Nine years after the release of the seventh and last book in J.K.Rowling’s immensely popular series, local Harry Potter fans gathered at the Issaquah Barnes and Noble on the evening of July 30th for the midnight release of an all-new Potter story: the script of the new play, “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.”

The script was released for fans who can’t make it to the stage show in London’s West End, where it is now running. Like the generation of fans who grew up reading the books, Harry and his friends are all grown up in the new play, and are now dealing with the trials of parenthood and a stressful workplace.

Harry Potter enthusiast Angela Lynch, 30, of North Bend, has regularly attended the midnight release parties at the local Barnes and Noble, and shared what the beloved book series has meant to her and her family:

“I picked up the first book from the school library when it first came out nearly 20 years ago … When the second book came out, I was pleasantly surprised that my parents knew what it was, and were willing to go buy it for me at midnight at the local bookstore (Issaquah Barnes and Noble, of course)! This was a huge deal, because until that point we had always been a library sort of family. I inhaled stories so quickly that it wouldn’t have been cost-effective to be otherwise.

“From then on, it was a family tradition — at the midnight release, Dad would buy the book and stay up reading at the kitchen table all night, so that I could read it the next day. Mom was next, and then Dad would read it at bedtime to my younger brother for the next few weeks.

“In 2001, we were blessed with two miracles: the first Harry Potter movie, and another baby brother. He has legitimately spent his entire life (15 years now) being immersed in the Harry Potter culture. We would sit down as a family and watch the movies, and wait eagerly each time a new book was released for everyone to have read it so we could discuss what new plot twists had arisen.

“By the time he was 4, he was just as hooked as the rest of us, and begged mom to read Harry Potter to him at night instead of ‘baby books.’ By 8, he simply had to go see the movie with me, whether I’d seen it at the midnight release the night before or not. These days, the audiobook versions are a family road trip tradition, and Mom can often be found in the driveway after her drive home from work listening ‘just until a stopping point.’ This year, tradition was broken a little, and he and mom were at Barnes and Noble for the ‘Cursed Child’ release party … and I’m not sure who got to read it first.

“The Harry Potter books have been more than friends to us. They’ve brought us together as a family to simply relax and enjoy and relate to each other for almost 20 years, and I know that they will continue to do so for generations. When I have children, I know that I’ll read Harry Potter aloud to them, and all of these happy, warm memories will surround us and make their little world that much happier, imaginative and joyful.”