Since we were already out late for a party, Laura and I decided to brave the crowds for our midnight copy of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. First, we drove past Barnes & Noble. It was an absolute zoo, with people parking anywhere and everywhere. Following the same path I had taken a couple of years ago with Order of the Phoenix, I headed on over to Books-a-Million. Seems they had also caught onto the midnight marketing ploy, and for this release had sectioned off the store into quadrants for each of the Houses of Hogwarts. Cute. However, it was much more crowded that the last release, and was even more confusing as to where one got the books. We discovered that they had sold vouchers for books earlier, and there was a line to pick those up. The line for new purchases was delayed as they switched their computers from voucher to purchase, so we decided to head back to B&N.
Since it was past midnight, parking was starting to open up. We weaseled into the store, and again had to ask procedures for getting the books. There was a table where we gave our name for our reservation (which we had), then received a bracelet with a number. A range of numbers was called at intervals to join a line to receive and pay for the book. It was actually quite efficient, even though when we started it seemed light it would take forever.
Resigned to waiting, we watched the crowd. It was almost difficult to distinguish between those in costume and the truly weird who come out this time of night. Some were obvious. At 1:00, we were invited to join the line, which moved more quickly than we thought it would. With copies in hand, we headed home, and stayed up to read one chapter before zonking out.