Sun. Feb. 21

My experience in Harry Potter land is, I must confess, limited. I saw the first movie, I've read no books. Figured it was for kids a long time ago. Wrong. It became a cross-generational mega-success. Not having taken the dive I can pretend no deep knowledge. But curiosity ... yes. And with the "Harry Potter" exhibit up at the Museum of Science through Feb. 21, I wanted to go and see if there was magic there. Well, it was rather delightful, after you get over the crowds, and there sure are a lot of Potter artifacts - many replicas on sale on the gift shop. (Yes, I wondered how Harry Potter - being about magic and all - tied in with science, but that's a topic for another day.) At any rate, I wanted to go with someone who was a Potter fanatic, and Dana Tambeau, 28, fit that bill. She'd read every book, saw every movie (to date), and helped me negogiate the tricky terrain of this house and that house and who was good and who was bad. All of the stuff. And she filed this report ...

I stumbled onto Harry Potter by accident. I hadn’t paid any attention to the whole Harry Potter craze at first thinking it was just some stupid fad for kids to enjoy and parents to loathe. Then one year for Christmas my father bought the first four books for my younger brother. I was home for Christmas break and had nothing to do so I picked up book one and that was it for me. It was such a fun and cute tale I couldn’t help picking up the next one and then the next one. Within a week I had read the first four books of the series. I couldn’t wait for the fifth one to come out. Sadly for me I had to wait for about a year. Since then I eagerly awaited each new book of the series and actually felt a small sense of loss when I read the final one. Happily I still have two more movies to see, so my Harry Potter experience isn’t quite over yet. If you haven’t read the books or seen the movies give it a shot. Sure there is plenty of teenage angst and sometimes silly magic experiences but it’s more than that. It’s a story of bravery, loyalty and above all love. What could be better than that?

My love of the Harry Potter universe means I was more than thrilled to find out that there would be a Harry Potter movie exhibit at the Museum of Science. All the stuff from the movies on display for me to see. I was so there. So thanks to Jim I got to experience the Harry Potter exhibit in all its magical glory.

The first part of Harry Potter the exhibition is a stop outside the exhibition itself to meet the famous sorting hat. It was fun to watch a museum employee, cheesy fake British accent and all, choose volunteers to be sorted into their favorite Hogwarts house. Of course the favorite of the day was the brave and courageous Gryffindor, the house of Harry Potter and his beloved mentor Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore. I personally have always been partial to Slytherin, the house of ambition and cunning although it should also be noted as the house where the majority of Lord Voldemort’s death eaters come from. Oh yeah as well as the Dark Lord himself. Slytherin is not the cheeriest of the Hogwarts houses. Either way no matter your favorite house this is just he beginning of the exhibition.

Entering the exhibition itself is the Hogwarts Express in all its steam engine glory. I mean how else would you get to Hogwarts unless you have a flying Ford Anglia. The first part of the layout is Hogwarts itself. You get a view of Harry and Ron’s bedroom at Hogwarts (in photo) as well as various costumes and their school trunks. It is a beautiful representation of a Hogwarts room and it’s also really cool to see the costumes actually worn by the actors. Moving on you get different displays of all the subjects at Hogwarts such as potions or divination. Again, it’s really fun to see all the different costumes and set pieces used in the movies. Of course the best part is seeing everyone’s wand. Of course the most important wands to take a look at are the wands used by Harry and Voldemort. The two wands that share a phoenix feather core and add to the aspects that make Harry and his enemy equals.

Hagrid’s hut is included in the Hogwarts section and was one of my favorite areas in the exhibit. One of the greatest things about seeing Hagrid’s cabin was being able to sit in a Hagrid sized chair. I mean the guy is a half giant so of course the chair is huge. It was also extremely comfortable. I wouldn’t mind having one of those chairs in my apartment. So if anyone on the Harry Potter set isn’t sure what to do with that at the end of the movie series, I’ll take it! Hagrid has always been one of my favorite characters in the Harry Potter universe. Who doesn’t love a gentle giant with a love for giant spiders and fire breathing dragons? Hagrid is incredibly loyal and protective towards his friends and loved ones, especially Harry. It also helps that he is about 8 foot 6 and who knows how many hundreds of pounds. It would not be wise to piss him off.

            Moving on through the exhibit you hit the Forbidden Forest with all the creatures that live in the creepy forest on the Hogwarts grounds. The creatures that seem to rule the forest are the majestic centaurs and they are right in the front. When you see them remember centaurs are very proud and wise. If you insult them in any way they will attack, so be respectful. Next to them is a much scarier Forbidden Forest creature, the acromantula. An acromantula is a giant talking spider. The spiders are not only huge and really creepy looking, they also enjoy eating people. It’s best not to approach them. In fact if you should ever see one it would be best to run really fast. Finally we come to the dragon. While dragons don’t normally live in the Forbidden Forest they were kept there for the first task of the Triwizard Tournament. Dragons are just not friendly. They don’t like people and the females are always more vicious than the males. Dragons cannot be domesticated no matter what Hagrid tells you. So while it is really great to see these amazing creatures be sure to approach with caution.

            Moving on we get to the really scary part. In the small village of Little Hangleton lies a small graveyard. In that graveyard is the grave of a man named Tom Riddle who died rather mysteriously along with his parents one night many years ago. It is this graveyard that we enter after leaving the Forbidden Forest. It is this graveyard where Lord Voldemort experienced his rebirth at the grave of his father Tom Riddle. Entering the graveyard is dark and creepy and everyone is suddenly surrounded by death eaters, a dementor and Lord Voldemort himself. This was another one of my favorite areas of the exhibit. It had all the darkness and coldness you would expect of the Dark Lord and his death eaters. You could almost feel the dementor floating closer to remove your soul. A bit creepy but at the same time the kids in the area seemed more fascinated than scared.

Now before moving on to my absolute favorite part of the whole exhibition we have to stop to examine all of Dolores Jane Umbridge’s educational decrees. During Professor Umbridge’s short stint at Hogwarts she came up with quite a few new school rules or decrees. Professor Umbridge is no longer a teacher at Hogwarts so don’t worry about breaking any of her ridiculous rules.

Moving on we enter my favorite area, the Hogwarts Great Hall. The Great Hall is a large beautiful room with candles floating above the tables for light. The ceiling is enchanted to match the weather outside but don’t worry it doesn’t actually rain or snow on you. The museum did a beautiful job of representing the Great Hall. One of the best parts about this area of the exhibit are the Yule Ball costumes from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. The dress robes of the boys and the fairy tale princess dresses of the girls. Of course Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall’s costume were included in this section. Walking into the room took my breath away. They definitely saved the best for last.

Shows start roughly on the half-hour. It'll take you about an hour to go through. You'll want to call and reserve your tickets ahead of time - there will be lines. Admission: $26.

1 Science Park, 6170723-2500 www.mos.org