At midnight, the spell was broken

As the last Potter book is released, fans are sad to see the story end.

By SARAH MISHKIN and STEPHANIE GARRY
Published July 21, 2007

Harry Potter look-a-like Caleb Platt, 6, of St. Petersburg, reaches with his magic wand to touch his mother, Nicole Dixon, at the Barnes and Noble Book Sellers store on Tyrone Boulevard in St. Petersburg, Friday night. Platt won the store's Harry Potter costume contest.
	[Times photo: Scott Keeler]

ADVERTISEMENT [Times photo: Scott Keller] Harry Potter fans line up in the Barnes and Noble Book Sellers store on Tyrone Boulevard at 11:30pm to purchase the new Harry Potter book at midnight.

TAMPA - Midnight, the witching hour, finally arrived. Harry Potter's fate fell into the eager hands of his faithful - some would say fanatical - readers.

At Tampa's Barnes and Noble in Carrollwood on N Dale Mabry Highway, they counted down from 10 seconds. It was like New Year's Eve in Times Square. Everyone began screaming and clapping at midnight.

First in line, Delaney Fuhrmeister, 11, of Tampa, dressed as Hermione Granger, walked off, a huge grin on her face.

Cashiers went into a frenzy, ringing up books as fast as possible.

About 200 still waited in the muggy heat outside the store to get in, and 400 were already inside lined up to get books.

It has been 10 years since a scrawny 11-year-old with a weird scar on his forehead learned something fantastic: He was a wizard. Harry Potter, the boy who lived.

Millions of readers went along with Harry as he made his way into a world of dragons, broomsticks and potions class.

Readers such as Gaby Lopez, 17, of Tampa, who said she has been reading the books since fourth grade and was sad that, between graduating from high school and reading the last Harry Potter book, it felt as if her childhood was ending.

"But I'm glad that so many people got into it," she said, laughing.

Lopez also was among the mob at the Carrollwood Barnes and Noble.

By 12:01 Saturday morning, the Era of Harry had reached its finale.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the final book in the series, reached the hands of readers, thousands of whom queued up hours early at book sellers around Tampa Bay to get a copy.

Emotions were mixed as fans, many in costume, paced bookstores, waiting.

At Tampa's Borders Books and Music on Dale Mabry Highway, Matthew Heitz, 29, of Tampa came to the release in a brown wizard robe and blue and gray scarf, the colors of Ravenclaw house "Every story has to have a good ending. You can't go on forever," said Heitz, who started reading the books nine years ago.

Others took a less harried approach to the Potter frenzy.

Inkwood Books in Tampa brought one part of Harry Potter to life - the owl post. The independent bookstore delivered preordered copies of the book, which would be landing on doorsteps before 7 a.m.

A magical world

Since the publication of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, released in England in 1997, millions of readers have fallen for the magical world created by author J.K. Rowling. The first six books have sold more than 325-million copies in at least 63 languages. The series has spawned feature films, and a Potter theme park will open at Universal Orlando in late 2009.

At Border's in Tyrone Square Mall in St. Petersburg, employees dressed as Harry Potter characters for the "Grand Hallows Ball." They held a spelling bee and a costume contest.

Manager Ryan Peel said he's been reserving books since February.

"I think the weekend's more important than the first initial day," Peel said.

Millions of books

The books trace the coming of age of Harry Potter and his best friends as they fight to prevent the resurgence of Lord Voldemort, an evil wizard who had terrorized the wizarding world until he vanished after trying to murder the infant Harry. Twelve-million copies of this last book were printed by Scholastic Inc., Rowling's American publisher.

Keleneka Stansel of Lutz worried that the ending of the series will mean an end to the community of Potter fans who have found each other online.

When Stansel miscarried last year and was hospitalized for three weeks, her Potter friends deluged her and her family with hundreds of cards and gifts and books, she said.

"Friendship and loyalty, and Harry Potter learning to trust people and be able to depend on that trust - that's what the books are all about really, more so than the battle of good against evil," she said.

Stories 'like folklore'

Still, she said, fans will spend months, at least, picking apart Rowling's intricate plotting and foreshadowing, trying to answer the questions - there will surely be some - left unanswered.

"Harry Potter has achieved a status somewhat like folklore," said Daniel Nexon, an assistant professor of political science at Georgetown University and editor of Harry Potter and International Relations. "The characters have escaped the novels and become part of our common currency of meanings and symbols."

The story is just such a well-written, human story that fans and scholars of literature alike will surely keep reading it, finding resonance between it and their own lives, said English professor James Thomas, who taught an introductory English class about Harry Potter at Pepperdine University.

"They're kissing their Cho Changs with great trepidation while they're reading it," Thomas said of his students, referring to adolescent Harry's awkward first kiss in the fifth book. "I did that 40 years ago, but it all came back."

Local bookstore managers expected to sell hundreds of books at midnight and said they stocked up enough books to last through the weekend.

Palm Harbor resident Julia Ceraolo, 14, won an essay contest two years ago for a piece she wrote about sharing a love of Harry Potter as her sister Olivia, 16, died of bone cancer in 2004.

Winning the contest got Julia, who lives in Palm Harbor a ticket to London for the release of the sixth book, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Julia went to New York on Thursday for a Harry Potter release reunion outside the publisher's headquarters.

"I'm excited because it's another book, but it's still really sad because we'll never have this kind of moment again," said Julia, who will be a freshman at East Lake High School this fall. She said she always misses her sister when she's having a good time.

Sarah Mishkin can be reached at smishkin@sptimes.com or 813 225-3110.

[Last modified July 21, 2007, 01:16:21]