JK Rowling donates $1.25M for homeless as ‘Harry Potter’ fans make #BattleofHogwarts trend on 22nd anniversary
May 2 is a very important day in the ‘Harry Potter’ canon. It is on this day in 1998 when the final showdown took place between Death Eaters and the Order of the Phoenix, between good and evil, between Harry Potter and Lord Voldemort. So, on the 22nd anniversary of “The Battle of Hogwarts”, it was a trend on Twitter with more than 20,000 fans tweeting about it.
‘Harry Potter’ author J. K. Rowling took to Twitter on this important occasion to say, “Today's the 22nd anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts, but I'm going to be honest and say that it feels inappropriate to talk about fictional deaths today. Too many people are losing loved ones in the real world.”
She further said, “So on this anniversary of a great wizarding victory, I'm thinking of the people who're out there doing their jobs to protect us and our way of life. I have three key workers in my immediate family, and like all such relatives, I'm torn between pride and anxiety,” adding, “As ever in a crisis of this sort, the poorest and most vulnerable are hit hardest, so in honor of the Battle of Hogwarts, I'll be making a donation of £1M ($1.25M), half of which will go to crisis.org.uk, who are helping the homeless during the pandemic, and half of which will go to refuge.org.uk, because we know that domestic abuse has, sadly, increased hugely during the lockdown.”
In response to her charity, Refuge tweeted: “This is wonderful news – and comes at a time when we have seen calls to our already overwhelmed helpline increase by 50% during Covid-19. Our huge thanks, J. K. Rowling – your support will underpin our frontline specialist services and enable us to reach more abused women who need us.”
Jon Sparkes, chief executive of Crisis, said of the donation: “We are overwhelmed to have the support of J. K. Rowling and we'd like to say a huge thank you for her incredibly generous donation. People experiencing homelessness during the outbreak have been hit especially hard. The money donated by J. K. Rowling will go towards our frontline response to the pandemic, helping us to carry on supporting people who are homeless across Great Britain at this very difficult time. Together we can protect more people from the worst effects of the outbreak and make sure they are safely housed when it is over.”
And while fans of ‘Harry Potter’ cheered Rowling’s generosity, more were interested in reminiscing the great battle on its anniversary. They remembered the deaths that took place in the battle -- namely, Severus Snape, Colin Creevey, Remus Lupin, Nymphadora Tonks, and Fred Weasley. A fan wrote, “Today we will remember the way they fought, the things they did, the courage they had, the strength it took to fight the darkest wizard of all time, the hearts that were broke and the friends that were lost.”
They also wished a happy birthday to a character who was not yet born at the time of the battle, “Happy Birthday to Victoire Weasley! Daughter of Bill and Fleur Weasley, born on the anniversary of the #BattleOfHogwarts hence her name.”
The official account for the New York Comic Con even made a choose your own adventure game out of the event on the anniversary.