In case you haven't heard, tonight, at precisely 12:01, THE VERY FINAL HARRY POTTER BOOK WILL BE RELEASED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OH MY GOD!! OH MY GOD!! OH MY GOD!! And by final, we mean final. The end. Finito. And with it, all the answers to all those pressing questions will be answered: will Harry die? Is Snape good or evil? Will Ron and Hermione finally get it on? And by the way, we just discovered Hermione is in Microsoft Word’s spell check. That’s crazy.

People are jacked for this thing. There are already lines in front of bookstores for people wanting to get their books and in New York, the police have put up barricades. One college is having Quidditch games all weekend. In Israel, Orthodox rabbis are trying to prevent bookstores from taking part in tonight’s festivities because it falls upon Shabbat and in Bangladesh, custom offices stayed open despite it being a national holiday. The fact that the book got posted online, which has led to a wave of spoilers being posted everywhere, has led to serious discussions and editorials over the whole the whole thing.

Anyways, tonight a bunch of bookstores are having parties for everyone who didn't preorder on Amazon or got spoiled by evil, evil people. Even Modern Times on Valencia is getting into the act and taking a break from their usual heady discussions of gender issues of the Intuit Indians to throw a party. For fans, these things are a hoot as they get to join others in celebrating J.K. Rowling’s wondrous creation. People dress up and take part in games and some places-- not here, however-- will feature bands based on the books (Wizard Rock). We love these things because there's nothing more adorable than completely excited children up way past their bedtimes dressing up in costume or rocking their HP flair. We especially love seeing the thirteen or fourteen year old girls dressing up in costume as we know in a year or two, they'll look at those photos and be completely mortified that they did, like, something sooooooo uncool. As for us, if anyone sees us, that’ll be just a plain old scarf we’re wearing and the fact it looks like a Hufflepuff scarf is just a mere coincedence.

Goodbye Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Goodbye Luna Lovegood and Neville Longbottom. Goodbye Tonks, Lupin and Mad Eye Moody. We'll miss you.

For a list of Potter parties, check out SFGate's list here.