Hogwarts ~ Always There To Welcome Me Home!

"You're walking through Hogsmeade when suddenly your body freezes, your eyes are staring at something high in the air, and your breathing has slowed down but your heart is pounding against your chest which feels like it will explode any second if you either don't cry or don't let out a very high pitched scream. You're looking at the mighty, glorious, gorgeous, classic Hogwarts castle. The real deal! The exact replica!

When I saw the castle first I had no idea it was approaching. I was trapped in my own body and couldn't move at first because I had tears in my eyes (told you, overly sentimental Potterhead). It was so beautiful and so real I just couldn't believe it."

- My description of Hogwarts from a blog entry I wrote back in 2015

It doesn't change, the excitement of seeing the castle, no matter how many times I visit the parks. Each time it is the same, it is there like it always was, nothing has changed and yet when it appears in front of my eyes at the end of Hogsmeade it just stuns me out of my senses. It's like someone casts a body binding spell at me and I find myself incapable of moving. My eyes stay glued to the sight of its magnificence and I wish I could keep looking at it forever, not even letting it out of sight for as long as a blink of my eyes. It does something to me, Hogwarts. Its presence is grand and magical and I'm just crying and looking at it and crying. Look at this, I'm crying even writing about it right now ...

Growing up my concept of castles was the typical Disney kind. Cinderella's castle being my most favorite, that is the vision I imagined when somebody mentioned the word castle. Hogwarts isn't like that. It's not beautiful the way the Cinderella castle is but there is something extremely magical about its classic appearance. There's some strange beauty in its towers and turrets - a kind of beauty even the prettiest Disney castles can't have. It is a classic which brings to life my most beloved Potterverse. It is my home ... Hogwarts is my home.

"Hogwarts will always be there to welcome you home," J.K. Rowling once said and truer words have not been spoken ever before. Whether by page or by screen or by the Wizarding World in Orlando, whenever I feel the need to return to Hogwarts and my magical world, it is always welcoming me with open arms. I keep returning to Hogwarts again and again, in fact I don't think I ever even truly leave. Hogwarts stays in my heart along with the entire Potterverse.

In the best of times, in the toughest of times, help is always available to me at Hogwarts whenever I ask for it. The castle and the magic it contains within its boundaries is like a sanctuary, a place of peace, contentment. When I read about Hogwarts in the books it gets me excited. When I watch the castle on screen I get goosebumps and tear up with emotion. When I stand in the castle's shade at the Wizarding World I am in love ...

It is love.
It is magic.
Hogwarts is just the best!

I'm so glad us Potterheads have a place we can call home no matter how lost we feel in this world. Hogwarts is our common ground, our connection, our place. Hogwarts is ours! Okay, seriously getting really emotional right now ... Can someone please take me back to Hogwarts asap? I'm declaring an emergency!!!!!

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This entry belongs to the April A to Z Blogging Challenge 2019 - The Potterific A to Z.

For a full list of all of my entries this year click here!