I had a dream!

"'Tell me one last thing,' said Harry. 'Is this real? Or has this been happening inside my head?'
Dumbledore beamed at him, and his voice sounded loud and strong in Harry's ears even though the bright mist was descending again, obscuring his figure.
'Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?'"

Now, beginning a post with a quote, and a quote from Harry Potter at that does seem strange, especially considering that throughout my entire education I was warned against doing so and had to painstakingly follow the 'point, quote, comment' method. Whoops. 5 points from Gryffindor I guess. But there is some method to my madness.

We all dream whether it be in our sleep or not. I don't think anybody can say that their mind has never wandered off on a tangent at one point or another (in my case, this is quite a regular occurrence). This often brings a welcome distraction to the monotony of reality, providing a brief escape from the limits of the physical world, allowing us to swim in our imaginations and fantasise to our hearts' content.

However, there has always been a clouded barrier between reality and our dreams. Inevitably, either our alarms will go off, teachers will inconveniently interrupt us (often incorrectly insisting that their drivel is much more important), or our subconscious reminds us that it does not look normal to stare blankly at a light switch for a prolonged period of time. Subsequently, our daydream comes to an end, dragging us back down to reality and filling us with a deep sense of longing to return.

Having set out my preliminary idea, I feel it is now time to explain the extract from The Deathly Hallows. As Dumbledore says, who can say that dreams are not real or cannot be achieved? Ultimately, everything we consider to be reality was a product of a dream. Material goods, inventions, concepts, and even the people we see around as all started off as ideas, nothing more than a tiny thought lost in the endless depths of one's mind. Furthermore, these thoughts are not unique to chosen individuals. Each and every one of us has aspirations or goals, and whose to say they cannot be achieved? It never hurts to dream.

Reality is where we reside, but in our dreams is where we live.