A Night to Remember

"And now let us step out into the night and pursue that flighty temptress, adventure." Albus Dumbledore

And what an adventure it was. Trey, Josh, Matt and I plus our neighbors Laurel and Ethan Kramer l piled into our van at 11:50 PM and headed out into the darkness in our quest to obtain the new and last Harry Potter book.

Yes, to some Muggles this might seem a bit late for the under aged little ones to be out and about, especially with the swirling stories of Voldemort's return to power. But we had to take the chance (and brave the crowds) to find our prize.

We weren't the only ones with that idea. The store was packed. There must have been at least 700-800 people that wound around the store in a snake like fashion through aisles and around boxes. Wal-mart was not prepared for this kind of gathering and so we waited, and waited and waited. A few people were dressed in robes and glasses and of course we had our "Dark Marks" and there was excitement in the air. They passed out cookies, water and Capri Sun's to the waiting crowd.

The boys got a poster, a bookmark, but the hot items of the night were plastic bracelets in red, blue, yellow and green that each read the name of a House at Hogwarts; Red: Gryffindor, Green: Slytherin, Blue: Ravenclaw and Yellow: Hufflepuff.

We could only manage to get one Gryffindor bracelet, which made little Josh so sad. Then it occurred to me that this event had not happened yet in the MST zone, it was like when Herimone had a time turner and we could do the same thing for a second time! So we made a quick phone call to Utah and asked my parents to see if they could get a few extra during their own midnight book run. I can happily report that they were successful in this endeavor! Thanks Mom and Dad!

Each buyer that passed with the copy of the book in hand made my stomach jump. It was that exciting. I felt like I was waiting in line for a great ride at Disneyland. I made this comparison to my boys, but they didn't quite feel the same level of enthusiasm as me.

Finally at 12:45 AM they got a bit smarter and wheeled out a second pallet of books that was wrapped in dark black plastic with a large warning sign that read "DO NOT OPEN UNTIL 12:01 AM SATURDAY JULY 21, 2007!" and put it by the register in the hunting section of the store. This sped up the process since every person had to buy the book from the designated registers. At 1:05 AM we became the newest owner of Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows.

What a memory! It was like history in the making. Good news, my Death Eater scar never burned. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named must have realized that I would not come, ever. I am like Harry, Dumbledore's man through and through. I love Harry. I hope he find happiness in the end, but whatever is to be, I truly know that I found magic; real, pure magic found in the hundreds of pages I have read about a boy; the Boy Who Lived. No matter what, he will never die, for he will always live in our minds and hearts. It truly is "One for the Ages!" as the New York Times wrote. Thanks J.K. Rowling for an amazing journey!