Harry Potter and the End of Adolescence

Many of you will already know that I am a HUGE Harry Potter nerd.  I used to get the books at the Barnes and Noble midnight releases, and I was allowed to start reading the moment I got the book until I finished the book, most of the time the same morning, around 6 or 7 a.m.  I am a HP junkie.  Three movies ago I started the idea of dressing up for the midnight showing in the hopes of entertaining my little brother and seeming "cool", and now come 2011, he is a teenager, probably thinks his sister is a dork, and I am still dressing up.  I thought I'd include in this post my previous costumes, and in so doing, pay homage to the years of Harry Potter memories.  It has been a huge part of my childhood, and brings now myriad of mixed feelings with the series coming to a close.  I feel like I have officially graduated to adulthood - or my version of it, at least...

Harry Potter and the Last-Minute Costume

This was the first year I dressed up, for the Half Blood Prince (VI), and of course I was Professor Trelawney.  We found tickets last minute, and a couple of hours before the show, we though, "What if we decided to dress up? That might be fun"...  I luckily had all of the stuff for my costume already sitting in my costume boxes, except for the glasses.  The last picture is of me with my old school friend Katie.  I ran into her at the theater, and she was dressed as Tonks.  It was cool to see her after both of us being away for so long, especially in such a niche-type setting, too.

Harry Potter and the Second Professor

On to the Deathly Hallows! (Part 1)  Here's the group of costume-clad supporters in the 12:01:

I made my own textbook, since this time I went as Professor McGonagall, and I had WAY more time to plan this time.  What better title than Theories of Transubstantial Transfiguration?  (Yes, that is an actual textbook mentioned in the books - I don't do this halfway, you know.)  I arrived at the theater at 10 a.m. this year, since we had a group coming and needed more seats.  I read the entire book waiting in line (the Transfiguration book was actually Deathly Hallows in disguise, obviously).  The awesome Bellatrix you see me with is my friend Cassie Anderson, whom I have known since she was born, literally, and who now is almost graduating from high school!

And of course, this was all done so I could hang out with this kid.  Love you, Chase!  Thanks for putting up with your crazy sister, and for going as Tom Riddle twice.  You're fantastic.  Love you!

Harry Potter and the End of an Era
(Limited Release)
Now for the long awaited culmination of every HP fans' movie-going - Deathly Hallows, Part 2!

Some highlights from this year's showing were the facts that we were in Denver, so we didn't have the cult following of familiar faces like we did in the Springs.  Still, something about HP fans that is cool is that they all seem to be friends by the end of the night.  This lady was painting people's heads, including her own, as Voldemort.  It turns out she's a professional body painter, and yes, I learned all  of this in line.  Then there was the BEST Rita Skeeter I have ever seen.  She made her entire costume from scratch, and even made her own Quick Quotes Quill. She's joined in the picture by Severus Snape, although I thought he was too "Sirius" and not "Snivelly" enough.  But who am I to judge?!  They were awesome costumes.  Lastly, there's Taggart in line, who bless his heart, puts up with the following example of his very crazy wife:

In the last picture, I think I must be wondering what I will do with my life once Harry Potter is over?  I had most of this costume already in my closet as well (or Taggart's in the case of the tie).  haha  I did get the wig, and made my Quibbler and Spectrespecs from scratch.  I was pleased with the result, so that qualifies as a success.  And with that, I hopefully have not only paid homage to a great series, but also gotten enough closure to accept that I won't be doing this next year...  But I'll leave it open ended.