I’ve been wanting to do this post for a while, seeing as I left the majority of my soul in Trafalgar Square on the 7th July 2011.

So here’s my documented experience of the entire 2.5 days I spent in Trafalgar Square, mostly waiting and fangirling with about 6000 other people.

This is an incredibly long post, but bear with me, because there’s some really awesome pictures (but please don’t steal them) :3

So first I should introduce those who put up with me came with me, the crew of the good ship Redvine, of which I am the captain. Words can barely describe my love for these fucking 5: Allie, Georgina, Salz, Emily, Daisy.

Day 1: 5th July 2011

18:00

At 17:36 me, Emily, Daisy and Allie got on the train London, after Emily got locked out of her house, me and Allie forgot the t-shirts and we all nearly got caught boarding the train by our Headmistress, who we’d told that we were all either ill/at university open days.

After I’d shouted and stressed a lot about being late we started to enjoy ourselves a bit:

Me and Allie on the train

Daisy and Emily on the train

All of us on the train, observe Allie’s t-shirt that we were adding the finishing touches to. Also notice that my face wasn’t ready for this photo.

20:00

We arrived at Euston Station. After explaining to the man sat opposite us on the train that we weren’t a sports team, and the reason I was referred to as the captain is because we were a pirate ship, we got the tube to Trafalgar Square.

I don’t know if any of you have ever gotten the tube with 1 hold-all, 3 rucksacks, 2 ukuleles and a popup tent, but those of you who have will know that it’s a horrifying experience.

20:30

We were absolutely shitting ourselves for what we’d find in Trafalgar Square, and when we arrived in the square we were shitting ourselves even more, as we really hadn’t expected there to be at least 400 people waiting in two pens.

21:00

After locating the Canadians who were pretty much organising the whole fandom side of the premiere with no help from Warner Bros, we got our names placed on the wristband list and were told to move into the 2nd pen. Whilst this was going on we met Rohey who is lovely :)

21:15

So apparently there was a tent ban, however we only realised that this would be a problem after the tent was already up and we couldn’t put it down. As a tempory remedy to this problem, I unpopped the tent to the best of my ability and had everyone sit on it.

21:30

Us: We have a tumblr

New friend: OMG ME TOO LET’S BE FRIENDS

This process made us friends with Ria, Maxie, Paul, George, Laura, Stefano, Catherine and Sahiba, and thus CAMP TUMBLR was created <3

After a bit of  Harry Potter related chatter, ukulele jamming, playing name games and singing musical soundtracks, night fell and George built a fort:

Meanwhile, we devised a way to keep our stuff safe from the torrential rain that had suddenly emerged:

23:00

Me, Allie and Paul went to McDonalds to get a coffee and use the loo to change our clothes, and when we came back Daisy and Emily had kindly prepared a bed for Allie and I:

However as the rain got heavier water started leaking in and the inside of the bag became wet with condensation, so we gave the bed to Daisy and Emily and stayed up talking with the others :)

2:00

I couldn’t sleep, Allie couldn’t sleep, Maxie couldn’t sleep. So we went on an adventure to the basement Salz’s flat in London with the popup tent, in an attempt to put it down. 

Little did Salz tell us that the basement was actually a car park that it was, in the words of Maxie, “like something from a really bad slasher movie”, and we kept shitting ourselves at every sound in case it was a mad axe-wielding middle aged man.

3:00

We arrived back at camp with the popup tent still as popped as ever, as despite our attempts we just couldn’t get it down. Defeated, we joined the rest of camp tumblr and talked until I fell asleep for twenty minutes.

For all those wondering what Trafalgar Square looks like in the rain with hundreds of people, here’s a picture:

Day 2: 6th July 2011

5:00

As it got light, everybody started to get up. It was at this point that we realised two things:

1) A third pen had been set up for people who had arrived after us and there were about 200 people waiting in it

2) The barriers had been set up and in about 7 hours we would be allowed to go and wait by them

7:00

Although none of us had gotten any sleep whatsoever, we were all pretty happy when we got up:

Paul, me and Allie

Ria, George, Catherine and Rohey

Daisy and Sahiba

Me and Allie also went to the local coop to get some cardboard, and they were so happy to help that not only did they give us enough cardboard to sink a small ship, but they also helped us carry it. The feeling of laying on fresh cardboard was fucking fantastic.

