Escape From... Azkaban?
Okay, first off, no spoilers!!!! I'm a little over halfway through, so I don't wanna hear a word yet. I'd be further along, but I had to go to the graduation party of my surrogate brother a family friend, so a huge chunk of my reading time was stolen yesterday.
But I would like to tell you about our awesome party of awesome.
So, you see, my town is where all the cool kids super geeks go for the Harry Potter parties. We've been written up in newspapers and the like for the last three book releases because the entire town sponsors a midnight countdown which requires us to turn one whole street into freakin' Diagon Alley. No joke, people. One cafe becomes the Leaky Cauldron, our ice cream parlour is Florean Fortescue's, our children's bookstore becomes Florish and Blotts, the bank is Gringotts etc.
So naturally, when someone remembered that First United Church had a dark tunnel that ran through the basement, it was only logical that it be turned into Azkaban prison.
And this was no half-assed job they did. We got lights and sound effects and bars made (I love our high school theatre department so much, our crew is made up of darlings... but don't tell them I said that). And since youngcurmudgeon's mom was making the costumes and she was involved, I was fortunate enough to be dragged into the fun.
Basically, it was a five minute tour through the tunnel. Before you entered you got sentenced for a crime (we told them that there was a "crime wave" and that to teach people a lesson the Ministry and the Wizengamot were sentencing everyone to one night in Azkaban for piddly little crimes. Everyone was guilty, damnit! Everyone!), and then you were led by a "guard" aka tour guide for your night. First you passed Lucius Malfoy, who taunted the children and insisted that he would be free soon while his lovely wife Narcissa sobbed and said she'd wait for him and loved him. She then screamed at anyone who laughed at her suffering.
We led them past lots of Dementors (who did a great job freaking the hell out of people, grabbing them from dark corners and rushing past), past a wall of splinched people who thought they would Apparate out of the prison (yay, rubber body parts!), and then led them past Bellatrix Lestrange. The girl playing her did a fabulous job, very funny and completely off her rocker. She would try to curse us without her wand, and we'd taunt her for it. We then told then that in order to get out they had to pass through the Lichen of Malevolence, which was dreadfully poisonous, and made them rush through walls of green sparkly streamers. Then we sent them out into the night with a warning never to break wizarding law again.
Of course we had lots of funny lines for our purposes, and were ad-libbing all over the place in full costume and accents (mine was Irish, since I figured three Engligh guards were plenty). At one point Sarah brought me a cookie from the break room, and I used it to taunt Lucius, who was very displeased with the torture. There were also some family reunions (one Draco Malfoy approached and gave his daddy a hug, insisting that he looked wonderful and would surely be out soon). Sure, there were some obnoxious children, and more than a few who burst into tears at the scary Dementors (I had one poor girl who hyperventilated through the whole thing; I kept smiling at her to make sure she didn't freak out too much), but all in all people were having a ball, laughing and screaming and thanking us at the end.
We were supposed to run tours from 6-8 PM that evening. The police came by and insisted on capping the line at 7PM. Even though they had capped us so early we still ran from 6-10 PM. It was insanity. Fun insanity, but absolute crazy-time nonetheless. Man, my feet were fucking sore by the end (made the mistake of doing the first half in heels since I didn't realize we'd be there so long, and we never took breaks).
With our ded feet, we left our posts at half past ten, well aware that most of the booths and shops were closed. So we got some butterbeer from the Leaky Cauldron (our homemade stuff is better) and got in our respective lines to wait for the ball to drop. Literally. There was one; it was shaped like a snitch. XD
Oh, the team from Mugglenet.com was here, they celebrated with us and held a panel to talk and answer questions. We missed them, of course, but I think that what we were doing was more important - after all, we were part of what made that celebration such a blast for everyone in town (and they come from all over the nation, btw. The town was completely swamped from 1PM straight on to midnight, and has been that way on the countdowns since book 4). As for how many people were dressed up... *snort* how many people do you think?
Once I had my book clutched in my hands (which kind of struck me dumb for a bit), I changed out of my costume and into pjs, and headed on over to youngcurmudgeon's house, where there were tents set up in the backyard with lamps and snacks. Seven of us read long into the night - dispite the working fatigue, I managed to keep my eyes open until around 5AM, when I lay down my head and promtly konked out. I was woken at 10AM by Sarah, who informed me that her wonderful parents had breakfasty foods for us. I was sleepy, but feeling surprisingly fabulous - I think sleeping out in the perfect night air did me good.
