V- so pleased you were able to have that experience of reading the series in one go (something I really must try to do with Jordan's "Wheel of Time" one day)
I got into HP by virtue of my s-i-l sending a copy of Philosopher's Stone to my eldest son when he was, I think, about 8 maybe and the next one down would have been 6-7. There had been a lot of publicity in the media about how adults were lapping up the books just as much as the kids, and how the publishers were bringing out editions with "adult" artwork on the covers as well as the standard editions. How I scoffed at the idea of adults reading kids books, back then!!
So the kids asked me to read the story to them at bedtime, chapter by chapter, which I did...and then I found myself not wanting to wait until the next evening, so I would read ahead another chapter when they were asleep. Eventually it got to the stage where I had finished the book, but was still having to go back and read it out loud to the boys! Then we bought the next volume in pbk, and the boys were eager to read for themselves this time so I rushed to read it first and then passed it to the eldest and so on. What grabbed me was not just the exciting storyline and interesting characters but Rowling's style of writing, especially the dialogue, which I found refreshing, and the depth of research and cleverness that had gone into creating her world. I liked spotting, for example, where she had got this word from, or based that idea on. Later in the series I liked the way you could see how she had planned and laid clues from the start for the reader to pick up on - for example, Regulus' locket just casually mentioned as an aside when they were clearing out Grimmold Place...
By the time we read PoA, Goblet of Fire had just been published and we saw the news reports of the queues at midnight to grab a copy as soon as it was released. Again I laughed, and said we would wait for the pbk to come out...which we did. My youngest son had also read the books by now and was a big fan of the films too. However, when OotP was due there was no way I could wait a whole extra year for the pbk, so we duly bought the hardback the day it was published.
Guess Rowling had the last laugh on me!
There is magic in long-distance friendships. They let you relate to other human beings in a way that goes beyond being physically together and is often more profound.
~Diana Cortes
to you too, V! It's very good to see you. 
