Merlin’s Beard! Via the Examiner, it turns out that Falls Church, VA has been awarded the distinction of being the “Harry-est Town In America” by Amazon.com — meaning the city pre-sold the most copies of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows through a competition on the web site.

Amazon didn’t release the number of copies sold in Falls Church, but more than 1.3 million copies have already been sold in total. Amazon donated a $5,000 gift certificate to the Mary Riley Styles Public Library Foundation Trust of Falls Church as the city’s prize. It’s no Quidditch Cup, but it’ll do nicely to promote reading among young people.

So sure, Falls Church ordered lots of Harry Potter books, but that could be a fluke, right? Nope. Turns out Fairfax and Vienna ranked close behind, at 3 and 4 on the Amazon list, respectively, and more books have already been sold in the District of Columbia than in any single state. This seems about right: loads of Harry Potter-themed Evites have been making their way across the city for over a week now, for parties planned in conjunction with the final book’s release this Friday at midnight.

For you junkies who haven’t already organized your own private Potter Party, we’ll be putting together a list of Harry Potter-themed events planned around town on Friday night. But seriously, what exactly is it about Harry Potter that’s got the D.C. area so excited? Are we all just hopped up on butterbeer, or is there something deeply ingrained in the psyche of this sometimes rather serious town that makes us all have a deep need to revel in witches and wizards kicking ass?