It's getting festive in here

Barnes & Noble hasn't made a dramatic transformation into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, or anything. But this place looks totally different than it does on a typical Friday night.

There's a sign reading "The Sorcerer's Bank" over the cash registers where in a little more than an hour customers will start paying for the first few copies of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows."

One corner is done up as a version of the joke shop run by Fred and George Weasley in Diagon Alley. Games including jeopardy and trivia have been going on in every corner. Nearby, a group of kids in black robes and Muggle clothes are guessing just how many Bertie Botts beans are crammed into a jar. The one who makes the best guess wins the prize. Hopefully, the jelly beans come with a taste tester who will let you know whether the yellow one is lemon-flavored or some sort of cleaning fluid.

At a table in the middle of the cafe, a woman is holding a small model golden snitch, complete with white wings that dwarf the tiny ball. Kids are playing with Harry Potter action figures, wrapping themselves in long knit scarves of Gryffindor colors and playing card games. A few are quietly tucked into corners, reading books.

The demographics here are spread far and wide. It's mostly adults, but there are a lot of kids and teenagers milling about. Everyone - except for the Barnes & Noble employees taking out the trash and lugging around carts of ice for the cafe - seems excited.