Jason Isaacs, who played the sinister Lucius Malfoy in the earlier Harry Potter films, today paid tribute to the Potter fans camping out in the rain in Trafalgar Square ahead of tonight's Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 premiere.
Isaacs said: "Frankly, I think they would turn out in earthquakes and tornadoes. That's the effect the Harry Potter stories have. A lot of people have tried to understand why but nobody really understands - it's magic."
But bad weather has not detered the thousands of fans bracing the elements for the premiere as Meteogroup, the weather division of the Press Association, predicted "a very showery day" with the risk of thunder.
Trafalgar Square and Leicester Square will be transformed by a touch of Potter wizardry tonight.
The road joining the two sites will be transformed into Diagon Alley - the high street which is home to shops selling the latest in magic for Harry and his fellow wizards.
The film goes on general release on July 15.
Lizzi Routledge, 18, from Saffron Waldon, said: "We really want to meet Alan Rickman. He's absolutely gorgeous.
"It's really sad. It's like the end of my childhood."
Natalie Harvey, 22, an accounts coordinator from Luton, said of the Harry Potter books and films: "You kind of live it, because you grow up with them.
"You feel everything they feel and you just want to see the end. You want to see them triumph."
Victoria Grey, 22, from King's Heath in Birmingham, who works in retail, said: "Who else can say to their children that they were at the last Harry Potter premiere?"
Isaacs said: "Frankly, I think they would turn out in earthquakes and tornadoes. That's the effect the Harry Potter stories have. A lot of people have tried to understand why but nobody really understands - it's magic."
But bad weather has not detered the thousands of fans bracing the elements for the premiere as Meteogroup, the weather division of the Press Association, predicted "a very showery day" with the risk of thunder.
Trafalgar Square and Leicester Square will be transformed by a touch of Potter wizardry tonight.
The road joining the two sites will be transformed into Diagon Alley - the high street which is home to shops selling the latest in magic for Harry and his fellow wizards.
The film goes on general release on July 15.
"It's really sad. It's like the end of my childhood."
Natalie Harvey, 22, an accounts coordinator from Luton, said of the Harry Potter books and films: "You kind of live it, because you grow up with them.
"You feel everything they feel and you just want to see the end. You want to see them triumph."
Victoria Grey, 22, from King's Heath in Birmingham, who works in retail, said: "Who else can say to their children that they were at the last Harry Potter premiere?"
