Day 2 Of the Harry Potter Convention...
9 am: I head to my first panel of the day: How Do You Leakycon? This is a seminar for HP convention first-timers (like me!) Those who've blazed the trails before us give tips and advice on convention etiquette and things to expect. People here have a lot of questions. I learn... well, I swear I did learn some things, but I can't remember what any of them were. (ETA: Oh! Yes, now I remember, this is where I learned about the Snape panel. It wasn't in the con booklet and I might I have not gotten to see it! Thanks, HDYL!)
None of the 10:00 panels really interest me, so I wander around the vendor hall for a bit... and lo, off to one end of the hall, a game of Quidditch breaks out! I always did wonder how people (well, Muggles) played this game. The brooms don't really fly, so technically, they're totally pointless. The players just run around with one between their legs because... whimsy? I guess?
Not gonna lie... it looks seriously strange.
Soon I head upstairs to get in line for the 11:00 panel of Lizzie Bennet Diaries writers. Because I'm interested in adaptations of classic works, y'all. There are five writers, and one of them admits she's never read Pride & Prejudice (the book on which LBD is based, in case that isn't obv.) Yet... she was responsible for the writing of Lydia on the web series. And somehow, after having viewed Lydia's vlogs, I can't say this admission particularly surprises me, as LBD's Lydia deviated more from the book than any other character, in my opinion. Except for maybe Charlotte. And Mary. And... oh, nevermind.
After that panel ends, nearly everyone there treks across the convention center to the main hall, where we will get to listen to a panel of the Lizzie Bennet actors! Lizzie, Jane, Lydia, Charlotte, Darcy, Bing, Gigi (Georgiana), and Mr. Collins are all present. It's interesting enough, but I end up ducking out halfway through and heading to some of the Lit panels. I paid extra for them; I am going to experience them, darnit.
Did I mention there are up to 9 different events going on at any one time? That may not sound like a lot to seasoned con-goers, but I am just one person! I can not go to more than one at a time!
And decisions are hard! :(
The second Lit Panel I sit in on, What's It Like Being A Writer? intrigues me. Authors Andrea Cremer, Amber Benson (Tara!), Heather Brewer, and Matt De La Pena talk about themselves and answer questions about life as a professional author. Listening to writers speak about their craft always makes me want to go home and start typing.
But do I?
DO I EVER?
(Okay, sometimes I do.)
After that I attend part of a panel on book covers and why so many of them have headless models on them. But I shoot out early, because I want to make sure I get a good seat for Professor Snape: Out Of The Darkness And Into The Shadows, in which an Alan Rickman doppelganger poses as Snape and answers questions from the audience, in character. (Seven hours into the Harry Potter convention, and this (aside from watching two minutes of Quidditch) is my first Potter-related event. Odd.) Snape is very entertaining, but when he is talking about how James and Sirius bullied him, the girl to my left begins to cry out, "No! No! Don't you dare victimize Severus Snape! He was not a victim! He retaliated!" She repeats some version of this lament about six times over the next few minutes, but never loud enough for Snape to actually hear. She might as well be shaking her fist and going, "Why, I oughta..." I kind of want to slap her.
After the Snapefest, I get dinner, then make my way over to a 5:30 panel. On my way I'm distracted by what's happening on the main stage. I enter and sit down. There are the three actors from the HP movies, Ellie Darcey-Alden (young Lily), Devon Murray (Seamus), and Scarlett Byrne (Pansy Parkinson). Now, I know I said that the HP-actors lineup for this con wasn't as impressive as it could be, but I guess I take it back, because those three were very cute and funny and, heck with it, if we can't get Jason Isaacs, well...
I swear, they were there. I know cell phone pictures suck.
The actors were great. Really.
And so ends Day 2 for me, even though there's a Wizard Rock concert later. I opt for some R&R instead, back in my own home and bed. (Really, I don't envy all these people who came to Leakycon from other cities. Except I kind of do, because they're getting to explore a new city, and when isn't that fun? Vac8ion!)
Day 3, tomorrow: that Snape guy's going to be reading from Tales Of Beedle The Bard. I am so there.
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