Half-Blood Prince Release

“What are you doing this weekend?” one of my co-workers asked at lunch. “Probably…reading,” I heard someone else reply. I looked up in recognition, “I’m getting mine tonight.”

It was funny to learn who at the office were also Harry Potter fans and it was fun to end the work day off, down in a conference room finishing up some free food and beer talking about the books. Kinda like getting on the bus today and seeing three people with Book 6 out on their lap reading, and later on the ferry overhearing talk about Chapter 1 by a group of teenagers and walking by a mom reading it aloud to her little girl. The 6th book is out and I seem to be seeing it everywhere. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

After work yesterday, Paul picked me up and we met up with Angie, Taylor, and Casey at Barnes & Noble. It was 6PM. We had bracelets to pick up. We had all pre-ordered our copies of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, but all pre-orders had to come to the store and pick up a numbered bracelet which would then be called sequentially at midnight. I figured coming 6 hours early would suffice and was surprised to see a such long line wrapped around the inside of the B&N. I should’ve known better. The wait wasn’t long though and it was kinda fun nerding out along my friends. While we waited in line, a reporter from The Daily approached us trying to get a quote, despite our many attempts to dissuade her. It was a very Rita Skeeter-like event, if you know what I mean.

So after we got our bracelets (and er, our free plastic glasses and Harry Potter stickers), we decided to meet up later for drinks at the RAM. Feeling like I had done enough eating out this week, I went home and cooked potstickers for me, Jules, and Paul before retreating to my room to continue rereading Book 5. I had only 200 pages to go at this point and was anxious to finish it.

An hour later, I still wasn’t done but the sleepiness from the week’s toil had begun to sink in, so I wasn’t too concerned. Near 10PM, Jules, Paul and I left to the RAM for drinks with the rest of midnight-release crew. All sporting our yellow bracelets (I had #242) we hung out there for a while before closing our tab and heading over to B&N, which was overflowing with people.

Needless to say, it was really busy. And man, some people really went all out, haha. While it was kinda fun identifying people’s costumes, there was many a time it just seemed a little too weird and I wished I had late night’s Triumph at my side. Overly excited people in wizard outfits aside, it was very fun. Paul and I walked around, took cheesey photos, and even attempted to make wands at the arts and crafts section (and utterly failed). My number was called about ten after midnight and after we had purchased all our new books, we headed home, mission accomplished.

Home where I stayed up til 3AM finally finishing rereading the 5th book. I had been reading about 120 pages a night, usually falling asleep dizzy with words. But the last 100 or so pages I took my time reading, taking in the dark imagery of the Department of Mysteries, its tragic-hero ending, and Dumbledore’s confession to Harry. It reminded me of why I love this series and how it leaves me in complete awe of J.K. Rowling’s ability to weave her story together with the depth and strength of her characters, the quick wit of her dialogue, and the avid descriptions of the magical world she has crafted.

And now? Am 100 pages into the Book 6. Here we go.