It's been two years since Deathly Hallows was released... What did you do when it first came out?

Question

Two years today since "Death Day". The day Harry Potter ended.

What did you do?
Go to a midnight release party?
Wait 'til morning?
Have your own party?

Answer 1

Screamed. Told my dad I *needed* the book, right away. He went out to the store and bought me it that night. I hugged him extra tight, and started reading.



I wish I had gone to a midnight release party, but I just don't know any other HP fans that would've gone with me. That was my last chance, too. I regret not going.



I just finished reading the book once again. I still cried at least twice, which is sad considering I knew what was going to happen. I remember reading it the first time, and having to put down the book because I could not read it anymore, my eyes being so blurry. A Prince's Tale was the chapter that did most of the damage. I'm a sucker for Snape.

Answer 2

I suck at being a Harry Potter fan!



I totally did not go to a midnight release party because they didn't really have any around the area I lived, plus I had a 10+ hour workday waiting for me the next morning, so I couldn't waste any time for any reason. And I also couldn't take the day off. That was out of the question, completely.



I actually read the book about a year or two later--which is why I suck at being a Harry Potter fan--after all of the commotion died down and it was becoming old news. I was afraid to read it by then, actually. I was afraid of what I'd find in the last book, but, most of all, I was afraid of finishing the series and having no more Harry Potter books to wait for.



After it came out, the first thing I did was go on to Amazon.com and see the reviews and what people were saying. There were about 169 reviews already the next morning, which blew me away. Then I came back to check for the rest of the week and the number kept multiplying. That was amazing to watch.



When I finally read the book, it'd already become old news and it was only because my friend had pushed me to read it, then daring me I'd cry because I was a girl. Grr. I didn't cry while reading the book, but I wanted to. I so wish that another Harry Potter book would be released and I could live in that moment once again.



P.S. I finally saw the movie. It was great! :D Random, I know.

Answer 3

*sigh*



Well, this is why that part of my life sucks. I was never around for any releases. No parties or staying up til 7 o'clock AM reading to get to the end. Nope. I'm a late bloomer.

About a week after DH was released, my oldest brother, my Dad and I stood in a Big Boy restaurant. Somehow, we got on the subject of books. My brother had read the first four when they came out. HE got the releases. HE got the parties. Now, he still hasn't read past GoF and proudly names off all the characters he can remember. (A short list of which includes "Darko Malfoy"...)

Anyways, he looked down at me and said, "You'd probably like Harry Potter."Being the stubborn 11 year-old that I was, I said no, that they were nerdy.

Next day, my Dad comes home from a golf-outing and says, "Kathryn, Mrs. Rhors wants you to come over and get the first Harry Potter book." I argued, but still, I got the book from my neighbor.

By 9:00 that evening, I was back over there and grabbing the second.

A week later, I was done.



So, as you have just witnessed (In a rather lengthy summary of my getting hooked :P), I never had a release.Never did anything for a book. But, your question has gotten me thinking. I'm gonna find a way to have my brother read them. No matter what it takes. That will be my personal penance for missing the releases :)

Answer 4

I went to a midnight release party. Well, I worked a midnight release party.



I worked at Borders at the time and was all sorts of anxious to volunteer to work the party. Everyone dressed up, which was fantastic to see everyones costumes. And everyone did a great job. I was made to dress like Hermione, since people seem to think we look alike (it's the brown eyes and curly hair).



It definitely wasn't as fun as it could've been. Only the managers and the supervisors got to do the cool games and trivia and stuff. I spent my time between the cafe (which was SLAMMED), the registers, and helping non-hp related customers (which was very difficult, seeing as how it was packed and no one could hear me on the walkies).



So by the end of the night, we rang up all the customers, then the employees bought their books, and we had to attempt at cleaning up. The store was a complete and total mess. We finally got out of there at about 3 am, and I went home and started reading. I had the next day off, so I spent the entire day finishing it. I didn't want to go to work the day after and have people spoiling it for me, which would've been the case because some non-hp reading coworkers of mine were already on wikipedia looking up who dies.



All and all, I'm glad I was able to be at a release party to see all the costumes and all the Harry Potter fans gathered in one area, but I wish I wasn't working it.

Answer 5

Well like you said in Australia it was released at 9 am. I had to go to BLOODY tutoring at that time. (stuff year 10 ;p) So my sister bought it and then she's like, "I want to read it first," So I bought another copy and started reading at 2:30. I finished it in 5 hours. I didn't stop. I read and read. I didn't even eat.

I felt like crying the whole way through. I know it's weird. I knew that at the end of the page there would be no more Harry Potter to get excited for.

