LIFE AFTER HARRY

It was a historical day that had been in the making for almost two decades.

It was a day that was filled with death and war, where answers to hundreds of questions that people have been hypothesizing and arguing about for years finally were offered.

It was July 21, the day that "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" hit the shelves of bookstores all over the world.

When the first book, "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" (later renamed the "Sorcerer's Stone" in the United States) was published in 1997, it was impossible to imagine the massive fan base the series would soon attract.

Movies, Web sites, unofficial Harry Potter hypothesis books and Harry Potter "meet-ups" such as the Lumos Convention, which took place in Las Vegas in 2006, are just a few of the ways Potter fans connected with each other.

Some die-hards even have taken to writing Harry Potter fan-fiction, which means they took the existing story line created by author J.K. Rowling and wrote their own prequels or sequels.

One such fan is Alissa Capovilla, 17, of Bishop Gorman High School.

"Getting the final book was an extraordinary feeling," Capovilla says. "It was what I'd been counting down and waiting for. At the same time, I was a little sad because I knew that it was all coming to a close."

Capovilla, who has been a Potter reader since she was 8, was in Swinden, England, when she received "Deathly Hallows" while on a school trip during its release.

She stood in line for more than five hours before finally getting her hands on the book.

"Let's just say, I cried in happiness for a while," Capovilla says.

Another rabid Potter aficionado, Ann Frappier, 17, of Clark High School, pre-ordered "Deathly Hallows" at Barnes & Noble weeks in advance.

"When I found the book lying on my bed, I was anxious to find out how it all was going to end," Frappier says. "Overall, I was satisfied when I finished the book, even though all the character deaths were a little disappointing."

With the Potter series at an end, however, Capovilla and Frappier are just two of Rowling's many addicted fans who now are going to have to find another book to fill their reading time.

"It's difficult to find something I want to read because it's impossible to find anything that comes close to the magic of Harry Potter," Capovilla says.

So what will teens read now that Potter is finished?

When looking for suggestions, many readers have flocked to "The Book Trolley" on the Potter fan site Mugglenet.com.

To keep teens interested in reading beyond the Potter series, Mugglenet columnist Robbie Fischer is reviewing books to get teenagers interested in reading someone besides Rowling.

Some of the books at the top of Fischer's "First 45 Books to Get Hooked on after Harry Potter" list are "The Inheritance Trilogy" by Christopher Paolini, a mystical tale about a farm boy who finds a dragon egg; "Faerie Wars" by Herbie Brennan, where a normal teenager finds his way into the world of faeries; and "Coraline" by Neil Gaiman, a fantasy story with elements of horror.

Another promising line of books is the "Twilight" series by Stephenie Meyer, which is about a girl who's fallen in love with a vampire.

So far, Meyer has finished three installments and has two more on the way.

The books already are raising eyebrows among some Potter fans.

"The 'Twilight' series has such vivid characters that they feel like people you know," says Megan Miller, 17, of Gorman. "I became attached to them and entirely engrossed in the story."

Of course, it'll always be hard to replace the venerable Harry Potter, but though the series has come to an end, that doesn't mean that fans have to abandon their beloved boy wizard.

"Great novels and story lines can be read again and again and never tire," Frappier says. "Harry is not lost."