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Arts & Entertainment

Harry Potter's Final Film Draws Loyal Fans to Commons

Fans start lining up early for the midnight screening of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2."

Hours before the full moon claimed the sky, fans were lining up outside the Edwards Grand Palace Stadium 6 at the on Thursday for the midnight showing of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, the final film adaptation based on author JK Rowling’s seven-book series.

Expecting hundreds of fans for the opening night, five waiting areas corresponding to each of the five screening rooms were cordoned off in front and nearby the movie theatre.

By 6 p.m., nearly 100 people, many dressed as their favorite Potter characters, had shown for the much-anticipated final installment of the magical saga featuring the last showdown between Lord Voldemort and Harry Potter.

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“We’re Voldemorties, the bad guys trying to defeat Harry Potter,” 19-year-old Lynne Rosenberg said as she displayed a Dark Mark on her forearm with her friend, 18-year-old Harley Frank. The pair of University of California at Berkeley students also donned black capes and whitened faces. Like many others in the crowd, both were home from college for the summer.

“I’m excited to see how the series concludes and see how everything in the book is translated to film,” 20-year-old Sam Lieberstein said as he waited near the now-closed restaurant, Mi Piace.

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Dressed as Harry Potter, scar and all, the ethnomusicology major at UCLA said his college quidditch team is competing for the Quidditch World Cup in New York this November. Quidditch is a sport from Rowling’s novels that has now crossed over into reality.

The event drew more than a college crowd, however, with entire families of fans also lining up several hours early in anticipation of seeing the film adaptation more than 14 years after Rowling published her first Harry Potter book in England.     

“It’s a benchmark of their adolescence and childhood . . . it’s going to be something they’ll always remember. It’s a sad night,” said Calabasas resident Michele Faulkner, who was there with her 14-year-old son and friend, Nancy Finkelstein, also there with her 14-year-old son.

The mothers and avid Harry Potter fans recalled attending every book signing, book release and movie release with their children, often in costume, for more than a decade. After buying books at signings, Finkelstein said she would stay up all night and read each book aloud to her children until they were finished.

Her son also competed in costume contests and won a few times, including once in Kindergarten when he dressed up like the half giant, Hagrid. He now attends Calabasas High School.

“It all started when JK Rowling came to the Barnes and Noble in Westlake. We waited in line for more than five hours . . . we gave her a piece of paper with a quidditch rap and art my daughter made. She asked for our address so she could write us,” Finklestein said. “And she did. I knew she would.”

The first showing of the film was screened at 12:20 a.m. on Friday.

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