Deathly Hallows Anniversary

[MrSleepyHead]

Exactly one year ago I was lounging in the Slytherin Common Room, participating in a Harry Potter trivia contest (as Dobby the House-Elf). As it was July 20, 2007 (which Harry Potter fan could forget that day?), I was at the Deathly Hallows release party!

What remembrances do you have concerning your night waiting to hold the Deathly Hallows in your hands?

The party I attended began at nine o'clock, at ten we made wands, at 10:30 I had my face painted, eleven at a trivia contest, 11:30 a costume contest, and afterward waiting in line for the Deathly Hallows book!

[eaglestreasure]

IMO, that is a night to remember.

Well, my parents got concerned about my health, so a) I never told them about my obession/online party/release date of DH and b) I got so tired, I actually fell asleep! .

But I do remember the excitement that was everywhere - I saw all the posters at Barnes and Noble, and was constantly refreshing Safari to see if MuggleNet had any news, and reading up user theories about what was happening next.

Some of the ones I supported were:

• Dumbledore was not dead (dropped after JKR confirmed he was)
• Snape is Good
• R.A.B. is Regulus Black
• Ron and Hermione hook-up
• Neville and Luna hook-up (also dropped when JKR denied)
• Bellatrix had a horcrux
• The Last Battle would be at hogwarts
• Oh yeah, and Ginny/Harry!

I remember writing my own editorials on a now-closed HP site - even at 13, I had my own column called The Time Turner! I also read the MuggleNet editorials, and BeyondHogwarts.com (see my sig) A TON. I wasn't even registered here yet...

Of course, I was only 12 then and had no idea how forums worked.

It was THE NIGHT of my life.


IDK about you, but I'll remember it forever. (Especially the fact that I fell asleep while reading HBP for the third time, LOL)

[Raven_Girly]

Wow it actually feels like it has been a lot longer than a year. I didn't go to any midnight parties or anything but I do remember this day last year, like it was yesterday. I was really sick with the 'flu but I got out bed to drive to the bookstore and pick up my copy. I remember the feeling of having the final book in the Harry Potter series in my hands very well. And because I was sick, I had an excuse to sit in bed all day reading. And the feeling when it was all over...I was really sad that it was finished but pleased because it was such an awesome book.

[PrivetHedge]

Remembrances of the night? The best laid plans of mice and men oft gang....

I had reserved our copies (print and cd) at a local independent bookstore weeks in advance. Not too far from where I live in the city. Same place I had spent an hour-and-a-half after midnight on the checkout line, snaking up and down the aisles, for the HBP release.

Come the night, I made plans to go over to the bookstore. A friend called with a family emergency, can't even remember for sure now what it was. His parents and wife were all treated at and/or admitted to different wings of the same city hospital in the course of 24 hours! My friend had finally gone to his suburban home (20+ miles away) for a desperately-needed night's sleep, and something had been left behind at the hospital! Work identification, or the keys to something... That's it! It was the keys to his parents' hotel room. He needed to go over and check them out of the hotel in the morning. He called me, I went over to hospital, retrieved the keys from his father about 11 pm, chatted with him for a while, then drove out and met my friend, gave him the keys and doubled-back to the city.

I wasn't concerned about missing out because, as I said above, I paid for the previous release at 1:30 AM (and there were still many people on line behind me!). Imagine my surprise when I parked the car around the corner from the shop (about 1-1:30) and found the shop locked and dark! The only person in sight was one eager reader, sitting on the sidewalk, reading by the light from the window of a donut shop.

Nothing I could do about it but go home. I had errands the next morning and didn't get back to the bookshop until afternoon, about 24 hours after my previous visit.

I remarked to the cashier as to how the turnout must have been disappointing the night before, based on how early they had closed. She looked at me in surprise, "No. It was our best release party yet. Bigger crowd than the previous books." It turns out they had learned from their previous experience. Instead of having the line building and building until midnight and then working for hours to ring up the sales, they did something clever. They encouraged people to pay for their purchases before midnight, giving them a claim check for their Potter books. Then, at midnight, all they had to do was stand at the door, handing out the books as people left. They were done in 45 minutes!

[Montse]

Ah what a night that was!!
I couldnt sit down, I couldnt do anything .I was this bunch of nerves walking around the house. When I convinced my hubby it was time to go to the bookstore, I was actually shaking. We waited 3 long hours. I tried to get myself interested in the other books in the store , but it was no use really. I kept looking at my watch and at 11: 45 I started making the line to get the book. I was # 2 in line. Then the cashier decided to make it more fun and to switch the place where she would be handing in the books, by the time I got to the other place, I ended up being #5.
I started reading from the moment I got my hands on the book. Like 10 minutes after 12 , and did not stop except to take a bath.(shortest bath I had ever taken) I finished the book that same night and had this horrible sense of loss.

