J. K. Rowling Writes Letter as Dumbledore to Shooting Victim

Aug 06, 2014

Posted by: Mel

J.K. Rowling

Fifteen-year-old Cassidy Stay, who was the only survivor of a shooting that left her parents and siblings dead, received a letter and care package from J. K. Rowling following a speech she made just three days after the shooting, where she quoted Dumbledore. The speech went viral and J. K. Rowling reached out to Ms. Stay by writing a letter in the voice of Dumbledore:

At the memorial service three days after the horrific incident, Stay gave a speech and quoted Dumbledore in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. “‘Happiness can be found even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light,’” she said to an audience of supporters. “I know that my mom, dad, Bryan, Emily, Becca and Zach are in a much better place and that I’ll be able to see them again one day.”

The tragic story and her use of Dumbledore’s words grabbed the attention of well-wishers around the world, and word appears to have reached Rowling. According to LDS.net and a Facebook page that wanted to set up a meeting between Stay and Rowling, the Harry Potter author sent an amazing care package.

“This afternoon, I talked to a friend of Cassidy’s who confirmed that J.K. Rowling did, in fact, write her a personalized letter from ‘Dumbledore’ (hand-written with purple ink),” the manager of the page wrote. “She was also sent a wand, an acceptance letter to Hogwarts with a school supply list, along with the 3rd book with JK’s autograph. I’m so excited and ecstatic that we were all able to make a difference! How wonderful.”

You can read more here. Many thanks to Hypable for the tip.




The Leaky Cauldron is not associated with J.K. Rowling, Warner Bros., or any of the individuals or companies associated with producing and publishing Harry Potter books and films.