Hogwarts Herald

Lawmummy has awarded us with the above accolade.

Thanks Lawmummy!

Protocol directs that we pass along the award to five other bloggers who comment, read and schmooze with the best of them…

As I’m really dreadful at this whole “tagging” thing - I will, once again, direct my presentation to the Academy, Hogwarts Academy, that is.

Five habitants (even if only temporary) of Hogwarts who exemplify the traits of “schmooze” (ie those likely to converse casually, especially in order to gain an advantage or make a social connection) most certainly are…

Gilderoy Lockhart
Lee Jordan
Padma Patil
Cedric Diggory (pre Tri-Wizard’s tournament, of course)
and Pansy Parkinson

Yea! We’re going to read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows together!

This weekend’s task is to read (who am I kidding? reread) Chapters 1-3.

The Dark Lord Ascending;
In Memoriam; and,
The Dursley’s Departing.

Let’s consider how the book opens in connection to Book 6 - what is happening and what has happened since Harry left Hogwarts?

These first few chapters don’t contain too much action - but they do set up many of the plot twists which we are about to encounter.

A lot of characters (some new, some old) are discussed in these chapters - and each of them deals with a different “world” that Harry has had to deal with - Voldemort/dark arts, Dumbledore/Hogwarts and the Muggles.

We’ll spend some time next week discussing the details!

by the way - due to technical difficulties - Harry Potter Party photos have not yet been posted - but we hope to have them up soon!

Going through the stages of mourning over the completion of the Harry Potter Series? Where are you now? Anger? Denial? Well - there may be a light at the end of the corridor…

The Today Show reports that JK Rowling is planning a “Harry Potter Encyclopedia” (minor spoiler warning - clicking on link will lead to story with some Book 7 plot revelations) by which she can give more backstory (and fill in the gaps) for many of the Potter characters.

This sounds great to me - I love all the history and family tree stuff. Rowling mentioned that many characters have much more intricate backgrounds that just didn’t fit into the flow of the novels.

Unfortunately, Rowling admits that the collection will not be completed any time soon as she’d “really like a break”.

But there is hope!

In the interview, Rowling also mentioned that through the writing of the books she did grant a reprieve to one of the characters - but not in Book 7 - the character would have perished in Book 5!

HT: Mugglenet.com

Tiny Treasury has posted an open thread for readers to post their opinions and thoughts on HPatDH.

The seventh and final Harry Potter Book was released this past weekend. My copy arrived Saturday morning (before 10am - I was impressed) - I read a little during the day (under 50 pages) and then really settled in for a “read” around 5pm - well, next thing I knew it was 5am and I had about 50 pages to go. I decided that I needed some sleep - and dozed off for about 3 hours, after which I resumed my reading and finished the book. It made for a very sleepy Sunday - but it was worth it.

The book was good - an indulgent (for Harry Potter fans) conclusion - just about every question (even if we didn’t know such questions had existed) was answered and every secret was revealed. Much of the plot had been expected, or guessed - but it was a clever twisting of circumstance.

It was a quick and easy read (for the most part) - I really wasn’t tempted to skip ahead or bored - a little frustrated here and there - but entertained, all the same.

I don’t know if it was because I was so sleepy by the end of the book - but I was pretty teary at the end - and I was a little sad to finish the final page.

We’re planning a chapter by chapter “read along” - and we’ll soon post a “recap” of the Potter Party!.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Book 7, Harry Potter

CNN Money has an article reviewing Harry Potter as a franchise. The business community is confident, that regardless of the outcome in the final book, that Harry Potter books and merchandise with still sell.

One couple is taking their love of Harry Potter books to a new level - by attending the book release at their local bookstore after they say “I do”.

As reported on Yahoo!, the Oregon couple will hold their wedding ceremony (and reception) on Friday evening (I wonder if their wedding planner has checked out ourmenu?) and then the couple will head to the book store for the release.

The bookstore is planning a wedding gift for the bride, a teacher, and groom - first place in line!

The couple made their wedding plans before learning of the release date, they have, however, postponed their wedding trip by a week…

Also, check out Veritaserum.com for a cool reaction to recent Potter Plot Ploys (yes, New York Times, we’re looking at you!) - and some sound tips for surviving the next 32 (or so) hours….

our policy on Spoilers -

WE WILL NOT POST SPOILERS regarding the final Harry Potter book, nor will we tolerate comments that post spoilers.

If you have some sort of defect and can not comprehend this and post any sort of spoiler before 12am July 21st - then your comment will be deleted.

