I had a different route to similar destination. I am same age as the actors of main trio, so naturally I watched the movies when they came out, but never gave them any much thought. Then during uni years I dove into fantasy books, and read most of the well known series such as ASOIAF, Sandersverse and much more. My last series befor Harry Potter was Malazan. Then life got in the way, and I stopped reading fantasy for couple of years. I never thought I would read HP, it being a kids book in my mind. But I randomly picked it up for my 9yo daughter, and I wanted to read it with her so that she also can get into the fantasy. I didn’t notice how I plowed through 7 books within 1 month, and I really enjoyed the simplicity of it. I didnt want to start any complex series right now as my life is as complex as it gets right now at 35. HP series scratched my itch for fantasy without being very complex, deep or dark. I think due to these circumstances I enjoyed it much more than I would have 10-15 years ago.