HP7: Verdict Pending

This is NOT a review! REPEAT: This entry is NOT a review. I am certainly going to have to see this movie another time before I feel confident in writing up what I think of it. I am just going to recount what last night was like with the HP movie release experience with my friends!
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows happened last night! And I was there at midnight... well, actually EARLIER. I got to see The Deathly Hallows at a special early screening at 7:30 last night. It was slightly more expensive per person, but all proceeds went to suicide prevention AND we got to see the movie 4 and half hours early!

Starting about a week and a half ago, I started re-reading the seventh book and decided to make it last till the day of the release so I could end right where Part 1 would end. I was successful and felt pretty confident in where they decided to split it. It was the end of one quest and the beginning of another. There is closure ... etc... however, this conversation did happen between Kevin and I:

Me: I love and hate Return of the King so much.
Kevin: lol
Me: I don't want to feel that way with HP7! Those movies are usually not good enough for me to care, but I fear the 7th and 8th will be just good enough to make me miserable.

Return of the King is the movie have the most confusing relationship with because I love it as a movie, but the adaptation is wrong in so many ways! And with Harry Potter, I usually can let the bad adaptation roll off my back because the movies are never good enough to even be in the same ballpark. But the 7th looked like it might be... which is why I made that comment about RotK. Because that one is SO good but SO wrong I love it and hate it at the same time. I didn't want that for The Deathly Hallows!

As I finished out the day at school yesterday, I had a list of things I want to see in the movie and that I had hoped they would do well. They are as follows (only readers should see below as there are spoilers):

1. Dudley's civil goodbye to Harry
2. The seven Harrys
3. Bill existing in the HP movie world for once
4. Bill and Fluer's wedding (this part is so beautiful in the book, I just wanted a nice glimpse of what it would really look like!)
5. Kreacher and Harry's healed relationship
6. Sneaking into the Ministry: HEART ATTACKS ABOUND
7. Ron leaving and Hermione crying for him to stay. That part ALWAYS really affects me.
9. Godric's Hollow: When I read this part (even for the 3rd time) I wept like a small child when Harry finds his parents' graves.
10. The snake coming out of Bathilda and freaking us all the frick out!
11. Ron coming back and Hermione's reaction
12. Malfoy Manor. I wanted this to TEAR MY HEART OUT.
13. Watching the love between Ron and Hermione grow and them being adorable!

As for what I got when I saw the movie, that will come in the review!

I raced home so I could have time to eat a quick meal and then change into my costume. I had FINALLY just ordered Hogwarts robes. I've been going to HP Events since high school and I don't know why I hadn't just invested in a pair... but I finally did. And I really liked how my costume turned out! Justin, my husband, wore his Triwizard Tournament jersey and brought along Harry's wand. Yeah that's an actual artifact that we have decorating our living room. We were ready! We travelled out the The Rave theater in Hurst with Ashlie and Rocky. Ashlie had a very wizard-like ensemble put together, while Rocky was a Slytherin student! I am pretty sure we looked AWESOME. It's always fun to dress up and go to events like this, but it's especially unique to be able to do it with your spouse and your best friends and know they love it just as much as you do.

Rocky and Ash's outfit! Justin in his jersey!

When we arrived, the line for the midnight showing was already wrapped around the building. And it was cold outside, people. Thankfully, as I said, we were able to go to an early show and that line was inside. We walked in, scanning through the line looking for my friend, Meagan, and just as we thought she had gone missing, she appeared... at the FRONT of the line. Best ever! We ended up getting FABULOUS seats. Middle row, middle section, digital projection, awesomeness.

Meagan and me, and Ashlie and me getting snacks!

Harry and me!

After we got snacks, and I enjoyed my first bag of theater popcorn in ages, we all say and discussed what parts we couldn't wait to see. Because this was a special event, they had hired people to be look-alikes and pose with people in pictures. Because of my renewed red hair and my awesome Gryffindor robes, one of the workers came to me while I was sitting with my friends and asked me if I wouldn't mind posing as Ginny. It was fun, and the guy who was "Harry" was hilarious.

As the lights dimmed and it was time, I couldn't help but feel a little nervous. This was the beginning of the end, and I have forgotten what it was like to be in a world where there was no Harry Potter movies or books to look forward to. What will this new world look like after the summer, when Part 2 ends? What if this one isn't what I hope it is, and then I'm let down by the series? It was a scary thought for a bit, as I watched the trailers. Surreal, to sit there and know I was about to see the movie that has been over a decade and hundreds of millions of fans in the making. I couldn't imagine what kind of pressure the cast must have felt with all that was riding on this movie... but I will say, that as it started, a lot of my fears subsided.

REVIEW TO COME SOON! Stay tuned!