After that was Rowling's Not So Flawed Plan about the Elder Wand and its representation of the ultimate masculinity (and, thus, how no woman ever showed any interest in possessing it). Now, this was a very interesting workshop speculating on the love (not necessarily romantic love) between the masters of the Elder Wand and how it can only pass between those that love each other, hence the reason it never worked for Voldemort as it should have. We also went into a bit of a discussion about wands and their connection to masculinity in general. That lead to one of the running jokes all weekend; you see, no one seemed to be listening to what anyone else was saying in this workshop so the same point was made by about 10 people over the course of the workshop. None of them added anything to it; it was just a recap, which was as hilarious as it was annoying after the fifth person. This point was that Lucius Malfoy didn't need to die in the series because he lost what was most important to him to Voldemort―his status and his masculinity. Brae and I were cracking up about this for the entire workshop. I guess we didn't realize just how important this was to the series that 10 people needed to point it out separately. So, we had to inform everyone else we met of this crucial plot point they may have missed.
Immediately after the discussion of the elder wand was over, Siriusly Celibate started, which was a workshop we'd been looking forward to since we read it in the original list of programming. It turned into a bit of a ship competition and didn't focus too much on Sirius, in my opinion. I did love the support for the Sirius/Lupin/Tonks triangle, though!
Catherine and I ran to the snack stand in the conference space (ingenious idea, by the way, since it was lacking at Infinitus last year!) to grab a turkey wrap and some chips before Fantastic Names and Where to Find Them started since Brae and Catherine wanted to see this one. I wasn't really that interested and began inching toward the door about five minutes in when it became evident that this wasn't going to be a presentation of a paper but fifty minutes of someone reading said paper. There's a big difference, folks. Needless to say we were not the only ones out the door in the first ten minutes. Brae, who had been late to that presentation, saw that we were not there and only stayed for about ten minutes (and then only to be polite since he was waiting for a group to sneak out with). We met up in the vendor room where I was transfixed by a white ash wand from Allivans. They promised they had plenty in stock, so I vowed to return to buy one. I never did because I decided one wand was enough for me and because I was also torn between that one and the replica of Fleur's wand. I didn't get that one either.
With nothing else to do for a while, we sat in on the end of Pottercast with Evanna where we heard the famous quote about her shipping Luna and Dumbledore which I'd never considered but now love! (It involved Dumbledore going back in time or Luna going into the future, so get rid of the sick thoughts!)
Then was the moment we'd all been waiting for! Ok, not all of us were waiting for it originally. You see, I wasn't very excited about Pottermore after the announcement revealed that my theory was incorrect. It just didn't seem as exciting as what I'd concocted in my mind (although it should be noted that Jamie from the Pottermore creative team said that we'd just have to wait for an MMORPG...make that of what you will...I have). I'd planned to go to a different workshop while everyone else went to the Pottermore keynote since nothing else would be crowded, but I decided to just go to Pottermore since I'd already seen a workshop somewhat like what I'd planned to see during the keynote. So, I went into the keynote not so excited about Pottermore, and I left unable to wait until July 31st-ish.
We weren't able to take pictures of the slides in the presentation, so I don't have much to show you guys. They did reveal quite a bit, which I didn't think they would. I kind of thought it would just be a recap of what we already knew and us asking questions that they'd refuse to answer. Jamie soon turned into the Hagrid of Pottermore, though, because he'd spit something out and immediately turn around and say “I shouldn't have told you that”. It was awesome, especially when we found out that everyone who went to LeakyCon gets a special clue before the beta clue is released which might help us all become betas! Sweetness!
