Harry Potter Week: T Minus 8 Hours to Deathly Hallows Part 2

Dear Phil,

Perhaps it sounds ridiculous, but I'm feeling weirdly nostalgic about the release of the final Harry Potter movie.  It strikes me that this is the longest I have ever followed any book/movie franchise (come to that, have any other franchises lasted eight movies?).  It feels kind of special to have been a fan of something for such a long time -- especially something that is loved by such a huge community of people all over the world -- sort of similar to how I feel about following a band's music over many years -- I start to mark different times in my life by various albums, and eventually the music becomes a part of who I am -- part of the record of my life.

In honor of the midnight release of the final Harry Potter movie -- which, it's rumored, will feature special-edition round 3D glasses so that the whole theater will look like little Potter/Bono love children -- here are my top five Potter-related memories from the the last ten years:

1. Tim read the first two books aloud to me during the summer between my freshman and sophomore year of college.  When I went back to school in the fall, he recorded himself reading the last few chapters of the Chamber of Secrets onto a cassette tape and sent it to me in the mail.  Seriously, I could cry right now just thinking about it.

2.  I wrote the first five pages of my novel the night I saw Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

3.  Javier discovered me sitting cross-legged in Bryant Park with the Deathly Hallows book in my lap sobbing over the death of Harry's owl.

Javi: Baby, what should we do?  Want me to get you an owl as a pet?
Me: (sniffing) They're illegal to own domestically in the United States.

The next day, Javi showed up at my house with a little glass owl ornament wrapped up in a box.  Bless his heart.

4.  Ben, Javier and I dragged ourselves to see Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire on Thanksgiving weekend and watched the whole thing through the fog of a food coma brought on by massive amounts of stuffing, mashed potatoes, green beans, pumpkin pie and inexplicably, Peruvian chicken -- all consumed while sitting on the floor of my living room in Williamsburg.

5.  In 2007, Dawn (of Idle Hands DC) and I spent eight hours in the Union Square Barnes and Noble alongside a host of Potter fans at the midnight release of the seventh novel...

Here's some highlights:

At one point, there was a guy in what may have been the most amazing owl costume we have ever seen:

The make-your-own-wand station which was -- no lie -- one of the most fun things I have ever done...

The B&N staff really outdid themselves setting out a variety of wands made of different types of wood and a list detailing the properties of each one (i.e. Oak = strength, Vine = knowledge, Holly = courage, etc). The ingredients used to adorn the wands had a similar index. Dawn chose phoenix feather, lephrechaun gold and salamander bile. I used unicorn tail hair, claubert pustules, owl feathers and a pygmy puff.

I developed a bit of a crush on this guy:

During the reading with Jim Dale, a dude in a trucker cap who appeared to be in his mid-thirties sort of wedged himself between Dawn and I.  Then, this happened:

Guy: Hey.
Dawn: Hi.
Guy: How old are you?
Dawn: Um, 25.
Guy: You know I have to ask at a Harry Potter event.  Heh heh.

Weird.  Also, he was chewing tobacco. And spitting into a plastic dixie cup.

After the reading, the frenzy in the store escalated to a fever pitch. At one point my mom texted me to ask how many people were in the store.

My response:  Thousands.  I'm absolutely serious.

At midnight, Jim Dale led the crowd in a giddy countdown that was -- I swear to God -- exactly like Times Square at New Year's. The store exploded in cheers and everyone went crazy jumping up and down and waving their wands and kissing each other.

At long last, Dawn and I bought our books and fought our way out of the store through another enormous crowd, several hundred strong outside the doors, that was being held at bay on 17th street by the NYPD.  No sooner had we crossed the street than a girl ran shrieking after us.

Girl: (out of breath) My friend has a red wristband and she needs your gold wristband! Sorry if it's weird, but desperate times!

Dawn charitably slid her wristband off and gave it to the girl who was a fountain of gratitude.  We strolled down 4th Avenue at 1am past people crouched on curbs, reading by the light of open cell phones.  Seriously, best day ever.

Bring it on, Deathly Hallows Part 2.  We are ready.

xo,
Lindy

P.S.  Did you notice this is our hundredth post?  Makes me think we should mark the occasion by baking a cake with little tiny figurines of ourselves.