A Few Friends, My Family, and the Midnight Release of HP7
So, at 3 pm on Friday the 20th, I went to Equipaje's house and met her friend Curly. We chatted in the kitchen for a while, put some fries in the deep-fryer, then went out to do battle with the raspberry bush. While we were out there, CoSaCo and Sizzle showed up. After a little bit longer securing enough berries for all, we adjourned to the kitchen. Then, the crafts began in earnest.
I made my shirt to say "Aurors Do It Vigilantly" in red duct tape letters, while Sizzle worked on her green waist-cincher, and Equipaje was sewing up her corset. CoSaCo and Curly, both of whom only stayed until about seven-ish, were mostly in the basement, playing on Annoying!Cousin's Wii with El Monstruito. But they did resurface to have pizza for dinner before they left.
Our show did not get on the road until nine o'clock. This was due to my putting "N. Tonks" on the back of my jacket as well as the shirt, doing Sizzle/Bella's hair, deciding on a cloak for Equipaje, and then Mrs. T, El Monstruito, and Annoying!Cousin deciding that they would, in fact, come for a little while. So we loaded up both cars and were off to B&N!
Upon our arrival, Sizzle and I went immediately to the magazine section to acquire wristbands that showed what group we would be in to get our reserve copies of the book. Though we were in group 11, Mr. T promised that he would try and sneak us through with his group, which was number 2. After this, we happened upon my good friend Elfie, who I have not seen for a good while, due to her quitting taekwondo. She was resplendent in a dark green dress as pre-Azkaban Bellatrix. And she had Lucius' pimp cane! ^_^ We were molested a few times by a group of mini!Harrys, tried to be in the utterly chaotic costume parade, and eventually settled down in the sci-fi/fantasy section. I read DeathNote, Equipaje summarized chapters from HP6, and -- oh! I forgot to mention that we had previously found the twins and Pidge, and they were with us.
The mini-Harrys came by a few times, as did a vampire*. Also, a trip to Starbucks was made, and we got a picture taken! Yup. Much fun. But the real fun began when they started calling the groups. First everyone in groups 1 - 3 got in line, and then there was the countdown to 12:01. The clerks were very efficient; within ten minutes, we were out in the parking lot, trying not to jump up and down and/or scream. ^_^;; We started taking it in turns to read aloud once in the car, and continued as such the entire way back to Equipaje's house.
Once in her room, we decided to take a break from reading and get ready for bed, for all our feet were hurting, and the costumes were hot and confining. As soon as that was finished, though, we were reading again. It was near 2 in the morning when I decided to give up and sleep, but the other two continued reading until about 4.
The next morning -- and when I say morning, I mean that the sun was actually up -- Sizzle's parents came to get her close to 12. It was their coming that got Equipaje and I up and out of bed, and down to the kitchen for "breakfast". My parents came to get me not long after.
*The Vampire "Conversation" went as follows:
Mini-Harry 1: Hey, you're a Death Eater, too!
Me: Say hello, Bella.
Vampire: *showing fangs* Good eeeevening.
Me, Sizzle, Equipaje: ...... *blink*blink*