Midnight releases celebrate first new Harry Potter story in nine years

Jennifer Edge sports a Harry Potter tattoo on her right forearm in her booth surrounded by art from the Harry Potter series inside the shop at Main Line Ink on E. Main Street.

Jennifer Edge sports a Harry Potter tattoo on her right forearm in her booth surrounded by art from the Harry Potter series inside the shop at Main Line Ink on E. Main Street.

To fans who have waited for nearly a decade for a new entry in J.K. Rowling's wizarding world of Harry Potter, midnight Saturday, July 30, can't come quickly enough.

That date marks the release of "Harry Potter and The Cursed Child - Parts I & II," the script to a play by the same name, which is set to premiere that night on London's West End.

The play's plot represents the eighth official mainline story in the beloved fantasy series. Fans will be able to catch up with Potter and his friends with events that pick up after the epilogue of the last novel, 2007's "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," which is set 19 years after a dramatic final showdown between the lightning-scarred boy wizard and series antagonist Lord Voldemort.

Based on an original narrative written by Rowling in coordination with British dramatists Jack Thorne and John Tiffany, "The Cursed Child" finds Harry a father of three and "an overworked employee of the Ministry of Magic."

"While Harry grapples with a past that refuses to stay where it belongs, his youngest son, Albus, must struggle with the weight of a family legacy he never wanted," reads the official plot synopsis. "As past and present fuse ominously, both father and son learn the uncomfortable truth: Sometimes, darkness comes from unexpected places."

The Barnes & Noble at Hamilton Place mall and the Books-A-Million in Hixson both have events planned on Saturday leading up to the script's midnight launch.

"We'll have all sorts of different stuff going on, from wand making to trivia games [to] live singers and dancers. It's going to be a huge party," says Kyle Dagnan, the kids specialist at Books-A-Million.

Every year, Books-A-Million hosts a "birthday party" for Potter on July 31, the date when Rowling has said the character was born. (Naturally, it's also the author's birthday.)

"[The script's release] just happened to coincide perfectly," Dagnan says. "I think there's just a general consensus of excitement and anticipation from everybody, both the people who work here and the patrons. It's going to be a huge thing coming out, I think."

Despite bucking Rowling's literary trend by appearing as a bound copy of the script used in rehearsals for the play, the new story has Harry Potter fans rabid with excitement.

Jeff Hickey is a member of local costuming troupe Chattooine, who will be putting in an appearance, robes donned and wands in hand, during Barnes & Noble's celebration.

Harry Potter is a series whose fanbase transcends the young demographic it supposedly was written for, says Hickey, who will attend the Barnes & Noble event dressed as the series' love-to-hate-him potions professor Severus Snape.

"It's just one of those things where you know these characters so intimately, that you want to know what happens next," the 47-year-old says. "You want to see more of them."

Contact Casey Phillips at cphillips@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6205. Follow him on Twitter at @PhillipsCTFP.