They all had reasons for coming, all 900 or so Harry Potter fans who at 12:01 yesterday morning showed up at the Senator Theatre's first showing of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, the second film in what promises to be an extremely lucrative franchise (the first, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, earned more than $300 million domestically).

Some were kids whose devotion to the bespectacled wizard-in-training was enough to convince parents that staying out until nearly 3 a.m. on a school night wasn't really a bad idea. Others were college students whose dedication to the sword-and-sorcery genre dovetails nicely with their regard for author J.K. Rowling's creation or whose desire for a party atmosphere extends to anything, anywhere. Still others were parents of youngsters whose powers of persuasion garnered them both a ticket to the show and a chauffeured trip to the theater. A few were adults who just love a good yarn.

And some weren't really fans at all, just curious. "I heard good things about the first movie, so I'm here to see the second one," said 16-year-old Raymond Hargrove, a junior at Lake Clifton High.

Whatever their reason for being there, whatever their commitment to the Potter franchise (one exasperated mom told of how she and her 10-year-old son had seen the first film "over and over"), whatever their costume (the crowd included plenty of Harrys, a few Hermiones, and lots of Dumbledores) enthusiasm was at a fever pitch. If the movie gets this reaction every time it shows, the Harry Potter money-making machine should continue working just fine.

And that sort of wizardry explains why there's already a third Potter film in the works, set for 2004.