"Potter" Fans Descend on Hampton Bays for Final Flick

Some came in crimson robes, some came with plastic wands, but most Harry Potter fans came in jeans and T-shirts to see a midnight screening of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 in Hampton Bays Thursday night.

Nearly 500 moviegoers crammed into United Artists Hampton Bays 5, which had to use three separate screens to fit everyone in for the release of the final film's second half. Unlike other midnight releases, the theater was open long before the movie started, so fans were able to pour straight into the open screens.

For Potter fanatics, it was a bittersweet moment. This final movie was the last this crowd would see of Harry Potter and his wizarding pals, and reactions from the devoted supporters were mixed.

For Hugh Kilcommons, a New Mexico resident who returns to Riverhead every summer for vacation, the last movie was the finale to a series he's loved since he was a child.

"I remember the day my dad came home with Harry Potter," he said. "I really grew up with them."

Kilcommons never finished the series, but not for lack of trying. He said he got too emotional at the end of the final book to finish reading it, and so had no idea how the series ended. 

"I don't know whether to be stoked or disappointed," he said before the show. "I feel like my childhood is officially ending now." 

Hillary Bieling of Flanders dressed up in a flowing robe, complete with plastic wand and a scarf emblazoned with the colors of the Gryffindor house, Harry Potter's dormitory in the fictional Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The Harry Potter fan said she was depressed at the thought of losing the series, but made sure to dress up for the finale.

"The robe was $100, so I might as well get some use out of it," she said.

Tanya Meehan and her daughter Julia came from Center Moriches to see the screening.

"Right before we got here we watched the first part [of the two-part finale]," Tanya said. While Tanya enjoyed the books and the movies, Julia, who has read all the books three times over, was the bigger fan.

Julia said she would miss seeing premieres of new Harry Potter movies. "It's kind of sad because you look forward to seeing them," she said.

Even employees at the cinema got into the spirit. Concessions usher Michael Wilson, of Hampton Bays, dressed up at the boy wizard himself, complete with the signature round glasses and wand.

"It's surreal, and kind of disheartening," Wilson said. "It's the end. It's the last time I'll be able to dress up like a dork."

Assistant Manager Deborah Layman strolled the halls in a pointed witch's hat, offering candles from a push cart and trying to auction off the movie's advertising placards hanging in the lobby. Layman said the proceeds of the sales would go to "Stars of Hope," a Regal Entertainment Group fundraiser to support charities.

By the end of the night, fans were carrying away giant cardboard posters of heroine Hermione Granger and hanging flags showing the evil Lord Voldemort. As the last screening finished, the crowd didn't stand up and cheer. Instead, it was a polite and muted applause from hundreds of exhausted fans who bid their cherished series farewell and then rushed to the parking lot to laugh and talk about it with their friends.

To read a review of the movie, click here.