of which, did not come from his house (Luna Lovegood). Like many of us, we still have met friends and acquaintances that are not in our chapters. Like Harry, we are not defined by the chapter or house we call ours, but how it molds us into individuals. What we do with the variables our chapter expends upon us, fundamentally, is our choice. 

Harry & Cho

The relationship between Harry Potter and Cho Chang can teach us a very important thing about relationships themselves. This isn’t necessarily only a college related theme, but a life lesson in general. Our first love doesn’t always work out, and 99% of the time it won’t. If things had worked out between Harry and Cho, he would’ve never met Ginny Weasley. Doors close so others can open up. 

Dolores Umbridge & Blind Power

If there was a character I loathed more in the Harry Potter series than Voldemort, it was Dolores Umbridge. Due to the ongoing events that were occurring in the magical world, she was giving a position of almost unlimited power. With her position, she instituted a policy of no magic-use within her classes and throughout the school she banned the formation of groups and organizations (Dumbledore’s Army). In fact, she almost closed down Hogwarts as a whole.   

It is hard to be a part of the Greek community and not know what has taken place at schools such as West Virginia and Clemson. In recent months, both school’s Greek organizations have been completely shut down due to the acts of a handful of individuals. The presidents at each of these respective schools have taken measures to completely ban Greek Life, a measure I feel is a blind use of power. The majority of others should not have to suffer the consequences of actions brought on by so few.   

The events that have unraveled at these universities and many others, in no way whatsoever, are excusable. However, there has to be a better way to go about dealing with such matters merely than just going away with Greek activities all together. Just as Umbridge took away magic from her students, commanding bodies at certain universities have taken away the magic of Greek Life from students who don’t deserve such punishment. 

Albus Dumbledore, Severus Snape, & Sirius Black 

The above-mentioned characters all played monumental roles in Harry’s time during and after his tenure at Hogwarts. These figures identically relate to the relationships we build with our professors and our parents while we are away in college. Some professors will do more than simply teach out of a textbook; some will have unique impacts on our lives and ideals. Dumbledore and Snape taught Harry more about life and love than he could’ve ever have learned on his own. 

Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” 

– Albus Dumbledore 

Harry’s relationship with Sirius was non-existent up until he went into college. For many of us, our relationship with our parents never really quite grows to the levels it is capable of, until we go off to college. Sirius is Harry’s go to advice giver, his mentor and best friend. As Harry grows, his relationship with Sirius grows as well. There are a number of nights in college where many of us turn to our parents for life advice or where we pick up the phone just to hear their reassuring voices telling us that everything will be okay. Our parents become our best friends during college and the relationships we have with them only advances and becomes more complex with the obstacles school brings upon us, just as Harry and Sirius’s relationship did. 

Hermione’s Time Turner

College goes by fast; it seems like only yesterday I was a freshman trying to figure everything out. The best four years of our lives may also seem like the fastest. For most of us, we spend hours studying and looking through textbooks during the week while using the weekend to de-stress.   

It almost always feels like there is never enough time in the day to accomplish everything we have on our to-do lists. Hermione was able to overcome this dilemma through the use of her Time Turner. Through this magical object she could essentially be in two places at once by being able to go back in time.   

We may not be able to exactly go back in time, but college in general is a great time to reflect. I find myself doing this probably way more than I should. Through nostalgia, powered by old pictures and certain songs, we essentially can go back in time. It is through this reflection and nostalgia that we can learn from our mistakes and missteps. In essence, this is a tool we can use to better judge our current and future actions, preventing us from making any further mistakes.   

Our past memories, experiences, and results of those experiences in a way are our own personal Time Turners. 

Felix Felicis (Liquid Luck)

It is meant to be used sparingly, however, as it causes giddiness, recklessness, and dangerous overconfidence if taken in excess.     

"Trust me, I know what I'm doing. . . or at least, Felix does." – Harry Potter               

Alcohol = more confidence 

Vyvanse/Adderall  = more heavily concentrated study sessions 

Coffee/RedBull = keep us going   

This is our liquid luck. 

Horcruxes

Considered some of the darkest magic within the Wizarding World, Voldemort split his soul seven times in an attempt to make himself immortal. As long as Voldemort “stored” part of his soul in another object, he could never be completely killed. It was only after Harry, Ron, and Hermione destroyed every Horcrux that Voldemort could then be ultimately taken down.     

Voldemort invested a part of himself within certain important objects/items and within two living things: Nagini (his snake) and Harry himself. Now we may not invest ourselves within objects, but we do invest ourselves within others, those that we consider closest to us. As college is a particular time in our lives when we really start to grow up and become young adults, the investment of ourselves into others becomes that much more important.      

Just as Voldemort had to kill to create a Horcrux, we “kill” time with those we invest within most. Building relationships with these individuals that we hold special to us, in a way makes us immortal. With every bit of ourselves we share with someone close to us, a little piece of us becomes a part of them and vice-versa. Therefore, when we eventually pass, we live on through those that we have affected the most, through those individuals that we’ve had the greatest impact on. 

The “splitting” of our souls in college is so essential because it allows us to grow and evolve more as individuals. Horcruxes maybe a negative element within Harry’s world, but in our world, the splitting of a soul is one of the most beneficiary things that can happen to us. 

Dementors 

"Dementors are among the foulest creatures that walk this earth. They infest the darkest, filthiest places, they glory in decay and despair, they drain peace, hope, and happiness out of the air around them... Get too near a Dementor and every good feeling, every happy memory will be sucked out of you. If it can, the Dementor will feed on you long enough to reduce you to something like itself... soulless and evil. You will be left with nothing but the worst experiences of your life." –Remus Lupin   

Everyone at one point or time while in college has to fight off at least one Dementor. Dementors are simply the demons within us, the things that scare us the most in this world. The pressures of college are high enough to bring even the most level-minded and confident student down. Many times throughout a semester you can find yourself questioning so many things that are on your mind. Sometimes you just feel like you can do nothing right and that everything around you is crumbling down. It is at these times, that college seems the darkest.  

Just like with any well-performed Patronus Charm though, these negative thoughts and feelings can be defeated through the emergence of positive thinking and with the help of some warm-hearted friends offering helpful words of encouragement.      

A happy thought cannot only defeat a Dementor, but help fight the inner demons we face in our everyday life. 

Harry, Ron, & Hermione 

College’s greatest gift is the friendships it allows us to form with others. We will make our best friends in college; these are the people that will one day be at our wedding. Friendship, along with love, is the greatest form of magic this world has to offer us.   

Our best friends are the ones that keep us smiling and the ones that will pick us back up whenever we fall down. Harry, Ron, and Hermione would be nowhere without the help and support of each other and we can relate to this when acknowledging our closest companions. Fights and disagreements happen, but at the end of the day, these people, whom of which you may of met simply by wandering the halls of your dorm freshmen year, will always be there for you.   

"A warmth was spreading through him that had nothing to do with the sunlight; a tight obstruction in his chest seemed to be dissolving. He knew that Ron and Hermione were more shocked than they were letting on, but the mere fact that they were still there on either side of him, speaking bracing words of comfort, not shrinking from him as though he were contaminated or dangerous, was worth more than he could ever tell them.

– Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix 

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This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
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