Azkaban Premiere

We (that being me and my best pal and fellow Potter fanatic Laura) thought arriving at Leicester Square at 9am on the day of the premiere would be early enough, but alas! There were keener fans then us who had been there since 6am and I hear some camped out all night?! We did manage to get a front row spot to the right of the cinema entrance and we stood there not daring to go anywhere! Hello to Danielle, one of our “barrier buddies” and to the other two girls from Weymouth who’s names I never found out!
We waited for what seemed like hours, oh wait, it was hours, EIGHT in fact, before the guests started to arrive. Some of the first were Jamie Waylett, Chris Rankin and Tom Felton; Tom in a fetching cream suit (shame the weather didn’t match as it had turn decidedly grey and poured with rain at that point!). Much to the disappointment of hundreds of his fans around us, Tom didn’t come our way to sign autographs. Never mind, we thought, plenty more people to come. We were lucky that Entertainment Today’s Jenni Falconer was positioned just next to us and she nabbed most of the actors as they arrvied, Robbie Coltrane, Pam Ferris, Bonnie Wright, David Thewlis, Gary Oldman and many more.
Warwick Davis was the first to come over and sign our Potter books, followed by Devon Murray who obliged in giving many hugs and kisses to the adoring crowd! The charming Weasley twins, James and Oliver Phelps were curious to know how long we had been waiting and exclaimed an unprintable phrase when I told them 8 hours! Chris Columbus came over to a sign autographs and it wasn’t long after that Alan Rickman walked on by to make my day :)
The actors were dedicated to giving as many autographs as possible so they didn’t engage in much chat. They did respond to direct questions (like “Can I have a hug?” and “I love you Alan!”, which I might add, was not me who shouted that!).
The biggest cheers were of course reserved for the “Trio“. Emma Watson must have borrowed Hermione’s timeturner as I don’t know how else she got around the entire crowd so quickly! She promised to come back later to finish signing and sure enough she returned armed with her marker pen. Rupert Grint seemed to take everything in his stride, not fazed by the screaming at all! You may have noticed that the only picture I have of Daniel Radcliffe is one of the back of his head. That would be because as he got nearer to me (and I’m talking a mere 1 metre away!) the crowd got a little excited, having been waiting for 9 hours and the security gate ”burst open“. The crowd surged forward and Daniel was whisked away inside :(
Still, I had a fantastic time and I’ll be there again for Goblet of Fire!