Bookshop’s midnight opening is sheer magic

DOZENS of people lined up in Oban’s Waterstone’s just before midnight on Saturday to get their hands on the latest Harry Potter novel.

The crowd gathered to buy a copy of the latest book Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, which is set 19 years in the franchise’s future.

The bookshop opened at 11.30pm and eager fans were entertained by a Hogwarts-themed quiz and riddles positioned around the store.

Ewan Soutar, shop manager, said: ‘Our last midnight release was in 2007 and that was for the previous Harry Potter book.

‘We are never quite sure how many people will turn up, but it’s been good. It’s exciting. There’s been a lot of buzz around it. It’s probably the biggest book to be released in the past few years.’

Rhona MacIntyre and Ali Hamilton, of Oban, pictured right, who bought the book at midnight, said that it was worth coming. ‘We’ve read the whole series,’ they said. ‘We’re going to go home and read it until it’s finished. This is our childhood. We’re the same age as the characters and we have grown up with them.’