The 'Sirius' wait for Harry Potter fans ends
Countdown ends for book's release
Not even the biggest Harry Potter fan could conjure a spell strong enough to make the lines at the Harvard Square bookstores disappear last night.
Throngs of the boy wizard's most devoted followers, many with lightning bolts zig-zagging on their foreheads, waited upwards of six hours to get their hands on the seventh and final installment of J.K. Rowling's best-selling series, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows."
But at 12:01 today, the wait was finally over.
"I am so excited," said Alex Giglio, 13, of Bedford, who chuckled as she opened the book for the first time after being among the first to buy it at Curious George.
"I'm going to stay up all night and read it."
Excitement over the book's release had been building throughout the afternoon in Harvard Square, which was transformed into Hogwarts Square for festivities that included a rock concert and food inspired by the wildly popular series.
"I don't know where the line begins," said Natali Gingras, 28, of Jamaica Plain, as she stood in line at the Harvard Coop. "I'm almost there or I'm not there at all."
Gingras and hundreds of others, some dressed as witches and wizards in colorful pointed hats and striped ties, had waited for wristbands in a line that wrapped around the block, turning the usually busy square into a chaotic Potter fest. The wristbands signified who wanted to buy a book and secured the chance to line up to buy it later.
"It epitomizes some people in this generation," said Ian Cardoni, 17, of Norwood, who has been nearly the same age as Harry throughout the journey. "The baby boomers had The Beatles. We have Harry Potter."
For many, it was their first time waiting in line for a Potter book. It was a milestone they couldn't pass up, they said, as they mused about whether the "boy who lived" would meet his end.
"I really liked the books, because I'm more of a fiction person," said Daniel Wilson, 11, of Boston, who wore a scarlet red cape and Potter glasses in the Coop line. "I think Harry's actually going to kill himself to help kill Voldemort."
"That's such a dark ending," said his mother, Judy.
By 11:45 at the New England Mobile Book Fair in Newton, the parking low was jammed.
A line snaked slowly in the back door into aisles jammed elbow to elbow. A clerk handed out 10 different colors of cards, fifty of each, and patrons were served in order of the colors called.
As it neared the witching hour, the crowd counted down to midnight, "10, 9, 8 . . ."
Dan Higgins, 15, of Needham was the first to purchase the book. Holding two copies over his head he walked out, saying he had bought one for his brother Jeff.
For the region's Braille readers, National Braille Press was given an advance copy of J.K. Rowling's final Potter installment by the publisher, Scholastic Inc., and it produced 1,400 Braille copies that were ready to be picked up or delivered simultaneously with the print release.
"To be treated equally with their sighted peers -- it means everything in the world," said Tanya Holton, vice president for development of Boston-based National Braille Press. "At that age, who wants to feel left out? Nobody."
Thomas C. Palmer Jr. of the Globe staff and correspondent Claire L. Cummings contributed to this report. 