Even in this sleepy town up in the Wasatch Mountains, the magic of Harry Potter cast it's charms far and wide. Kids of all ages, myself included, lined up at Dolly's Bookstore on Main Street Friday night for the 12:01 am release of seventh and final chapter of this epic journey. This local little bookstore welcomed us with cauldrons of bubbling broth, gift bags with bookmarks and of course piles of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. In line in front of me while we waited, we're two undergraduate students on their last night in Park City for a Mathematical Conference (math camp as they called it). One of the students, a freckled red head happened to looked quite like Ron Weasley, Potter's best friend. It wasn't lost on the younger girls waiting in line, some dressed as Hermione Granger, Harry's other best friend, who couldn't stop giggling and and smiling at this "Ron". 
The anticipation for this night had been two years in the making, a decade in the works. All talk was centered on the direction this final installment would take. Final being the key word looming over the conversations. This would be a bittersweet moment for us fans, learning the fate of our young hero, but perhaps ultimately having to say goodbye as well. For us, it's been a journey that we all took together, becoming a part of the magical Hogwarts's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I remember reading that first novel, and wishing it was me who had received those letters telling me I was going to school there. Ironically around the same time I began reading the Harry Potter series, which I initially scoffed at, I went back to finish college. While I didn't learn much of charms and potions (though I can mix a mean bloody mary now), I do feel like I lived vicariously through this young man's adventures and for that, I will be eternally grateful. I was up until 3am reading the first couple of chapters, and I can tell you this now...it's going to be one heck of a finale.
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