The Boy Who Viva-ed

The Ministry has fallen. Scrimgeour is dead.

They are coming.

Reason #493 why Mexico is great: The 7th Harry Potter movie came out here 2 days before it did in the US. We relived our adolescent Potter Fever years by pre-purchasing tickets, arriving early and in costume (well, some of us). We arrived at the theater nearly an hour before The Movie was to start, tickets in hand. You'd think that this was our first day in Mexico, arriving early for an event. That's definitely what the ticket-taker was thinking when he told us to come back in 40 minutes. This was alright though because it allowed us to flex our long-repressed HP trivia muscles. Top questions included, "Who is the author of the Harry Potter series?" and "Who's that one guy with the one thing, you know who I'm talking about?" It was a good review session.

After the other kind theater patrons finally showed up, we found our seats (not too far forward, not too far back, not too close to the aisle, leave an even number of seats on the ends), and settled in to stuffing our faces with palomitas (popcorn).

Fun Random Spanish Vocabulary Lesson: palomitas means both "popcorn" and "little doves". Cute, no?
Then it began. We sat entranced, on the edge of our seats. Having just re-read the first half of the 7th book, I more or less knew what was coming and the suspense was killer. At one point, when Ron clicked his Deluminator, the screen went dark. After 5 minutes, we were pretty sure that the dark screen was not just a scene transition. We started scanning the skies for the Dark Mark. Then an eerie whistling noise began to surround us and we mentally prepared ourselves for the Avada Kedavra that was sure to follow.

Besties

Don't worry, we didn't die.

Apparently it's a Mexican thing to make a high-pitched whistling noise when buses leave late, restaurant service is slow, or the movie stops in the middle. Once the theater security guard Expelliarmus-ed all the Death Eaters who were attempting to ruin our viewing experience, we jumped right back into the world of Horcruxes and house elves. The picture was still a little jumpy throughout and the dramatic effect of the soundtrack was slightly diminished by the wavering high notes, but as one wise Puebla Boy pointed out, "It's a mooovie theater in Meeexico. What did you expect?!?!?!"

Overall, the outing was well-worth the neglected homework, late bedtime, and 8 Sickle 10 Knut admission. A similar experience without the complementary intermission would have cost at least a Galleon and a handful of Knuts in the US of A. Just sayin'.