“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?”

— Albus Dumbledore, in J.K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows”

Harry Potter, Hogwarts, Horcruxes, Pensieves, Polyjuice Potion, Voldemort, Veritaserum, Quidditch, Howlers, Hallows, Floo Powder and every other wonder in the non-Muggle wizarding world are figments of author J.K. Rowling’s nimble and luminous imagination, but the world she created is very real to dedicated fans of the Harry Potter series. When The Star put out a call seeking the biggest Harry Potter fan in Ventura County, we discovered that most have immersed themselves in Rowling’s world — yes, the “stuff” of Potter, like wands and robes, but also the substance, like the importance of friendship, choosing good over evil, and the triumph of love over all.

It was impossible to pick the “biggest” HP fan, so we’ve included them all.

A few Pottermanic traits were common to each entrant: They’ve all, of course, read the books, seen the movies in theaters and on DVD a gazillion times, and waited in lines at midnight (usually near the front) to purchase said books and films when they were released. They own Hogwarts finery of some kind: robes, scarves, Quidditch suits, etc. (although, not surprisingly, no one confessed to a fondness for Professor Dolores Umbridge’s pink sweaters). Many have visited the new Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme park in Florida, and even though an ending of sorts is coming with the release on Friday of the final movie in the film franchise, ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2,” they all look forward to, as one entrant said, “a long Potter-filled life.”

Read on to learn more about the Potter-obsessed fans among you. Winners are listed in alphabetical order.

GRYFFINDOR PARTY GIRL

Megan Benkovic, 11, Simi Valley

Megan recently celebrated her 11th birthday with an elaborate Harry Potter party, featuring a cake decorated with a figure of Harry on Platform 9 ¾; a dragon piñata; and owl-decorated goody bags filled with wands, crystal balls and candy. Games included “levitation spell,” in which guests had to keep a balloon in the air by tapping it with their wand; and magical creatures, in which everyone had to find an egg with a creature from the books inside, such as the Chinese fireball dragon (worth nine points) or Fluffy (six points). All party guests were sorted into Hogwarts houses. “What a stroke of luck — I was put into Gryffindor and not Slytherin,” Megan said.

‘CAN I LIVE IN THE CUPBOARD?’

Sarah Bobardt, 17, Moorpark

Sarah, who started reading the books at age 7, said Harry Potter “became the thread that connected each stage of my childhood.”

She owned a Harry Potter lunchbox and a stuffed three-headed dog, and “toted around the biblically proportioned tomes everywhere, pretending I was Hermione.”

When she moved to a new house at age 8, “I was delighted that our new cupboard was under the stairs. I was not allowed to live there; fire marshals apparently don’t understand literature.”

At age 13, she went to a midnight release for the final book in the series dressed as a character only a true fan would know: Quidditch Captain Gwenog Jones. On a recent trip to China, her favorite souvenir was a purchase of the first book in the series — in Mandarin.

H.P.O. AND LOVING LUNA

Claire Faith, 18, Fillmore

For Claire, “Harry Potter isn’t something I’m a fan of. It’s a way of life,” she said. Her mom read the stories to her as she grew up. The family didn’t have a TV, so books-on-tape were evening entertainment. “To this day, I go to sleep every night listening to actor Jim Dale narrate the unabridged saga in his witty character voices,” she said. “It gives me happy dreams, not to mention sharp and unfailing memory of the books’ details.” Her friends call her H.P.O., for “Harry Potter Obsessed,” and Luna Lovegood, “due to my seemingly weird habits and personality. I graciously take these as glorious compliments.” She thanks J.K. Rowling “for the closeness the books have given me with my family, my love for reading, my appreciation for imagination, and my developed character that is not embarrassed to dress up and show what I like.”

HARRY OR SIMON?

John Ferraro, 12, Newbury Park

Colleen Ferraro submitted an entry for her son John. “The really fun part of his Harry Potter obsession is that he looks very much like a younger Harry,” she said. One year he wore a Harry costume for Halloween, and the next year tried “to dress up as Simon from Alvin and the Chipmunks with his two younger sisters, but people still said he looked like Harry Potter with his glasses on.”

At a midnight screening of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” Part 1,” she said, “people were snapping pictures of him and with him and pointing.”

The family also owns a guinea pig named Sirius.

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HARRY WROCKS HER WORLD

Sarah Fraley, 17, Camarillo

Sarah was nominated by her younger brother, David, who said “she was too embarrassed to enter herself because she didn’t want to seem like she was bragging” (humble like Harry). Plus, she is on a Harry Potter fan trip to England and Scotland organized by Magical Tours (a graduation present), so she didn’t have time to enter. Still overseas, Sarah will see the final movie in Scotland.

David said Sarah was in the Harry Potter Club at school, and plays “Muggle Quidditch” with friends and family. The siblings, in English accents, often quote lines from the Harry Potter films, such as “Honestly, don’t you two read?” (Hermione). Sarah’s iPod “is filled with Wrock (Wizard Rock)”; and for a church essay titled “This I Believe,” she wrote about Harry Potter, “discussing the deep meanings of love between characters and inner conflict with the good and bad.”