When I finished the lines, "All was well." I turned the page, thinking there would be another chapter of something. But the page was blank and so was the other three. I started shouting and cursing automatically. All in all it was a pretty embarrasing day, but I loved it . I was so excited and I loved teasing everyone else in the family. Because I finished it first and then I loved just slipping in little things. Like I wonder what happens to Bellatrix Lestrange. I mean she's probably gonna die, but I wonder who kills her. lol :)

Answer 6

A local bookstore was having a midnight release party, so I decided to go there. And it was loads of fun! The employees got really into the event and did a great job entertaining everyone. :) Even though I ended up waaay in the back of the line (all the fans somehow formed one without me noticing :/), I got the book really fast and left right away to read it. A couple hours into the book, I became really tired, though, so my friend and I decided to go pick up some ice cream. Eating it woke us up a little, but we still couldn't get through the book and found ourselves asleep shortly after. Still, we finished the next day (and, strangely, during the same minute :O). But it was so much fun! I wish I could go back in time and experience that excitement again. XD

Answer 7

I'm totally a lame Harry Potter fan *looks down in shame*



On the day of the release I was still rereading the series, I think I was on HBP. But I didn't have a car back then, and I knew neither of my parents would bring me, so I didn't go to the midnight release. =(



Plus, to be completely honest, I didn't feel like waiting in a huge line for hours when I could just go to Borders the next day and buy it without the line. Of course I completely regret not going, and and gladly jump on an opportunity to go to the book release if I could somehow relive that day.



That day was torture though. While I was rereading the books still, everyone else had already finished DH and was spoiling *everything* for me. I'd had both DH and HBP spoiled for me. I really do hate people who spoil books. I still enjoyed reading it nonetheless, and there was so much I didn't know was coming. Deathly Hallows was my favorite of the series.



Happy belated anniversary!

Answer 8

Me and a few other of my HP groupies went to the mall at about 9pm. There was to be a midnight release and a big party before that at the book store in the mall. We were so hyped up and we had so much fun at the party. We took pictures with people who dressed up and actually somewhat looked like the characters. We had a snape debate and the ones on the side to trust snape won, Yay! We had plenty of junk food at the party too. There were a lot of people there waiting and the way they do it at that book store is you get a number when you arrive and it's the number in the order you are supposed to line up to get the book. I was drving so it wasn't a good idea to read on the way home, it was dark anyway. I took all the girls back to my house and we all started reading, it took me two days to finish it cause I have unfortunate adult stuff to do, but I cried, laughed, sheered out loud. I even skipped ahead to when I would see ron's name again after he left I was so devastated he left and had to count how many chapters he would be gone before I saw him again. It was a great time but exhasting, and so worth it.

Answer 9

I was twelve and I really wanted to go get it at midnight and I begged my parents to drive me to Barns n' Noble, but they had never read HP and so they didn't understand what a huge moment this was. So I had to wait until ten the next day to get it. And I then read for the entire day with no breaks. I finished it around six in the morning the next day. Then I cried my eyes out. It was so sad! Not only did all those great characters die, but this was the end! I had always had another book to look forward to, but not any more. It was over. And I didn't even have anyone to talk to about it because no one I know is as crazy about the series as me. *sigh* It was a sad time.

Answer 10

I had a weird summer when DH came out. I had never read the Harry Potter series before that summer, besides a thwarted attempt to read Sorcerer's Stone in seventh grade. My parents are particularly religious (I am not), so I was never allowed.



Anyway, 2007 was the first summer my brother and I were on our own during the daytime. Curiosity about the series got the best of me, so I took matters into my own hands and, for a large portion of that summer, I would ride my bicycle to the library and simply read HP. I remember the air conditioning of the library, and settling into the chairs by the window. Sometimes I would ride my bicycle home for lunch, and then return to the library again.



I loved the series. I remember the Christmas Ball in Goblet of Fire made me so giddy! Eventually I got my dad to buy me Deathly Hallows, despite his force-fed belief that the series was satanic (slight exaggeration). I got my copy days after the release so I never went to the midnight release party for DH. I've never been to one for any HP books. I did, however, stay up all night long reading. I sobbed during many scenes, in particular Harry's death scene, and I loved every minute of the book.

Answer 11

I went to the mall at like... 7, and was like... 60th in the waiting queue. Then at 9, we started getting somewhere. The queue was zigzagged all through the shelves of the shopping centre, lol. And when I finally got my book, I kissed it and raced over to the counter and paid for it.



Then I was walking around greenhills with my mum while she did some grocery shopping, and by the time she was finished shopping, I was reading about a certain elf dying and was crying.



Anyways, that night, some friends and I got together at my house, and we were watching all of the Harry Potter movies in order. Then we were up really late and one of my friends spewed all over my other friend because she had had waaaay too much food. It was funny, lol.



