I'd just like to ask Pearl to carry on with the predictions - they were fantastic and SO well thought through.

Come on JK!!!! Hurry up.

I think Hermione will become a prefect in book5 .I also think that ron and hermione should and will get together in book5.the character to die will not be harry because there will be 7 books and the series cant be continuedif he dies. neville longbottom,colin creevey or ginny may possibly die.hope hermione does not die.i adore her.i also think that harry may become a prefect.fawkes may play an important role.rowling said that 'something' has happened but ron does not realise it.this may mean that he is in love with hermione.ginny is too young and meek for harry .cho chang is the best bet for harry.fudge may also die.i only hope that there wont be too much romance in the book .whatever it is ron and hermione are a cute pair : .but i feel that rupert grint is too horrible in the movie as ron because ron is very handsome in the book i think you are wrong cranium in predicting that harry will die i would like to be part of your gang from,
hermione_granger

I just wanted to hold everything for a second to point out to everyone that Pearl's a not only great at predictions, but also has created the absolute best, most inventive and totally fun HP quiz - A Student at Hogwarts. Don't miss it!

oh my god... I've just been away for one week... thanks everyone You might have noticed that I really love predictions and rumors about Harry Potter. I actually wanted to do a quiz on Harry Potter Rumors, but I wasn't allowed b/c a quiz has to be based on facts, not rumors. Of course, that's true, but I still think that such a quiz would have been very funny!
Someone mentioned Fawkes - I agree that he will play a more important role (after all, the fifth book is to be called "Order of the Phoenix" ). I still haven't made up what this order might be... perhaps it's the name of the group of people fighting Voldemort, the "old fighters" Sirius is told to fetch in the end of GoF. Maybe.
Does anyone have any idea how things will go on about Percy? It crossed my mind (but only once) that he might change sides. Don't know why, the idea just struck me when I re-read CoS... there is one scene where Percy reads a book about how to seize power, I don't remember the title. "Prefects on their way to the power" or something like that, at least in my German version.
And there's another point... JKR once said that later in the series, someone will manage to do magic very late in life. Do you think this might be... *roll of drums* ... Aunt Petunia??? That would be a really great twist. I mean, who else would be a possibility? Filch? No, I really think it might be Petunia.
Uhm... I can't think of anything more now... oh, yes, one thing more. This was a very common rumor on the website I used to visit: Snape hated James Potter (and Harry) so fiercely because he was in love with Lily. You might have heard of that, too.
What do you think about it?
Cheers,
Pearl

Hey Pearl! You're in fine form, I see. I think that you could probably do a really great quiz on HP rumours, because so many of them are so standard now. They have reached some kind of status as mythical facts (or factual myths). What the heck, give it a try!

Those Snape sites are really strange, aren't they? I have a feeling that some or a lot of people are getting the book Snape, who is not attractive at all, seriously mixed up with the movie Snape as portrayed by Mr. Alan Rickman, who is attractive to anyone who is a woman. I was really sorry that they turned the movie Snape into some kind of benevolent, aristocratic android while the book Snape is so wild. I have no idea why. However, this Lily/Snape rumour (and all the "Snape is actually a seething mass of love 'n passion rumours) are based on looking at Mr. Alan Rickman in his billowing silk robes and tousled Jackie Kennedy 'do one too many times. I think the real (book, that is) Snape is a lot more interesting character than the lovelorn wimp some would have him be.

That's true, dobrov. I also never quite agreed with the Snape/Lily rumor. The one who made it up might have been a devoted romance-novel-reader (nothing against romance novels, but they don't really fit in HP). I just wanted to say it b/c I was curious if you heard of it, too. There must be more in Snape than only a rejected love. But you'll have to agree that Snape is one of the most interesting characters in the books, and I really liked Alan Rickman in the role (not only because Alan is such a hottie ). He had a great way of looking down at Harry and saying something without hardly opening his mouth.
I really tried to put that rumors quiz online, but the editors rejected it (though they liked it, too). Maybe I can write it down here in this forum if anyone is interested, I still have my notes somewhere.

I sure would like to read it. Maybe you can revise it so that it is kind of a 'pick the fact from the rumour' kind of a thing. It sounds great.