8:30

Everyone started packing up, and although I’d enlisted the help of 4 different people around Camp Potter, no one could put the fucking popup tent back down.

So when me, Emily, Maxie and two Scottish gals called Sam and Steph attempted yet-a-fucking-gain to put the fucker down, I wasn’t very optimistic:

However, after about 10 minutes Sam got it down and I was eternally grateful :D

9:00

A random person gave us some pumpkin juice. It tasted good.

10:00

Being the Gryffindors that we are, me and George went to the Canadians to make friends and procure some information about when wristbands were being given out and how many there would be. We found out that Warner Bros. were being incredibly unhelpful and vague about everything. 

Also, me and George ended up in the paper. We’re not quite sure which one.

14:00

Camp had been packed up and all that remained was old cardboard. The wristbands were about to be given out and we were basically all waiting and watching as the first people were admitted to the barriers.

15:00

WE’RE IN!! All of us quickly set up a new camp next to the fountain, and we were all very happy :) At this point, Salz and Georgina were waiting in line to get their wristbands, and they soon joined us:

Daisy and Georgina

Georgina, Daisy, Me, Salz, Ria, Stefano, Allie, Maxie

15:30

To celebrate the fact that we were in, me, Allie, Daisy and Emily paid 20p to use the toilets at Charing Cross and changed into clothes that we’rent wet/filthy. We then came back and enjoyed the sun:

Me and Georgina

I should probably mention here about the camp as a whole. People were packed in every inch of the square, and to get out to go anywhere you had to climb over about 3000 people. Some were completely okay with this, and I actually paused at one point to join in with a chorus of “Going back to Hogwarts”, the ones that climbed over us however never said thank you when we moved. So I yelled “YOU’RE WELCOME” after them.

17:00

After me, Daisy, George and Laura went in the National Gallery and I complained the whole time, Daisy made me go to sleep. So camp tumblr had an afternoon nap:

Georgina, Emily and me asleep. As you can see, me and Emily are having a nice spoon.

Allie asleep. I might add that Allie never sleeps, she stays up until 2 in the morning every night and gets up at 7. This is how fucking tired we all were.

18:00

After we all slept for half an hour, me, Daisy, George, Stefano and Ria went to get pizza. It was fucking delicious. It was at this time that they put the massive poster up:

19:00

We played cards and talked and made a guy from the west country sing “Combine Harvester” because there was nothing else to do.

21:00

It was basically a big party, we were talking, Paul was drinking, and throughout all of this the premiere was being set up around us:

Georgina, me, Emily, Salz

Allie, whilst the screen was being set up in the background.

23:00

Me, Georgina and Emily and Salz all spooned to keep each other warm and we went to sleep. However, the rain soon started again and I was forced to put two ponchos on to keep relatively dry:

Us, asleep.

I woke up and wanted to kill myself. It was fucking freezing and I was sleeping in 2 ponchos.

Day 3: 7th July 2011. Premiere day.

5:00

According to Daisy I had 3 hours of sleep but it felt like 3 minutes. Somehow they’d put the redcarpet down without anyone noticing. The shit had gotten real. 

Me, Allie and Salz went back to her flat to deposit our bags so we wouldn’t have to carry them for the actual premiere. At long last I got rid of the fucking popup tent. I also changed my t-shirt and did my makeup for the first time in days, and felt proper clean.

6:00

Me and Allie came back and Daisy, Emily and Georgina went to put their bags down. Whilst they were gone people started to move forwards to the barrier, even though it was barely even daylight yet. So being the reasonable Gryffindors that me and George are, we both tried to get everyone to sit down. That was when we met Miami Bitch.

