As you can tell from my username, I am a huge Harry Potter fan. However, I wasn’t always. I used to be a Twihard (a twilight obsessed fan-girl). In fact I was one during the early stages of puberty, which is the age where most Twitards fall into the ‘romantic’ trap.

Here’s my story about how I went from ‘Twihard’ to ‘Indifferent’ to ‘Potterhead’:

I first read Twilight as a recommendation from a fellow member of the Teen Advisory Board of my library. I finished that book quickly and moved onto the next. The library didn’t have Eclipse so I read it ‘Twilight, New Moon, Breaking Dawn, Eclipse.’ I went to the movies, had all the books and even had a blanket and jacket with Twilight plastered on it.

It didn’t really occur to me that maybe something was wrong with the series until I saw New Moon in theaters. I found myself leaving to go to the bathroom when Bella talked to the Cullens about being changed because I felt sick to my stomach. Even though I had read the books it didn’t occur to me in my fan-girl haze how much Bella was willing to give up for the boy she shouldn’t even be with until I saw it on screen. At that time I was around thirteen and was very influenced by media, so I thought it was just a random feeling and eventually I went back to the movie.

A while after that I re-read a series I hadn’t since early sixth grade (before my Twilight Phase), that is Percy Jackson and the Olympians. While I read it I felt myself relating more to Annabeth and her feelings towards Percy than I ever did for Bella and Edward. Again, I didn’t really tell people about my new found love for Percy Jackson because everyone was into Twilight at my school and I was the first one in my grade to start reading it (Small School). I was worried about how people would see me so I acted like I still cared about Twilight, when really I didn’t care.

Then Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 came out and for the first time people I heard normally talk about Twilight seemed to forget it existed. Now I had watched the Harry Potter Movies when I was younger, my friends and I would even run around in the backyard acting like we were Hermione and Ginny while the deatheater (a black lab) chased after us, but I never read the books. But as the date for the last movie approached two of my best friends encouraged me to read the books, and I was hooked.

I’ve been a Potterhead ever since.

Some Reasons I prefer Harry Potter to Twilight:

J.K. Rowling is original. – Smeyer just retold a romance filled with Mary-Sues.
J.K. Rowling put a little of herself into her characters. – Smeyer IS Bella Swan (See Picture above).
J.K. Rowling made Sirus Black a shape shifter first. – Smeyer just changed the first name, added abs, ect.
J.K. Rowling made me think. – Smeyer wants a man to think for me.
J.K. Rowling made us feel like we could be the DA. – Smeyer shows you need to be pretty to be a Cullen.
J.K. Rowling gave me magic. – Smeyer gave me a guide to tell if someone is stalking you.
J.K. Rowling created Quidditch. – Smeyer ruined baseball.

I’ve read fanfics better than Twilight.

Yours Always (Harry Potter fans understand the reference),

RonGetYourWand