My 'other' for question 1, too, stands for late to the party but then very involved. I was hooked on the books just before the PoA release, but didn't really become fannishly engaged until the end of 2005 and then it swallowed me whole. So that was only one and a half years before DH came out.

As for the Epilogue, it was hard to pick one answer... I loved that Harry got his family; I did like it for that, even if I didn't love all the details in how it was done. When it comes to fic, I'm firmly in the EWE camp. So, mixed feelings. :)