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Okay, I'll admit it. I used to write Harry Potter fan fiction.
In fact my first completed novel-length work was my own rendition of HP Book 6. This was years ago, in that long span of time between Order of the Phoenix and Half Blood Prince. I really liked Rowling's writing style and I needed some practice on my writing. I also needed a community that was ready and willing to provide feedback in bunches. Fanfiction was the answer.
Two years is a long time to wait for the next installment of a series you love. So I, like many other writers, filled the time by coming up with my own stories to fill the void. It was entertainment for me, and practice. I picked up where Rowling left off and inserted my own original characters, ideas, histories, and spells - all while attempting to mimic Rowling's writing style (and writing in someone else's world isn't easy). My goal was to write a book that people could actually believe was the sixth book in the series. My dream job at the time was to get a gig writing in the Star Wars expanded universe (yes, I am that huge of a geek) so I figured this would be good practice. It was quite an educational endeavor. The Harry Potter fans are rabid and at times pedantic. They were the best critics I could have had at that point in my nascent writing career. They kept me focused, and for the first time I felt the joy that comes with people enjoying stories I wrote (even if I was playing in someone else's world).
Now I write my own novels, and do some freelance writing on the side. But my time as a fanfiction author definitely helped me become the writer I am today, and I think that's true of many ambitious writers in this day and age. I recall, years after I left fanfiction, that a writer on the site I used to write on got a book deal with a $500,000 advance.
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