The series has been a part of my life for, golly gee, forever. My first experience with the young wizard happened when I worked at a Borders book store (soon to be defunct, btw). I worked behind the coffee counter making delicious cappuccinos, mochas, lattes, and other posh names for coffee. I had heard of the Harry Potter series but had at that point not read any of them. My manager loved it because it was well written and, let’s be honest, padded the store’s margins quite a bit. So, in the winter of double-oh it was beknownst to all that the fourth Harry Potter book, The Goblet of Fire, was to be released. The store got all geared up, I had to come up with a drink analogous to something called “butterbeer”, and we had to put on silly costumes all in preparation for a midnight sale. I wore a robe which on any other night could easily have been mistaken for a dress. With frills.
Now, let me tell you about midnight sales. Imagine, if you will, a thousand screaming children running mad through a bookstore. Add to that two thousand tired and annoyed parents who for some reason or another decided to attend a midnight book sale. Now, put all those tired and cranky adults in one big, never ending line in front of the barista and you have a recipe for a night which would seem like just another steamy day in the 9th level of hell. After that night, as you might guess, I wanted to find this Harry Potter and wring his scrawny wizarding neck.