Let the wackiness begin!

The spoilers are beginning to be posted on the internet. A site originating in California had posted photographs of the entire Deathly Hallows book (my goodness that must have taken some time) - It would appear that Scholastic has secured an injunction (or such) as (according to Mugglenet.com) the content has been removed from the site and the user temporarily banned.

Wizardnews.com posts an article about fans (strangely enough, again in California) who are already in line for the 7/21 release. Maybe we should have scheduled our release party for last weekend!

Communities around the (world) US are getting “Harry” -

Just one example: in Arlington, TX they’ve planned parties at local bookstores AND the public library!

How, and where, will you read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows?

WIll you read it, leisurely, at your own pace, over time, ignoring or embracing any clues or spoilers around you?

Will you lock yourself in your house/room/apartment for the weekend (you have asked to take off Monday, right?), and read right through - breaking only for bathroom emergencies and lightening quick cat naps?

Will you read feverishly though the beginning of the work, and then either lose interest or give in to the temptation and flip to the ending chapters?

or, will you just go directly to the last pages, and walk around smugly for the next few days, periodically mentioning to complete strangers…”________ dies, you know”?

I’ll be in for the weekend come Saturday - I hope to read as much as possible by Monday morning - I read HPatHBP in a weekend - OotP took a little longer (but then, it was a longer book ).

Some of the other sites have pointed out that books go on sale at 12am 07/21 in the UK hours before the boxes will open in the US - regardless of what your plan is regarding spoilers - I hope that everyone is considerate of their fellow fans and keeps the information to themselves. If you go looking for spoilers, that’s one thing - but unsolicited revelations are just rude.

We’ve been getting a lot of responses on a topic that was posted back in December. click here to read the original post - and below is the text of the last few comments…

Emil Says:
July 1st, 2007 at 3:59 pm e
We now for a fact that 2 characters will die, i think that one will be the Wesleys (anyone of the family) and of course Hagrid. Voldermort has always killed anyway that was like family to Harry, so they are the two most likely to die.
R.A.B. is the only clue to who killed the horcrux!I think that the person is Regulus Black. Sirius brother. It is said that He worked for Voldermort…so maybe he found out some stuff and relized that Voldermort should not survive, so he kills the horucrux. Voldermort prrobaly found out and killed him, or sent one of his followers to do it. Also, Serius didnt know his brother very sell..so we dont know to much about Regulous.
Draco we know joined Voldermort, but he didnt kill Dumbledore, perhaps he doesnt want to be evil once he saw it, but he should know that once there, he cant go back alive.
Harry and Ginny of course know that they have feelings for each other. But he says that he has to go alone to ffight, and soent want to bring ehr in. But there is still the wedding….when they go will the feelings spark?
We know that at Sirius’s house there is a misterious locket that cant be opened…could it be the locket thatholds a horocrux????
Is Harry a horucrux? we know there is six, but do u think he had the time to make a horucrux before killing the Potters( or trying to)

Emily Says:
July 1st, 2007 at 4:00 pm e
emily….i ment emily not emil!

Emily Says:
July 1st, 2007 at 4:03 pm e
also, i think that either Hrry will die, with Voldermort.
Harry loses his magic.
Or Harry , Ron, and Herminoe go to fight Voldermort, Harry and Voldermort do a showdown….Voldermort kills Harry. Ron and Hermione are than angrey and kill Voldermort.

Jace Says:
July 9th, 2007 at 11:39 pm e
Here’s my opinion on Harry/Neville relationship with LV and the horcruxes.
The way the prophesy is worded, everyone is pretty sure that either Harry will have to kill LV, or he’ll kill Harry. Dumbledore said that in order to kill Voldemort, all of his horcruxes would have to be killed first. If Harry was a Horcrux, than he would have to die before Voldemort could. Since Voldemort is pretty much the most powerful wizard around since Dumbledore is gone, if Harry, the only one with a chance to kill him now, dies, Voldemort would be free to go about killing. He can’t be a horcrux.
As for Neville, as much as he has been associated with Harry b/c he was born at the same time, parents…. etc., he wasn’t the one chosen. Voldemort heard the prophesy and picked Harry, not Neville. As cool as it would be to have Neville just kick down the door and punch Voldemort in the face, it won’t happen. He’s a side character, a friend of Harry’s, and nothing else.

