The Harry Potter Series

Friendship conquers evil

Dear Reader,

This is a love letter to a book series that has helped me to make sense of the battle between good and evil in the world. As such, in it I briefly describe where I was on September 11, 2001. If that’s not what you’re looking to read today, I completely understand. <3

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One of my fondest memories from high school now seems like something out of bygone era. On a crisp, pre-winter night, a group of my friends gathered on the plaza outside the movie theater at the mall around 10pm. We had printed tickets to the midnight release of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, and I, for one, was stoked. It was my favorite book in the series so far, and I couldn’t wait to see the Tri-Wizard Tournament play out on the big screen.

Without the ability to reserve our seats in advance, we arrived two hours ahead of time so we could stake our claim as soon as the doors to the theater opened. In 2005, our Nokia phones were not good for much more than calling our parents to pick us up or playing a few rounds of Snake, so we brought a pack of Uno cards to help pass the time. We balanced piles of cards on our knees as the theater began to fill with people and anticipation. When I darted to the bathroom one more time at exactly 11:57 as planned, I felt a momentary pang of regret that I hadn’t dressed up for the occasion, but my excitement won the day, and I settled into my seat just as the lights lowered and a cheer arose from the audience in the theater.

Photo by Tuyen Vo on Unsplash

When I say that I grew up with Harry Potter, I mean it literally: the seventh and final book in the series was published the same year I graduated from high school. Looking back, I marvel at the privilege of this experience. After discovering the series at age 10, I grew in my own understanding of myself and the world as I waited for each successive book to be published. By the time Harry was ready to take on his next year at Hogwarts, I was ready, too. Then when Hollywood cast actors my exact age to play Harry, Ron, and Hermione in the films, it felt like these characters were real people who could be my real friends.

Part of me wished they could be my real friends. I longed for my own acceptance letter to Hogwarts, for someone to whisk me away from my mundane life and give me an adventure, for a revelation that there was more to reality than what I could see.

Even though he goes to a school for people born with magical powers, Harry’s life at Hogwarts is somewhat mundane. There’s a snobby bully in his class and a teacher who makes his life miserable. He has a hard time adjusting to his new environment, feels like a bit of an outcast, and finds solace in a few close friends. Despite our vastly different course loads, his first few years at Hogwarts are not unlike my own middle school experience.

A few days into my seventh-grade year, all of the students at my small private middle school were called together for an important announcement. We thought we were in trouble for our uniforms. Instead, our principal told us that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center in New York City. A girl in my class raised her hand and asked, “Do they think it was intentional?” Our principal took a breath and answered, “Yes.”

Like Harry encountering Lord Voldemort for the first time in the Chamber of Secrets, I could feel the air rush out of the room and the heat rise in my stomach. A page turned in the book of my life as I realized, for the first time, that evil went far, far beyond a rude classmate or mean teacher. People – real people – were willing to do horrible, unimaginable, terrifying things in the name of principle or power. And I had no magic powers to stop them.

While I only made the connection between Lord Voldemort and the terrorism of the early 00’s recently, I still believe that Harry Potter helped me to process those events on a subconscious level. Like Harry, I looked to the trustworthy adults in my life to provide guidance and protection. My parents assured me that I was safe. My teachers made space to talk and grieve together as a school community. My faith convinced me that good would triumph over evil eventually, but it also called me to take action on the side of Goodness.

That’s a tall order for anyone, whether they are an American muggle or The Boy Who Lived. Luckily, Harry finds help, and so do I, in the form of our friends.

Harry’s friendship with Ron and Hermione is by far my favorite part of this series. Like many friendships, theirs begins with surface-level chance encounters and then deepens over time. Over the course of the story, several near-death experiences (which often include breaking multiple school rules) bond the trio in an irrevocable way. I love the line that the late and great Dame Maggie Smith delivers with equal parts admiration and exasperation as Professor McGonagall in the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince: “Why is it, whenever something happens, it is always you three?”

Then, even as the stakes get higher and higher, Ron and Hermione stand by Harry’s side. They have had many opportunities to leave Harry to his fate as The Chosen One, and yet they choose stay. At the end of book six, when all hope seems lost, the three acknowledge this truth:

“You said to us once before,” said Hermione quietly [to Harry], “that there was time to turn back if we wanted to. We’ve had time, haven’t we?”

“We’re with you whatever happens,” said Ron.¹

Hermione and Ron are not obligated by blood or vow to support Harry in his quest to defeat Lord Voldemort. Their loyalty to him is a gift of sacrificial love. They have already faced evil by his side and won; to some extent they know what this final leg of the journey will likely cost. But out of their own free will they leave all they know behind and follow Harry into the unknown.

Many people – both inside and outside of the story – say that Harry’s mother’s act of sacrificial love is what defines Harry: it saves his life and sets him on a trajectory that aligns him as a foil to Lord Voldemort. While that is certainly true, it’s the sacrificial love of his friends and mentors, who are willing to fight and die by his side, that gives Harry the strength he needs to meet Lord Voldemort in their final confrontation.

Growing up, I longed for an adventure like Harry’s, but I also longed for friends like Ron and Hermione. I wanted friends who would walk into the darkness by my side, not just support me from afar. I looked for friends who would know and see and love me in a way that called me into greatness. I hoped for friends who could share my triumphs because they had been there every step of the way along the path to victory.

Thankfully, I’m old enough and wise enough now to recognize that I do have several people like this in my life. The circumstances of our meeting have fallen away, and they have chosen to stay. We have faced evil together, in one form or another, and remained loyal to each other, often making sacrifices for the good of the other. And I am a better person for their love – literally, thank God!

Whether you are facing a dark magical lord or the devastating signs of our times, friends are essential. The saints knew this truth and clung to each other whenever they could. I am consistently moved when I think of St. Ignatius dreaming up the Jesuits with St. Peter Claver and St. Francis Xavier in their dorm room at the University of Paris or St. Clare running up to St. Francis after one of his sermons in Assisi asking to follow in his footsteps as he drew ever closer to Christ. Friendship is a good and holy and necessary gift if we want to be the people God made us to be and bring about God’s kingdom on Earth.

Jesus himself knew this, calling the 12 apostles to be his close friends and Peter, James, and John to be closer still. But those aren’t Jesus’ only friends. Shockingly, wondrously, miraculously, He calls each one of us to be his friend too, making the ultimate gift of sacrificial love, so that we may stand by his side in the fight against evil and enjoy the glory of his triumph in Heaven one day. He says it himself: “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”²

Evil abounds in our world today; there is no denying it. And loneliness and lies creep up on us all, often tapping us on the shoulder in the darkest of times. When we forge friendships out of sacrificial love, we can withstand even the deepest sorrows and the most insurmountable challenges. And what if you don’t have a friend? I can tell you that there is One, extending his hand to you from the cross, inviting you into an adventure.

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If you liked this essay, would you forward it to a friend? Thanks for your kindness!

What I’ve been reading and writing lately:

• My full review of

  Christine Marie Eberle
  ’s book Finding God Along the Way is now live at the Englewood Review of Books!

• I recently finished Four Seasons in Rome by Anthony Doerr and I found it deeply moving. If themes of parenthood, the creative life, and spirituality speak to you, I would highly recommend it!

Coming up…

I’m certainly no Anthony Doerr, but his book has compelled me to give writing about Rome a shot. Wish me luck!

1. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, page 651.

2. John 15:13