Waiting for the magic

Long lines, and even longer waits, are a common sight when a new video game console or a technological marvel like the iPhone is released.

As early as 3:30 p.m. Friday, people had shown at Barnes & Noble to wait for the hottest new product, and by 6 p.m. the line had snaked through the interior of the store and all the way outside to J.C. Penney, one of Barnes and Nobles' West Park Mall neighbors.

The hundreds in line were waiting for something much more traditional than a console or a cell phone/MP3 player. They wanted to be some of the first to get their hands on a book, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," the final installment of British author J.K. Rowling's fantasy series.

Less than two weeks after the latest movie in the Potter franchise -- "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" -- debuted in Cape Girardeau and around the United States, fans were flocking to stores to be some of the first to get their hands on the tome that will reveal their hero's fate.

Barnes & Noble, Hastings and the Cape Girardeau Public Library all hosted parties for Potter fans leading up to the anticipated book release just after midnight.

Ten-year-old Tyler Joseph tried out wands Friday at the Cape Girardeau Public Library.

Many of them have grown up with Harry and his Hogwarts pals, like Justin Vandergriff of Jackson. Now 22, Vandergriff first became acquainted with the Potter series in high school.

"I think it's just the fact that you've seen him growing older and becoming wiser and maturing," Vandergriff said of Potter's lasting appeal. "He doesn't just stay the same."

End of speculation

As of today, Potter has changed again, this time with finality. Speculation about Potter's fate ran rampant in the weeks prior to the release of "Deathly Hallows."

Vandergriff had a couple of ideas about what could happen to the young wizard -- "Harry is probably going to die. Or I thought he would wind up turning evil in the end and changing sides."

Rachel Null, left, Taletha Rich and Taryn Heid received tickets in a lottery system pick up their Harry Potter books later in the night Friday, July 20, 2007 at Cape Girardeau's Barnes and Noble. Rich and Taryn sewed their own capes. (Kit Doyle)

Blogs and Web sites have all speculated, and the time difference between the American book release and releases in places like the United Kingdom could have allowed American fans to acquire advanced knowledge of the series' end before landing a copy for themselves.

Not 10-year-old Penny Robinson of Cape Girardeau. She was as excited as anyone Friday night to find out how the series ended -- she and her mother Bambi were the first in line at Barnes & Noble -- but she said she'll purposefully avoid the Internet until she can read the book herself. And unlike some Potter fans, she'll start at the beginning of the book, instead of reading the end first.

"That's what you're supposed to do," Penny said. She'll let her mother read the book first, then Penny will get her hands on "Deathly Hallows" on Sunday.

Cape Girardeau librarian Sharon Anderson had the book days in advance and had plenty of chances to sneak a peak.

"It's been a torture not to touch the book," said Anderson, who was dressed in a pink sweater and skirt as a Hogwarts teacher, Dolores Umbridge, a "cross between Doris Day and Freddie Krueger," in Anderson's words. The library's Hirsch Community Room was turned into "Prof. Snape's Office" as Anderson and library staff taught classes on Potter-style magic.

Boxes of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" remained sealed until midnight Friday at Hastings in Cape Girardeau. Hastings had 360 copies of the books and anticipated selling all of them the first night.

At the same time, the bookstores were gearing up for similar parties, with readings from previous Potter books and other activities.

Anderson and personnel at Barnes & Noble and Hastings all said they've never seen this kind of hype surrounding a book release.

"It's amazing to me that's she's captured the interests of people of such a wide range of ages," Jill LeGrand, a local Barnes & Noble spokeswoman, said of Rowling's famous, and hugely profitable, book and movie franchise. "You've got 7-year-olds and 47-year-olds reading these books."

At Amazon.com, 2.223 million copies of the book were ordered in advance, while Barnes & Noble reported more than 1.5 million preorders nationwide.

With such popularity, security has been tight to keep the final book's ending secret. Cape Girardeau Hastings store manager Robin Hester said her company stressed their instructions not to open the boxes containing the store's 360 Potter books. In 2005 they received copies of the sixth book many days in advance of the release date. This year those books didn't arrive until Thursday in an effort to avoid leaks.

Barnes and Noble employee Jeanette Mastin dressed up for Harry Potter release festivities on Friday, July 20, 2007. (Kit Doyle)

LeGrand was prohibited by Barnes & Noble from saying how many books the store had, but the store made plans for "a couple of thousand" people Friday night, and she anticipated everyone would get a book, even those who didn't reserve copies in advance.

For hard-core Potter fans, Friday night was as much about the wait as learning the fate of the characters they've grown to love in the nearly 10 years since the first book, "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," was released in the United States.

"The anticipation is part of the fun, and this is the last time we'll have that," Anderson said.

msanders@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182

Harry Potter fans lined up outside the Cape Girardeau Barnes & Noble awaiting the release of the seventh installment in the series. (Kit Doyle)