And then the next day I was really cranky because Harry Potter was over. I really think J.K. Rowling should have written books about the next generation. Like, 'Albus Potter and the Philosophers Philosophy' or something like that, lol.

Answer 12

I went to a midnight party with my entire family and competed in Harry Potter trivia. The trivia game wasn't as good at this party as the trivia at the party for the 6th book, but it was still fun. Both years I was banned from trivia because I was answering all the questions :) I was allowed to run the trivia for a little with questions of my own such as "What were the last 4 words Dumbledore said at the end of the opening ceremony in Sorcerer's Stone?" the answer was 'Nitwit' 'Blubber' 'Oddment' and 'Tweak'. Me ad some of my friends that were there made each other eat the nastiest Bertie Bott's Jelly Beans which were on sale there at the book store. When it was almost midnight, me and my family sat in the middle of the store and waited for the crazy line to end so we wouldn't have to stand for hours. When I finally got my book, I went out to the car and read the entire drive home. I made my mom carry me inside and up to my room so I wouldn't have to stop reading. I read the entire night, crying my eyes out everytime someone died. I would run into my mom's room and tell her about all the crazy parts or sad parts. I locked myself in my room the entire day living off of yogurt that entire day so I wouldn't have to put my book down. I finished the book in roughly 6 hours! 2 days after I finished the book, I cried in the middle of the day because it had finally hit me that Harry Potter was over! :"(

Answer 13

Ha, lucky :) And you remembered! But it's not the 21st yet here.



Yeah, I don't own the book so I didn't go to any parties or anything. A couple of my friends did. I watched the news, though, and it was cool how it was a worldwide thing.



This is what I did: I counted down the days, stayed up til midnight at my house, and was excited!



I put it on hold at the library probably two weeks before it was released. I was number 100-something on the list, and I checked it fifty times a day to see how we were doing.



Sometime at the beginning of August, it was finally our turn. We went from like, number 30 to number one that day, and I begged my dad to get it from the library on his way. He's not a great HP fan.



I stayed up til 4am reading it, I got first dibs on the book out of the four of us who wanted to read it, but that meant I didn't have a chance to reread it before we gave it back to the library.



And the worst part? My cousin, who lived across the street at the time, forgot to tell us that she had bought it.

Answer 14

HAHA! I spent the last 10 years absolutely loathing Harry Potter and the last 2 LOVING Twilight...so I was sick of gettting into arguements over them so I decided to read Harry Potter so I could have a legit arguement that Twilight is better. Its NOT. I read the first like 6 in one week then read the last one on my vaca to Canada...lol



Spent the whole entire ride home crying when someone died or anything relating to Draco or Snape :) Read the whole thing in a couple hours lol

Answer 15

Deathly Hallows was released at 8.30am in Adelaide, which was the exact moment that I was meant to be starting the Saturday morning shift at Coles Supermarket. (Note: I worked for three years as a part time checkout girl while I was studying at uni. I have a much better career now.) I had a horrible manager who would not tolerate lateness - any staff member who was not present on a checkout at the exact second their shift was to start would have their name called repeatedly over the PA. The manager also refused to change me to a later shift so that I could attend the launch of the book, which I thought was pretty damn unfair, as I was always coming in to do extra shifts, working through lunch breaks and staying back late etc. Even now, nearly two years since I quit, the company still owes me money.



I was fed up with the bullying - which is why at 8.30am on Saturday 21 July I thought "stuff em" and walked inside Target, waited in the queue and bought my copy of Deathly Hallows. Coles could go to hell.

Answer 16

I only started Harry Potter at the start of the year.

Sad, but true.

So I missed all the releases.

I would have LOVED them. But I would have been too young anyway.



:(

I had picked up the first five from a charity shop, as my friend's wouldn't stop going on about them, and I figured even if they were rubbish I didn't spend loads.

My brother had actually got the last two books, but he never read them.

Answer 17

I worked at a bookstore when it came out, so I reserved a copy and got it a few hours before it was released on the west coast.



But I made sure to get the hell out of dodge before the midnight release party. HP fans can be crazy.

Answer 18

Actually, while I have been a Potter fan since second grade, my parents are the hugely religious type who despise anything and everything fantasy/magic. Which made my life as a Potter fan suck. (Understatement of the year)

I really wish that I had made a premiere or a midnight release. I plan to make up for the lack of Potter when I'm older...a whole room devoted to books/Rowling/Potter....heaven.

Answer 19

Oh my God! I was in freaking Spain so I couldn't go to the party!!



Okay, what am I saying? I loved Spain. It was awesome. I lived there for 2 months.



Anyways, I was really disappointed so my parents picked me up an English version and I read it during school.