I loved the story and was overwhelmed by all the deaths. As far as I can tell, I find it difficult that another book will somehow create all this emotion, and longing and bittersweet joy in me.

That was a night, I know I will never forget.

[ArryGrotter]

Well the book came out at 11am here...

I decided to get the book a little later so I didn't have to queue. At exactly 11am I watched Jo read the first chapter over the web (it was 12am in UK then). I watched that about 3 times before leaving to get my copy

When I started reading I started on chapter two.

I finished by 9pm the next day.

Today I had been remembering about the 1-year, and I remembered it at 11pm at one time! (It was during school)

Ah memories...

[Drusilla]

Oh, I remember it all too well- our local secondhand bookstore was opening at 5:30 a.m. (corresponding with midnight GMT) to give out the books, and I'd reserved mine. I had to get out of bed at 3:30 a.m. to book a cab from college to town with some friends who were also getting the book, and stood in line for what felt like ages before they opened. Once I actually got the book, it was 5:45 a.m., and I didn't have anywhere to go since I didn't feel like going back to college (during all this, some idiots on motorbikes were riding their bikes down the narrow street yelling things like '_____ dies!'. Thankfully I didn't hear them because I had a tightly wrapped scarf around my head). So I went and sat on the stairs in front of a shut restaurant and read there until the shops opened and I could go into a real cafe- howling my eyes out along the way.
I don't think I'll ever get quite so excited about anything ever again...it really was an occasion to remember.
EDIT: I have post #7 on the thread...oh my

[Spirit]

I remember every detail as if it were yesterday. Right now, exactly right now at 12:15 AM, I had just purchased the book and was now on my way out to the car.

My mom and my friends Cynthia and Michelle were there at the party. None of us were dressed up, but a lot of people were. One woman dressed up as Umbridge, and she was hilarious. When I went into the bathroom, she was in there as well and she stuck her nose in the air when she saw me and said in a fake British accent, "Behaving ourselves, are we?" I also had my palm read there by someone who told me I'd have two children and make a difference in the lives of others. She probably worked at the starbucks inside the bookstore, bless her. My friends and I walked to a nearby Scholsky's and ate dinner. Then we went back and looked at a bunch of things in the bookstore. At 11:30, we lined up according to the letter we were handed when we entered the store. I was letter E. I remember a lot more, but it would be an essay if I wrote it all out.

[PapiK]

I, too, remember it very well.
As a matter of fact, I wanted to remind myself of that time last year so I reread the book and I just finished it... The feeling is both awful and fantastic... I've never felt this way before (maybe I was like that a year ago). My head is so light, I feel reborn... Everything is truly magical! I am enjoying myself so much but, on the other hand, I hate it all... the story has ended. Not just the story but a little piece of myself, my life... What am I going to do now? Is it all over? The only way to keep it burning inside me is to read the books over and over again. I don't know what's going on, that's one of the most special days in my life so far!

I wish all DH Anniversaries would be like that... And even just once a year, I would feel the Magic again...

[TurnThePage]

I remember staying in the barnes and noble in the city (NYC) all day. From 6am to 12:30 am. It was such a fun day and the book lived up to all my expectations. I'm still sad its over

[sticky]

Oh my gosh it was amazing this time last year...Me and a friend went to our local bookstore opening...we didn't think we'd get there as we had flooding but i urged my dad to drive through the floods and we got there!! It was amazing...the torrential rain didn't put off anyone. We played quiz games in the store, i dresssed up and i was seventh in the line of the queue and got my book at exactly 12:02 am!! Afterwards i ran screaming into the rain with my friend and the line for the book was HUGE!! it went all down the street it was amazing.
Last night that friend couldn;t party with me, so i had a quiet do with myself I waited until 12:01 am and then did what i did last year...read the book. I stayed up till it was finished. It was good because i got to feel some of those emotions i felt last year....

Ahhh the memories I would LOVE to do it again

[LoonyMagic]

Oooh that was a great night and day! I went to my local bookstore at about 11pm to queue up for the book and was so excited. Before that I rushed to finish reading HBP and was in tears after reading that, and then actually getting the book was just crazy. I rushed to get home as soon as possible - I was in such a hurry that I started reading it as soon as I got it . It feels longer than a year ago, and it's weird, but I don't feel as fanatic about the books as I used to. I'll definitely never get as crazy about them as I did waiting for a new book. But it was a fun night

[xFluerDelacourx]

It seems like everyone here did something pretty special for the DH release. All I did was go to Wal-Mart a few minutes before midnight, and wait behind a very long line until they brought out this huge pile of DH books. I don't typically start reading any book at midnight so the next day I started reading it right away.

I still had fun. Some of the things I supported were: Harry was a horcrux, they'd go back to Godric's Hollow, and the locket was going to be found somewhere else besides Grimmauld Place and Kreacher would have a larger part in the story.

