A six-year-old Harry Potter enthusiast who was given a wand by a kind stranger after losing his has said he feels “like a wizard now”.
Richard Brown saved up pocket money he got from completing chores for his grandparents, who he calls nanna and grandpop, over several weeks to purchase a £33 Sword of Gryffindor wand on November 10, from the Harry Potter shop on Platform 9 3/4 at King’s Cross Station.
However, the youngster – whose favourite character from the JK Rowling book series is Harry – was left “sad” after he accidentally left it on a London Overground to Watford Junction that same day.
Richard’s father Matthew, who is 51 and works in property management, was contacted by a friend who informed him about an online lost and found service on Facebook called Lostbox, who posted about the situation on November 12 to see if anyone could help.
As if by magic, a woman called Angela Mcgeoch commented below the post about her 13-year-old son’s wand which was “sat in a box in his room” that she wanted to give to Richard – and on November 16, a “special” delivery arrived at the Brown’s home in Watford.
“I was happy as I don’t get post a lot,” Richard told the PA news agency.
“I feel like a wizard now I have a wand.”
Mr Brown, one of the first single gay fathers through surrogacy in the UK, added Ms Mcgeoch also sent his son a letter from “Hogwarts”.
Richard read out the letter, which said: “Dear Richard, it was brought to my attention that you had misplaced your wand.
“I find this very sad as you were just becoming a fantastic ‘wizard’.
“Therefore I hope you accept this one as a replacement.
“Safe spells, Hogwarts.”
Hundreds of people interacted with a follow-up post from Lostbox on November 16 about the young Harry Potter fan with his new wand.
“The reaction really did surprise me and just the fact Angela reached out was really heartfelt and I do believe there’s goodness in the world,” Mr Brown told PA.
“I wanted to post on my (personal Facebook) page as well as Lostbox to let people know she’s an incredible person.
“She also gave magic in the fact she actually wrote a letter to him; it might as well have been a letter from Father Christmas because he completely lit up.”
Richard has been busy perfecting his spells with his wand and making his way through the Harry Potter books.
Ms Mcgeoch, 46, who is based in Washington, in Tyne and Wear, told PA when she saw the Lostbox post, she instantly remembered her son Harley Burgess had a wand he no longer uses as he “lost his magic”.
“I thought, I have one so I commented on the post to see if the family wanted it,” she added.
After seeing the follow-up post from Lostbox, Ms Mcgeoch said it felt “worthwhile” to carry out the kind gesture to see the youngster smile.
“It was so lovely to see (Richard) smile and I showed my son and he was over the moon and said he was glad he was happy,” she added.