Harry Potter Surprise Party (Part 2)

If you missed Part 1 of our Harry Potter Surprise Party,
you should probably catch up before reading this post...

So there we were.

Waiting at the park.

Little Dudeman & Little Princess were wearing their robes.

I was carrying our robes & the glasses.

People were giving us funny looks.

Some people asked if we were going to a wedding.

I have no clue as to where they got that idea.

Since we had plenty of time to kill
I called McCall to wish her a happy birthday
I put my phone on speaker so that we could all sing to her.
After reminding Hubby to remember to act casual,
she didn't even pick up.
So we all sang to her in a message
& then I was about 99% sure that I completely blew the surprise.
After we had sung, I said something crazy like this:
"Happy birthday McCall! I hope you had a great day today. Call me back when you get a chance to tell me all about your how your 18th birthday went & to let me know what fun things you did. I hope you have fun plans this weekend. You'll have to let me know what you're doing to celebrate. Love you! Bye."
I'm terrible at leaving messages.
That's why I don't usually leave them.
That may not have been exactly what I said, but you get the gist of it...
Seriously though.
If we were home, why would I need to know what her plans are?
It didn't sound casual at all.
I should have just stopped at 'how your 18th birthday went'.
Anywho...
She called back shortly after that awkward message.
We talked & she told me about the football game & how her day went
(which I of course already knew)

Then she said she doesn't think they have any big plans
& that she doesn't even know which day they will be celebrating since they haven't really talked about it.
I explained to her that her present was on the way
hoping to give her the idea that we weren't there after all.
What she said next threw my 99% belief that I ruined the surprise
all the way to 100%...
She said something like this:
"Well, I'm hoping that the present is that you guys are flying out. That would be the best present ever."
Completely stunned by what she had said,
it took me a second before I could regain my composure & complete a decent comeback thought.
I replied, "Yeah, that would definitely be cool, but that's not the present."
Not a complete lie.
We did get her a present.
Our being there to give it to her was just an added bonus.
Slightly bummed,
& in my opinion not fully convinced,
she said that's too bad but that she looks forward to opening it when it arrives.
We stayed on the phone for a while & just talked.
When she told me they were leaving Walgreens
I wrapped up the call so that she could go home
& enjoy the first part of her surprise...
the letter.

This is roughly how things went...
I wasn't there so I don't know firsthand, but I can't wait to watch the video (:
They pulled into the driveway & Dad asks if she can get the mail.
She says sure, then heads towards the mailbox.
Dad closes the garage while she's on her way there.
Baffled by him closing the garage door before she came in, she opens the mailbox.
Inside is but one letter.
Her Hogwarts acceptance letter.
She is overjoyed & takes a gazillion pictures before even thinking about heading inside.
Since the garage is closed, she goes through the front door.
What's this?
Brick walls (plastic backdrop) so that she can't go any further into the house,
& Abby standing there waiting to help her get to Diagon Alley.
She taps on the bricks & leads her in.
They visit many different shops while in Diagon Alley.
She gets her various wizarding school supplies, her owl, & her wand.
Mom was filling in for Ollivander that evening & made sure that the right wand found McCall.
They reached another brick wall.
A dead end of sorts.
They didn't realize this at the time,
but it was actually an extremely rare entrance from Diagon Alley into the Room of Requirement at Hogwarts.
They turned around & headed back the way they came only to find that they were at platform 9 ¾.

They ran through the brick & hopped on the Hogwarts Express.
While inside the train (Ford Freestyle) waiting to arrive at Hogwarts,
they ordered sweets from the Honeydukes Express trolley.

There were Toffees, Acid Pops, Sour Jelly Slugs, Chocolate Pretzel Wands, Chocolate Hazelnut Snitches, Cockroach Clusters, Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, & Chocolate Frogs

They had only traveled a few blocks away from where they departed at King's Cross Station,
when they made an unexpected stop at a nearby park to pick up some more passengers...

The second I saw the S.U.Van (Hogwarts Express)
We hid behind the playground,
threw on our robes & glasses,
& we all ran as fast as we could so that the train wouldn't leave without us.
Thankfully McCall didn't notice we were there until we were practically to our train carriage!
After quick hugs & much excitement,
the train departed for Hogsmeade Station.
Upon our arrival at Hogwarts (this time entering through the garage),
I noticed everything really came together while we were at the park.
McCall was given the tour of the school,
& some special guests (church friends) came for a visit.
Once they left, we headed to the Great Hall to enjoy our feast.
She had wanted Poppyseed Chicken, fruit, & salad for her birthday dinner
so we enjoyed that while enjoying each others company.

We had intended on being sorted into houses that evening,
However, the youngest wizard & witch were fast asleep,
we were all quite exhausted,
& it was getting late.
It was agreed that the Sorting Hat would have to wait until morning.

Part 3

xoxo