Costumed Harry Potter fans gather in Hamburg to break world record

Harry Potter fans dressed up as the fictional boy wizard descended on the northern German city of Hamburg on Saturday in a successful attempt to break the world record for the most Harry Potters in one place.
A total of 1,748 enthusiasts, dressed in black capes with round glasses and Potter's distinctive lightning bolt scar across their foreheads, met in Hamburg's city centre.
The gathering smashed the previous world record of 997 Harry Potter impersonators.
The event marked the 25th anniversary of the release of the German translation of the first Harry Potter book, a year after JK Rowling's hit novel was first published in English.
Each volume of the seven-book Harry Potter series followed the young wizard and his friends during a school year at Hogwarts.
The books were a global cultural phenomenon read by millions of people around the world and were adapted by Hollywood into hit movies.
A later eighth Harry Potter volume, written as a play, focuses on an adult Harry Potter and his son.