On November 19, David Yates made millions of people VERY happy. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t one of them! Our countdown began ten years ago, and we watched each and every day pass, slowly but surely, putting that red X in the box day after day… and then FINALLY the moment came. HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS (PART 1)!

I’m not entirely sure what you should call us. Fans who are OBSESSED with Justin Beiber are called Beliebers. Those who are infatuated with Twilight are called Twerds (Twilight Nerds). But what is a DIE HARD Harry Potter fan? A Pot Hea-…maybe not. Come to think of it, I, and all the other HP fanatics, refuse to subscribe to labels. You can’t put a name on the absolutely, amazing, awesome, astounding, awe- inspiring Harry Potter (and those are only the A’s!)

But what, may you ask, are we, the nerds of our generation willing to do for the one and only Harry Potter? Most of us broke our 10:00 pm curfews and stayed up until midnight on a random Thursday to watch a 2 1/2 hour movie and then suffer through school/ work all the next day on .07 hours of sleep, maybe even less. And boy was it worth it! What can we say? It’s Harry FLIPPIN’ Potter!

When I stepped into the movie theater I was overwhelmed with the wonderful sight of wizards who had come from near and far to witness the well anticipated premiere. I saw person after person decked out in Hogwarts robes and wielding wands. Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff (and join me when I question this: what the HECK is a hufflepuff?)! The aroma of popcorn was mixed with the smells of Bertie Botts Every Flavored Beans and Butter Beer. I could barely hear anything what with the rumbling roar of people shouting spells back and forth at each other. In short… IT WAS HEAVEN!

Although I was elated by the effort put into the costumes of some of the people, two clearly stand out in my mind. The first was a college student who was dressed EXACTLY like Dobby the House Elf. Yes, pillow case and all, or should I say ONLY a pillow case. But it’s okay because he had the body to pull it off. Secondly, at the end of the night (well actually it was the beginning of the morning) as the post- movie crowd piled out of the theaters, a girl was walking around dressed head to toe in white feathers. “I have seen some pretty strange costumes tonight, but that by far is the strangest!” said my mother. I then turned to her and said “Mom, its HEDWIG! She’s an OWL!” Her expression was priceless: “Well THAT makes sense!” she laughed.

Before the movie started, my friends and I sat chugging Arnold Palmer (aka heaven in a bottle) and devouring RED VINES©( the best candy in the world) in order to ensure that we stayed away. WE couldn’t risk falling asleep during the happiest moments of our lives. I was honestly bouncing off the walls. Picture this: a Mexican jumping bean mixed with a two year old child with 20 gallons of the most delicious and most sugar filled snacks on earth! Yeah, that was me! I was so excited to once again see my one and only true love: RONALD WEASLEY! I do indeed love the dorky red- headed SuperMegaFoxyAwesomeHot best friend of the famous Harry Potter. And, he definitely lived up to my expectations. As his romance with Hermione Granger grows, he only gets more and more adorable! I do understand that he is a fictional character, but HEY! Where would we be if we didn’t have an imagination?

Using your imagination to believe is more important that anything in this magical world that we live in. Believing in SOMETHING whether it may be “a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far, away” or a mission “to boldly go where no man has gone before” or using a spaceship for “traversing the galaxy for intergalactic travels” adds happiness to an otherwise dark life. In the words of the wise and wonderful Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, “Happiness can be found even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light!”