The last word is “scar.”
And then the Harry Potter series will end.
Author J.K. Rowling, in a 1999 People magazine article, revealed the final word in her series of books about a boy wizard with a lightning-shaped scar seared on his forehead.
But according to the Potter pundits at MuggleNet.com, careful readers can confidently surmise a lot more about the seventh and final book in the series.
“What Will Happen in Harry Potter 7,” a 216-page “unauthorized” paperback written by MuggleNet.com staffers, should tide Harry’s adoring public over until July 21, when Book 7, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” will be released.
In “What Will Happen,” five discerning Potter fanatics have put on their Hermione thinking hats to find clues and evidence that lead to predictions about “who lives, who dies, who falls in love” and how the wizarding saga will end.
The authors’ predictions, which they back up with strong evidence, include the following:
» Hogwarts headmaster Dumbledore, killed in Book 6, really is dead, and won’t be resurrected.
» Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger (Harry’s best friends) will love happily ever after.
» Severus Snape, even though he killed Dumbledore, is a good guy.
The book, published by Berkeley-based Ulysses Press, has earned a spot on the New York Times best-seller list for children’s books; it’s currently at No. 5.
And the authors, most of them high school and college students, have reached the N.E.W.T. (Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Test) level in literary sleuthing.
Notice that “What Will Happen in Harry Potter 7” doesn’t end in a question mark.
The authors’ confidence is not merely the cockiness of youth. They know the books intimately, and have filled their minds and hearts with all things Harry.
Rowling herself salutes MuggleNet.com, an encyclopedia of news, facts, opinion and trivia about the Harry Potter books and movies on the “Fan Site” portion of her Web site.
– Scripps Howard
‘What Will Happen in Harry Potter 7’
Authors: Ben Schoen, Emerson Spartz, Andy Gordon, Gretchen Stull, Jamie Lawrence
Publisher: Ulysses Press
Price: $13.95
