Harry Potter fans worldwide are baggy-eyed after being glued all weekend to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows, J.K. Rowling’s last fantasy series installment.
The novel was released July 20 at midnight nationwide. Thousands of Baton Rouge fans gathered at stores such as the LSU Student Union Bookstore and Barnes and Noble to buy the book.
The book sold 8.3 million copies in 24 hours in the U.S., according to the Associated Press.
Mayor Kip Holden addressed more than 800 people at the stroke of midnight at the Barnes and Noble release. From the second floor, he asked the crowd if they wanted him to read the book’s first paragraph aloud. An overwhelming clamor against the idea followed.
“I was not surprised by their reaction, and I did not take it negatively at all,” Holden said. “It is like with a movie – don’t tell me what is going to happen when I have not seen it yet. People want to delve into novels themselves to find out the ending.”
Holden said he was happy to see the outpour of support for the last novel in the series.
“Tonight we saw a large mix of children and their parents. It was good to see the family unit present in a positive setting,” he said.
Barnes and Noble store manager Glenda Moret said her family reads the books together. She said the series has done more than help bring families together.
“Children really look at the size of a book and get turned off by thick ones,” Moret said. “Today, young children are reading big books and size doesn’t matter anymore.”
Sixteen-year-old Clayton Patrick was the first in line at Barnes and Noble for the book.
“I decided to skip breakfast and wait five hours to get the first bracelet,” he said.
Patrick said he was sad to see the series end.
“The first book in the series came out when I was about six. I am now 16 and feel a good part of my childhood has been about Harry Potter,” he said. “The end of the series reflects an end to part of my childhood, but I am glad I grew up with that.”
Baton Rouge resident Jeff Springer whittled a holly bush into his own 11 inch Harry Potter wand.
He predicted his favorite character Dumbledore was not dead, and was going to die with Lord Voldermort in the final novel. Springer intended to read it straight through to find out if his predictions are right.
“I am going to be up all night reading the book. The last one took me 16 hours,” he said.
Sophie Sheffield, a second grade student at Buchanan Elementary, said she decided to dress as “Dobby.”
Sheffield and her mother, Julie Sheffield, did not stay for the midnight release but attended LSU’s Harry Potter breakfast party the next morning.
Baton Rouge resident Meggy Nesbit took advantage of getting her copy for 40 percent off at the LSU Bookstore.
Nesbit said her office placed wagers on who was going to die. Staying spoiler free in light of recent book leaks and paper reviews is important, she said.
“People are going to die, that is all I know,” she said. “I do have this crazy cracked out theory Voldermort isn’t going to be able to be killed though – he will have to be contained somehow.”
—-Contact Natalie Messina at [email protected]