My Literary Tattoo

In August of 2011 I got my first literary tattoo. I had an outline of what I wanted, so we went to the tattoo shop I had researched and called a week prior to make an appointment with. I knew what I wanted, and I had no doubts that I wanted it. I knew that getting a "fandom" based tattoo was risky and would not be understood by some people but I felt so connected to Harry Potter because of my Nanny who had passed over three years before this moment that I decided to just go with my gut. I had this idea in mind for almost a year and I was going to just go for it.



If you know Harry Potter at least a little, you know it's incredibly quotable. J.K. Rowling has an amazing talent when it comes to writing and story telling that I could have picked from a long list of quotes and the tattoo would have been meaningful. In the end I decided on the quote "It's real for us" which is from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows chapter The Prince's Tale. I picked this quote not because of Snape, the character that says it, but because of the double meaning behind the words he says. He's talking to Lily when he's talking about Hogwarts and how it's real for them. However, I assume many bookish people have gotten caught up in a story only to be told by someone who isn't as bookish that it's "just a story" and it's "not real" like we literary nerds have lost sight of reality. Of course as a literal concept, it's not real, but at the same time, it is. Hogwarts is just as real to me as the house my Nanny lived in when I was a child. Both are places I visit when I want to be with her. Harry Potter and Hogwarts was always something we talked and theorized about. When I went to her house we'd watch the movies and make our own trivia questions. It was real for her and it'll always be real to me. Along with countless other Harry Potter fans.

There was a little silence. Lily had picked up a fallen twig and twirled it in the air, and Harry knew that she was imagining sparks trailing from it. Then she dropped the twig, leaned in toward the boy, and said, “It is real, isn’t it? It’s not a joke? Petunia says you’re lying to me. Petunia says there isn’t a Hogwarts. It is real, isn’t it?”

“It’s real for us,” said Snape.

Thanks for reading! 

Do you have any literary tattoos? Do you want any? What about any tattoos linked to people in your life? Please share, I'd love to know.