Piers Says:
July 13th, 2007 at 9:13 am e
I think Emily and Jace both make good points. Harry cannot be a Horcrux, we know that it requires a spell to turn a something into a Horcrux but when LV’s AK curse backfired it left him virtually powerless and weak. He would not have been able to turn Harry into a Horcrux before he fled.
Jk has also just added a twist saying the end of the book is going to be a ‘blood bath’ (lovely) with two more characters dying than previously thought.
LV made the prophecy true by trying to kill Harry that night. Dumbledore says he creates his own worst enemy in Harry by trying to kill him, meaning it has to be Harry, and not Neville that has to kill LV.
R.A.B.. who knows? The only character that could fit at the moment is Regelus Black, but we know very little about him so it’s a hard road to go down! Also, a personal opinion, the letter found inside the locket felt to me like it was writted by a woman.
I believe Harry will go back to Godrics Hollow, as it is where the whole story started and is where Harry would probably need to start from if he is to go on a search to find the remaining Horcruxs.
I’m confused about Dumbledore, as to whether he is dead or not. He pleads with Snape at the end.. we know Dumbledore was not a coward, and it’s out of character for him to plead with anybody as he did. Was he pleading for Snape to ‘kill’ him? It would leave Snape free to work from the inside and continue in his work - which we know Dumbledore was extremely insistant with him about. We know Dumbledore is not a murderer and therefore cannot have a Horcrux, but maybe he knows of a different way to stay immortal.
There are so many questions and theories that it’s hard to come up with an answer. I think it would be very hard to end the series with Harry dead, and we know that LV cannot possibly still be alive at the end. We do know then that Harry must search for the Horcruxs and end up battling LV to the death.

Carly Says:
July 13th, 2007 at 10:59 pm e
Dumbledore was pleading with Snape because he wanted him to kill him in order to fulfill his unbreakable vow. snape is going to have a vital part in the 7th book most likely and dumbledore probably knew that snape will play a part in the killing of voldemort or else he wouldn’t have asked snape to kill him. and both Snape and Malfoy will not be evil by the end of book 7 anyway. I think Snape will die defending Harry or helping to destroy a horcrux or to defeat Voldemort just to give you a sign that he wasn’t truly on Voldemort’s side. i agree with emily about one of the weasleys or hagrid dying but I had also thought Lupin might bite the dust. However I do not think that these were the characters that JK was speaking of when she said at least two die. the locket at grimmlaud place is indeed the horcrux, i am positive otherwise it wouldn’t have been worth mentioning. however it may not be at grimmlaud place any longer. it could be in mundungus’ possesion since he was stealing so many things from grimmlaud place. and btw the locket is still a horcrux I am sure it will still need to be destroyed. Although RAB said they intended to destroy it soon I don’t think they ever got to it. Assuming RAB is Regulus, I believe that he eventually realized he didn’t want to be a death eater anymore whether he’d been under the imperius curse or just realized the error of his ways he will have been killed by voldemort or a death eater before he could destroy the locket. I don’t believe Harry is a horcrux. Neville will avenge his parents and kill Bellatrix Lestrange. I don’t believe there is a way around death for Harry in this book. Although good will triumph over evil, JK doesn’t want anyone else writing about Harry when she’s done so death is one of the only ways to do that. There are some things he could do to defeat Voldemort and not die (the veil perhaps) but I do not believe this will be the case. Just some of my thoughts.

Kyle Says:
July 15th, 2007 at 12:09 pm e
I also believe that Snape is on the good side, and Dumbledore had planned his death with Snape. Hence why he asked for Severus rather then Madam Pomfrey. Malfoy is a little bitch really, and theres no way he’ll stay evil, i don’t think he could handle it. I think theres definately got to be an attack at Bill & Fleurs wedding. And someone may well die, possibly Percy weasley? who knows. JK said that a muggle may use magic, and i’ve read alot of theories about Petunias nicer side about Lily coming out in the final book, and perhaps harry & petunia find peace finally. And maybe the muggle using magic will be Dudley, and this is why Vernon & Petunia were so determined to hate magic. You’ll have to read the theories to understand this. Also rumours of Sirius’s bike & two way mirror making repeat appearences. It IS possible that Harry’s scar is a horcrux. No idea if Dumbledore is actually dead or not. But he had a brother Aberforth, who might make an appearence. Theres alot of things ive sat and thought about while and after reading. Mainly concerning Snape. I think he was in love with Lily, which explains his hatred for James, whoevers side he’s on, he will never be able to kill Harry because ‘He has his mothers eyes’ well thats a couple of things to think about, ive got loads more though. Good to actually talk to some HP fans :).

