Matt Gentry | The Roanoke Times

Heather Brown, an employee at The Chocolate Spike, paints edible “luster dust” onto a batch of raspberry and dark chocolate “enchanted frogs.” The Easy Chair Bookstore ordered 100 frogs for its Harry Potter party.

By the numbers

• 12 million: Copies of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” Scholastic is printing for the book’s July 21 release
• 6.9 million: Copies of “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” sold in the book’s first 24 hours 5 million
• Copies of “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” sold in the book’s first 24 hours

If you have no idea what the difference is between Gryffindor and Slytherin, are unfamiliar with the term "muggle" and couldn't care less about the fate of a scar-bearing, spectacle-wearing wizard named Harry, you might want to stay out of area bookstores come 12:01 a.m. Saturday.

In case you've missed the countdowns, that's when the last book in the wildly popular Harry Potter series becomes available for sale.

And to celebrate, booksellers throughout the New River Valley are hosting midnight release parties, complete with food, games and crowds of costumed fans -- fans such as 12-year-old Cohen Babcock, who began reading the first six Harry Potter books last year.

"I just started reading them over and over because I found them so interesting," Cohen said. "It has all these mysteries, so there's a cliffhanger every time you turn the page and there's so much adventure that you don't want to put the book down."

Part of a global, millions-strong fan base that has been dubbed everything from "publishing sensation" to "cultural phenomenon," Cohen said he plans to attend a release party at the Easy Chair Bookstore in Blacksburg and begin reading "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" as soon as he gets his copy.

"I'm going to just stay up as long as I can and read it," he said. "I want to find out if Voldemort wins and brings chaos to the world or if Harry wins and gets rid of him for good and if he [Harry] dies in the process."

Cohen isn't the only one.

At the Easy Chair Bookstore, people had reserved 160 copies of the book as of Wednesday and co-owner Russell Chisholm said a good many of them are likely to attend the store's Harry Potter Release Party.

"Even if half those people bring their kids or family member, it's going to be a pretty amazing party," Chisholm said.

The festivities, which begin at 10 p.m. Friday, include Harry Potter-themed treats, a dramatic reading challenge, trivia game, costume contest and scavenger hunt.

The Easy Chair hosted a similar event in 2005 when the sixth book, "Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince," came out, but Chisholm said he expects an even bigger crowd Friday.

"It almost had a New Year's Eve atmosphere because the closer it got to midnight, the more excited people got," he recalled of the 2005 party. And now, "especially with it being the last book, there's a lot of suspense."

In preparation, employees at The Chocolate Spike whipped up batches of white, milk and dark chocolate "enchanted frogs" for party attendees. And Cohen said he was putting together his Harry Potter costume -- "I already have the hair and glasses," he explained. "So I just need a robelike thing and to paint a lightening bolt on my head."

The amount of creative energy behind the area's various Harry Potter parties doesn't surprise Pamela Lucas.

The store manager of Barnes & Noble Booksellers in Christiansburg said it's unlikely another book --or series of books -- will drum up as much excitement anytime soon.

"I think people are realizing this is potentially the last year for something like this to happen," Lucas said. "It's a pretty amazing phenomenon for the book business."

Barnes & Noble is having its "Midnight Magic" party Friday, and in anticipation of "more than a full house" of attendees, Lucas said, the store has been taking book reservations for months and has called in extra employees to staff the event.

While some bookstores are all too familiar with the Harry Potter hubbub, Tracey Harriman's Coffee Buy the Book is just now getting in on the craze.

The downtown Pulaski bookstore has been in business for a little more than a year, and Harriman wasn't even sure she'd host a party until a customer suggested the idea.

"I'm excited that I've had so much interest in doing it in our bookstore as opposed to going to the bigger name" stores, Harriman said.

The store's Harry Potter Party will run from 9 p.m. Friday to 1 a.m. Saturday and offer fans snacks, games and readings from previous books.

But for all the fun and celebration, Christiansburg resident Alleyne Ross, 15, said the just-after-midnight book release will be bittersweet.

"It's going to be devastating -- it really will be," Alleyne said of the end of a series she started at age 8. "It's kind of been a major part of my childhood."