[DeathlyH]

The night of July 20th and the day of July 21st- absolutely incredible. I went out and waited in line at Barnes & Noble for about six hours- it was so much fun. Inside the store there were all sorts of people dressed up (I went as myself- I hate dressing up) and they were giving autographs to all the really young kids and it was cool! When we finally got our books at 1:30 AM I was so tired. But I didn't care, I finished it by 8 AM.

The lowlight- some guy in the parking lot (he was in Section A or B so he got his book first) flipped to the back of the book, read it, called his friend and left a message on his cell phone. At this point me and everyone around me were all covering our ears, in case he decided to be a jerk to us as well. Luckily he didn't.

It's pretty sad now thinking that we'll never be able to do that again....

[ginger1]

Well, I turned up at our local bookshop at about 8 in the morning to find it shut (only just - they'd had a super party, and were taking a breather before the mass influx) - so I had to return an hour later, picked up my copy and retired to the quietest spot I could find.

When asked by someone brave enough to challenge me, after the first read - I said

"Jo has written an extraordinary work of fiction. Whether it is what we want or not, I don't yet know."

And slowly re-read it over several more days.

Yes, in conclusion, I think it was the story we wanted. And it grows, as do all the other books, with re-reading. Somehow they grow in complexity, in the detail and brilliance of the writing. In the bits that you pick up that you missed the first time. In the red herrings that you believed in, and now laugh about with the benefit of hindsight.

A unique, satisfying, complex, beautifully written work of fiction.

[SarahBetz1]

My experience was not as exciting. I didn't go to a midnight party, in fact I probably went to bed before midnight that night. Don't get me wrong, I was just as excited as anyone to get my hands on the book, but I am not a big fan of standing in lines late at night. I thought about do it, but it just didn't appeal to me.
Because I could contain my excitement, I went the next day to my local B&N to pick up a copy for myself and my sister. I didn't have to wait in any lines!
I actually didn't start reading the book until July 22 because I was finishing HBP first. I was in no hurry. I didn't want the series to end! I definitly had HP withdrawal when I finish the book, so I started it all over again and re-read excerpts from it for days after I finished it!

[londondreaming]

I have mixed emotions about this anniversary.
Certainly it was a night to remember, dressing up and going to Borders at midnight to get the book, but at the same time, being very depressed the books are over. I don't know what I'll do what DH Part 2 is released in theaters. Then that really IS the end.

I'll always remember getting the book at 12, reading through the night til 6am then going to work and working a 10 hour day, not being able to discuss what I'd read, seeing as I work at a golf course. that might not go over well.

[RebeccaMatthews]

I went to the Coles (bookstore chain here in Canada) at the mall where I had ordered the book at with my sister who wanted to tag along, and I was dared by this guy who bought a box of Bertie Bott's [Every Flavoured Bean] that the store had, to put a whole bunch in my mouth like 1/2 an hour before midnight - worst idea EVER! I felt like I was going to be sick because of the vomit flavoured jelly bean.

They had trivia going on, if you answered the question right you won a wizard's hat. I answered two questions right, but only got one hat, the other question I answered I let a mom take the hat for one of her children. And when it came time to get the actual book, I had been one of the first people in line and got the book. Ended up walking home trying to read it but it wasn't working. I had been wearing the hat I won, and this guy shouted at me as I was walking home about it, and I completely ignored him. I was going to go to sleep and sit and read it in the morning, but I couldn't sleep, sat in bed until 7 that morning went to sleep for like three hours, woke up and was shut in there till I was done. I avoided reading spoilers, even though I love them, because I wanted to be spoiled when I read the book. My mom had no problem trying to spoil it for me though. That would be the last time I ask her what she wants to tell me.

[not_a_human]

Last year, at 4:00 on the 20th, I stood in line to get a wristband to secure my place in line. I believe I preordered the book by telephone a week or so before. I was in the third or fourth line for the book. I arrived at Barnes and Noble at about 10:30. I watched the costume contest, but didn't participate. I dressed in my custom cloak, my Gryffindor tie, a white shirt and black skirt, and pinned a Gryffindor crest to my shirt. I also had a HP purse and an offcial HP wand. They started organizing the lines at about 11:30. They handed out a HP crossword for people to do while they waited. They kept making announcements, like "twenty minutes", "15 minutes","5 minutes". There was a countdown at ten seconds, then a cheer. I believe I got my book before 12:30. They handed out mini posters and tassels, which I still have. I didn't read any of it that night, however. I went home, went to sleep, and marched in a parade that morning. Finally, at 12:00 pm, I started reading. I finished the next day, after about 15 hours of reading (not including sleeping and eating). I cried when I finished the book. I'll never forget those three days.

[Magi]

I was pretty cruisy about getting DH. I walked into a bookstore a day after it was released to see if there was a chance it wasn't sold out. They had one copy left, so I grabbed it.

It was a looooooooooooooong night reading.