KEY POINTS:
Epsom Girls' Grammar student Angela Sargent is a hardcore Harry Potter fan.
The 14-year-old has read the first six books in the series about five times each and seen all the movies made so far.
She caught the latest to make the big screen - Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - at 10am on Wednesday, the opening day.
Now she has gone a step further than most of the legions of truly dedicated fans.
She is one of 1700 winners of an online competition to meet author J.K. Rowling at the London signing and worldwide release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the final book in the fantasy series.
Angela was the only winner from New Zealand.
"There are so many people in New Zealand and so many great fans, but there is always a chance and I thought I may as well hope," she said.
Angela started reading Potter books as an 8-year-old.
Her mother, Debbie, said her daughter took a while to get into the fantasy books.
"We would talk about the story as she went through."
Detective heroine Nancy Drew and books by Enid Blyton were also favourites when Angela was younger but not J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings.
"I've tried it but it's not really my thing," said Angela. "I'm not into the whole fantasy genre - just Harry Potter for some reason."
Angela might resemble Harry's friend Hermione Granger more but her favourite character is the wizard Dumbledore.
"I'm definitely looking forward to the final book. It's going to be my favourite one, I think.
"There are so many things [Rowling] has got to explain and so many plot lines.
"I want to read it really slowly to savour it, but I don't think I'll be able to."
Most of the competition's winners were from Britain.
Angela leaves this week with her mother and will be at the Natural History Museum in London on July 21 for an evening of "moonlight book signings" and readings by author Rowling.
The prize includes includes return airfares, three night's accommodation and two signed copies of the Deathly Hallows.
The competition was run by Allen and Unwin, which distributes the Bloomsbury books in New Zealand and Australia.
