Mages and muggles rubbed shoulders yesterday in the hopes of being the first to delve into J. K. Rowling's latest magical offering.
About 50 people queued at Paper Plus in Dunedin's Golden Centre to buy the latest instalment in the series about Harry Potter, the young, bespectacled wizard who has the world's children (and adults) spellbound.
Among the first to get their hands on Harry Potter and the Cursed Child was Hannah Hogan (9).
Complete with wand and robe, the young Broad Bay resident was all smiles as she walked from the store clutching her copy of the book, a script which accompanies a two-part West End stage play of the same name.
Hannah had eagerly awaited the release of the book for about five months.
"I will take about a week to finish it,'' she said, flicking through the 330-page work.
She had been a fan of Potter since she was 6 and had read all the books, although she had not seen all the accompanying films, she admitted.
"Not quite,'' she said, when asked if she had watched them all.
"Because I have got to watch one each year, because mum and dad say I'm not old enough [to watch them all yet].''
Her mother, Vanessa Hayes, said she was surprised by the numbers queuing for the book.
"There were quite a few people waiting. Quite a lot of adults actually, which was interesting.''
The book went on sale throughout the country at 11.01am and despite being a reprinted rehearsal script - rather than a novel - it is the most anticipated book of the year.
Online retailers have reported the book is the most pre-ordered book since the seventh instalment in the series was released in 2007.
