In which I encounter Bing Lee giving a piggyback ride to Peeves... and then some: Harry Potter Con, Day 4

Today, Day 4 of the Harry Potter convention, was the shortest -- and, perhaps, the strangest.

I hadn't been in the convention center two minutes when I encountered three of the Lizzie Bennet Diaries cast members. They were taking pictures with people out in the hallway. I watched them for a minute, then gathered up the courage to go for a pic. So here is a picture of me with -- never thought I'd say this -- George Wickham, Lydia Bennet, and Bing Lee (Mr. Bingley). HOW CUTE ARE THEY?

Then I went to the vendor exhibit hall for a while, bought a couple more buttons (Snape & the Hufflepuff badger.. add those to my Luna and Ginny ones and I can now represent each Hogwarts House!), and then headed upstairs to listen in on a panel about video games.

Unfortunately, the panel before it ran late, and then the poor guy leading this one had technical difficulties with his presentation. There was some problem with the Wifi at the convention center, and at one point his -- I think it was a Playstation -- wanted to do an update, and it was sooo slow. The update stayed on 0% for quite a while. When it hit 1%, people cheered and clapped. Same when it hit 2%. At 3% I left and went back to the vendor hall. :(

And wow am I glad I did. When I walked in the hall, I saw even more Lizzie cast members gathering for pictures! All my nerve was now gone, though, so I didn't get IN any of the pix, just took some...

Darcy, Lizzie, random fan, Mr. Collins, and Georgiana. Side note: Darcy is totally handsomer in person than in the videos.

Jane was off to the side, by herself, posing for photos....

(I do realize these actors have actually names, which you can find here.)

THEN... In walked Seamus Finnegan!

 (Guy in white/black polo shirt)

And while I was trying to get a photo of him (it was hard, since he had a crowd around him) I spotted Bing Lee giving Peeves the Poltergeist (or at least a kid who'd spent the weekend dressed as him) a piggyback ride around the venue, and they were pranking people and stuff. So while trying to get a shot of them...

... I managed to, unknowingly, get a picture of Young Lily Potter.

(Purple shirt, with the doe patronus and the word "Always." Side note: AWWW.)

I feel bad now because I didn't even see her at the time. But hey, my powers of observation can only do so much!

The hall closed at 2, and we were all supposed to go to the the big auditorium for the closing ceremonies. 

Which were... not what I expected.

I guess I was expecting to see a video recap of the weekend or at least a slideshow, but nay... instead we were treated/subjected to a live webcast where people sat on stage and discussed Harry Potter and themselves and occasionally took questions from the audience for two hours.

One bit of amusement occurred when they announced which couple the con-goers had voted on to "get married" at Leakycon. The fans had chosen Lupin and Sirius. Sirius was wearing his Azkaban clothes, but was bald. They were married by Dumbledore, who introduced the process by going: "Mawidge... is what bwings us togetha today...."

A lot of the audience burst into cheers, though not the man and woman two rows ahead of me who looked at each other and shrugged, then got up and left during the wedding itself. 

Wuv. Twu wuv. (I thought Lupin was married to Tonks? Oh well!)

And then we got that webcast, which I thought would never end. I probably didn't enjoy it that much because I wasn't familiar with the cast. But I did end up walking out early, so maybe I missed the part where it got awesome. AGAIN, OH WELL.

SO.

Overall, was the con worth it?

Yeah.

I didn't have the best time I've ever had in my life or anything. Maybe because I get super reserved when I don't know anyone and none of my friends apparently wanted to go, or could afford to go, and I was a little bit lonely. 

But I did really enjoy the panels, especially:

*Snape's Q&A sessions

*The Pride & Prejudice/HP discussion

*Getting to see & hear Devon Murray, Ellie Darcey-Alden, Scarlett Byrne, Amber Benson, and the LBD cast in person

*Checking out all the cool HP merchandise

*Getting inspired re: some of my own creative pursuits

*Getting to be geeky for four days straight

So yeah. Overall? Good. :)

"I joined this club... it had the word 'eaters' in it... I thought that there would be cake....": Harry Potter Con, Day 3

Day 3 Of The Harry Potter Convention...

First off is a panel on the similarities between certain characters in Harry Potter... and other certain characters on Buffy. Now, if they'd done this panel 11 or 12 years ago I'd have been even more enthused, as I was a huge Buffy fan back in the day, but the fact is, it's been that long since I've watched anything past season 3. Oh well; it's still interesting... even if I have no idea who "Kennedy" is and my memories of "Andrew" are wispy at best.

Here are a few of the "pairings" (similar characters) that the mods and the audience members came up with: Faith & Neville, Angel & Dumbledore, Dawn & Ginny, Drusilla & Bellatrix, Wesley & Neville, Tara & Luna, Andrew & Ron, Cordelia & Draco, Tara & Cedric, Tara & Sirius, Darla & Voldemort, Jonathan & Percy, The Mayor & Umbridge, Principal Snyder & Cornelius Fudge, Spike & Dobby, Giles & Lupin, Cordelia & Hermione, Cordelia & Fleur, Darla & Narcissa Malfoy, Harmony & Lavender, and Ethan Rayne and Grindelwald.

