Dear Potterheads, 

Once again you’ve done your magic, with emails pouring into our inbox by the minute, reminding us of the Owl Post deluge on Harry’s 11th birthday! Thank you, dear t2 readers, for writing in so beautifully and so passionately on your fave magical creater for the Harry Potter films. Many of you exceeded the 50-word limit and pleaded to be allowed some grace. We wanted to, the letters were just so awww, but finally we decided to only consider those with 50-odd words since that was the rule and breaking it would be unfair to the ones who did manage to say it all within the limit. But we’ll always cherish your letters. Cheers!

My favourite magical creature from the Harry Potter books and films is the Boggart — a shape-shifter which dwells in dark places and takes on the form of its victim’s worst fear — because Boggarts taught me to be courageous when everything seems dark and scary, to look my fears in the eye and LAUGH! 

Parul Agrawal, Salt Lake

My favourite magical creature from the Harry Potter books and films is the unsung hero, Dobby the free elf, whose strange love for socks tickled us and whose unflinching loyalty to Harry Potter made us cry when he died, so that the trio might live. 

Sampreeti Das, Abhyudoy Housing Complex

My favourite magical creature from the Harry Potter books and films is the hippogriff. It remains close to my heart because it symbolises all that a true Gryffindor is — brave, fearless, free, arrogant at times, but also one of the best and most loyal friends you can ever find. 

Debeshi Mandal, Barasat

The three winners got Inside the Magic, The Art of the Film and The Case of Beasts — collector’s editions published by Harper Collins around the release of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them on November 18. 

CONSOLATION PRIZE 

Three consolation prize winners have received a Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them colouring book published by Harper Collins. 

My favourite magical creature from the Harry Potter books and films is, if it can be termed one, the... Veela! My life would have been way more worth living if I had been an enchanting, cold and dangerous (yeah, I need to be that too!) Veela. *sigh* My Pottermore nickname was, in fact, Veela.

Megha Ghosh Dastidar, Durgapur 

My favourite magical creature from the Harry Potter books and films is the phoenix, because they are extremely beautiful, fiercely loyal to their masters and have magical healing tears. If I could choose any creature as a pet, I would choose the phoenix because then I would have no fear of my pet dying as it would just rise from its ashes! 

Meghna Nandi, New Barrackpore 

The “cuddly”, fluffy black creature, niffler. Thinking of these “useful little treasure detectors diving in and out of the patch of earth as though it was water” leaves me spellbound. Too bad they can’t be kept at home as pets, but then again, I won’t mind them wrecking my house. 

Shraddha Lahoti, Siliguri