A history of Harry Potter

Middle school and high school are times to embarrass ourselves in hopes it wears off before we get into the real world, and thankfully Harry Potter has given us an outlet.

I can’t poke fun at people’s costumes from the premiere because, as much as I hate to admit, I once dressed as Hermione Granger for Halloween. I had the robe, the curly hair and a stuffed cat. About two people recognized me and the rest thought I was a vet.

I had all the Harry Potter paraphernalia, from T-shirts to lightning bolt tattoos that I might have put on my forehead once or twice. I even bought those candies that stores tried to pass off as “Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans” but can only be described as fancy packaged jellybeans.

I briefly considered wearing the robe from that awkward October night, but luckily I’ve done enough embarrassing things since I was 10 years old to know better. At the premiere late Wednesday there were, of course, the “I heart Ron” and “I heart Won Won” T-shirts, shirts that said “Muggle,” the ever-popular Gryffindor scarves and robes and a girl dressed as the golden snitch.

But my favorite was the kid in drag.

There’s nothing better than a boy in a gray skirt, wig and sweater vest at midnight to end your day right.

I’m from a small town, so it’s always nice to have a high school reunion at the movie theater. I even saw the Harry Potter look-alike I met in middle school. I’m telling you, all this kid needs is a lightning bolt scar on his forehead and a nice pair of dress robes and you’ve got yourself a movie.

After spending two months in London, I’ve recently started to have withdrawals. I’ve missed the British accents so much that I’ve considered calling my IU roommate just to talk to her because she does a mean British accent. The movie was a nice reminder of where I’d been, but in the first scene when the Millennium Bridge fell, my heart broke a little.

That bridge was about a 15-minute walk from our flat during the summer, and I crossed it on a regular basis. Of course I felt the need to educate my friend and the stranger sitting next to me that the big church was, in fact, St. Paul’s Cathedral and that less than a mile to the left was my flat. They were less than thrilled when I pointed to the screen and yelled, “You can see the Globe Theatre” and “I love the Tate Modern!” I finally shut up after I was shushed for proclaiming I’d been to the Great Hall.

All in all, it was an eventful night, and I didn’t fall asleep at this midnight showing like I did for the third “Pirates of the Caribbean” movie. And I’m still going to offer my sister $5 to wear my robes when she sees the movie this week.