I owe an apology to the entire Harry Potter fandom.
See, I’m a huge fan of The Vampire Diaries (stay with me, I promise it’ll make sense in the end) and I have been since day one. I hadn’t read the books before I saw the show, I actually just happened to stumble across the very first episode back in 2009 by accident and I was hooked. I love the writing that continually keeps the audience guessing, never knowing what is about to happen next and I think the cast they have assembled is truly remarkable in how well they mesh together.
Fast-forward to 2012; it’s December and I’ve imposed a “no spending money on myself” rule as I rush to buy gifts for all my family and friends. Then, I get a message from my long-time BFF who lives hours away asking if I want to meet up in Chicago in April 2013 for a TVD convention. My initial gut reaction was something like “No way! I’m not one of those nerds who go to conventions. Those are for Trekkies!” But, the more I thought about it, I knew how much I loved the show and thought meeting the characters would be pretty fantastic. Plus, vacations are rare for me, so I figured I shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth. I relented and we bought our tickets.
As April drew closer, I can’t lie, I had a few panic attacks about how much money I was spending on a trip that I was quite honestly too embarrassed to tell many people about. Between admission tickets, photo ops, autographs, hotel & airfare I had easily spent over a grand. When we actually got to the event, the amount of money I spent was staggering. But, as it happens, I had a phenomenal time!
My advice for anyone who is hesitant about going to a convention is two fold: a) do it & b) save up. First off, if you’re even remotely interested in going, do it. You won’t be disappointed. Secondly, I didn’t even know I had enough laying around in my budget to come up with a thousand dollars in 4 months, but apparently the TVD cast is a really good motivator to save money. Sure, a lot of the motivation stemmed from the fact that I’d get to touch Ian Somerhalder, but really, that’s what motivated 99.9% of the people there!
Now, at the convention, there was a tip of the hat to the TV show in the form of a Decade Dance. While I didn’t bother to dress up, I wasn’t at all out of place. Neither was my BFF who was rocking a fierce 70s costume. There were a few other times that attendees could dress up, which I didn’t participate in, but they looked fabulous. Of course, there were a small number of people who seemed to have trouble separating fiction from reality, but they were few and far between.
When we had the opportunity to meet the celebs, well, I could write a whole different piece about that, but suffice it to say, it was wonderful. Everyone I met was humble, gracious and extremely personable. By the time the last day of the convention rolled around, we had already decided we were coming back in 2014 and we took the opportunity to upgrade to front-row seats.
After all was said and done, I truly had an amazing weekend. Spending time with a friend whom I rarely get to see, learning how to navigate the Chicago rail system on my own, seeing the beautiful city and getting to meet the actors from one of my favorite shows made the whole trip an experience I won’t soon forget.
So, now to get back to my original point, my apology to the Harry Potter fandom: I’ve long been a HP fan. I was in my late teens when two kids I was babysitting had me read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone to them. As they grew, we read the books together, went to all the movies until I moved out of state for work. When I moved back, the Wizarding World of Harry Potter was open in Orlando. One of the kids and I have been to the park twice. It was so special to share that with her; I remember her sitting in my lap at the theater, burying her face in my neck when Harry killed the basilisk. We really had been on our own Harry Potter adventure as we stared, mouth agape, at all the intricate details throughout Hogsmeade and at the wonder of Hogwarts Castle.
All this time, I thought the people who went to Harry Potter conventions were weirdos or nerds who didn’t have much else to occupy themselves with. After the trip to the TVD Con in Chicago though, I’m almost in mourning that I missed out on all the early HP conventions. I’ve learned that at these events, you can be a giant nerd if you want to (one girl and I got into a great discussion about HP while standing in line for one of the TVD photo ops). You can let your freak flag fly without fear of mocking or laughter.
So, to all my fellow Harry Potter fans out there, I’m truly sorry for not realizing how special fandom conventions are. I’m jealous that I missed the opportunity to go to some of the first conventions, or that I didn’t go to the midnight book release parties, even if I would have been the oldest person there. You all have my respect and admiration for your uniqueness, individuality and love of all things Harry Potter.
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