By By ERIKA PICKLES / Niles Daily Star
NILES – Fans anxiously awaited and dreaded the release of the seventh and final Harry Potter book Friday night.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was not released until 12:01 a.m. Saturday, but book stores throughout the world held parties hours before to celebrate the release of the final book.
Fans could not wait to discover which characters died after author J.K. Rowling announced that two of the characters would be killed off.
Sue's Hallmark in Niles held a party, which began at 8 p.m.
Assistant manager Shelley Dumond said it went well and everyone had a good time.
"We sold quite a few books. Some people had called ahead to reserve them, so there really wasn't a huge rush to get the books at midnight, but people still lined up for it. On Saturday, we still had a few left over and I know they sold as well," Dumond said.
Dumond added that the store had games, prizes, refreshments and a costume contest.
This was owner Sue Majerek's first big community event since she took over ownership of the store recently, and Dumond said they were happy with the way the party turned out.
"We had fun. We had a lot of help from Lisa (Croteau) and we had a nice crew of volunteers who helped make the night go as smoothly as possible," Dumond added.
The final book sold an estimated 8.3 million copies within 24 hours of its release.