:D



It was the first midnight release (books) that I hadn't gone to.

Answer 20

I couldn't make it to a release party, I was so disappointed.

My sister surprised me the next day buy buying it for me.

I read ALL night and finished the whole thing by 7:00 am LOL.

A few months later I had to re-read it because that night I was so tired I barely remembered a thing.

Answer 21

I did exactly what I did when HP6 came out in book form...



I woke up at 8.45am. Then got in the car and drove a whole 5km to Westfield. Then I walk casually down to K-Mart. There were three other people standing there. Sadly noone was dressed up. The doors opened, I walked to the display which had cardboard boxes still sticky-taped up. Some guy opened them and I had the first copy that that K-Mart sold. Then I started a conversation with the checkout dude. Bought my copy and left the shop. On my way back to the car, I passes Angus and Robertson and saw a bunch of people in costume all waiting for the doors to open so they could buy their pre-ordered copies. I gave them a little wave and pointed to my own copy. I felt a little smug. I paid a cheaper price and got my copy first. If only i'd come in costume... that'd have been even better...



So I finally get in the car at about 9.10am... I've wasted 10 whole minutes of reading time... and my younger sister was in the car with my at the time. I asked her to drive home but she was too scared to getting booked for driving without a licence... wimp :-P

So I had to get her to read it to me whilst I drove home, just so I could have the whole story finished before anyone could tell me what happened.



I got home at about 9.20am. I got every set of lights. I swear.. the Traffic Light fairy is out to get me. And Miss Jigg (my dear sister) who hates magic and anything supernatural related was not the best person to read. I would get her to do an audiobook version.



So when I finally got home, I sat on the couch and read until around 7.30pm. Yep... I only took food breaks and toilet breaks. It was a bit hard to concentrate because my dad kept talking to me deliberately trying to distract me. And he'd start watching Doctor Who, one of my favourite shows...

Answer 22

lol I went to the midnight release and got it! And my dad said that's going to be the last book I ever get. But I forgot that my sister bought me a copy too, so I have two copies of DH. and then my auntie gave me one the night after as a present. three copies! :D

Answer 23

Dispatched my parents to stand in line. Got my hands on the book the day it came out. Read it in about 12 hours (maybe less). Cried a lot.

Answer 24

lol i fought with my brother about who gets to read it first, and we made so much noise my dad went to the shops and bought another one.

haha - i was still 50 pages ahead of him through the day lol

and i didnt take my eyes of the book, even while eating.

when i finally finished and turned of the lights, i could see words floating everywhere.

then i wished i had saved it - read a page a day so it hadnt just ended.

then i wished i could comfort snape about lily and wished for a longer ending and that dh had been two books so there was more of it and new hp books had not ended.

lol wot bout u?

Answer 25

stood in line at Barnes and Noble till 2 am. Took the next day off and read the book.Started at 9am and finished it at 11pm the same day.

Wore my Harry potter cape with mt friends kids to the book release. It was fun and I was not alone. Other grown ladies dressed with their kids or borrowed kids. :)

Answer 26

Good times. :)



I got to Big W early on the what-was-it of July 2007, and waited in a massive line, and then bought it with my sister and mother. I read it whilst warming up for netball, and then as soon as the game finished, I indulged myself in it, possibly already ahead of the rest of the family.



Started reading it, and haven't really stopped since. :D

Answer 27

I stayed up past midnight with my sister while my mom went out to go get the book. She came back with two copies; one was won in a raffle, so we stayed up until 4 in the morning reading them.

Answer 28

i went to a release party and read it like 7 hours

Answer 29

i read it a few months ago. i know, shame on me.



but when i finally did get it i was like YAY!! and i read it in a few hours. i didn't skip to the end like Rupert did (haha) but i was so excited and i wanted to know what would happen =D ahaha <3 HP

Answer 30

lol my mum & i lined up for hrs! i went to Kippa Ring in QLD at A&R and when we got close this lady said that we could get them from Kmart just walk in and get them and we were like OMG but i got a shiney certificate from it and i had preordered it so i wanted to get my book anyway. yeah



lol it sucks how theres no parties in Australia ah!

Answer 31

I witnessed the mad rush to borrow the copies purchased by my library, then I waited quietly for my dad to purchase a copy and read it after he was done.

Answer 32

My husband bought it for me as a surprise, and gave it to me at work. Needless to say I didn't get much work done that day :)

Answer 33

midnight release party

Answer 34

I waited an hour for YOU to bring me home my book.

And lay in front of the gas heater all day, reading it.

Answer 35

My auntie bought it 1st day, read it and then gave it to me to keep...

It was cool,

emo beast xx

Answer 36

i think i might have gone to two release parties...

Answer 37

i read it a year later