LEWISTON — It came down to a technicality.

The way Corey and Nathan Morton saw it, they were the very first in line for the Harry Potter movie. They were at Flagship Cinemas by 5 p.m., a full seven hours before showtime and that was that. End of story.

“I’m the first person in line,” said Corey, 21, of Greene. “That’s all that matters.”

“He’s wrong,” Nathan said. “I’m the first.”

A trio of girls next to them inside the cinema hotly disputed both claims. The Morton brothers were there by 5, that may have been true. But the girls were the first to actually enter the cinema when the doors were opened at 6. Therefore, they deserved the distinction of being first.

“What?” another girl hollered into the middle of the dispute. “You’re all wrong. I was the first.”

All of that bickering and it was still three hours until “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part I,” was to begin. That’s how passionate the crowd was about their Potter.

The ones in Lewiston were lucky. The manager opened the doors when he arrived at 6, figuring there was no reason for all of those excited people to wait out in the cold. A short time later, there were two dozen of them huddled in a roped-off area at the edge of the lobby. Many sat on blankets doing homework. They played games on laptop computers or sent text messages on phones.

Rebecca Bernhard, a Bates College student, lovingly held a copy of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” the book version. She handled the book with such reverence and respect, you’d think it was her most prized possession.

What, are you crazy?

“This is my sister’s copy,” she said. “I refuse to take mine out.”

In their tiny area, none of them seemed to concentrate on any one thing for very long. After all, Harry Potter was just three hours away.

“I’m a huge fan,” said Justin Beliveau, 22. “Huge. I know every single movie practically by heart. I bought my ticket for this one the very first day.”

Beliveau was there by 9. He wished he could have come even earlier.

In the magical world of Harry Potter fandom, punctuality is of grave importance. It’s a way to show devotion to the story and the characters. But there were bigger reasons to arrive freakishly early for a midnight showing.

“I want the perfect seat,” said Corey Morton. “You can’t be up too close or everything will look blurry. Four rows back, that’s about perfect.”

Corey had nothing to worry about, being the first in line (or was he?)

In Auburn, by 9 p.m., theater operators had not yet opened the door. Arriving early meant only a long wait in the parking lot. There was no guarantee you’d get a better seat than some lout who arrived at the last minute.

“Middle, middle,” said Linda Brackett, who at 9 p.m. was staying warm inside her SUV along with her 15-year-old daughter, Andrea. “That’s where we want to be.”

One might suspect, beholding the mother-daughter duo, that the younger of them was the bigger Harry Potter fan. But guess again. Asked who was the most dedicated to the series, Linda quickly raised her hand. Andrea pointed at her mother and nodded. She had no argument for that.

“I’ve seen every one of the movies,” Linda said. “I watched them all again over the past week to get back up to this point. My next thing will be to get to the theme park in Florida.”

But first things first. The Bracketts still had three hours to wait for the movie. A mother and daughter stuck together inside a car for three hours. For some, that would be the stuff of nightmares.

“We don’t mind,” Andrea said. “We’re keeping ourselves busy. I’m pumped for this, especially on a school night.”

Ah, yes. School. A student at Edward Little High, Andrea typically gets up at 5 a.m. Given the circumstances, her mother decided that she’d let her daughter sleep in on Friday.

“I’ll let her sleep until 7,” Linda said.

Often, when Harry Potter hits the theaters, moviegoers will arrive dressed in character. There was none of that to be seen in Lewiston and Auburn, at least at the start of the night. But it wasn’t necessarily for lack of trying.

“We went to the Dollar Store to try to find some wands,” Linda said.

No luck.

“They had pitchforks and swords,” Andrea said. “No wands at all.”

Back in Lewiston, as the minutes counted down, there was something the eager crowd didn’t know. The movie — the first part of the Harry Potter finale — wasn’t a complete mystery to everyone there.

Flagship employee Macie Hildebran didn’t know whether to brag or to keep her voice down. The night before, she and other theater workers got to see the movie a full day early. Part of ensuring quality control, according to the Flagship manager, who gave his name only as Shane. If there’s something wrong with an average movie, it’s an inconvenience. You apologize to a handful of moviegoers and give them their money back.

“If you screw something up when there are 200 people in there,” Shane said, “that’s a whole different animal.”

So, Hildebran — like everyone else, the biggest Harry Potter fan in the world — got to preview the movie. Her thoughts?

“It was so good! Such a cliffhanger. It was just awesome,” she said. “They included so much detail. It’s really sad. But there’s comedy, too. I was laughing out loud at parts. It was just fantastic.”

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