July 2005
Harry Potter and the Asheville Wolf Pack!
(continued)
We walked down the street -- I had to laugh at the
all-American family walking in front of me, capes waving in the
streetlight shadows, shawls shimmering in the moonlight -- around the
corner to Spellbound Books (!!!). I threw the invisibility cloak
over the kids before they made their entrance, and then took it back
for the evening.
The bookstore was one of those small 4- or 5-room
houses that had been converted into a nice little shop. In the
front room (originally the screened-in porch, perhaps), there was a
"The Leaky Cauldron" sign hanging on the wall (patterned after the
movie, wrought iron and old fashioned) over the snack table, where
there were lots of magical snacks ("cauldron cakes" Ding Dongs, "Golden
Snitches" waffle cookies broken in triangles to look like wings and
stuck into donut holes which were BRILLIANT, "Mandrake Root" veggie
potato chips, large pretzel sticks and Twizzlers for broomsticks and
wands, "butterbeer" cream soda). The doorway from the front room
was lined with folding "bricks" to look like the entrance of Diagon
Alley.
We stepped through and the place was filling up with
lots of Harrys and Hermiones -- not too many people, but a nice group
of Hogwart's students, parents and faculty filling the two main
rooms. More store signs hung on the different walls, "Flourish
and Blott's" over a copy of the book, "Magical Me by Gilderoy
Lockhart", etc. Ethan's eyes immediately fell onto a "cage" of
little stuffed Hedwig owls, and "Can I have an owl?" became his mantra
for the evening. (It is the preferred pet of Harry Potter, of
course -- how else can he be expected to send owl posts? Plus
Ethan seems to like birds.)
But my eyes fell on the
distinctly
NON-Hermione-nor-Harry- dressed kid in the room, Dobby the
House-elf. He looked BRILLIANT -- white cap (with elf ears
attached) and hanging pajama top-type covering, plus, of course, two
mismatched socks. I got a picture of him immediately.
Witches (one who could have easily been Professor
McGonagall) and wizards (one who was big enough to be Hagrid) worked
behind the counter, letting us know that the sorting would begin in 15
minutes. Meanwhile, a Madame Hooch was distributing "SPEW -
Society for the Promotion of Elfin Welfare" badges (generally a job for
Hermione, but all of them seemed to have relinquished their
responsibility to the flying teacher). And Sara, a friend of
Simon's (he'd made an extra Gryffindor badge for her), stepped up and
looked great as Hermione, so I grabbed a picture of her with our Ron.
Finally Professor McGonagall announced that
Professor Dumbledore had been called out on Ministry of Magic business,
and had left her in charge. She began her announcements with
someone had dropped his or her wand - - and held up the automatically
recognizable long red broken wand of Simon (it never had a chance in
his wand holder, a last-minute addition to his robe). "Ron!" I
called over the crowd, and Simon ran in from the other room, his red
hair shining brilliantly over the others, and everyone laughed when he
saw his wand and shyly smiled and held out his hand for it. "Another
Weasley!" groaned a grownup in the crowd -- too funny!
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1997-2005
