Wizards, Witches, Wands and werewolves. It all sounds and seems so fantastical and fairy-tale-like that we can't help but be drawn in by it's charms. Then as you progress with Harry through school, and his adventures you realise that him and his friends are growing up, falling out and falling in love. You realise that this is more than just a series of stories, this is one, long, in-depth and meticulously well thought-out diary of a young man, thrown against hardship and evil. Yet it is the little things which pull us in. The perfectly written friendship between Harry and Ron. The keenly remembered relationships between student and teacher.The mannerisms of Molly Weasley who reminds us all of simpler times, when our own mothers would fuss and swoon and care for us. All get the reader hooked early on in the series and allows the deeper meaning and true power lining the pages to come out and hit us with it's full force.
For a children's tale. The Harry Potter series swells with deep meaning and fascinatingly well-planned plot-lines. Every aspect of the series as a whole has direct comparisons with the real world in which we live, yet it is so well concealed within the magical background that it lies hidden, seeping out it's meanings and lessens without being consciously processed. It just sort of.. Sinks in.
Take. For example. Voldemort and his loyal followers or "Death eaters" as they are known within the books. They brutally seek to oppress all non-magical people and are genocidal, prejudiced and hateful. All of which are traits witness all to often in the real world. The beauty of the Harry Potter story line is that these are the main "enemy" of the tales. The evil with which the brave young hero must contend. Yet, despite the overall plot being plucked straight out of any fairytale written within the last two centuries. A real, deep and meaningful comparison can be made to the problems of today's real world. Especially the United Kingdom and Rowling's home city of London where many people are actively prejudiced and racial hatred is a far to frequent an occurance. What Rowling does however, in her own delightfully skilled way is unravel the obsurdity of such feelings and behaviour. Through plot lines big and small. Hermione Granger for example; Is the most singularly skilled Witch of the stories and her skills save dear Harry more times than it is possible to mention. However, Voldemort and his minions would have her tortured, jailed and disgraced for being "muggle-born" as her parents were not magical. she is reffered to as a "mud blood" several times illustrating how the death eaters have an irrational hatred of her kind.
Hermione's Skills as a witch however, Prove that the Death eaters claims that she is somehow inferior are complete nonsense and her closeness to Harry, (and hence, the reader) firmly illustrates that this is the case. That Irrational, reason-less prejudice is wrong on every level of the word.
This is Also illustrated through the main evil character himself. Known as Lord Voldemort. He rallies an army in order to rid the magical world of every witch and wizard who is not of "pure-blood" (descendent from Magical parents) However through the course of the book it is revealed that he himself was descended from a Muggle and a squib (a failed witch) thus showing clearly the hypocrisy behind the racism which tears the world of the books apart.
There is much, much more meaning behind these books than I have given credit to. However to explain it all sufficiently would take longer to type than the books themselves. Suffice it to say that Harry Potter is far more than a mythical wizard out of a book. He is in fact, an Idea we can all rally behind in the real world.