Harry Potter just walked into my office, his black wizard’s robe fluttering around him. He screwed up his face at me; his round small glasses sparkling in the light. His scar was emblazoned on his forehead for all to see. He couldn’t hide it under that mop of hair because he just had it shaved for the summer months.

“Daddy, who am I?”

“Ummm, Ron Weasley?” “No!!”

“Hermione?” “No Daddy, I’m Harry Potter!!”

It was his buddy that was dressed as Ron. They spent the afternoon trying to conjure up spells. I caught him once holding his hand over a broom which was lying on the ground and saying “Up, up, up”. He was doing it the same way that the real Harry would call his flying broom up into his hand.

If it’s a costume Max, who is 8, wants it. He has several Oscar-caliber performances to his credit.

The major performances started with Steve Irwin. Do you remember the Crocodile Hunter? When he was 3 Max started to dress just like him. He had to visit every zoo and animal shelter a dozen times. He had to watch every one of Irwin’s television programs. And everyone had to call him Steve. His impersonation was so good some doctors and teachers thought he believed he was really was the crocodile hunter. But we knew better; he never lost himself inside of his costume.

This went on for two years but then when Max was 5 Irwin died while swimming too close to some manta rays in the ocean. We sat Max down and told him as gently as we could. He took it very well; even shrugged his shoulders. But then it hit him. His goal had been to meet Irwin when he got older; now he realized it would never happen and he cried.

Max put his Crocodile Hunter costume away and never spoke of him again. He tried to watch Irwin’s daughter’s television program but he could never get into it.

When he was still 5 Max saw the movie “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl” for the first time. He became Captain Jack Sparrow. He always wore the costume and a long haired wig. When he spoke he threw a lot of “arghs” and “me hearties” in for good measure. And daddy had to dress like Captain Barbossssa (note the ssss when the name was spoken).

Imagine his delight when he was invited to Barbosa’s son’s birthday party though to this day Max believes that the man was just a relative, not the real captain.

This role went on for about two years during which he discovered Prince Caspian from “The Chronicles of Narnia” series. More often than naught now he was a knight in armor or a prince in the medieval ages. He became fascinated with swords and to this day we can stumble on one hidden in some dark corner. There are a couple of castles in our area which we were visiting constantly. There are also a couple of museums that display suits of armor and accessories exclusively. Guess how many times we visited these.

More recently he has immersed himself in the service. He is Army Captain Max Corr. We spend a lot of time at the Army Navy store and he has equipped himself with the outfit, boots, real helmet, and wooden carbine rifle. He also has two sets of dog tags. This is his current preference in outer wear. He even wears it in place of his Cub Scout uniform when we go to meetings. If he had his way he would enlist tomorrow but he has set his sights on age 17 (assuming he gets parental permission to go in that early).

And of course, there is Harry Potter. Max has been watching the first movie over the last few days and today is the first time he has embraced it. We don’t know where this is going; hey, we don’t even know when he’ll take that lightning scar off of his forehead. Since I am a fan of the series (I’ve seen the first 4 movies at least 4 times each) I will be watching with interest.

There have also been several minor roles. These include cook, scientist, lion, dog, pumpkin, Darth Vader, and space captain. Each has a costume either store bought or made from odds and ends. He cannot just imagine he is a character; there has to be some physical evidence to back it up.

The nice thing about his school is that they spend every year putting together a movie. Last year they made a pirate movie. Very appropriate for him! Parents receive a “direct to home” DVD so that we can see our budding stars. They are doing one this year too but we don’t know what it is about yet. School ends next week so we should see the results then.

Will he be the next Johnny Depp? We can only hope. Is it an obsession? Perhaps, but certainly it is a benign one. He doesn’t get so lost in the character that he forgets he is Max.