Yup, Alan Rickman is a babe all right and he did have a neat way of talking down to Harry - in fact, that's all he did. If you check the film again you'll see that most of the time he's shot from below and all you can see is his nose. Now, I'm the first one to say that Mr. Alan Rickman's nose is just about as artistic as the rest of him, but a long shot would be nice, sometimes. Woo.
I'm not sure about Percy. I think he's ok, but there might be something going on there. I LOVE the Aunt Petunia idea though. It sounds far-fetched, but it's possible and really funny.
So when is this book going to appear? Are they waiting for the film? I'm a little worried that something is the matter and we'll never see it at all. Well, we can always write our own!

No way in changing the quiz, unfortunately. After all, it's all about rumors, in my entire quiz, there's only been one thing that has already been confirmed by JKR, and two or three more things she hinted. But I understand what the editors mean... rumors differ from each other a lot, and a rumor I am very common with might be completely unknown in Australia or Asia, and that would be kinda unfair toward quiz-players from that area. But I'll se if I'll put that quiz online here... I'll start a new topic. Just have to make up the section... books corner or humor corner?
Cheers

I say books, but I'm not a moderator.

I'm going to confess a bit of a crush on Snape, not quite sure why...could it be this pervading nineteenth-century look about him? As I'm a nineteenth-century person myself, I'd like to observe him more closely.
He fascinates me.

So what's the question here? Pearl you're thinking of a quiz on the rumours, is that it?
You know one thing that might be interesting is the whole worldwide phenomenon of HP. I mean people queuing up, camping on the streets, the translations...the toys.
When I did Britney Spears that's the way I handled it as well as the music.
Though the Children's section is where we've put HP, I edit in Literature, it might be interesting. Then you could get your rumors in there.

I too have a bit of a crush on Snape from the books as I think he's a wronged character. Look at how he protected Harry in "The P Stone" but everyone assumed he was responsible. Look at how much he wants the Dark Arts job, but Dumbledore will never give it to him. I want to soothe his fevered brow a bit, but then that also comes down to Alan Rickman. I just love the way he curls his lip in disgust - perfect. I love the "wild" side of Snape in the books too.

These are JK Rowlings own words:
"Harry visits a few places that have been mentioned in the books, but we've never got inside before," she reveals. " He visits places other than Diagon Alley and Hogwarts. People will be able to guess where, I'm sure."

Where? Azkaban????

Here are the latest "facts":

Book five will be darker and the Dursleys are in it (boo hiss),
Ginny appears much more, one of the characters will die, we'll meet Mad-Eye' Moody for real this time and
we'ill find out why Voldemort killed Lily and James.

All right, confess that you'd like to try and make him smile!

I'm laughing as I thought I was the only one!
But then again, I just saw Rohan Atkinson in Scobby Doo (yes, I did actually see it and had a good laugh!) and I find him handsome!

Do you think Harry's aunt could be empowered at this phase?
I always wondered if having a husband who was so porcine didn't drive her off the deep end, or being so wretchedly jealous of her sister's magic, kind of a Marcia marcia marcia (Brady Bunch quotation of jealous sister) from a muggle.
Oh, no, what if it's his cousin? She could throw us a surprise!

I was just in York during my trip and my children thought it looked straight out of HP. You have to admit it was charming.

I'd suppose that the places Harry sees might be
a/ the Ministry of Magic (we really never saw it, just heard of it)
b/ Beauxbatons and/or Durmstrang
c/ maybe Knockturn Alley again (did I spell it correctly? In my books, it's "Nocturn Alley", but I seem to remember that I saw the other spelling somewhere online...)
d/ yes, and maybe we get a glimpse of Azkaban... everything is possible...

The idea of Dudley being a wizard really cracks me up... but I know that JKR said someone will be able to do magic "very late in life" - would she have said that about a fifteen-year-old? No, it'd rather be Aunt Petunia, I think. After all, her sister is a witch, and she always hated that, so it would be really funny to see how she reacts when she finds out that she's such an "un-Dursleyish" person herself... And what will Uncle Vernon do? Maybe they get divorced, and Aunt Petunia switches over on Harry's side, but I don't believe that. Aunt Petunia being a good person? Big no-no!

Some other things JKR said about HP 5 are:
- Lupin will return (yeeha!)
- there will be a female DADA teacher (Arabella Figg, that's my guess, but I said that before)
- Hermione might be made a prefect or something
- there may be a kind of romance between Ron and Hermione
(but these two things she only hinted)
- we'll learn more about Lily Potter
Oh, I can think of another rumor: Does anyone think it makes sense if I say that the thing revealed about Lily will be that she's somehow related to the Weasley's? I mean - she has red hair, as often pointed out, and this is a fact automatically connected to Ron's family...
Just one of my guesses
I know that I read more about these predictions, but I can't remember them now.

