Harry Potter fans bid farewell at premiere of final movie

The arrival of the last "Harry Potter" film has certainly cast a spell on the series’ die-hard fans.

For days, young fans camped outside Lincoln Center, where the film premieres Monday night at Avery Fisher Hall, to get a glimpse of the film’s stars on the red carpet.

“It doesn¹t matter when you get here as long as you know how to get yourself to the front,” said Analise Rios, 17, from the Bronx.

The eighth and final chapter of the series, ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part II,’ will be widely released in theaters at midnight Friday, but if you don’t have tickets for the first screenings yet, don’t expect to find any. Tickets for midnight showings sold out so quickly theaters around the city added show times for as late as 3 a.m., most of which have already sold out too.

Merely being at Lincoln Center  Monday for the farewell was enough those on line who’ve followed Potter’s trials for more than a decade.

“It’s nice to be around people who are as passionate about this as I am,” said Zoie Mancino, 19, of the East Village. “I’m not ready for my childhood to end.”

Yesterday afternoon there were more than 200 people on line, some holding reading signs reading things like “I’m literate because of Harry Potter” and “Thanks for 10 years of memories.”

One fan, though, was taken away in ambulance after being hit in the head by a falling tree branch. Her condition was unknown at press time. For Jennifer Crumm, 21 and Allyson Bereira, 15, this premiere meant traveling from their hometowns in Orlando, Fla. and Newark, N.J., to camp out for six days across the street from Lincoln Center.

“We met here at the premiere for ‘Deathly Hallows Part 1’ and have been video chatting since November to plan meeting up for Part 2,” Bereira said.

There perseverance did not go unrewarded, actor Tom Felton, who’s been in every Potter movie, brought them pizza after seeing how long they were camped out.