Did you run not walk to be among the first to see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince?

Have you spent one or more midnights waiting at your local bookstore for the next tome in the Potter series to be put on the shelves? Did you wear some kind of a wizard’s get-up?

Fret not; you are not the biggest nerd in the city this weekend. Azkatraz 2009, a four-day 'Harry Potter' fan conference hits town tonight. And the streets of San Francisco will be infested with out-of town Potter fanatics swooning in anticipation of likeminded zealots eager to share their love of all things Harry. The novels! The films! Qudditch! A wizard rock bay cruise! It’s enough to make a Draco Malfoy plotz for joy.

So one of the most amusing activities of the weekend will be the WROCK AROUND THE ROCK, a four-hour cruise around Alcatraz with games, food and Wrock, which is (apparently) Potter-inspired rock, aka Wizard’s Rock (hence Wrock.) Band on the boat will include The Remus Lupins, The Whomping Willows, The House of Black, and Ministry of Magic.

But wait! There’s more! Friday is also the day of the big Quidditch match. (Someone needs to go and tell me how you play Quidditch without flying broomsticks and Quaffles.) Nonetheless, the 141st Annual Fog Bowl Tournament will take place in Golden Gate Park on Friday with local teams -- the Chinatown Dragons, the Folsom Falcons and the Lombard Street Zig-Zags (among others) – competing.

Of course the conference will also host roundtables, workshops and presentations for the Hermione Grangers out there, (Do I have that right? She’s the egg-head, yes?) Some papers to be presented include: “Public Health Interventions and Social Welfare Policies to Apply to the Wizarding and Muggle World”, “Elf Rights and Werewolf Legislation: Designing Public Health Interventions and Social Welfare Policies to Apply to the Wizarding and Muggle World” and my personal favorite, “Are You a Weasley or a Malfoy: Parenting Within the Harry Potter Fandom” And they’ll be a wizarding fashion show, a pajama party, showings of the first five Harry Potter films, a podcastpalooza, the Prison Break Ball, wrock music, Quidditch, art gallery showings, claymation workshops, wand workshops….

And, while she has no plans whatsoever to attend, JK Rowling has a wide-open invitation. Like Linus in the Pumkin Patch, some muggles continue to hope such magic might just happen.