Hogwarts Herald

You’ve most likely heard that an internet hacker is claiming to have hacked into Bloomsbury’s computer system and the Harry Potter manuscript. There have been no confirmations of this and, so far, no leaks.

We here at the Herald are vehemently opposed to any spoilers, leaks, ill gotten pieces of information and we will not post anything regarding the (actual) plot(s) of the final book until it is available to the public (after July 21st, all bets are off and we plan to post often).

We are, however, very much in favor of speculation, opinions, gleanings and the like. We have hopes and theories regarding what will happen in the final chapter of Harry’s literary life - and we can’t wait to read about it - but not until July!

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Question 5 (of 7) on Scholastic.com’s Shrieking Shack is…

Where are the Horcruxes?

The choices listed are:

Diagon Alley
Hogsmeade
Hogwarts
Only with the Death Eaters
Godric’s Hollows
Ministry of Magic
Azkaban
St. Mungo’s
Among Muggles
Elsewhere

Any of the choices above, or Elsewhere?

I think that the theory(ies) that they may be at Hogwarts or among Muggles are the most intriguing. The “right under your nose” idea (whether that nose be wizard or muggle).

One problem with anything being “among Muggles” is that we are such a disposable society - we’ve probably thrown away or torn down (or at least renovated) anything that might have been used.

What’s going to happen? How will it all end? We’ll just have to wait and read!

Scholastic.com, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Horcruxes

Our party is just 5 weeks away. We’ve sent out invitations and were knee-deep in planning.

I’m still brainstorming on activities -

we’ve already decided to make bookmarks, and have a “door prize guessing game” - I’ve decided to fill one jar with gumballs (a smaller number) for a kid’s size house scarf and a larger jar with (un-inflated) balloons for an adult size house scarf - whoever guesses the number of items in the jar (or gets the closest) wins!

I’ve made a “suggestion box” and slips of paper with different “plot” questions (similar to the Scholastic questions) for guests to speculate how things will unfold in book 7.

If we need a “filler game” - a rousing game of charades is always fun - even more so with a Potter theme!

Now, let’s review our menu so far…

Beverages:
tea, I think would be nice.
butter beer sodas

Snacks/food:
cornish pasties
sandwiches

Treats:
Chocolate covered pretzel “wands”
raspberry trifle

So, I’m thinking that we need to plan more food! Look for more recipes next week!

Harry Potter Party, party planning, party games

To catch up to the current Deathly Hallows question at Scholastic.com…

Will Hogwarts reopen?

I say definitely yes. At what point, I’m not sure. I can’t imagine Hermione being out of class for very long - she’ll organize something. As far as Harry’s pledge to not return - it would seem that some of book 7 will have to deal with his dealing with his “quest” - Hogwarts is as much a character in the book as any person - a permanent closing of Hogwarts would put the entire education of wizards into question.

Question 4 on Scholastic is “who will end up with whom” - I’m going to leave the speculation on that one to you.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Scholastic.com, Hogwarts

Invitations are in the works. We’re inviting a bunch of magical friends - of all ages.

On to decorations - Since the party is going to be outside, I was thinking that we’d go for a “Hogwarts’ grounds” theme and utilize as much of the natural “scenery” as possible. Luckily, the backyard has a lot of greenery - so we don’t have to worry about fabricating trees and shrubs. First off, we’ll string fairy lights through the trees and shrubs (for effect as well as additional lighting) -

I have found, through experience, that balloons are a must for any party that involves children (under the age of 99).

We plan to decorate the tables, chairs, trees - basically anything that will stay still long enough to get covered!

Because you can never be sure of the weather, we’ll have a canopy (regularly used for picnics and tailgating) and decorate that as well. It can serve as a cover from the elements, as well as a “specialty” area - We could make it into one of the classrooms at Hogwarts, or (a mini) Great Hall - I’m not quite sure yet, it will depend on what supplies we’re able to find…

My next shopping trip will be to a craft/fabric store. You can check on-line or at your local fabric shop(s) for sales and clearance items. Joann Fabrics has a whole section on remnants and “odd sized” fabrics that they sell for reduced prices. Many of the fabrics are left-overs from local upholstery and designer shops - and the fabrics are of professional size and quality. Check it out and see what inspires you.

