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Being a wizard has challenges all its own, but for some people there's nothing worse than being a teenager, including the world's most famous writer. Those years were "completely horrible," Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling told a fan, admitting for the first time that she was bullied during her adolescence.

Sacia Flowers, a fan who lives in the U.S., had compared herself to the world's most famous wizard in a letter written to Ms. Rowling. Flowers' parents, who were drug addicts, were murdered in separate incidents, leaving her an orphan at 13. She told Ms. Rowling that she had been bullied by schoolmates.

Two weeks later, Ms. Rowling wrote back. "I know what it is like to be picked on, as it happened to me, too, throughout my adolescence. Being a teenager can be completely horrible," she wrote, according to the Daily Mail, which reported that the letters have "just come to light." (The newspaper did not explain how).

Rowling went on to say how sorry she was about what had happened to the girl and her parents, adding that when she was in school kids mocked her name, calling her "Rowling Pin." She also said, referring to being a teenager, "I wouldn't go back if you paid me."

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