When a little boy’s dream of meeting his idol gets shattered, his sister steps in with a “perfect” solution.

Teenage creativity and Photoshop skills come together to give her 6-year-old brother the ultimate “souvenir” from a canceled trip.

What could go wrong? Let’s find out…

AITA for ruining my brother’s childhood memory by admitting I photoshopped it 14 years ago?

When my younger brother (20 now) was 6, he went through a huge Harry Potter phase. He loved the wizarding world and believed he might meet ‘Harry Potter’ (Daniel Radcliffe) or the other characters on a family trip to Scotland since Hogwarts was ‘there.’

No one promised him this, but he convinced himself it could happen.

Sadly, the trip was canceled after our grandpa passed away, and my brother was devastated for both reasons.

This is either the most wholesome lie ever or the beginning of a very weird conspiracy theory.

To cheer him up, I decided to craft a ‘souvenir’.

I was 16 and had just discovered photoshop, so I edited a picture of my brother with Daniel Radcliffe to make it look like they’d met.

I printed it, framed it, and gave it to him without telling him it was fake.

Well, looks like you’ve successfully given him a magical memory… and a lifetime of “fake” fan fiction.

He loved it and fully believed he’d met Daniel. Soon, he had an entire story about the meeting; what they talked about, how Daniel hugged him, etc. It was so sweet, and none of us (my family and I) had the heart to tell him the truth.

Fast forward 14 years, and my brother still didn’t know that the old, low quality picture of him meeting Daniel Radcliffe is fake. I never told him because his memory of the fake meeting felt so real to him that it became one of his proudest stories.

Over time the memory became less important and the framed picture had been packed away in some box, and my brother has long outgrown his Harry Potter obsession.

Guess you really did give him a “chamber of secrets.”

Yesterday, however, we were at our parents’ home and we were bringing up old memories, you know how it goes. The story of meeting Daniel Radcliffe came up, and thinking it was harmless, I told him the truth.

I thought he’d laugh but instead he got visibly upset. He didn’t want to believe me at first, thinking I was messing with him.

I told him the real story of how and why I did it.

He told me that it feels like I robbed him of a real childhood memory that he really cherished, and he feels embarrassed thinking about all the times he’s told people about meeting Daniel Radcliffe in person, even recently.

Perhaps telling him the truth was a mistake. Or was the photo a mistake?

We ended our conversation on a semi-good note, though.

I apologised for not telling him sooner, because I do feel bad that it meant so much to him even now. But I don’t regret it.

Back then, it made him so happy during a rough time, and I don’t regret giving him that joy.

I just didn’t realize how much it still meant to him. So I’m just wondering, am (or was) I the jerk?

It’s sweet that she wanted to cheer up her brother, but it’s also sad that the “memory” was a lie.

Reddit has mixed feelings.

This person says the truth should’ve come out years ago.

But this person says since the sweet intent was there, OP isn’t the AH.

But this person thinks there was much too much betrayal involved.

Sometimes, a little Photoshop magic can turn into a whole lot of family drama!

If you thought that was an interesting story, check this one out about a man who created a points system for his inheritance, and a family friend ends up getting almost all of it.