It was a moment in history. At least publishing history. And we were there to take it in.

The midnight release of the final Harry Potter book produced quite a crowd of buyers. Not unlike the lines for the final Star Wars movie, hundreds of Harry Potter fans congregated at the local Borders in anticipation of the big event.

I showed up just before midnight. It was obvious, from the sizable crowd (and body heat) that customers had been inside for a number of hours, and would continue to be as they slowly made their way to the checkout counters. As expected, a certain percentage of attendees were dressed up as witches, wizards and other characters from Hogwart's imaginary world.

At midnight there was a countdown and terrific cheer. The celebration had begun. Elated readers were finally getting their hands on copies of Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows, the conclusion to a publishing phenomenon. At last they would see how the whole thing came out. Would Harry vanquish his nemesis Voldemort? The answer was only a few (hundred) pages away. People grabbed their precious novels, headed for the door and immediately dove into the literary action.