What would have been different in your life if you never read Harry Potter?

[Zara]

Alla:
> What would have been different in your life had Harry Potter books 
> never existed? It does not have to be anything monumental, I mean 
> these ARE just books, but any change will do.

zgirnius:
Gosh, this is hard to answer. Their existence, and my discovery of them 
and the fandom, have really affected my life since after HBP came out. 
My second child had been born recently, and I was looking around for 
something to do that was fun, involved other people, and did not 
require paying a babysitter. Would I have found something else? Maybe...

I have met people both online and later offline, that I would surely 
not have met otherwise. My involvement in fandom also reminded me of a 
long-neglected old hobby (writing fiction) which I gave up in the early 
1990s, while in grad school, and never picked back up again, until I 
realized that there are fans out there that would read *my* stories 
about the HP universe. I have now happily resumed and find I like it as 
much as I ever did.