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The Real Reason Kids Love Hogwarts Has Nothing to Do With Magic

The Real Reason Kids Love Hogwarts Has Nothing to Do With Magic
Image credit: Legion-Media

Ever since the first Harry Potter book came out, children all around the world began impatiently waiting to turn eleven years old and receive a letter from Hogwarts.

Even now, many years later, kids still dream about what they would do when they get to study in one of the most famous castles in fiction history.

It's safe to say that Hogwarts mesmerizes children from both wizard families of the Harry Potter world and Muggle families from our reality.

It only seems right: after all, where else could you possibly learn spells, brew potions, fly on a broom, and befriend various magical creatures?

But even though Hagrid and Dumbledore think otherwise, Hogwarts is an incredibly dangerous place.

Moving and disappearing stairs, ancient monsters hiding under the castle, sentient trees that try to kill everyone who gets close enough, and the Forbidden Forest where the students are sent for punishment…

We don't need to tell you about all the dangers Hogwarts holds — and we couldn't if we tried as there are just so many.

Even parents seem to realize it at some points in the story: for instance, when the basilisk attacks began, many children were taken back home for safety.

Fortunately, the school remained open… And people kept dying or getting mangled in it.

The thing that both real and fictional parents fail to understand is that all the dangers of Hogwarts are the main reason kids love it so much!

When you're a kid, safety seems boring: you strive for adventures, and Hogwarts has oh so many opportunities for them.

If the school was safe, there would've been no place for heroism there, and its popularity would've been far less among children.

Think of other popular franchises for children: this is a thing that's common in all of them. Dangerous adventures, the type that no sane parent would ever let their kids have.

Pokemon, Avatar The Last Airbender, and many more — all of them are exciting for children as they can associate with the main characters, who are also underage, and enjoy the wonderful feats of grave dangers and close encounters even though staying perfectly safe in real life.