Role-playing was my gateway drug. RPing and the X-Men movie were responsible for me discovering fanfic. It was all downhill from there. (No, seriously: next was Lotrips... *G*) I probably started reading the HP books around the time of this great hiatus of which you speak, curious to discover what all the fuss was about. But I didn't get interested in the fandom until well after the movies started appearing. That was all Tom Felton's fault. *G*