Our reporters in the field catch every moment of pre-Potter mania. Jennifer Saylor reports from Des Moines and Lisa Turner is in Boston.

9:17PM Boston, MA
I'm making all the necessary preparations. Laundry is being done so that I won't have anything else on my To Do list this weekend. Pillows are fluffed and the bed is made for hours of comfortable reading. I called my local Barnes and Noble an hour ago to confirm that they would be open at midnight. Tickets or some kind of voucher will be handed out on a first-come, first-serve basis to those who haven't pre-ordered, but the nice man I spoke with assured me that there should be enough to go around tonight. Pity the fool who waits until tomorrow though.

9:39PM Boston
Dateline NBC has a special featuring Prince William. Yum. Still, I think I'd choose Oliver Wood over Wills. There would be less press to deal with, and the added bonus of flying broomsticks. The interview with J.K. Rowling should start soon.

9:45PM Boston
Ack! She's said too much! No big plot giveaways, but still, I feel like she's given hints to things that I don't want to know about yet. Ron and Quiddich? Ack! From now until I finish the book, I'm on a Harry Potter Blackout. If anyone starts talking about it, my fingers will go in my ears and I'll scream "LALALALALALALALALA I CAN'T HEAR YOU!"

10:00PM Des Moines, Iowa
The Barnes and Noble is a zoo but I don't think were going to hit the max capacity.

Finally found my aunt and two cousins. Mackie is dressed as Professor McGonagall and Violet is Professor Dumbledore. They have about 30 Harry Potters, 20 Hermiones, a handful of Rons and other characters and one Hagrid! Yep, only one kid, and I think he's the smallest kid here, too. There are two girls, cousins, who are so much alike they make a great pair as Draco and Lucius Malfoy. A few adults are in the competition too, and one alligator. I think the alligator should get a prize for being original; there's a lake around Hogwarts, maybe he lives there.

They were going to have the kids ride down on the escalator but it broke; ah well, best laid plans and all that. After the contest I stand in line for about 20 minutes for some coffee and hang out with kids who are waiting. They have been doing crafts and hanging out in the store since 6PM so they're doing pretty good. I think I can say the same for most of the parents too.

10:40PM Boston
I finish book three. It didn't occur to me until Wednesday that I should refresh myself on some of the more complex character relationships (Lupin and Sirius Black and Wormtail et al) and plot lines. I knew I couldn't read all of book four in time, so last night I spent an hour and a half at the book store (because my copy is on loan), skimming the 770+ pages to get the basics down. It was a good scheme until I got all teary when the ghost of Cedric asks Harry to take his dead body back to his parents, and Harry does it with his last ounce of energy after being tortured and tormented and visited by the ghosts of his own parents. When he gets back to Hogwarts and won't let go of Cedric's arm... damn. Gets me every time. Good thing I was the only person sitting in the kids section, sniffling. Their little tiny chair killed my ass though.

10:45PM Boston
I'm a little tired from a week of getting up early, and then running up and down four flights of stairs to do all that laundry, but I know I can make it until at least midnight, just on my natural Harry high. I'm off to the store to join the fray.

11:00PM Des Moines
They announce the winners to all the contests and look alikes. Mackie and Violet are runners up. Mackie really was the best Professor McGonagall though. She had on an antique shawl (black with beadwork) plus pumps and a velvet shirt, as well as the witch hat and her wand. She should have won. No favoritism here, I call 'em like I see 'em. They gave away some pretty good prizes too, so it was worth the effort to dress up. We take a few pictures with the girls. They "sorted" the kids earlier, and both were placed in Hufflepuff (which is my house too) so we get our picture in front of the house banner.

11:15 Boston
I arrive at the store and get one of the red tickets they're handing out to those who didn't preorder the book. I'm number 192, and by the end of the night there are people with numbers in the 300's. The pre-order numbers go up to at least 200. Not bad for one of the smaller B&N's on the outskirts of Boston.

There are several little witches and wizards running around, and in the kids area they have a table set up where employees are giving out Potter quizzes, explaining the decoder cards that go along with an online game, and scarring kids with magic-marker lightening bolts on their foreheads. They also have someone taking free Polaroids of you and a Harry Potter cardboard cutout. I ask if it's just for the kids, and then gleefully hop up next to Harry for my turn.