The keynote was awesome, despite the nargles in the computers again. It was both annoying and hilarious how exciting people were. I was afraid they'd be screaming the whole time, and I wouldn't be able to hear anything. It turned out to be quite the opposite, however, with people shushing every five minutes and yelling at Melissa to move so they could read what was on the screen. Now, that doesn't mean there wasn't screaming. Everything Jamie said elicited yelps, squees, and other noises of sheer happiness from those in attendance. It got hilarious when Jamie was talking about how interactive the different screens were and that you could turn on the light inside the closet of Privet Drive. This girl in the back started screaming! Jamie was a little taken aback and then it turned into a joke all weekend about how that was the single most exciting thing we could hope to do on Pottermore―turn on lights!
After Pottermore wrapped up, we ran to catch the end of Brae's favorite presenter's workshop on the differences in Harry and Hermione's relationship in the movies v. the books. She made some excellent points about Ron's sheer unimportance in the movies. I mean, in the books he does have relevance in that he knows about the wizarding world. In the movies, Hermione just seems to know everything (even things she'd not be able to look up in books) and Ron has nothing to contribute. We also talked a lot about the scene in DH2 when Harry tells him where he's going and what he's going to do and Ron just stands there like “Ok, whatever. Have fun.” while Hermione is in tears. It was a great workshop, even if we only caught the last twenty minutes or so.
Then we had some time to kill before meeting our contest winner (Anna) for dinner. So, we hung out for a while in the conference space. During that time, Jamie (the Pottermore guy) walked by. We were surprised he wasn't being swarmed by people demanding to have their questions answered! Brae asked him for a photo and demanded to know if PoA would be amazing since it was his favorite book. Jamie promised it would and departed, leaving us with nothing to do once again.
Then Anna arrived for dinner and we headed out to find somewhere to eat which was a feat since everyone was doing the same thing. We ended up back at the Islands Dining Room and I had another turkey burger after a half an hour wait (again with thirty or so empty tables). At least the service was better this time! We had so much fun hanging out with Anna at dinner, even if she didn't want to ruin the wrapping on her prize to open it and see what was inside!
I should mention that the previous night was when the sleep deprivation really got to me. The story came up at dinner, though, so I thought I'd put it here. I was so tired I was delirious. I was also sharing a bed with Catherine who came in late that night. I woke up in the dark, not knowing where I was and saw what I thought was a piece of luggage lying next to me on the bed. My immediate thought was that I'd push it off the bed to give myself more room. I remember sitting up and just staring at it for a really long time and reaching out to see if it really was a bag. Luckily I didn't push poor Catherine off the bed in the middle of the night, but I was terrified she was awake during all that, freaking out about the weirdo she was sharing a bed with. This also became a running joke that weekend.
During dinner, an absolutely adorable French girl came over to ask if she could take a picture with me. She didn't speak much English which made her even cuter, and I was happy to have apparently made her day since she was so excited! Her mother thanked me, and they returned to their table.
We noticed that the wizard rock concert that night was scheduled to be starting about the time we got the check, so we ran back to the conference space and caught The Parselmouths onstage. It was awesome! They played pretty much all of my favorite songs, including the oh-so-appropriate “This is Never Gonna End”! Gred and Forge were supposed to go on next, so I thought we'd run to the craft fair before it closed really fast, but Hank Green came on. I wanted to stay because I love his wrock, but Brae insisted that I'd want something from the craft fair. So, we went. We didn't find anything to buy right then (though I do want a bracelet custom made from one seller), but I did realize how amazing etsy crafty people are! I got so many compliments on my costume and shoes (even though the sealer had failed miserably and they were cracking)! After a quick picture with a Tonks, we were back in time to see Hank sing all my favorite songs.
After Hank, we wanted to stay for Tonks and the Aurors, so we found seats with Anna to get through Gred and Forge (who I don't really care for). During their set, though, they did play “Bill's Hot Girlfriend”, so I danced a bit for that, and Brae decided he must buy “Brotherly Love” which we heard for the first time that night. Then Tonks was up, and she played pretty much all my favorites except “The Radio”. It was fairly awesome!
Then it was back to the hotel to get ready for bed to be well rested for the Starkid panel the next day!
Look for our posts on days 5 and 6!
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