We admit it. We're nerds. We camped out for the New York premiere of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 last night.
It was hot. We were cranky. But it was awesome. There were a good 200 people, sleeping in shifts to watch everyone's things. We met fans from Chile, Peru, and France. Tom Felton (AKA Draco) paid us a surprise visit Sunday night and brought us pizza. Alan Rickman (AKA Professor Snape) showed up across the street at Lincoln Center and 40 people ran across the street at a green light to try to catch a glimpse of him in the window.
They told us the first 50 people would be getting wristbands to stand at the red carpet, and then spent all of Monday telling us we wouldn't. At long last, they showed up with wristbands that not only put us right at the red carpet, but also a surprise screening of the final movie. And yes, we did sob our way through the movie. Only they were dry sobs, because we were too dehydrated for real tears.
It was hot and sunny all weekend. We ended up behind what must be the shortest building in all of Manhattan, and so not even the shade of the building was there to help.
One group of girls camped out for six days. They spent the week tweeting from @NYCPotterHeads. The poster was pulled off of the wall at a subway station in Queens and stuck in front of them so that people would stop asking what they were waiting for.
Tom Felton brought us pizza. Yes, the guy who plays Draco Malfoy just showed up with nearly a couple dozen pizzas for all of us. According to one of the guards, the cast had been watching us from inside Lincoln Center after their press conference. They wanted to do something for us and Felton volunteered. Even sweeter, he was apparently told he could only bring a few pies and couldn't get out of the car, but ignored them and came anyway.
People slept in shifts to watch each other's things. Some crashed on blankets and chairs, but most creative (and we're betting most comfortable) were the inflatable rafts.
People spent all of Sunday night making signs. Among the others were "The best ten years of their lives, and the best ten years of ours," "Keep Calm and Ginger On," and one girl thanked the series for helping her cope with her mother's death, while another thanked it for helping her cope with an eating disorder.
There weren't a lot of costumes (again, it was HOT), but the ones who did dress up went all out. The girl on the left is dressed up as Luna Lovegood, radish earrings and all. And we don't want to know how uncomfortable it must have been for Voldemort to get his nose looking like that.
After telling us all day that we wouldn't be getting to go by the red carpet, they came out and surprised us with wristbands. About 20 of us got silver ones that granted us access to an early screening.
Rupert Grint, who plays Ron Weasley. We had to include this one, because his expression is priceless.
We took some normal ones too, of course. He's seems a lot bigger in photos.
Emma Watson, who plays Hermione Granger. "Are you that girl from Harry Potter?" was written across a photo for her to sign. She's said it's the question she's asked most.
Alan Rickman, whose portrayal of Severus Snape in the final film is beyond words.
We wanted to throw one more in of Tom Felton, for good measure. Thanks for the pizza pie, hot stuff.
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