"If you can see this, my invisibility cloak isn't working."

It's the end of an era, as people are saying.

Look how much they've changed!



[ Amy has a much better display of all things Harry Potter in her latest posts, my favorite being the age comparisons of key characters ]

Upon leaving work at about 9:05pm last night, I zipped right on over to the McDonald's to pick up two of their [ absolutely fantabulously delicious ] caramel mocha coffees for Justin and me with hopes that the caffeine would carry us well into the wee hours of the morning. After that, I rushed home to take out and feed the dog, change into comfy clothes [ which were not part of some sort of costume ], gather our candy and drinks for smuggling into the theater, triple-check that I had our will call ticket retrieval information and impatiently excitedly awaited Justin's arrival home. Around 9:48pm I heard his garage door open then in a flash at 9:57pm we were off. And here's a perk to living in a smaller city - we were in the movie theater's [ already jam-packed ] parking lot less than ten minutes later.

Oh, the chatter and giddiness [ and famously mouth-watering-inducing smell of buttery popcorn goodness ]  that poured out as we opened the big red doors! Nevermind the fact that aside from a handful of parents wearing an expression of "It is my bed time, what on earth am I doing here right now?!" [ and the super random middle age ladies fully decked out in witch apparel ]  Justin and I were quite -ahem- old in comparison to the tweens and teens surrounding us.

I proudly presented my confirmation papers, wanting to scream, "Look how dedicated I am to this series! I'm so obsessed I signed up for the special email notification letting me know when tickets would be available to buy in our town and two minutes after receiving said email, I clicked 'PURCHASE!' Can you tell how stoked I am to be here? Did you know my maiden name used to be Potter? How many of you people can say that, hm? IN YO' FACES! HP FOREVA!!!" Don't worry, I refrained. However, if Justin hadn't been standing behind me, I just might have done a slightly abridged version...

We then bypassed the snack lines [ because we're so cheap and sneaky clever and bought ours from Walgreen's for a fourth of the price days ago ] and made our way to line that was already snaking from one side of the building to the next. After some prime people watching, Justin decided he wanted to take photos of the crazies. Unfortunately, we didn't bring our nice DSLR or even our mediocre point-and-shoot, so he did what he could with his iPad. His reasoning for being slightly creeper-esque and taking pictures of totally random wannabe witches and wizards [ and a snitch ]? He'll be blogging a post revolving around the chaos of premiere.

The title of this post actually comes from something I saw on the back of someone's shirt she made just for this movie. She wasn't nearly as crazy as the actual costumed folks present. Here are a few of my favorites - sorry for the horrible quality...the iPad camera isn't that great...sorry also that these are repeats from Justin's blog:

Bellatrix LeStrange wannabe - apparently she struck this pose as Justin was taking the picture

Captain Jack Sparrow made an appearance of some sort

This snitch looks a little confused with herself

Please note the parental expressions in the background



Step away from the snack bar, people.



Justin mentions in his post the topic of all these clothes and props - did people just have them lying around in their closets or did they really go out and specially buy light-up wands and house-specific ties??

Check out those freaks...

This died down after he made the rounds and captured images of the most outrageous [ which in all honesty were fairly mild ]  he could find. By that time it was still only 10:30pm, so we sat down, people-watched some more, and [ like the old people we are minus the fact that it was on the iPad ] read through the news and its day in pictures. As time passed, we noticed more and more HP addicts trailing in, some dragging a parent or two already sporting a few dark under-eye circles.

Then...the line starting inching forward...the barricades were coming down...they were handing out the customized 3D glasses a la Harry's own rotund pair...and then yes, there she was, that angel of an employee, ripping our tickets in half, the other, handing us our own pair of beloved glasses, directing us to the door that would lead to the most epic Harry Potter film of all time!

Oh, the drama of it all.

Then we sat for another 46 minutes.
The kid next to Justin asked if we were going to bootleg the movie on his iPad.
We said no.
The kid behind us was throwing candy at the seats.
Justin threw one at him.
I rolled my eyes.
Girls were already getting out their tissues.
It was intense, I tell ya.

Then...the lights dimmed...people cheered...the previews came...the previews went...

AND FOR THE NEXT TWO HOURS WE WERE GLUED TO OUR SEATS IN PURE AWE.

We laughed.
We cheered.
We gasped.
Some [ like the girl behind us and to our right ] sobbed.
I grabbed Justin's arm on more than one occasion.
Justin spilled his whole box of Reese's Pieces.

And then it was over, just like that.

Though I didn't shed any tears, it really is sad that this the end. El fin. Zip zilch nada más. There's this whole Pottermore thing that everyone is freaking out about, but really, it's not like there are any more new books to bury my nose in or movies for the crazies to dress up for. How long will it take for someone to create a series so engaging? Don't even start with me on Twilight. Yeah, I read the books - I was bored the summer after our first year of marriage so I broke down. Bottom line: They don't hold a candle to HP.

I guess the next best thing is this:

Hey Justin, summer 2012 vacation? Eh, eh?

NPR