11:25 Boston
The store is filling up, but there aren't any angry, short-tempered parents like you see at Disneyland or other places where kids are supposed to have fun but wind up getting yelled at for spilling ice cream or having to go to the bathroom or whatever. Everyone is in good spirits, as though a cheering charm was cast upon the crowd.

Kids are plunked down in every aisle and free space, reading everything from previous Harry Potter books to Garfield to Black Beauty and other classics. My insides feel all fuzzy that these kids are here, excited and waiting up all night, for a 900-page, two-pound book, that they will then have to read, using only their imaginations to make it exciting. They aren't lined up at Best Buy for a new blood 'n guts video game, or at Toys "R" Us for a Tickle Me Pokemon. It's just a book, and a chapter book with no pictures. It's reassuring to know that for all the talk of how kids today are more sophisticated and not as easily entertained in their media-glutted lives, they aren't much more different than I was at their age.

11:30PM Des Moines
I'm impressed with the fact that kids are reading while they wait, and not just Harry Potter books. I saw kids with about something from every section of the store. I even saw kids reading comics and Manga!

Of course, two of the local TV stations are here and a guy from the Des Moines Register. Everyone is behaving very well; no one has transfigured into a toad or been made to disappear. I heard "excuse me" and kids being polite to each other, exercising their good manners. That will all change about 11:58!

As they are only giving books to those who prepaid or preordered I hit the road. No use standing in line when I can't get a book.

11:45PM Boston
The clock is getting close to midnight, and you can honestly feel the excitement building. People are sneaking up to peek behind the counter where all the boxes are stacked. They clearly state "Do Not Open until June 21, 2003," so how some idiots thought they could start selling early is beyond me. There's always someone who has to ruin it for everybody else. My feet hurt. I've had to stifle a few yawns. But if these rugrats can stay up late, so can I.

11:58PM Boston
The energy is getting intense, as kids check their watches and ask their grown-ups to confirm what time it is. Because of the red ticket system, only 50 people at a time are called up to get their books, so there won't be total pandemonium, but there's plenty of hopping up and down, as if everyone's favorite rock star is about to come out and play a free show.

11:59PM Boston
Even the employees can't stop from smiling as they stand over the boxes, waiting to rip them open. With ten seconds left, the store manager leads a countdown to the year 2003H.P. that will officially begin with a new 15-year-old Harry in our lives. "5... 4... 3... 2... 1... Woooooo!!!!!" A cheer goes up in the crowd and the girl next to me is on her cell phone saying, "Yes, they just opened the boxes, I can see them from here, the first books are coming out!" Maybe she's an embedded journalist, talking to Dan Rather or the local radio station. I'm surprised there isn't a webcam capturing the moment for audiences around the world.

12:25AM Boston
The process is going quickly, but directions on where exactly the line starts and ends is unclear, and since nothing in the store has been moved to accommodate the crowd, I weave through sci-fi and westerns and the magazine racks when my number is called. Then, realizing there is no line, I just walk up to one of the many open registers at the counter. Finally, I have it in my hands (heavier than I'd expected it to be) and my roommate and I head home. It's a long walk, and my arms are getting tired from carrying my camera bag and the book, which gets a little more burdensome with each block.

12:45AM Des Moines
Jen has been fast asleep for quite a while now.

1:00AM Boston
Ok, the plan is to stay up all night, or at least until 4:00AM or so, then get a few hours of sleep and wake up early to have the book done by that evening before I have to go out with friends. I just need a little snack first, to keep up my energy.

1:20 AM Boston
Right, fed and ready, but I'll brush my teeth first, oh, and I have to call home to say I have the book. Mom will be excited. And I'll get my pajamas on so I can just jump in bed.

1:45AM Des Moines
Jen: still asleep.

2:05AM Boston
Mom was very... yawn... excited. Now, on to the book. Yes. I'm tired, but I can put in at least... two hours... of reading.

2:07AM Boston
Zzzzzzzzz.

Monday, 3:00PM Boston
I finish the book two days later than planned, but very well rested. It's amazing, and the only thing I can think of to do, is to go back to page one and do it all over again.

This article is part of Newmoanyeah's Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Week.