If you know who all those characters are, I salute you, totally.

I then head over to LitLand for back-to-back panels; one on publishing, and another in which four writers read aloud their "embarrassing" scribblings from their teen years.



Only... some of the selections -- save for a few funny word choices and unintended double entendres -- really aren't that bad. Really. They had talent, even then. But the stories get some laughs -- mostly because the authors read their work in mocking voices -- oh, and those double entendres I mentioned. (Cover your ears, underaged wizards!)

Next up, a round-table (round-floor?) discussion on which Hogwarts House the characters of Pride & Prejudice would be sorted into. (Ulltimate geekery, amirite?)



Here's the consensus:

Elizabeth Bennet: Either Ravenclaw (because of her wit and smarts) or Gryffindor (because of her bravery). [I had penned her as a Ravenclaw.]

Darcy: Slytherin or Gryffindor. [Slytherin? No way. Darcy is not a Slytherin.]

Mr. Bingley and Jane Bennet: Pretty much everyone agreed on Hufflepuff. [Yep.]

Lydia: Lots of discussion about her. Survey says? Slytherin or Gryffindor. Others say she's too airheaded for any of those, so she'd probably end up in Hufflepuff because that house will take anybody. Another person offers that Lydia might actually just be a squib. [I would actually give Lydia the benefit of Gryffindor because she reminds me a lot of Lavender Brown.]

Charlotte Lucas: Ravenclaw or Slytherin. [I would lean toward Ravenclaw, because while her snatching up Mr. Collins was pretty cunning, I don't think that act alone should define her.]

Mr. Collins: Slytherin or Hufflepuff. [I'm certain he's a Slytherin, the way he always name-drops Lady Catherine and tries to make himself sound awesome by association constantly. (Then again, he's very much like Peter Pettigrew, who was technically a Gryffindor, though perhaps a misplaced one.)

Mr. Wickham: Slytherin. [No kidding.]

Mr. Bennet & Mary: Ravenclaw. [Fair enough.]

The hour ends just as we were trying to figure out Mrs. Bennet. [Probably for the best; is that woman even... figure-out-able? She'd probably cause the sorting hat to need therapy.]

As we get up to leave, I ask a girl to let me take a picture of her awesome shoulder bag:



I want it.

I decide to take in one more panel before I break for lunch. At first I sit down in a room that's going to show a documentary, but then I decide I'd rather take in Ladies Creating Content For Youtube (because... hey, I used to do that!), so I make my way across the venue and sit in for that panel, which proves to be interesting, though I'm sorry to say I'm not familiar with any of of the ladies' youtube channels. (But I do love me some youtube!)



Lunch at Burgerville (yay!), then I walk to a nearby Walgreens for some stuff. I walk six blocks and I pass, I kid you not, three Starbucks. Here is proof:

Is this necessary? It must be to somebody....

 I head back to the convention center for one last panel of the day... and it's more Snape! Yeah, I know I went to one of his panels yesterday, but he's hilarious, so I need more!

Today the audience is smaller, so more people get to ask questions.

I ask if Snape had a pet when he was young. He says no, but that he knows of a fanfic in which he has a cat.

Later I ask about the Hogwarts' professors' sleeping quarters, as we never got to see them, only their offices. He replies that his room at Hogwarts was "small... dark... walls of books and potions... the bed is long...." He then mentions that he does not care for hotels with their short beds and tiny showers. 

He gets everyone to break into a rendition of this by simply making the ticking sound. Oh yeah. We're all crazy.

Later, he dances, per someone's request.

After Snape's Q&A session comes to a close, I wait in line to get a photo with him, then head home. That's it for me, at least for Day 3. The con wraps up tomorrow. I may go. I'll probably go. There isn't much on the schedule but I kind of don't want to miss my last chance at Potter immersion. It is, after all, quite fantastic.

"Don't you DARE victimize Severus Snape!": Harry Potter Con, Day 2

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.

Oh, just people wearing wizard hats, move along, nothing to see here: Harry Potter Con, Day 1

Day 1 Of The Harry Potter convention (Leakycon 2013)...

At the Convention Center, appropriately

I pick up my name badge and swag bag

It contains stuff

This place is pretty crowded.

Some of these people are buying Butterbeer.

I do not buy Butterbeer. I buy pins!

Snape is here.

 And here...

Time for a Wizard show!

 Yay I can almost see the stage!

 A musical has broken out. It includes Frodo, Samwise, Belle, Dr. Who, and oh my god it's Loki. My night is ruined.

Back at the vendor hall...

Wands!

Is it weird that I don't want a wand unless it can actually do stuff? Like accio people for me?

Well, pretty tired now. More con tomorrow....