When it hits shelves on July 16, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince — the sixth book in the boy-wizard saga — had better be magic. After all, the first five tomes have sold almost 300 million copies worldwide. The Potter brand — ranging from books to movies to licensed jelly beans — is worth an estimated $1 billion US. And just last week, author J.K. Rowling topped Amazon’s list of its biggest sellers of the last 10 years, handily elbowing aside John Grisham, Stephen King, Shakespeare and Dr. Seuss. Still, Pottermaniacs have more pressing preoccupations: Who’s the new Defense of Dark Arts professor? Is Harry finally getting a girlfriend? And, most distressingly, who’s going to wizard heaven this time around?
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5.
In a 2003 interview, J.K. Rowling said, “Well I had rewritten the death, rewritten it and that was it.... And I walked into the kitchen crying and Neil [Rowling’s husband] said to me, ‘What on earth is wrong?’ and I said, ‘Well, I’ve just killed the person.’ Neil doesn’t know who the person is. But I said, ‘I’ve just killed the person. And he said, ‘Well, don’t do it then....’ And I said ‘Well it just doesn’t work like that. You are writing children’s books, you need to be a ruthless killer.’” Which character’s death was Rowling describing? |
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Cedric Diggory |
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Sirius Black |
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Barty Couch Sr. |
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Professor Quirrell |
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Bertha Jorkins |
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