Bookstores the world over—including Borders on University Avenue—held "Midnight Magic" parties last Friday to celebrate the release of Rowling's sixth offering in the Harry Potter book series, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, precisely at the stroke of midnight. The Los Gatos Borders was overrun with children—and quite a few adults as well—who couldn't wait to fork over money for a copy of the highly anticipated book, which experts expected to sell an unprecedented 50,000 copies every hour within the first 24 hours of its release.

For months, bookstores have been signing up customers wanting to reserve copies of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Borders Los Gatos received so many requests, it stopped offering spots on the reserve list as of July 2, two weeks before the book's release, says Lisa Laylon, general manager. Regardless, the waiting list began filling up nearly as fast.

Details about the sixth book's release have been shrouded in mystery, much like its five predecessors. Rumors have circulated about the death of another main character, and fear of such a leak has apparently scared the publishing company into drastic measures to protect its contents. Laylon says the books arrived at Borders Los Gatos about two weeks before the release date. The boxes were taped over several times, and the words "DO NOT OPEN UNTIL JULY 16" were blasted across the front in huge, ominous letters. The boxes were kept in the store's basement, "CAUTION" tape keeping human fingers several inches away. Laylon says employees of the store were not allowed to open the boxes until 11:50 p.m. on Friday—therefore, they could not even report how many pages were in the book.

Friday morning, Borders began handing out tickets with numbers assigning the order people would be sold their copies. Beginning at the stroke of midnight, eager fans were called up to the register in groups of 50 to avoid a stampede from the hundreds who showed up.

The Los Gatos "Midnight Magic" party began at 9 p.m., and various tables full of Harry Potter-related activities were set up around the store. Fans could have Harry's trademark lightning bolt scar painted onto their foreheads, play Harry Potter trivia and word-scramble games, or enter the contest to guess how many Bertie Botts' Every Flavor Beans were in the jar by the front door, to win the jar and all its contents. One might wonder why someone would want to win the jar of beans—the snack's odd appeal is that each bean could be flavored with anything under the sun, including soap or vomit—but apparently, anything that Harry himself eats within the pages of one of his books is instantly cool.

True-blue fans showed up dressed as their favorite character from the series. There were more than a few Harry Potters, donning cloaks from his school, Hogwarts Academy for wizards, and his famous black, wire-rimmed glasses, complete with tape on the bridge. Girls enjoyed dressing up as Harry's good friend, the know-it-all Hermione Granger, in Catholic schoolgirl-type uniforms in the Hogwarts colors. Many carried magical wands that were either homemade or purchased from the extensive array of Harry Potter merchandise on the market. Others dressed as more peripheral characters, such as the rich and snobby bully Draco Malfoy, or even house elves, the tiny animals who cook and clean around Hogwarts and live as servants to wizard families.

A costume parade and contest was held at 11 p.m. and the Ehmann brother and sister Ben, 7, and Kinsey, 4, won for the costumes they made to dress up as the Hogwarts house elves, Dobby and Winky. They won the coveted No. 3 ticket, moving them to the front of the first group to get their books that night. They were also presented with a collection of the older Chronicles of Narnia books, which are seeing a resurgence in interest, some speculate, because of the popularity of Harry Potter.

So what makes the Harry Potter books so great? Los Gatos High students and good friends Mira and Danielle Parfit, Sofie Lynn and Emily Soule have many answers to that question.

"It's a different world," says Sofie.

"You can get consumed by it; they're very intense," says Danielle.

Danielle considers herself one of the biggest Harry Potter fans around. She says she has read each of the previous five books in the series at least 20 times—no easy feat, considering the books have grown in length with each release up to now, the fifth book an astounding 870 pages. Danielle was adamant that she planned on rushing home as soon as she got her copy to begin reading.

For the Midnight Magic party, the four girls made special T-shirts to commemorate the sixth book's release—they had the title of the book and the date on their backs, and each of the four girls illustrated the crest of one of Hogwarts' four houses on the front: Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw.

Perhaps equally as surprising is how much adults like the books just as much as children. Meghan Cronin, 29, has been to midnight release parties for many of the Harry Potter books.

"I think they're really well written, and there's a lot of intricacies in [Rowling's] plot lines. You can go back and read the books over and over and see all these different clues she's left for you to figure things out. It gives you more info about what to look for in future books," she says. "It's the fun of the mystery, and the characters are interesting and complex."

Cronin says she also planned to rush home that night, in hopes of getting in at least a few chapters before falling asleep.

Since Rowling, the author, made it clear from the beginning that the series would have no more than seven books—corresponding to the seven years Harry will attend Hogwarts Academy until he graduates at age 18—what will fans do after the next book is over, and there are no more Harry Potter adventures?

For many, that will be a dark day, but reportedly, one that is at least two years away.