"I am too old to be acting a damn fool, but I don't care" -- this from a Christina Woody, 25, who was maybe the 10th person in line at the Barnes and Noble at The Grove in Los Angeles waiting to buy "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," the last installment with characters she's grown to love. As she was lead into the store, she screamed, jumped and pumped her fists as though she'd just won the lottery, and perhaps she did. Woody said she was excited to find out how it all ends. "Have you ever experienced reading a book where you just identify so much with the characters?" Yes. I have. She said she identified with Ron. Clearly, hundreds of others identified with the books as all of them were clamoring to get inside.

But it was Liz Kohl who was first in line and the first to get her book, which she waved triumphantly into the air. Kohl was surrounded by reporters and photographers who were feverishly snapping photos as she paid for her book and held in her arms as though she would never let it go. Kohl received congratulatory pats on the back and choruses of "all rights!" and "yay for yous" that feted her as she walked out of the store. Had this been a Jewish wedding, Kohl would have been lifted up and paraded around the bookstore. Camaraderie was the story of this night. Everyone was just happy to be here celebrating what was pop culture history being created in real time, as my friend Nataly described it. Just as I was leaving the store, a very perky gal waved her book in the air, pointed at the others still waiting in line and screamed, "YOU'RE NEXT." No, there was no gloating here tonight. Everyone was too happy for the wait to be over.

There were hundreds of people at the Grove tonight, some dressed up in elaborate costumes. Parents were taking pictures of their children in front of the stacks of boxes containing the books (guarded by a few surly looking security officers) as though they were posing for a picture with Mickey Mouse at Disneyland. A rock band, called The Remus Lupins, decked out in Gryffindor colors, played loud Harry Potter-themed music to an absolutely adoring crowd -- who apparently all knew the lyrics, which included a chorus of "Snape Sucks."

As midnight approached, the chanting began. "Harry! Harry! Harry!" Some fans were reading the old books while waiting in line to get the new one. This night was all about Harry. Everyone had his name on their lips. There were people talking about their predictions. One teenage girl related a story about how she was nearly going to commit suicide when the last book came out because her summer camp didn't organize an outing to get the book, and this time she was determined NOT to miss the book release.

"This is the last one," a man behind me said. "This will never happen again."

Earlier in the evening, Big Sugar bakery (a store no bigger than my living room) was packed with people buying cauldron cakes, chocolate frogs, pumpkin juice, butterbeer and other assorted Potter-themed goodies. Actress Quinn Cummings ("Goodbye Girl," "Family"), in line in front of me waiting to buy some yummies (and who probably didn't realize I knew who she was), had a smile from ear to ear. "Isn't this great?" she asked me quite unsolicited. She said, the last time there was a book that had this much hype was more than a hundred years ago ... and it was Charles Dickens. She said it was so exciting to see this much enthusiasm over a book. The kids, the parents, the teens, the young adults, the grownups -- all enjoying good clean fun. It was like Halloween in July. One parent said to his son, "We'll get one of everything." The boy, probably about 12, flew into his father's arms and hugged him. "YOU'RE AWESOME!" The father turned to me and my friend and said, "That's the best $1.25 I ever spent."

The Grove was a scene and a celebration as fans waited for the stroke of midnight. The store staff made a big deal counting down the last minute before midnight, then teasingly opening the box for the press, grabbing the first copy raising it up like a first-born child to a crowd of adoring family members.

And then it was all business after that as a steady stream of readers filed in one by one, proudly wearing a wrist band, to begin what is sure to be a journey to the end of this wonderful story. My sister, who lives in Seattle, called me after she bought her copy of the book tonight with my niece (who SQUEALED in my ear "I GOT IT!!!") My sister's description of the night was much like what I experienced. She said, it wasn't as intimate as it was for the last book. "This was about crowd control," she added. But when she stood in line earlier today to get her wristband, she heard people talk about their own predictions and how much they loved the book, and she thought there was a wonderful sense of community about the whole experience.

I now have my copy, which, incidentally, I bought at Ralphs about an hour after my trip to the Grove. No hoopla, no celebration, no scene. I put my book on the conveyor used my club card and got 40% off. Still, I will likely be up all night reading until my eyes bleed, barely wanting it to end.