The Fraley family visited the Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme park on the third day after it opened. Inspired by the butterbeer there, they came up with a recipe of their own (cream soda, whipped cream and caramel).

HERMIONE ROCKS HER WORLD

Allie George, 12, Simi Valley

Allie’s idol is Hermione because she “is smart, kind and a great friend.” She doesn’t go anywhere without wearing her “I love Hermione” button, and has won costume contests as a Hermione look-alike.

Allie, who hated reading until discovering Harry Potter, said she’s reread the series so many times that she’s on her fourth set of books. Her wardrobe consists mainly of Harry Potter T-shirts, and her hobbies include researching facts, myths and trivia about Harry Potter, and writing HP fan fiction.

Her family, she said, recently returned from a four-night trip to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. They chose a hotel based on the fact that a stay there included early-admission tickets to the theme park.

“I got my parents up at 6 in the morning so that we could be first in line at Ollivanders Wand Shop,” she said.

ADULTS LOVE HARRY, TOO

Andrea Levine, 48, Thousand Oaks

Levine, as the oldest winner of our contest, speaks for adult fans of the series. “Instant obsession was born,” she said, with the release of the first book in 1997, when her son was 11 and they read the book together. “I have always liked to read along with my children so we can discuss the themes they are reading about,” she said. The obsession “has since extended to my daughter, husband and students I teach.” Levine, a fourth-grade teacher in Simi Valley, leads the Harry Potter Book Club at her school. “I dress in costume every Friday that we meet. We read the books, watch the films and do crafts, puzzles and games all related to the series.” And rather than a collection of apple knickknacks, she owns an “ever-growing” array of Harry Potter keepsakes given to her by students.

QUILLS, CLOAKS AND MORE

Brynna Mason, 15, Camarillo

A few of — make that most of — Brynna’s favorite things are Harry Potter-related. Her list of Potterphernalia, she said, is “extremely long.” The collection includes Rita Skeeter’s Quick Quotes Quill, two wands (belonging to Luna Lovegood and Fleur Delacour), Hermione’s time-turner, a Gryffindor scarf, Luna’s jewelry, Weasleys’ Wizarding Wheezes and a Book of Spells. She owns a cloak with a unique accessory she sewed on herself: “a wand holder for easy wand access.” Brynna has loaded numerous Harry Potter-related apps onto her iPod, plans to help teach a workshop on Harry Potter in Camarillo, and will dress up as Rita Skeeter for the release of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part Two.”

EAT, SLEEP, DREAM

Lauren Mason, 17, Newbury Park

Seventeen is a special number for Lauren. “Not only does this number represent my age or the age the Potter characters were when their journey ended, but also the number of times I have read each Potter book,” she said. “I read the first book when I was only 3 years old, and since then, it has been the largest aspect of my life and the blueprint for the person I am today and hope to be in the future. Not a day goes by that I don’t read a passage from the books or watch one of the movies.”

Her room, she said, could double as a Harry Potter museum (or souvenir store), with its stash of Harry Potter socks, toothpaste, hundreds of articles and magazines, life-size cutouts, nesting dolls, lunchboxes, puzzles, games, wands, Hogwarts uniforms, buttons, hats and art supplies.

Her car, she said, sports personalized license plate frames “that let other drivers know I’m ‘Off to Hogwarts’ and that I ‘Eat, Sleep and Dream Harry Potter.’ ” She has a pet turtle named Neville, and was quoted in People magazine in an article about Harry Potter.

Next up is body art. “My age eliminates my ability to get tattoos,” she said, “but I plan on getting one on my 18th birthday that states the quote that meant the most to me from the series (from Albus Dumbledore): ‘It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live.’ “

THE BOY WHO DOESN’T WANT TO BE HERMIONE

Evan Taylor, 7, Camarillo

Evan, who just completed first grade at Rancho Rosal Elementary School in Camarillo, likes pretty much everything in the Harry Potter world, including wands, magic, broomsticks (especially fast broomsticks), Quidditch, candy shops, trick shops and “all the rest of the shops, even Ollivanders.”

His first wand, Evan said, “was the powerfullest wand — Dumbledore’s wand — handmade in China.” Only 7 years old, he’s already a Potter party veteran. For his 6th birthday, party guests used a Marauder’s Map to search for bags hidden around the neighborhood, the cupcakes were decorated with witches’ hats, and Evan’s sister dressed up as Snape. Kudos to Sis at Evan’s 7th birthday party, too: She dressed up as “Mad-Eye” Moody while the guests played games patterned after the Tri-Wizard Challenge.

Evan has definite ideas about which character in the books he’d like to be. “I wish I was Harry Potter … or Ron … or Dumbledore,” he said. “I don’t want to be Hermione because I like being a boy.”

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