BANGOR – Brandon McCarthy, 9, of Brewer has a mop of natural red hair and a spray of freckles that covers his pale complexion. The kid could have come out of central casting to play Ron, the best friend of wizard and literary legend Harry Potter.

At 10:30 p.m. Friday, McCarthy was eagerly awaiting the release of author J.K. Rowling’s fifth book in the wildly popular series, a tome that at 896 pages promised many hours of reading.

Young Brandon stood with his 7-year-old brother and about 100 other people, young and old, at Mr. Paperback at the Airport Mall. Some ate refreshments, others made wands out of dowels and glittery decorations as they awaited the magic midnight hour that promised the release of the latest in the book series that has charmed the world and drawn many youngsters back to reading.

Many would-be customers were bedecked in costumes depicting their favorite Harry Potter character, among them Hermione, the charming companion of Potter and his friends who is a “whiz” at memorizing magic spells; Hagrid, the burly kindhearted groundskeeper who befriended young Harry Potter and guided him through treacherous times; and several dead ringers for Potter himself.

“Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” took Bangor bookstores by storm, swiftly topping the advance order list and making fans feel foolish – or panicky – if they hadn’t ordered the book and paid a deposit before the midnight release time.

Borders on Bangor Mall Boulevard was swamped by Harry Potter fans. The store had reserved all its advance copies for eager buyers, and clerks braced to smile apologetically at frustrated Harry Potter fans who could not get a book at midnight. Other stores, from Wal-Mart to Kmart, looked forward to brisk early-morning sales today.

Brenda Foley was dressed in a red robe and a gremlin’s mask to portray a goblin from Gringots Bank, where Harry Potter’s parents had left him a magician’s version of a trust fund in the first novel, “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.” Foley was there with her son, Alex, 10, who was dressed as a “seeker,” the key position in the game of Quidditch, in which players are mounted on flying broomsticks.

Foley admitted to being warm under the full-face mask, but said the wait for the book was worth a little discomfort.

Anticipation built across the United States

Aspiring young wizards visiting a Barnes & Noble bookstore in Henderson, Nev., received a pair of Harry Potter glasses and were placed under the famed Sorting Hat to determine which house they belong to at Hogwarts. At a Borders in Chicago, youngsters made owl puppets and got their faces painted as they awaited the midnight hour.

The twists and turns in the book’s plot were guarded closely by the British publisher, Bloomsbury. Rowling insisted on preserving her surprises for readers. She did reveal that one of the central figures dies in the book, but said she has not even told her husband who the doomed character is.

Yet leaks occurred. A store in Fishers, Ind., and a New York health food store were among those that mistakenly put copies out for sale. The Daily News in New York City, which bought a copy and published a preview, is now facing a $100 million lawsuit from Rowling and her publishers.

In England, 7,680 copies of the book were stolen from a truck parked outside a warehouse late Sunday night. Earlier this month, a print worker was sentenced to 180 hours community service for attempting to sell three chapters of the book to a tabloid newspaper. Amazon.com had 1 million advance orders for the fifth book. Scholastic, the book’s U.S. publisher, has a first printing of 8.5 million.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.