Mugglefest

I completed the final Harry Potter book Sunday afternoon, and I'll post a review of that with a spoiler alert tomorrow (after I've had more time to mull over it and organize my thoughts). In the meantime, I thought I'd share photos from Mugglefest in Portland (click photos below for enlargements). From the "Hogsmeade Station" (East End Beach) we caught the "Hogwarts Express" (Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad) to "Diagon Alley." Local businesses set up stores with clever facades inside the Portland Company Complex, which amounted to a hot, crowded warehouse full of Harry Potter frenzy. Seeing the official characters in costume, as well as most of the visitors, provided endless entertainment. Some folks were very creative: a Luna Lovegood sported a roaring lion hat, radish earrings, and The Quibbler, and a dementor towered above the crowd on stilts. I slightly regretted not dressing up as Tonks, but it was too warm for a pink wig and robe. The best part of the evening was riding the steam train around the peninsula.

The Hogwarts Express:









Dumbledore Lives!









Mad-Eye Moody with a tiny Draco Malfoy in the background:









Muggles swarm into the Owlery:









S.P.E.W. members, clad in pillowcases, organize a protest march:









Me and a favorite character, Snape (fanship partly due to my not-so-secret crush on Alan Rickman):