I open at the close

I don't even know where to begin. It's 2:30 am and I should be getting in bed, but like most people who just finished watching Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, I'm too keyed up to even think about sleep at the moment. To sum up the night, I think Cassidy put it best: "I cried, I laughed, I jumped out of my seat, I frowned, I cheered, I held my breath through half of it. What a night!"

I'll admit, I came late to the whole Harry Potter phenomenon. In fact, I was pretty staunchly anti-Potter in the beginning, up until about the time the fourth book was published. Not for religious reasons or anything like that. It was more of an "everyone has jumped on this bandwagon, but I refuse" sort of thing. That doesn't seem like much of a reason, but I'm always wary when something gets so hyped (Twilight, anyone? Blech.) Oprah's Book Club makes me react in much the same way.

But my reaction was a little more proprietary with Harry Potter, too. You see, fantasy (more specifically, children's and YA fantasy) has always been my reading genre of choice, above everything else. So when people started singing the praises of these books, especially those people who admitted to having never read such classics as The Chronicles of Narnia or Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising series, I was offended; there was no way that these books could ever be as good as those classics. They were classics for a reason, after all. I'll admit, that's a pretty elitist attitude, but I'd read those books over and over again -- I considered them childhood friends, and I couldn't stand for the new kid on the block to be encroaching on their territory.

Eventually, though, I read the books and I had to admit. They were well-written, engaging, and I got sucked into the story just like everyone else. The movies came along, and despite my attitude toward most adaptations, they were just as good. 

So when tickets for the midnight premier of the last movie were announced, I grabbed a pair for Cass and myself. (Cami hasn't seen the last couple of movies -- too dark for her, so she and Chris stayed home. We'll go again to see it with Chris, I'm sure.) After all, this would only happen once.

It's really amazing to feel the energy, the magic, at something like this -- and magic is really what it is, I think. Think about it -- crowds of people all over the US, dressed up in costumes, waiting in line for hours and hours, cheering as the theater doors are opened -- it's dorky and fun and completely amazing. What I love most is that it's a STORY that has brought people together like this.

And the bigscreen adaptation of that final story was abso-FREAKIN-lutely incredible. The action kicked in after 15 minutes and it was just non-stop from that point on. It was so incredible to see characters step up and kick ass -- like Professor McGonagall, Neville (hawt hawt Neville), and Mama Weasley (holy CRAP, did she kick some ass!) I kept myself from sobbing out loud -- but just barely -- when Harry walked back into Hogwarts and saw Fred, Lupin, and Tonks dead. There were so many parts that were laugh out loud funny, and I cheered just as loudly as anyone else during the good parts. I think one of my favorite things was hearing everyone let out this whispered "Yesssss!" when the screen went blank and then flashed the words "19 years later." And seeing those characters as adults/parents -- especially Ron -- was just too funny. And you just will not believe how cute Harry and Ginny's kids are, really. Adorable.

I'm just now regaining feeling in my right hand -- Cassidy had it clutched in hers all night and kept beating it against her thigh. It went numb about 30 minutes in. ;) All in all, an awesome experience, one that I'll look back on with fondness.

Always.