Harry Potter - First in line eight days before the world premiere

Deeply dedicated Harry Potter fans Nicole Beaudet (left) and her brother Scott and friend Alicia Trigg (right) camp out in front of the Colossus Langley cinemas to be first in line to see the opening of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 at midnight Friday. Beaudet and her brother just returned from London, England, where they camped outside Trafalgar Square for eight days to be first in line to see the world premiere of the movie.

Photograph by: Mark Van Manen, PNG, Vancouver Sun

Nicole Beaudet slept on the streets, even through the rain, so she could be first in line at the world premiere of the final Harry Potter movie at London's Trafalgar Square last Thursday.

Advance ticket sales for the movie set a new pre-opening record at more than $32 million, and many midnight and first-day show times are already sold out across the country, according to a Warner Bros. news release on Wednesday.

Beaudet, 22, lives in Chilliwack. But the distance she had to travel to attend the premiere not only didn't faze her; as the first fan in line she met the stars and writer of the series.

She flew to London, for the first time ever, with her brother, Scott, on June 29, a full eight days before the event. They were the first fans to arrive at the scene.

"It's the last one," she said. "So I really wanted to go; it just had to happen."

Beaudet became a fan after reading the first book in the series of seven fantasy novels by J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. She received it as a present for her ninth birthday.

When Beaudet and her brother arrived, along with three other friends, they tried to set up their tents at the square but couldn't.

"Nobody was allowed to put up tents at the square," she said. "So we were just sleeping under the stars."

She said the first five days were awesome because it was sunny, but it was raining non-stop for the last few days.

"Most people had no idea what we were doing there," she said. "They thought we were protesting or something." But for anyone who knew enough about Harry Potter, it was hard to miss Beaudet and her gang.

"I had something Harry Potter on every day in case other fans came, so they'd know we were there," she said.

"I wore my scarf every day, and one of my friends was fully cloaked in the Hogwarts school uniform the whole time."

Beaudet and her gang never left the square, except for when they had to use the loo at a nearby McDonald's.

Not even to eat or shower. "We just stayed dirty for eight days," she said. "We were smelling pretty bad, but it was worth it."

When the big day arrived, Beaudet and her friends were first in line. And the premiere was everything she hoped for.

She met all the stars, had two-second conversations with them, and got J.K. Rowling to autograph her hip and her brother's arm. (Though she didn't see the movie itself.) "I cried for three hours after, and I fainted twice because I was just way too excited," she said. "It was a huge deal; it made my whole life."

Beaudet and her brother flew back to Canada on Monday. They didn't shower. And on Tuesday morning, both of them got J. K. Rowling's signature tattooed on their bodies permanently.

And by that night, Beaudet was camping again, this time in the back of a Ford F150 truck, in the parking lot outside Colossus cinemas in Langley.

Beaudet had tickets for the midnight showing of the movie Thursday night. Her main goal was to get good seats, but more than that, she wouldn't want to miss anything that might happen as other fans start to arrive.

"I'm crazy excited," she said. "I haven't watched any previews or trailers, or read any reviews -I don't know anything aside from the book, so I'm pumped."