Like so many 16-year-olds, Johnnie Blue is a huge fan of Harry Potter. The books, he tells Today.com, saved his life. A victim of bullying, he had found solace in J.K. Rowling’s immensely popular series and explains that he loves “how detailed they are” and the fact that “you just get such a clear image in your head of what exactly it would look like. And the friendships. And the message that they portray throughout the story: that love wins over evil.”

Little did he know then the surprise that he would get. It all started on Twitter last year when Blue was able to get Rowling to reply on account of his “Dobby eyes.” When the two met at the Harrogate Festival in London, the author invited him back at the end of the event after Blue told her about their Twitter exchange. He then gave her a Harry Potter-themed notebook as a gift and with it, a letter thanking her for helping him through hard times.

Exactly one month after the meeting, a letter arrived for Blue in an enveloped lined with purple tissue bearing a “Chamber of Secrets” stamp.


In it, Rowling wrote:

“What you say about Harry helping you at what was clearly a dreadful time in your life means more to me than I can easily express," reads part of the letter. "I freely confess that I loathe bullying and the way it is still so often 'handled' in schools. Your experience is shocking and disturbing and that you have turned out to be a compassionate, moral, highly motivated person is high testimony to your courage. Gryffindor for you, my lad.”

Aww. Day made.

PHOTOS: Instagram @Johnnie Rowling