Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

I've finally uploaded the photos taken from July 20. Oh, the day wouldn't fly by fast enough for me! I waited impatiently all day for the evening to roll around so that we could dress up and hit Barnes and Noble. The activities over there wouldn't start until 9pm, but Julia and I couldn't stand the suspense. We ended up driving there at 7pm. But before we headed out, we needed a few things--like wands. I for the life of me couldn't find one wand we own. And absolutely no stores in this city carried any (believe me, I checked). So Ryan then quickly whittled some for Julia and I.


Of course we needed to make sure the things worked properly! Actually, Jacob and Julia were watching the third HP movie all day long and so all I heard was "Wingardium Leviosa!" and "Expecto Patronum!" We had a fun time goofing off outside as we broke our wands in. :)




So while we're at Barnes and Noble, we had the opportunity to make autograph books and then go around to all of the workers, whom were dressed up as different characters from the books, and get their autographs. Talk about fun! I think we managed to get just about every major character's signature! And then for those characters who were missing...well, just about every fan there was dressed up as some odd character...and they signed the books too! Me included. I was asked numerous times to sign as Hermione or as Hermione's mother.

If you don't know who this is with Julia then that means you haven't read the books (shame on you!).
I believe the lady on the left is a chaser while the woman on the right was, um, Madam Hooch? I've forgotten.
At first we were like "Oh Dobby!", but this person was quick to point out that she is a girl, so she's obviously Winky.

Next up is Miss Fleur Delacour (or Phlegm as she is known to some of us. However I must admit that after reading this final installment of Harry Potter I'm not so inclined to use that latter name on her).


Here we have Fleur, again, with Bellatrix Lestrange (who obviously just broke out of prison). They're signing Juila's album.


Who can forget Madam Maxime? She truly dwarfed Julia making the effect all the more real for us.

Ahh, the freaky looking Lord Voldermort whom everyone gave a wide berth. This is NOT a worker--just a crazed fan. I actually saw him in line while waiting for the fifth movie a couple of weeks ago. He was wearing those freaky red contact lenses then too. He quickly became everyone's favorite when the kids realized that he had a huge sack full of really cool homemade (but realistic looking) wands which he was giving out to anyone who asked. Julia was the last child to receive one.

Next up is our favorite half giant! I LOVED this costume. Hagrid is the absolute best!

Professor Umbridge--ooh, nasty piece of vermin! Just hand her over to Bane and Magorian. Or to Aragog's family? Or just drop her off in the mountains with a whole family of giants. Serves her right. Here she is with little Tonks (such a cutie!).

You can't tell cause the picture isn't big enough, but this remorseful Cho is carrying around a picture of Cedric. *sniff*


Lastly we have Professor Slughorn and Moaning Murtle. Julia especially liked seeing Myrtle, she's one of her favorite characters. We ran into a ton more people: Professors Snape (ugly git), McGonnagal, Sprout, Percy (are there any words to describe him? Grrr), Ron, Fred and George, Lavender Brown (Lav Lav to me), some cool Luna's, Lucius and Narcissa, Draco, Trelawney, Madam Rosmerta, Penelope Clearwater, Rita Skeeter, Pansy Parkinson, Fenrir Greyback, Sirius Black, and Molly Weasley. There was also a whole family of quidditch players running around too and lots more. So exciting!
It took forever to finally get our hands on the book...we were the seventh group to be called up to buy the book...squeezed next to way too many people. I kept trying to calm down my claustrophia. It wouldn't do to freak out on so many people. ;) I think we finally bought the book around 12:45 at night. Did I go home and go right to sleep? Yeah right! I read til about 5:30am (my eyes just couldn't take it anymore) and then got up at 7:30am to continue reading (Ryan already new that I would be useless that day--he was solely in charge of the kids). I finished the book at about 4:30pm that day. Oh! It was sooooooooooooo good! Good enough to read again...and again. I finished it for the third time today and will continue rereading it probably every chance I get for a long time (at least til I have it thoroughly memorized). I must admit that I'm sad about the series being over...but the book was incredible. Outstanding and truly exceeded my expectations. I only wish that I could have witnessed exactly what kind of punishment that was bestowed upon Umbridge. ;P The ending, the epilogue....oh wow. Perfect. And now that we know that JK Rowling will write an encyclopedia for us...!!!! Happy day!