So this is it: 14 years after the first Harry Potter book was released to a smattering of applause and a suggestion among a few enthusiastic reviewers that it might be a contender for the Smarties' prize, the juggernaut that it has become finally shudders to a halt with the release of the last movie.

It's not even appropriate to talk about Harry Potter and author JK Rowling as a "publishing phenomenon" any more. The little wizard with the specs and the lightning-flash scar has become an industry all of his own. To which one can only ask the repeated question: why? Why Harry Potter? Why now? What is it about this fantasy world that has been so astonishingly attractive for so many adults and children?

The question is probably unanswerable, or at least, there are many answers. But one must be the quality of the world: that, like all fantasies, it contains things we wish were true. So, in consultation with a couple of friends, here are the seven creations of JK Rowling's prodigious imagination that I most wish were true.