"Happiness can be found even in the darkest of times if one only remembers to turn on the light," Professor Albus Dumbledore said in Harry Potter: The Prisoner of Azkaban.
Cassidy Stay used those words at a July memorial ceremony honoring both her parents and four siblings killed in a shooting rampage at their Houston, Texas home. When Harry Potter author JK Rowling learned of the speech, she wrote a letter to Stay from the perspective of the wise Hogwarts professor, according to the Independent.
"We can confirm that JK Rowling was in touch with Cassidy Stay, however, the contents of the letter remain private," a spokesperson for the author said.
Rowling heard about the quote through a Facebook campaign page launched to unite the author with Stay. "After witnessing the murder of her entire family, Cassidy Stay optimistically quote Albus Dumbledore," the site said. "We want JK Rowling to visit this brave girl."
The 15-year-old shooting survivor instead received the handwritten letter and other Potter-related items, including an acceptance letter to Hogwarts and a wand.
Stay also received over $300,000 in donations to a fund in her family's name and messages of support from across the United States.
The young lone survivor managed to stay live by playing dead while her aunt's ex-husband Ronald Lee Haskell allegedly executed her immediate family. After he left, Stay called the police who arrived in time to save her grandparents from suffering the same fate as their daughter Katie, son-in-law Stephen and four grandchildren Brian, Emily, Rebecca and Zachary.
"Stephen and Katie Stay and their beautiful children were an amazing and resilient family. They live to help others, both at church and in their neighborhood. We love them beyond words," the grandparents said in a statement. "We are shocked and devastated by this tragedy that has taken these precious souls away from us."
