Harry Potter Fans Celebrate His 39th Birthday

Every year, fans of witchcraft and wizardry have two very important birthdays to celebrate on July 31st. The final day of the month is the birthday of Harry Potter creator and author J.K. Rowling, who was born in 1965. Given that the day is so personal to her, Rowling chose to give her titular hero the same birthday.

In Rowling's beloved fictional world, Harry Potter was born on July 31, 1980, which makes him 39 years old this year. It's pretty wild to think about the magical, school-saving child as being a nearly-40-year-old adult, but that's just a testament to how long Harry Potter has had a major influence over so many of our lives.

Both Rowling and Harry Potter share the July 31st birthday, but it's the character who gets most of the credit on social media. Fans all over the world have taken to Twitter on Wednesday to wish their favorite literary hero a Happy Birthday as he turns 39.

Here are just a few of them: