Harry and the final party

If ever there was a global party, this was it.

The lines began forming outside London and Paris bookstores early in the morning Friday -- hours before Los Angeles readers woke up -- and the scene was repeated across the United States as Harry Potter fans gathered for midnight bashes to celebrate the release of J.K. Rowling’s final installment in the blockbuster series: “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.”

In England, at 12:01 a.m. Saturday, Rowling began reading excerpts to an exclusive group of 1,000 invited children in London’s imposing 19th century Natural History Museum, a suitable substitute for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

A mile down the road in Piccadilly, several thousand fans besieged Waterstone’s, the London bookshop that has become the focal point for sales of the book. Flourish and Blotts, where Harry bought all his school books, was never so crowded.

The fans came from all over: Australia, Israel, Italy and Spain. A group from Turin, Italy, appeared dressed as a Quidditch team. Some readers came from America.

“We’re going to grab our copies and rush back and read and read all night, then get together and talk,” said Rita Gill, 18, of Laguna Beach. Gill, dressed in wizard’s robes, had been waiting since 6.30 a.m. Thursday.

She was joined by Bri Sanders of San Clemente. The friends are sad that the Potter saga is ending but, as Sanders said, “It’s so exciting too.”

“Yeah, I’m sad but I think it’s right it ends now; everything needs closure,” Gill said philosophically.

Their 15-year-old English friend, Tom Rutland from Kent, felt a bit bereft. “I’ve read the books since I started reading at 5,” he said.

As midnight struck in New York, excited bunches of book buyers surged into stores like Seekers trying to catch the Golden Snitch.

If Waterstone’s looked like Flourish and Blotts, parts of Los Angeles and New York’s Broadway certainly resembled that heart of wizarding commerce, Diagon Alley. There were Harry Potter look-alikes with his trademark (and all-important) scar. Others dressed as his friends Hermione and Ron. Adults dressed as wise old Dumbledore or the loyal Hagrid. And some appeared as normal, unmagical human beings, or Muggles. In Los Angeles, even a Voldemort showed up for the festivities.

As in London and bookstores all over, a great cheer rose from the crowd when staffers opened the doors of the Barnes & Noble at Lincoln Center in New York. Two long lines ringed the block -- one for those who had reserved copies, one for others who just showed up. Again and again, as fans left the store, they raised the books aloft in triumph.

The first person in line at Lincoln Center was Andrea Prince, 25, who had waited since 1:30 p.m. Prince said she was the first person in line two years ago when the sixth installment in the Potter saga came out. But this scene, she said, was much crazier.

So what was Prince going to do next? “I’m going home to make sure that this copy is like the one I read on the Internet,” she said. “Then I’m going to sleep.”

In the store, Barnes & Noble employee Ryan Bono played traffic cop, directing book buyers to the next available cashier. He was dressed head-to-toe as Draco Malfoy, Harry’s main rival.

“Tonight my name is Draco,” he said.

Rather than call “Next,” which might have created chaos, the 14 cashiers would call out “Malfoy!” and Bono would send the next buyer forward.

On the West Coast, crowds began to grow around 11 p.m. at various stores. At Children’s Book World in West Los Angeles, the crowd was decidedly young.

Appropriately, some wore glasses repaired with tape--the kind Harry wore when he began his magical adventures in the first book, “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.” A magician entertained some children as others ran about waving wands and shouting out spells.

A different vibe was evident in West Hollywood at Book Soup, which specializes in literature and art books. The crowd was more adult, with a small complimentary bar set up in the back of the store. Customers at Book Soup were promised a free copy of the new book if they purchased a $100 gift card.

About 250 people -- many of them in costume -- gathered in the courtyard outside Dutton’s Brentwood Books.

“Harry Potter has basically been my life,” said Colleen Wilson, a 16-year-old student at Marlborough School in Los Angeles. “I’m half excited and half nervous. I don’t know what to do with my life after this.”

Wilson was toting a hand-painted rendering of the book cover of “Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows.” Her friend, Abby Schulman, also 16, was dressed as Voldemort.

Nine-year-old Grace Slansky of Santa Monica was practicing a little magic to pass the time before the book went on sale.

“Wingardium Leviosa!” she said, waving a wand and repeating the levitation spell Hermione used to great effect at Hogwarts.

“I have read all the books twice,” Grace proudly said.

Clark Kelly, a student at Humboldt State University, sported a paper tie in the colors of the Gryffindor House. “Harry is the reason I like to read now,” he said.

Although parties have been a tradition since the fourth Harry Potter installment, sponsors predicted the number of this year’s celebrations would top previous records. Rock bands were scheduled to play at Vroman’s in Pasadena and the festivities continued until 1 a.m. at Blue Chair Children’s Books in Glendora.

Thomas Dutton, an employee at the Dutton’s in Los Angeles, summed up the evening.

“I think this is the last communal book experience we’ll ever share,” he said.

The parties rocked on despite the events of recent days -- when pirated versions of the manuscript appeared on several websites and 1,200 customers got copies in the mail from an online seller three days before the release date.

With copies finally put on sale, some industry experts predicted that demand for the last Harry Potter book would exceed sales of the previous one, which sold an estimated 6.9 million copies in the first 24 hours.

Now that’s magic.

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[email protected] [email protected] Times staff writers David Ulin and Andrew Hiltzik in Los Angeles and Janet Stobart in London contributed to this report. Getlin reported from New York.