Harry Potter and the Magic Number

As I mentioned previously, I have already purchased and finished the latest Harry Potter book. I'm still in mourning over both the events in the book and the fact that I'm already finished with it. I tried to go slowly, really I did, it just didn't happen. If I believed JK Rowling were a witch (picture me rolling my eyes here), I would swear she had cast a spell on her books that compels readers to be completely obsessed with them until they hit the words "the end." The truth of it is, she's just that talented as a writer. Kinda makes writer wanna-be's like me want to jump off a bridge, but I think I'll put that off until I've read Book 7. How long until that one comes out?

I didn't discover the HP books until the summer Book 4 came out. To my great chagrin, Dave pre-ordered Book 5 from Amazon as a "surprise", and I missed out on the release parties I was so looking forward to. (I guess I could have gone anyway, but really what was the point?) This time, I made sure to find a party. It was at Border's. I don't know why I wanted to do this so badly. I'm not big on crowds, and the place was packed. Natalie, however, had a ball. She played games, earned galleons, got her face painted, and traded those galleons in for a sparkly wand. I'm glad I brought her. My best friend Chris and my sister Selena were also there. Because we didn't pre-order before July 5th, Chris had to put our names on a waiting list first thing Friday morning. We giggled like the 12 year-olds we still are on the inside when our number on that list was 69! Yes, we are pitiful-I can't speak for Chris, but I giggled many times about it throughout the day while Dave merely rolled his eyes and asked me how old I was. It's not his fault, he just doesn't understand the backstory; 69 is our lucky number.

When we were younger and used to go bowling every weekend, the winner was determined either by who scored the highest OR whoever bowled a 69. Since I stink at bowling, I won this way more than once. We always thought this very funny. And we often tried to be order number 69 at various take-out places or to pick it in numbered parking lots. And I suppose it's easy to discern that from our immature amusement at using the number, none of us were really familiar with doing anything related to what it represents. And you would be correct-we just liked to say it and laugh.

So, when Chris arrived at the store and checked in, we giggled like school girls to see our number in print on the ticket they handed us. And of course we had to call our pal John (who had usually bowled at least a 69 by the 4th frame and never won that way) and tell him all about it. He lives in Dallas now, but comes to visit every once in awhile and yes, we still go bowling. He had the nerve to make fun of us for being geeks at a Harry Potter party while HE was home watching baseball on TV. I think that brings the geek contest to a draw, don't you? He congratulated us on our 'winning number,' scolded me for having my seven year-old out until midnight, then relented because it was for Harry Potter. Had he been with us, it would have been just like old times (only we would have been going to the movies to see whatever summer blockbuster we loved for the umpteenth time, chasing each other around with cap guns, or hanging out at Uncle Jeffy's-and not with Natalie in tow because she didn't exist yet), but having him on the cell phone was better than no John at all.

While we thought it was oh-so-appropriate for us to have the number 69, we didn't think it determined our place in line. After all, most of these people had reserved their copies of the book at least two months in advance and had arrived at the book store much earlier that we had that night. So, imagine our shock when midnight approached and they called ticket numbers 1-75 to get in line. The guy lining us up assured us that #69 did indeed give us a place in that first group. Feeling a little giddy, we got in line and began laughing to the families in front of and behind us about our little coup. It turns out, we shouldn't have done this. The lady in front had #170 and the man behind us was #415. Both had pre-ordered as soon as they could and both had lined up with us in hopes of line-crashing. They all hated us when we told them not only had we not pre-ordered, but that we had been issued our number first thing this morning and only had to pick it up when we arrived and checked in earlier that evening. I thought we were going to get beat-up, I'm not kidding. The man behind us said in a scary voice "that doesn't seem fair" and the lady in front of us was protesting as we received our books and paid for them because they wouldn't let her buy her books before her number group was called. I didn't hear the whole argument but the words "but THEY didn't pre-order" did echo as I cringed.

I should have felt bad, but I didn't, the little cringe notwithstanding. First of all, it's a book! It's a wonderful book, and one I have much anticipated, but still just a book. Second, it was purely the luck of the draw that this happened. Chris and I would have happily waited until the last book was issued if they had required it of us. I rarely have good luck like this and I am almost never pushy, so if fortune smiles on me a little here and there-then I'm all for it. We didn't lie, cheat, or line-crash to get our "golden" ticket (as Chris' husband called it) we just did.

So, surrounded by poor losers, we got our books and chatted with "Hagrid" (the staff was in costume) as we paid for them. He couldn't let us keep our number ticket, though we really wanted it. He was, however, sympathetically amused by our request. We walked happily to our cars and I had Natalie home by 12:30. Still many hours past her bedtime, but not nearly as bad as it could have been. When we got home so quickly, Dave asked how we did it. He had seen on the news that crowds were huge at the stores and didn't expect us for at least another hour. He rolled his eyes as I told him happily it was because 69 IS my magic number. I told you he just doesn't get it.