It's not easy to find stories that light the way in dark times like ours. However, the image of Alex Paty, who was dragged into the darkness by two relatives at the age of 11 and was found a few days ago in France six years later, reminds us that even in the saddest moments, light and hope can come from the young. Things. In his case, Harry Potter books.

The little magician born from a pen JK Rowling “He was my only friend” Popular newspaper headlines sun Who posted an exclusive interview with Alex. The English boy, now seventeen, disappeared in 2017 during a holiday in southern Spain with his mother Melanie and grandfather David. Despite the confusing wanderings in which he was involved, against his will, by the goblins in this one A Christmas fairy talethe teenager found comfort in the pages of the fantasy saga set at Hogwarts. “I had a Harry Potter box set. I'm obsessed with it and must have read every book at least 20 times.” The boy announced, adding that he was wearing it “Everywhere even if they are huge and take up a lot of space. They are great books. My main hobby was reading because in most of the places we were we couldn’t get Wi-Fi.”.

Mother and grandfather were part of the spiritual community Hippie Which feared, among other things, state control. After a period in Spain, the trio moved to Morocco and then to France. Alex decided to abandon his family when his mother started talking about moving to Finland. Another reason for running away is not receiving school education all these years of working “Five hours a day, five days a week.” In exchange for food and shelter. The only way to learn something is to immerse yourself in the adventures of a school of aspiring wizards that continues to make millions of readers dream around the world.

In addition to Harry Potter There are two other heroes who rescued young Alex from obscurity: his grandmother Suzanne Caruana who, as legal guardian, never resigned herself to the idea of ​​never seeing her grandson again, and Fabien Oxende, the French deliveryman who found nearby Toulouse while the teenager wandered for hours, sleeping during the day and walking at night in danger. Risk of collision with cars.

Many details of the story are not yet entirely clear. It is not known whether the mother is actually in the Nordic country and whether the grandfather is still alive. The young man's story contains some contradictions, and it appears that he provided some false information for fear of his family being arrested. “I lied to try to protect them but I know they'll get caught anyway. She's a great person and I love her but my mother's not a great mother.” He told reporters who interviewed him.

Alex is passionate about computers and dreams of making up for lost time by attending university when possible. Meanwhile, after returning home to the town of Oldham near Manchester, after tremblingly embracing his grandmother Susan, he discovered that the bed he had last slept in was now too small for him. Perhaps he has not yet realized that in the life he has returned to there is no basement waiting for him as happened for Harry in Rowling's novels. Now that he's able to really start planning his future again, who knows if he'll actually have the chance to thank his favorite book friend for doing amazing new magic.