RELATED STORIES

• Review: Harry Potter faces gloom, doom and even vavoom in dark, detailed `Phoenix'

More Movies

• Review: Hit man comedy 'In Bruges' mixes laughs, blood
• Coen brother, 'Old Men' top picks for Oscars
• Review: 'Be Kind Rewind' has funny bits, but not enough

MOST RECENT TRIB STORIES

• ABQTrib.com to remain available
  08:48 a.m., February 25, 2008
• Congressman is indicted
  08:37 a.m., February 23, 2008
• Series of attacks target Green Zone
  08:36 a.m., February 23, 2008
• Iran is defying U.N., agency says
  08:35 a.m., February 23, 2008
• Waterboarding approval probed
  08:34 a.m., February 23, 2008

TRIB IN THE BLOGOSPHERE*

• Ty Murray Invitational thrills fans in Albuquerque
• Is Rome Burning?
• Ominous Skies
• The Road to Invalidation
• Albuquerque company participates in “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition”

*Note: The Tribune does not create and is not responsible for the blogosphere's headlines and stories. These links to blogs talking about ABQTrib.com are automatically generated. Use them at your own risk.

STORY TOOLS

• E-mail story
• Comments
• iPod friendly
• Printer friendly

SHARE THIS STORY [?]

Muggles — the magic-impaired, to those unfamiliar with the term — from all over Albuquerque congregated at the Century 14 Downtown to celebrate the midnight premiere of "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix."

But with competition for good seats expected to be fierce, die-hard fans were not going to leave their fate up to chance.

Laura Virgin, 25, a dispatcher for Medflight Air Ambulance, and Mindy Mason, 25, chief nurse for the same company, arrived at 5 p.m. on July 10 to start a line of Harry Potter fans that wound through the theater lobby.

The film that Virgin and Mason were so eager to see is based on the fifth book in a series of seven written by British author J.K. Rowling, who has made so much money on the popularity of Harry Potter that her wealth now exceeds that of Queen Elizabeth.

Virgin and Mason did their best to generate self-entertainment for seven hours. They played cards and games and quizzed their fellow fans.

Virgin showed off her Harry Potter necklace as Mason made a list of the items in her Harry Potter collection.

"We have calendars, Harry Potter paraphernalia, DVDs, blankets, games, necklaces, T-shirts and all the books," she said.

Neither Virgin nor Mason wore costumes for the premiere, but others did.

Cheryl Batson, 24, a University of New Mexico pharmacy student, wore a cape with a Gryffindor patch on it over the standard Hogwarts school uniform.

"I had this at the opening of the last movie and the book opening," Batson said.

As excited as she was on July 10, Batson said she expected to be even more excited on July 21, waiting for the release of the final book in the Harry Potter series.

For that event, Batson said she'd most likely wear the same outfit. "Laundry soap is cheap," she said.

An hour and a half before the show was set to start, theater staff ushered fans inside. Strangers played Harry Potter trivia games with one another and the names of favorite characters wafted up from dozens of conversations: Lupin . . . Severus . . . Cho . . ..

Idle chatter riddled with anticipation filled the theater until 12:01 a.m.

Only then did every Muggle go silent so they could enjoy the magical movie they had waited in line for hours to see.

By the time it was over, Virgin had changed her favorite character to Nymphadora Tonks, whom she said was hotter than Cho (Harry Potter's love interest), and Mason felt reassured that waiting in line since 5 p.m. had been the right decision.

"It was awesome," Mason said. "It was worth it."