People in the News

Ashley Rhodes-Courter

Until I read the Sorcerer's Stone, books hadn't interested me. Harry was the first fictional character I could relate to which is why these books changed my life. There were amazing similarities between Harry Potter's background and mine. Here was a boy exactly my age that also didn't have a caring family. My mother's neglect put me in foster care for ten years. Even though the Dursleys treated Harry cruelly, he only had one set of foster parents while I moved fourteen times. At one home, I was beaten, forced to swallow hot sauce, run laps in the blistering sun, squat in awkward positions, and food was withheld. I didn't sleep under the stairs, but I did share a claustrophobic room with eight girls. When I was lonely and miserable, I dreamed about magical worlds and fantasized about being rescued by someone like Hagrid.

My life took a magical turn when I went to the Children's Home. Instead of being placed in a Hogwart's house like Gryffindor or Slytherin, I lived in Lyke's Cottage, which competed with five others for a house cup, very much like they do in the books. I wasn't being prepared for a life of wizardry, but I was being prepared to be adopted. Finally, at age 11, I met my new family. Once I wished I had magical powers to end my suffering, but now I don't need any because I have everything I could have conjured up.

Harry has a lightning scar on his forehead to remind him of his past. There's one on my back to remind me of mine. We're still the same age and we both have more battles to fight, but Harry's pains are make-believe while at last I have real parents who love me.

Girl Harnesses Potter Magic (pdf)