Harry Potter and the Line on York Street

A line began to form at noon on Thursday in front of the in Elmhurst.

It wasn’t actually much of a line yet—just Elmhurst residents Raul Tamez and Zach Fuka, both 23. But they weren’t taking any chances. They wanted to be first to enter the theater for the midnight showing of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2.”

“We actually passed here at midnight last night just to make sure no one was camped out yet,” Raul said.

It’s not their first time, either. They camped out last winter to see “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1.”

It was kind of a deathly experience.

“We waited six hours and got frostbite,” Raul said.

So what makes a couple of 23-year-olds want to do that?

It started out as a kind of an ironic joke because, after all, they are kind of old for that, he said. But then they started getting into the stories and the characters; they really started loving the movies.

“The characters are the same age as us,” Raul said. “I’m 23, and the books came out 13 years ago.”

Kellagh McFarland, 17, who was in line on the other side of Jamba Juice, summed it up perfectly.

“We just think it’s the movie of our generation,” he said.

Kellagh and Chloe Williams, both York High School students, and Sarah Mitchell, who is headed off to Southern Illinois University soon, brought comfy chairs, snacks and even a computer so they could watch previous Harry Potter movies while they wait.

It also was not their first time camping out at the theater.

“I’m anticipating crying a lot,” Chloe said. “It was already sad when the books ended, but now the movies are gone too. And it’s kind of weird, because it coincides with Sarah’s going away to college.”

Sarah agreed.

“It’s kind of like the end of my childhood,” she said.

HARRY POTTER AND …

In case you missed any, here they all are in order.

• the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001)
• the Chamber of Secrets (2002)
• the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)
• the Goblet of Fire (2005)
• the Order of the Phoenix (2007)
• the Half-Blood Prince (2009)
• the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010)
• the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011)