What we need is:

table clothes - a heavier but pliable, dark or jewel toned fabric -
fabric for draping (on everything) - a lighter, gauzy, shimmery fabric - maybe in a metallic
canopy - dark for underneath and a lighter fabric for accents.
miscellaneous fabrics for crafts and other decorations

It may be a little daunting (and expensive) to use so much fabric, so you can always switch in tissue paper, crepe paper, and/or plastic table covering (it comes in those long rolls).

I think we’ll take a preliminary trip out to the store to see what’s available before we solidify our vision - and as we decide…

Next week - Activities!

harry potter party, party planning

you miserable boy.

According to J.K. Rowling’s website, today, June 5th, is Draco Malfoy’s birthday.

Draco has been Harry’s mini-nemisis since his first day at Hogwarts. He, Draco, embodies nearly every vile trait a wizard can possess; he is vain, arrogant, cowardly, bigoted, greedy and plain old mean. He compensates for his lack of wizardly talent with tricks and bullying (a little like you know who, I’d say).

It should be interesting to see what role he plays in the final book. Presently he does not have any redeeming qualities, except that he is still young -

Draco Malfoy, J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Invitations - first we need a flock of owls.

Since it’s very unlikely that we’ll be able to find that many magical owls, who are, otherwise disengaged, I guess we’ll have to rely on Muggle Mail - or the internet!

On-line invitations are an easy, fun and economical way to invite friends to any gathering. Sites such as Evite do most of the work for you - all you have to do is type in the basic information and they send out the invites (via email), track RSVPs and send reminders.

But, sometimes it’s fun to send out “real” invitations, and I think that this is one of those occasions. While I’ll probably send out a few internet invitations (to those friends that I might not have a street address for), we’re going to make (yes, make) invitations for everyone!

So, what should our invitations look like? An owl shape would be fun - that is how mail is sent through the wizarding world. We might use paper that looks like the parchment the students at Hogwarts use. Or maybe some eerie looking paper similar to the cover art. I think that’s what we’ll do!

Of course, we’ll have to include all of the important information:

What: Harry Potter Book Release Party
When: 5:00pm - whenever, Friday, 07/20/2007
Where: My backyard!
R.S.V.P. by July 14th via Phone, email or owl!

We should be able to have all of the invites completed in a week or two - we want to be sure to send them out soon so that everyone will be able to add our party to their busy summer schedules!

So, let’s see, we’ve been working on the menu, and activities. Next we need to figure out decorations, and just how wicked we want this party to be…

Gordon Brown, the UK Prime Minister to be, has announced that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is on his “summer reading list”, although he will take his seat as PM on June 27th.

Brown, a personal friend of J.K. Rowling’s, told BBC Radio 4 that he plans to read the book “hoping that my sons will want to read later.” Brown’s sons, John and Fraser, are 3 and 1 years old, respectively.

HT to The Wizard News

Over on Tiny Treasury, children’s book reviewer and recommender extraordinaire, Kelly, has posted a question…

Who do you think dies in Deathly Hallows: Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger or somebody else?

So, check it out and let your opinion be known!

Also, be sure to check out her review of Troy CLE’s Marvelous World - Book One: The Marvelous Effect.

Happy Holidays, everyone!

From time to time I’ll be creating a Hogwarts Herald Podcast…sharing some of the most recent Harry Potter news and views. This first podcast (found at the end of this post) was created last week—before the big Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows announcement—so that big news will be covered in the next podcast.

This week’s Hogwarts Herald Podcast focuses on Daniel Radcliffe in Australia discussing:

* What we can expect from the upcoming movie, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.
* Filming the (soon to be) famous kissing scene between Harry and Cho.
* And lastly, what’s on all of our minds: Will Harry live or die at the end of Book 7?

