It’s Harry Potter Night; the night where I not only went to see the new Harry Potter movie – Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix – but also stood in line to pick up the seventh and final book – Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I spent the evening with some friends from work, and a couple hundred Harry Potter-crazy fans! I did a little “live blogging”, but didn’t really have too much time to write – there was just too much to do and see!

The evening started right after work when KuaranTee and I went for a cup of coffee and a snack at Uptown, then we headed to Barnes and Nobel to check out the line to pick up the wristbands. It was already down the alley and almost around the corner! We stood in line for about 20 minutes, but since we were going to see the movie, and the line wasn’t moving, we didn’t stay.

At the theater, KT and I met up with another co-worker (who I’ll call Deni) and her adorable and very well-behaved son and we all saw the movie together. It was awesome! I knew it would be, and heard it was from K who’s seen it twice already that is was, but now I know for SURE that it IS!

When the film ended, we parted ways with Deni&Son and headed back to the bookstore. The line wasn’t as long as before, and it moved quickly. Soon we were at the table getting our wristbands and be assigned letters. Since I hadn’t pre-ordered, I got a blue wristband while KuaranTee got a gold one. Frankly it didn’t matter to me one way or the other. I have ordered a copy of the British version from Amazon UK, so if I didn’t get HP7 tonight, it wasn’t going to break my heart.

Before long we were joined by another co-worker, MarathonGirl, and we went inside to do some other, non-Harry-Potter-7 book buying. I had two books in mind that I’ve been wanting to get (The Dangerous Book for Boys, and The Zombie Survival Guide), and I found both of them, but in the end, decided not to get either of them because I was getting HP7, and had several other unread books waiting for me at home.

Finally, around 11p.m., we left the bookstore and went to stand in line outside (which apparently we didn’t actually HAVE to do; some people stayed INside, and were able to get in line when it was their turn to get a book). There was a HUGE mob of people waiting outside and even more were still in line for wristbands! It was all so exciting, exhilerating, and fun that I never ended up needing any more coffee to stay awake!

It actually all went pretty smoothly, except that we could never hear the girl who was trying to give the instructions and information. Even after she was given a bullhorn, she still couldn’t project her voice. Eventually, they did find someone with a strong voice to let us all know what letter they were on. I was (and still am) surprised how quickly it went! Before long they were on G – KuaranTee’s letter – and she was off! MG had letter I, and there I sat with a blue, non-reserve wristband with a double-B on it. I knew we’d be there all night if we waited for me to get my book, so I insisted that we leave as soon as they go theirs. But, KT would have none of it, and since, as it turned out, a friend of hers was in before her and picked up her copy of the book, she gave me her wristband, so I could go in with MG when they called the letter I.

It was amazing how quickly the line moved – up the escalator, down the stairs, and winding around the stacks till we reached the check out counter. I swear we were in and out in 10 minutes! Once outside with our prize copies of HP7, KT ran off to begin reading immediately, and MG and I walked back up to her car to head home where we would probably start reading, too! (Which I have, I just finished Chapter One and decided to update before getting some sleep!)

G’night – or, rather, g’morning!