Unless you’ve found a nice cozy rock to hide under, you’ve been exposed to the Harry Potter Mania of the past week. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the seventh and final installment of the beloved children’s series, was released to a ravenous public on July 21, 2007 at 12:01AM.

As we all know, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix premiered in movie theaters around the world only a few weeks prior to the book’s release. Fueled by speculation and excitement over the final book, the movie has earned an incredible $207.5 million in just the United States alone.

Though it may surprise some, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows has seen even more success than the movie: In the first 24 hours following its release, the long-awaited tome sold 8.3 million copies in the United States. That’s 300,000 copies an hour, or 5,000 copies a minute! In the United Kingdom, Bloomsbury sold 2,652,656 copies in the first day, a number increased by the 400,000 English-language copies sold in Germany. Back in the states, Amazon.com also had 2.2 million copies of the book pre-ordered, bringing the book’s total earnings to $250 million, a sum happily paid by fans eager to find out if our favorite boy wizard lives or dies by the hand of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.

All around the world, fans lined up hours in advance to secure a copy of the coveted Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, bringing food, drink, and a good dose of excitement along with them. Many bookstores, both large and small, hosted Harry Potter events to entertain their patrons. Magic shows, screenings of previous movies, and Harry Potter face painting were just some of the festivities leading up to the Harry Potter Witching Hour in my town: what happened in yours?