What JKR already said about the 6th and 7th book is that
- something really HUGE about Lily Potter will be revealed
- more deaths are coming
- one of the Gryffindors might think about becoming a teacher at Hogwarts, and it's NOT Hermione (Neville maybe? He could teach Herbology)
- Snape might fall in love (or was that just a rumor?)

and she said that the 6th book will NOT be called "Harry Potter and the Green Flame Torch" - some months ago it was said that book 6 would be called that name.
One other thing: The last word in book # 7 might be "scar" (I'm pretty sure she confirmed it, because she said that she already wrote the last chapter of HP 7)

Can anyone tell me how I can make my signature be shown in italics? It's a little confusing, when I talk about Harry Potter, and right under the text is this Poe quote...

Thanks, Leau78! It worked!

Heard on the news yesterday that JKR is pregnant which is lovely news, and maybe that's why she's delayed the book. She might have taken time off to try for a baby and didn't want to be doing the whole publicity thing. Anyway I think it's great for her.

The even better news is that JKR has said the new Harry book may well be ready for christmas.

Unfortunately it would have to be ready in the next couple of weeks for Bloomsbury to get it out in time for Christmas here in England - it takes about 4 months for a book to get on the shelves once the publishers receive the manuscript.

But no doubt Bloomsbury will pull out all the stops if they can!

In reply to:

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I know that JKR said someone will be able to do magic "very late in life" - would she have said that about a fifteen-year-old? No, it'd rather be Aunt Petunia, I think.

---

No, my bet's on Filch. We know from the Chamber of Secrets that he's a Squib (non-magic person born into a wizarding family) and he's taking a correspondence course in magic.

JK has also said in a recent interview that there will be a new Sorting Hat song!

Kenneth Branagh is playing Gilderoy Lockhart in the second film!!

I think they would have been better off getting someone more sinister to play Snape and having Alan Rickman as Lockhart ... I can't imagine Kenneth camping it up enough ....

By the way, for those Snape lovers here, we've started a chapter of RLA here, Rochester Lover's Anonymous..for those of us who just can't resist that type! Snape lovers could probably attend!

I'm just wondering when the heck it'll come out! However, I am so happy for J.K. and her pregnancy!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bloomsbury could possible rush the book through in a minimum of 6 weeks, but some of their other publications would be affected. The chief executive of Bloomsbury has confirmed that the book will not be out until 2003. It could be January, but it definitely won't be December. JKR had a hard time completing the book because of that stupid court case that she won recently. She has finished the writing, but doesn't want to rush the final editing. She rushed for Goblet, and she wasn't happy with that.

I have a prediction to share.

Harry potter 5 will launch into a Harry starved market and sell a trillion copies in 3 hours. The franchise products, the video and board games, the coffee cups, the mobiles, bed quilts, posters and the Harry flavoured vegemite, are all going to be hits over the silly season! They will sell out in days adding to the hype! Hehe.. God bless you Harry!

At least the 'in' products will be a result of a work of fiction rather than a cartoon or a trading card! Looking forward to the read. I'll leave the plot to you guys....

You cynic you - oh but how near the truth you are!!

I remember that when Dumbledore mentions Arabella Fig, he also mentions Mundungus fletcher. After reading the 4 books again (twice) I found that in book two when Mr. Weasley comes home from work, he tells about Mundungus Fletcher. Fletcher had tried to put a hex on Mr. Weasely when he had his back turned. Mundungus Fletcher had made shrinking leys, so muggles would loose them.... But I can't fugure out why Dumbledoor would want Sirius to talk to him.
Now I think that Arabella Fig has something to do with the special protection that Harry gets when he's at the Dursley's. Maybe Mrs. Fig is like Harry's Father's mother (harry's paternal grandmother) or some other member of the Ministry of Magic... just what I think. (since Mrs. Fig is the Dursley's neighbor.)
I think that maybe the divination teacher may be misteriosly killed after makin a prediction that might be right. Remember what dumbledoor said when HArry told him about her prediction that sounded more realistic? Dumbledoor said something like: This may be one of the few predictions that she can be right in. I wonder what the past ones were???
Also there is something weird about Percy, he might have something to do with Barty Crouch Jr. he might be helping Voldermort and maybe the one to die is Fred (or George) while trying to protect Harry. I sure hope not!

Any idea who'll play Dumbledore now that Richard Harris is (sadly) no longer with us?