Potter Heads

Last weekend Josh brought home a Redbox movie - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1. I was surprised when he popped in the DVD and sat down to watch it with me! There was a lot of explaining going on, since Josh is a "muggle" and has neither read one of the books, nor seen one of the movies all the way through.

I must admit, it would be very difficult for someone to follow along with the movies unless they've read the books, don't you think?

He's been tolerant of my Harry Potter excitement through the years, bless him. He's often pre-ordered the latest book for me by surprise, and once arranged for me to go see the movie while he was out of town. You can read my history of Harry Potter here.

Josh has always been so clever and creative and thoughtful. I have many wonderful memories of sweet notes, clever theme gifts, his memorable marriage proposal, and our first married 12-days of Christmas. For me it's not really the gift itself, but the time and thought he always puts into it that makes me feel so special. He's awesome.

Imagine my surprise (and delight) when this little owl appeared at our doorstep one evening:

He was perched atop this decorative envelope which was sealed with wax (crayon)!

Isn't it fantastic!?

Inside, was a letter on Hogwarts' letterhead, which read:

"Dear Amy of ______, Your presence is formally requested at the Hogwarts School of Magic on Friday, the fifteenth of July, in this, the year of our wizard, Lord Dumbledore. You are to report to the Train Station, stop 9 and 3/4 at 5:00pm. You will meet your escort there. The care of your muggles has been entrusted with one of our seasoned wizards, Lady Brittany of _______ Court. She will arrive prior to your departure. Beware! The evil forces of Lord Voldemort have already commenced the attack against our students. Voldemort will stop at nothing to keep you from attending Hogwarts School. While the journey to Hogwarts will be filled with merriment, dangers abound. Know that you will not have to face these dangers alone, or without armament. Hogwarts will do everything it can to support you in your quest. We are counting on you - one of our most gifted magicians - to defeat Lord Voldemort's legions. Heighten your senses so that you can collect the seven horcruxes necessary to banish Lord Voldemort and restore peace and love to our world.

A few days later, we were all downstairs for breakfast, and Josh was beating some scrambled eggs for Diddles. He suddenly remembered that he had a morning meeting to get to and needed to get ready! "Could you finish doing these eggs?" I thought nothing of it, but found this when I opened the microwave:It read: "Snakes in the walls! You narrowly escaped today, but you're going to need a magic wand if you make it to Hogwarts. Your task today is to gather a magic wand, you'll need this before visiting the Hogwarts school.

I fashioned a wand: plastic drum stick (from the toy box), masking tape-covered and shoe-polished, 10-inches. Rigid.

Thursday night I noticed something crunchy under my pillow.

Oh yes, that's an invisibility cloak!

"A faithful owl, and a magic wand: essentials for any magic practitioner. But confronting the dark arts of Lord Voldemort will require more. Potions, spells, and mystic devices. Before your departure to Hogwarts, we entrust you with this invisibility cloak. Make certain that you bring this and other essentials on your voyage."

Josh left to "go to the gym" promptly at 5pm on Friday. Lady Brittany (one of my cute Young Women I teach at church) arrived shortly thereafter (I assume on her broomstick), and said, "I'm Lady Porter, and I am here to care for your Muggles!" She's awesome! She was even wearing black and had a Griffindor scarf on!

I arrived at the train depot. We really do have a train depot in our town. Saw Josh's car and the train marked 9 3/4. It took me a minute to figure out what I was supposed to do. Then I noticed that there was something on the seat of his car: A time-turner!! After reading the note (I kid you not), he appeared...seemingly out of nowhere!

"What good luck!
This time turner is just what you need to turn back the cancerous spell of lost love that Voldemort has waged against the muggles. Use this Time Turner to warp back to a time when you had dinner with your first love."

We went out for ice cream (we weren't quite hungry for dinner) and drove to a nearby park to eat it. I was asked to grab the blanket from the trunk, when I uncovered THIS fun little game of QUIDDITCH!

"The golden snitches have started to breed!
There are six in all, you must gather all of the snitches in the circle to win this game.
Use the catapult to launch them through the goal!"

The rules were a bit different. You used this stick (a tupperware dish taped to the ice scraper) to send the snitch (gold spray-painted foam balls with feathers attached) flying through the hoop. We had fun discussing how the game is really played in the book. It was way harder than it looks! A++ for effort!


As we were playing, this friendly cat came to join us on our blanket as if she owned the place. Made herself quite at home. How kind of Professor McGonagall to come pay us a visit!



After standing in line to get into the 3-D movie theater, Josh decided he had too many pairs of glasses and it was imperative that he take a pair back to the car before the movie started. After he returned, he handed me his iPad to play a game while we waited, and I found this:

"Although it may seem that you are protected inside Hogwarts' walls, evil surrounds you. Lest you get burned or poisoned by a Norwegian Ridgeback you better have some potion on-hand. Hogsmeade has a variety of potions disguised in refreshing drink. Take this money and purchase one from one of our Alchemists. You better wear your invisibility cloak in case an ambush awaits you."

This was by far the most embarrassing step. When I refused to wear the cloak (NO ONE was dressed in Harry Potter garb. The best costume I saw was a pre-teen wearing a Griffindor beanie), he said I HAD to at least wear it over my arm. When I got to the counter, I ordered a popcorn and the college-aged counter guy reached under the counter and brought out this:

Butter Beer! (You can't see the little jug handle on the other side! Awesome!)

Then he nervously said, "Ummm, I....think....this is for you? Do you want it?" Why yes, yes I do! I heard a guy behind me say, "Dude, that's AWESOME!" Dude, it totally IS! We enjoyed our butter beer (cream soda with butterscotch syrup and whipping cream) and popcorn.

The movie was exciting and just as magical as I pictured it. It was a great way to end the series! But, I think we'll all agree that Josh's performance on this date won him some serious Griffindor POINTS! His creativity, secrecy and quick study of the Wizarding world was impressive, to say the least. Thanks to all the clever witches and wizards who assisted Josh in making this a great and memorable date. I had an awesome time!

Long live Harry Potter!