What form might the remaining Horcruxes take and could the final one, as Professor Dumbledore predicted, be the great snake Nagini? Who is the mysterious “RAB”? Why is it significant that “scar” is the final word of the final chapter of the seventh and final book of the series? And, most important of all, is Harry going to die or will he slay Voldemort and get back together with Ginny Weasley and live happily (or at least less perilously) ever after?
If you didn't understand a word of what you have just read, it means you've developed a rare resistance to the most powerful and lucrative spell in the publishing industry and, unlike hundreds of millions of readers across the globe, you have never picked up a book by the elusive JK Rowling. As Harry Potter hurtles towards its grand finale, that spell is only getting stronger and its caster, who has learned to play the media game with consummate skill, has been laying out enticing little crumbs of information to stir up the excitement yet further.
In June, Rowling told interviewers of a British daytime television show, that at least two characters were going to die in the final installment. Ten days ago, she unveiled the title and since Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows doesn't have a particularly cheerful ring to it, fan sites have been fretting more than usual about the schoolboy magician's fate.
Last week, bookmakers William Hill made Lord Voldemort (aka the most fearsome dark wizard ever known) odds-on favorite to kill our bespectacled hero. Deathly Hallows, which is expected to appear this summer, will undoubtedly outperform its predecessors. That's no mean feat: the last three were the fastest-selling books ever.
Rowling (pronounced “rolling,” as in “rolling in cash” — Forbes declared her a US dollar billionaire in 2004) has kept her creation in close check from the off. The stories have since solidified into legend: how Potter popped into her head fully formed during a delayed train journey from Manchester to London; how she planned the series in all its labyrinthine entirety at the beginning and wrote the very final chapter before the first book was even published.
Rowling has also maintained a remarkably strong grip on the Potter franchise. When a drooling and slavering Hollywood plunged its talons into the series, Rowling demanded that each film be shot in Britain, with an all-British cast.
Bloomsbury, the elf of a publishing house that put its faith in the first Potter book and turned, subsequently, into a giant, also knows the force of its star author's sway. “Book four was an absolute nightmare,” Rowling recalled. “I literally lost the plot halfway through ... and the idea of going straight into another Harry Potter filled me with dread and horror.” She took a break and told Bloomsbury to lay off the pressure. Her editors relented. Now they, along with many others, want the Potter magic to last as long as possible, but Rowling says she is stopping at number seven.
When the big secrets have long since been divulged, and the last movie can be fished out of DVD bargain bins, the entire economy founded upon the 41-year-old woman from Gloucestershire and her imaginary boy wizard is going to come tumbling down.
Rowling did not start out as a canny media operator, nor does she seem to relish the power she wields. She had a reputation early on “for being somewhat po-faced” (her own admission). Of fame, she says: “I never wanted it and I never expected it and certainly didn't work for it and I see it as something that I have to get through, really.” And: “I didn't think they'd rake through my bins; I didn't expect to be photographed on the beach through long lenses.”
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