Enjoy!

 Hogwarts Herald Podcast 1 [3:12m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (540)

With the new Book 7 title being released today it’s no surprise that the news is everywhere. Hogwarts Herald has scoured the news stories and below are some of the better links to media articles about Harry Potter and the _______ _______.

I’m still not in the mood to spoil the fun, so if you’re just finding out about the just-announced title, go to the post below for the directions to solving JK Rowling’s “puzzle”…and thus finding out the name of Book 7 the fun way.

And if you can’t wait to read more on the new book & title, here’s the best of what’s come out today (there may be spoiler info on the new title beyond the fold):

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It’s the moment we’ve all been waiting for…J.K. Rowling has announced the name of Book 7!

To find out the name of the book the fun way, follow these steps:

1. Go to JKRowling.com.
2. Click on the eraser on her desk.
3. Click the knob on the open door in the mirror to see the Christmas tree (the door farthest to the left).
4. Click on the top half of the main door to see a wreath.
5. Click on the top part of the mirror to reveal garland.
6. Click on the spider web next to the mirror.
7. Click on the fourth chime (from the left) in the window and while still clicking…
8. Drag the key to the keyhole in the main door to unlock it.
9. The door opens to reveal a package on the table.
10. Click the bow and the package will open.
11. Inside is a game of Hangman you can play to guess the title!

But if you just can’t wait, the name of Book 7 can be found below the fold…

(more…)

The Lycos 50 has recently given us their list of “The Ones to Watch in 2007″—their projected top online search terms for the coming year—and Harry Potter gets mentioned twice: once for the 2007 release of Order of the Phoenix; and once for Book 7…which will hopefully be released in 2007 (fingers crossed). In their words:

“The following terms had strong showings in 2006. Based on growing search queries, The Lycos 50 predicts these are the ones to watch in 2007: from the political stage, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, and the topics of illegal immigration, global warming, bird flu and stem cell research…singer/actress Beyonce…rappers Nas and Jim Jones, and hip-hop artist Akon …the 2007 movies already generating buzz online are all sequels and one based on a famous primetime animated series including, ‘Spider Man 3,’ ‘Shrek the Third,’ ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: Land’s End,’ ‘Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,’ ‘Saw 4,’ and ‘The Simpsons Movie’…the TV shows ‘Heroes’ and ‘Ugly Betty,’…from the literary world, the eagerly anticipated release of Harry Potter 7…and from the technology side, geotagging, Wii and GPS Tracking on cell phones.”

2007 should be a huge year for Harry Potter. Let’s just hope Harry will survive the year.

…

Today’s /Film “Geek Report” (Hey! What are they calling us?! I consider myself more of a nerd than a geek, if there is indeed any difference.) has snippets from an interview with Prisoner of Azkaban Director Alfanso Cuarón…and where he thinks the Harry Potter series is headed…and if he thinks Harry will die:

“‘I don’t know, I had this same conversation with someone the other day about that,’ said Cuarón. ‘In one hand it makes sense, in the other hand - how do you finish Harry Potter if you kill Harry? What is the resolution of the tale? How is she going to finish the seven books and not have any temptation to do an eighth book?’ Cuarón asked. ‘I don’t know. And that kind of stuff, I have a really good relationship with JK, but I don’t mess with that.’”

(more…)

On her official site J.K. Rowling has posted a new message on her “diary.”

In the diary entry she starts, “The long lack of updates has been due to some very hard work. I’m now writing scenes that have been planned, in some cases, for a dozen years or even more.”

It sounds like nice progress is being made on Book 7. She goes on to say, “I both want, and don’t want, to finish this book (don’t worry, I will.)”

This is very understandable, isn’t it? I think we all feel the same way. We can’t wait to see what happens…how everything gets resolved…but we don’t want it to be final. They say you should always “leave them wanting more,” and J.K. Rowling will definitely be doing this when the final book is printed. How could we not want more?

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