Me: Guys, could you all just stop pushing? We’ve got hours yet and it’s not fair on the people that got here first, this is our place

Miami bitch: OMG YOU CAN’T JUST TELL US WHAT TO DO AND YOU CAN’T JUST HAVE A FUCKING PLACE THIS IS A FREE COUNTY OMG I’VE COME FROM MIAMI

Me: WELL YOU CAN FUCK OFF BACK TO MIAMI THEN BITCH

…It was a stressful time

7:00

Everyone was back and I started to relax a bit. Salz brought us back some hot chocolate and some tea, which would have been nice had she remembered to put the tea in the milk. :)

12:00

13:30

It was pissing it down. Allie, Sahiba, Catherine, Kevin and Maxie had all started a chant:

“IF YOU’RE WET AND YOU KNOW IT CLAP YOUR HANDS”

“IF YOU’RE COLD AND YOU KNOW IT CLAP YOUR HANDS”

“IF YOU’RE TIRED AND YOU KNOW IT CLAP YOUR HANDS”

Meanwhile me, Georgina, Emily, Daisy, Salz and George were experiencing WW3. I’d made friends with the French people infront of us, we were all trying to ward off an enclosing Spanish person and a German person and a Spanish person were getting into a fight beside us. As I got more and more stressed, Salz and Daisy sang more and more showtunes.

14:00

Foreign reporters started showing up and doing Red Carpet interviews with fans. A Polish news station turned up next to us to interview Daniel, who was also Polish, and he was hailed “POLAND’S NUMBER ONE HARRY POTTER FAN” which was nice :)

Also, the sun had come out and everyone was feeling a lot happier.

16:00

PREMIERE TIME.

Matt Lewis was one of the first to arrive:

Georgina was in love:

Then Tom Felton came:

and his girlfriend hung awkwardly around where we were stood for a while:

Until Helen McCrory came and carted her off:

Then Evanna came and signed my paper:

Me: EVANNA I LOVE YOU

Evanna: I love you too!

Me: AHDIHDFIAHIFHEW GUYS SHE SAID I LOVE YOU TOO, SHE SAID I LOVE YOU TOO!!!!!

Evanna: …

Then I noticed that Salz was too far back to get her autograph, so I said to Evanna:

Me: I’m going to give this to my friend, because she loves you so much but she’s too far back!

Evanna: Oh! I can sign another if you like?

George: Don’t worry, I’ve got one for Salz!

Me: Never mind! Where did you get your dress, Evanna?

Evanna: Oh! I don’t know actually, it’s borrowed!

Me: You look gorgeous in it!

Evanna: Aww thank you!

GUYS I HAD A CONVERSATION WITH EVANNA FREAKIN LYNCH ASDFGHJMKSDFNMS

Then Tom Felton came and signed things:

And me, George and Allie talked to Julie Walters!

George: You look beautiful Julie!

Julie: You’re only saying that because you want my autograph!

Me: We don’t just want your autograph, we want to be your daughters!

Julie: (laughing) You want to be my daughters?!

Then Bonnie Wright walked past and I told her to do something very rude which I will get a lot of hate for so I simply won’t say it.

Then Jamie Cambell Bower came, and although he was right in front of us he wouldn’t come over for ages so we had to call him:

Allie: Do you FEEL us Jamie?!

George: There’s no place like London!

Someone else: YOU GANDERED AT MY WARD

Me: Hey Jamie, we’ll stop shouting stupid things if you come over!

And he did.

Then when he came over I said this:

Me: There’s no place like London, Jamie!

Jamie: Good quote!

Me: I know I don’t have a book or anything, so could you sign the paper?

Jamie: I will if you let go!

Me: sorry! Good luck for Camelot!

Jamie: Thanks!

Then Bonnie Wright came back, and it’s probably a good job she didn’t hear me swear at her, as I needed her to sign Georgina’s book.

Then Emma Watson arrived!

