I want to focus on one grubby place from this chapter, The Leaky Cauldron.
Hagrid is an outcast in the Muggle world due to his size, appearance, and ability to do magic, He doesn’t fit in and gets agitated by it. He then goes into this unremarkable place and immediately feels at home, the barman even greeting him with an assumption of his usual routine, It’s a pathway into his bubble. It reminds me of the places in our lives, both literal and figurative that act as pathways to our own bubbles. The dinners with the clubs we are part of, The chat rooms we go to, to talk about our interests. I’m thankful for those bubbles and the pathways that lead to them for they help us feel at home.
The Leaky Cauldron also comes at a time in the story when Harry starts having second thoughts about his leap of faith. We come across such opportunities in life where we take a leap of faith, trusting that it’s all going to work out. We do it with our work, taking up the challenge of being a beginner again, hoping it would put us on the right path to a fulfilling career. We do this for the love towards a significant other and be truly vulnerable with someone not related to you in any way, hoping it would lead to a stronger relationship. We do this when we move and uproot the support system that helps us function, hoping to be happier on the other side. I’m made up for Harry Potter that this insignificant place between a big book shop and a record store opened up a world of Magic. I hope it’ll reassure me on my leaps.