All in all, best countdown ever, I think.
And now, I must get away from this hoard of temptation, and get back to reading. Ta for now!
But I would like to tell you about our awesome party of awesome.
So, you see, my town is where all the cool kids super geeks go for the Harry Potter parties. We've been written up in newspapers and the like for the last three book releases because the entire town sponsors a midnight countdown which requires us to turn one whole street into freakin' Diagon Alley. No joke, people. One cafe becomes the Leaky Cauldron, our ice cream parlour is Florean Fortescue's, our children's bookstore becomes Florish and Blotts, the bank is Gringotts etc.
So naturally, when someone remembered that First United Church had a dark tunnel that ran through the basement, it was only logical that it be turned into Azkaban prison.
And this was no half-assed job they did. We got lights and sound effects and bars made (I love our high school theatre department so much, our crew is made up of darlings... but don't tell them I said that). And since youngcurmudgeon's mom was making the costumes and she was involved, I was fortunate enough to be dragged into the fun.
Basically, it was a five minute tour through the tunnel. Before you entered you got sentenced for a crime (we told them that there was a "crime wave" and that to teach people a lesson the Ministry and the Wizengamot were sentencing everyone to one night in Azkaban for piddly little crimes. Everyone was guilty, damnit! Everyone!), and then you were led by a "guard" aka tour guide for your night. First you passed Lucius Malfoy, who taunted the children and insisted that he would be free soon while his lovely wife Narcissa sobbed and said she'd wait for him and loved him. She then screamed at anyone who laughed at her suffering.
We led them past lots of Dementors (who did a great job freaking the hell out of people, grabbing them from dark corners and rushing past), past a wall of splinched people who thought they would Apparate out of the prison (yay, rubber body parts!), and then led them past Bellatrix Lestrange. The girl playing her did a fabulous job, very funny and completely off her rocker. She would try to curse us without her wand, and we'd taunt her for it. We then told then that in order to get out they had to pass through the Lichen of Malevolence, which was dreadfully poisonous, and made them rush through walls of green sparkly streamers. Then we sent them out into the night with a warning never to break wizarding law again.
Of course we had lots of funny lines for our purposes, and were ad-libbing all over the place in full costume and accents (mine was Irish, since I figured three Engligh guards were plenty). At one point Sarah brought me a cookie from the break room, and I used it to taunt Lucius, who was very displeased with the torture. There were also some family reunions (one Draco Malfoy approached and gave his daddy a hug, insisting that he looked wonderful and would surely be out soon). Sure, there were some obnoxious children, and more than a few who burst into tears at the scary Dementors (I had one poor girl who hyperventilated through the whole thing; I kept smiling at her to make sure she didn't freak out too much), but all in all people were having a ball, laughing and screaming and thanking us at the end.
We were supposed to run tours from 6-8 PM that evening. The police came by and insisted on capping the line at 7PM. Even though they had capped us so early we still ran from 6-10 PM. It was insanity. Fun insanity, but absolute crazy-time nonetheless. Man, my feet were fucking sore by the end (made the mistake of doing the first half in heels since I didn't realize we'd be there so long, and we never took breaks).
With our ded feet, we left our posts at half past ten, well aware that most of the booths and shops were closed. So we got some butterbeer from the Leaky Cauldron (our homemade stuff is better) and got in our respective lines to wait for the ball to drop. Literally. There was one; it was shaped like a snitch. XD
Oh, the team from Mugglenet.com was here, they celebrated with us and held a panel to talk and answer questions. We missed them, of course, but I think that what we were doing was more important - after all, we were part of what made that celebration such a blast for everyone in town (and they come from all over the nation, btw. The town was completely swamped from 1PM straight on to midnight, and has been that way on the countdowns since book 4). As for how many people were dressed up... *snort* how many people do you think?
Once I had my book clutched in my hands (which kind of struck me dumb for a bit), I changed out of my costume and into pjs, and headed on over to youngcurmudgeon's house, where there were tents set up in the backyard with lamps and snacks. Seven of us read long into the night - dispite the working fatigue, I managed to keep my eyes open until around 5AM, when I lay down my head and promtly konked out. I was woken at 10AM by Sarah, who informed me that her wonderful parents had breakfasty foods for us. I was sleepy, but feeling surprisingly fabulous - I think sleeping out in the perfect night air did me good.
All in all, best countdown ever, I think.
And now, I must get away from this hoard of temptation, and get back to reading. Ta for now!