David Heyman came, with his child on his shoulders:

George: Good parental multitasking!

Heyman: (laughing) thanks!

Me: This is a very surreal image here…

Heyman: Yeah it is a bit, isn’t it?

(he probably thought I was high)

Then Natalia Tena came:

And Allie had a conversation about Golf with one of the Phelps Twins (I can’t remember which…)

And then she came. Helena. She was in the premiere.

Me: HELENA IS HERE OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG I NEED THIS TO HAPPEN GUYS

Allie: COME ON LILY THIS IS GOING TO BE THE BEST MOMENT OF YOUR LIFE

I didn’t have a clue what she was saying throughout all her interview, all I knew is that I didn’t want anything else but for her to come by.

I was so close to her as she came down the stairs, and then-

She was led in the opposite direction. All hope was lost.

Until:

Doma, a fellow Helenaist, helped me call Elena over:

Us: ELENA! ELENA!

Elena: What, what? (comes over, shocked)

Me: We love your daughter so much, you’re both such inspirations!

Elena: But I’m just her mum! I’m just her mum!

Me and Doma told her how much we loved both her and her daughter, and Doma got a picture with her.

Me: Do you think you could possibly bring her over here?

Elena: I’ll try, dear (goes over to Helena’s agent)

Then she pointed at me and said some things, and Helena’s agent nodded and went to get Helena.

I was having an internal struggle between Logical Lily and Fangirl Lily, whilst Logical Lily was trying to be cool, Fangirl Lily wanted to explode.

As this was happening, Elena wapped out Helena’s iPhone and took a picture of us. SHE TOOK A PICTURE OF US. I PROBABLY LOOKED LIKE AN UTTER TIT BUT I’M ON HELENA’S IPHONE SO NOTHING ELSE IN THE WORLD MATTERS ANYMORE. 

Then afterwards she gave me the thumbs up, I said thank you, and then she pointed to Helena, who was coming my way.

I know it sounds dramatic, but although everyone around me was screaming, I couldn’t hear them. I couldn’t hear or see anyone apart from Helena. 

And then I was saying things to her really quickly and none of it seemed to be going through my brain before it came out of my mouth, as if every single feeling I’ve ever had about this woman was pouring from my lips and I couldn’t stop even if I wanted to.

Her reaction to this?

She smiled, and thanked me and at one point apparently laughed said “Oh, stop!”. She must have thought I was insane but I actually couldn’t control myself. Then I reached back, grabbed Daisy’s camera which suddenly appeared and asked for a picture.

We put our arms each other and this happened:

And that folks, was the happiest moment of my life.

After that, I told her she was the best Bellatrix we could have asked for, she thanked me and I watched her leave.

Then nothing else mattered. I watched everyone around me, pushing wildly trying to get autographs, and I only wanted one thing: my best friends.

So I turned around, and they were all there waiting for me, and we all burst into tears:

But the premiere wasn’t over yet, and soon J.K. Rowling and Daniel Radcliffe arrived:

THE HUG:

Then Dan came and signed some stuff:

And then Darren Criss appeared with Joe Walker, and that was the fastest I’ve ever seen Daisy run:

Then it was announced that there were speeches being given, so we all turned our attention to the stage:

“Hogwarts will always be there to welcome you home”

At that moment everyone at the premiere, regardless of age, nationality or gender was crying. It was then that it hit us all: this was the last one. After this, it was all over.

After the speeches everyone started to clear out, but then in a surprise turn of events, Emma Watson came back to sign stuff, and she signed Daisy’s book!

Then as we were leaving, we got some pictures:

And after saying goodbye to everyone, with the promise to add each other on facebook, we parted.

And that, as they say, is that!

I feel unbelievably privileged to have been at the Premiere, and although sometimes I get really sad as I remember that none of us will ever be in such a situation again, I feel happy just knowing that I got to be a part of it once.

If any of you have read right on to this point, thank you for staying with me and I hope you enjoyed my account of the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 premiere :)