July 31 might seem like any old normal date to others, but many people around the world also remember it as Harry Potter’s birthday. The Boy Who Lived is now canonically the Boy Who Lived to 42.
Earlier this year, we got to relive the magic of the Wizarding World through the Harry Potter 20th anniversary special. For the Chosen One’s birthday, we celebrate the beloved series he stars in with seven sure signs that you’re a certified Potterhead.
You still know your Hogwarts house off the top of your head
It’s probably a given that we’ve read all the books and seen all the movies. We can still remember as the four Hogwarts Houses were introduced and we could almost instantly tell which one we belonged in. We’ve taken online quizzes and read up on each house, and even seen bits of ourselves in characters from those houses. Even as the series ended and the Harry Potter audience grew up, when the question, “What’s your Hogwarts house?” comes up, we barely need a second to remember.
Harry Potter memes always show up on your social media feed
The algorithm knows! There is no shortage of memes about Harry Potter being posted on social media every day, and there are some meme groups on Facebook that have hundreds of thousands of members who still love to talk about the series. Whether they’re about the movies or books, if they’re critical or enthusiastic about the series canon, these memes are still keeping the fandom alive and well-fed!
You were around for Pottermore
Who else still remembers finding out their Hogwarts house, wand, and Patronus on Pottermore? The iconic website was the source for all things Wizarding before it got shut down in 2019. I still remember spending hours clicking through the Moments in the Story Navigator, brewing potions, practicing spells and “dueling” other users. These activites also earned you house points and could help your chances in winning the Pottermore House Cup.
In 2015, many of these key features were removed and the website was announced to be undergoing a redesign. Since 2019, Pottermore content was migrated to the new Wizarding World Website— still pretty fun, but lacking the games and book features that made it so exciting for fans in the first place.
You can’t wait for the Hogwarts Legacy video game
I’m sure a few of us have played the games of the Harry Potter series, despite some of them being utterly boring (Order of the Phoenix game, I’m looking at you) or an unwitting victim of the times, eventually becoming meme fodder. In any case, fans can all agree that it’s high time for a new one.
Announced in September 2020, the Hogwarts Legacy video game instantly garnered a lot of attention from fans of the series, and generates more and more hype as new details continue to come out. While the game is set centuries before we ever met the likes of Harry Potter, Albus Dumbledore or Newt Scamander, we still get to explore Hogwarts like never before, seeing locations that we were never privy to in the films or books, and experiencing what it would really be like to study at Hogwarts. The open-world setting also allows us to explore the grounds around Hogwarts and greater Wizarding Britain, becoming a powerful witch or wizard that could potentially change the course of its history.
Currently, the game is scheduled to come out in the holiday season of this year, so update those Christmas wishlists!
You still cry watching the movies
Or even while rereading the books. We grew up with these characters, after all, so to start all the way from the beginning and get immersed in the story again? It always hits us right in the feels.
There’s always that one HP moment that makes you cry no matter how many times you’ve seen or read it, and I probably have no less than ten off the top of my head right now. So if you’re planning a Harry Potter marathon soon, you should probably get some tissues ready.
You can still quote the movies perfectly
We’ve had some iconic lines. With the series boasting a huge amount of acclaimed British actors, it shouldn’t be a surprise that some scenes completely stole the show and are practically embedded in our brains. Some of them are hilarious (“I’m not an owl!”), some are inspiring (“The ones that love us never really leave us”), and some are downright heartbreaking (“Always”).
Visiting the Wizarding World of Harry Potter is on your bucket list
Trips to amusement parks can be tedious and tiring, but you’re set on making a visit to one of the Harry Potter theme parks at least once in your life (or maybe you’ve gone already!) Who doesn’t want to see the Hogwarts castle with their own eyes, explore Diagon Alley, try butterbeer, or eat some of Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans?
The Harry Potter series seems like it’s always just been around— just random books and movies that were in the background of our lives— but for some of us, it was a story and a world that made our childhoods so much more magical and meaningful. Happy birthday, Harry!
