This time I didn’t mean to write Harry Potter lyrics.

The plan was to personalise Ed Sheeran’s “Castle on the Hill” with nostalgic memories from my own childhood. Because most of these lyrics were Harry Potter-related anyway, I just went with it.

Hogwarts Castle on the Hill

When I was eight years old I met some friends
They were living in a book and in my head
I tasted the pumpkin juice through the pages that Jo wrote down
I was younger then, take me back to when I
Found my letter, broke its seal
Made magic spells with wizard peers
I can’t believe it’s twenty years, so long since Sorcerer’s Stone
But Hogwarts is my real home

I’m on my way
Flying my Nimbus down those Hogsmeade lanes
Humming to Hedwig’s Theme
And I miss the way you make me feel
Magic’s real
We watched the books end over the castle on the hill

Fifteen years old and writing my own Daily Prophet
Reading through the debates and the fan theories and defending Snape to my friends
Had my first book release at midnight,
I got most of the trivia right
But I was younger then, take me back to when
We found magazines with clips to save
We’d buy the chocolate with cards to trade
My friends and I have not dressed up in so long in robes we’d sewn
But Hogwarts is our real home

I’m on my way
Flying my Nimbus down those Hogsmeade lanes
Humming to Hedwig’s Theme
And I miss the way you make me feel
Magic’s real
We watched the books end over the castle on the hill

One friend’s into Game of Thrones
One likes Hunger Games the most
One makes unboxing videos
One wears superhero clothes
Most have Hamilton memorised
One left us for Twilight but
These people read with me and
Hogwarts is our real home

And I’m on my way, I still remember
Those pre-book 7 days
When we did not know what hallows were
And I miss the way you make me feel, magic’s real
We watched the books end over the castle on the hill
Over the castle on the hill
Over the castle on the hill

A funny thing I’d like to share

Everything in the lyrics is true, except that I wasn’t 15. I wrote The Daily Prophet when I was 9, and attended my first book release at age 12, but 15 sounded better rhythmically.

A little while after writing these lyrics, I saw in print in the Guardian magazine, an article about Harry Potter superfans, featuring…me!

As the lyrics suggest, I did save magazine clippings, and wallpapered my closet with them. Not just of movie stills, but of literally anything Harry Potter related. It occurred to me that as a child I would have probably cut out the picture of me and put it on my wall.

You can read the piece here.

P.S. Lumos Your Life is now open for registration! Join our virtual Hogwarts before the train leaves – you know when ;)

This song is filed under RAVENCLAW for wit, and for indulging in a project just for fun.