If you (think you) are - check out the “Deathy Hallow Madness” quiz at Mugglenet.com - they’ve put together a series of 65 questions/predictions for the plot of HPatDH - participants are asked to choose what they think will happen in each situation - And there are prizes! Which is always a good thing. You do have to register with the site to participate.

Mugglenet (which has a strict no spoilers policy) has reported that there are some spoilers floating around on the internet - so, if you “don’t want to know” - beware.

As July 21st is like, ONE WEEK AWAY (or so) - the chances to pre-order Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows so to receive it on the release date are dwindling…

According to Barnes and Noble , you have until July 16th to order to guarantee delivery.

At Amazon the deadline is July 17th at noon.

Many stores are still taking in-store pick-up orders - I would do it soon and, if you place your order online, be sure to check with your local store to make sure that they have your order.

Next week we’ll review the last minute planning for our release party - yeah!

The Soundtrack of “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,” with the movie music created by Nicholas Hooper, is now available for download on iTunes.

***WARNING - may contain spoilers***

So, it’s officially out! The fifth movie in the Harry Potter series, “Order of the Phoenix,” officially opens today - The first public screening started at 12 midnight -

It was an extremely difficult task to slice down the text of Book 5 - a book with so much (girth) plot and character development - to fit into a 2 hour film and still move along the story enough to pick up with the next installment. As I’ve read in other reviews, this is definitely a film for fans of the books; the creators took quite a few leaps of faith assuming that their audience is already aware of the back story as they hopped from plot point to plot point.

As I am a big fan of the novels, I did enjoy the movie and the experience of watching the first run of a movie.

The movie beginning was a bit long and “artsy” for the pace of the remainder of the movie - the opening scene shows Harry at a playground being tormented by cousin Dudley but Harry’s anger is quickly overshadowed by the arrival of dementors. The story is set in motion as Harry is forced to use magic in front of muggles to ward off the attack.

The Order of the Phoenix arrives at Privit Drive to rescue Harry and escort him to the Black House in London. I was disappointed in the use of the Black House - I had really enjoyed the scenes in the book that centered there -

Mr. Weasley accompanies Harry to an inquisition at the Ministry of Magic - where Harry is accused of the underage use of magic in front of muggles without cause. Luckily, Harry is cleared of the charges - but he quickly finds out that no one really believes (or wants to believe) that the Dark Lord has returned. The Ministry was well represented - showing the magical world of bureaucracy, even if at it’s worst.

Harry is able to return to Hogwarts, but it is no longer the accepting refuge that he had previously enjoyed. Between his classmates distrust and the Ministry’s attempts to stifle the students’ freedoms (personified in new Professor of the Dark Arts, Delores Umbridge), Harry feels more alone than ever, except, perhaps for his newfound compatriot, Luna Lovegood (a, seemingly, off center Ravenclaw). The movie depicted Professor Umbridge quite well, although Imedla Staunton really never resembles a toad - she’s believable as a blind follower of her superiors/ideals, but she didn’t really have the underlying ugliness that Umbridge had in the book. Luna, on the other hand, was great - her character was my favorite part of the movie.

When it become apparent that the students are going to have to act on their own if they want to continue their practical training of magic - they turn to Harry - as he is the one among them with real experience defending against really dark arts. Dumbledore’s Army is created. These scenes were great - showing the kids learning and practicing the spells, as Umbridge and her minions attempt to thwart their efforts. In the wake, we’re introduced (quite suddenly) to Hagrid’s Giant brother, Dumbledore is dismissed, George and Fred get expelled and Harry and Cho snog.

Through Harry’s new found “gift” of “seeing” the students determine that “you know who” is on the move and attacking the Order (most specifically, Sirus Black) - they journey to the Ministry to save Black and fight the death eaters. The scenes here are entertaining, but a bit scattered; again, a knowledge of the book(s) is invaluable - Sirius is killed by his cousin, Askaban escapee, Bellatrix Lestrange - Harry’s anger is again, quelled by an more dangerous presence - Lord Voldamort. Harry and Dumbledore vanquish the dark lord - but not before he is, finally, seen by the Minister of Magic and others.

There is a lot of humor and excitement in this 5th Harry Potter film. I thoroughly enjoyed it - it wasn’t 100% true to the book - but it told the story well -

Can’t wait for next week to see how it all ends!

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, OOTP, Harry Potter Movies, Movie Review