Just got word that most major bookstores will open at 7:01AM tomorrow in conjunction with the 12:01AM BDT release of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Wow. Man, that is early!

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I was reading the transcript of JK Rowling's interview with Jeremy Paxman on BBC and she's revealed some very intriguing Harry Potter facts. Excerpts below....

JEREMY PAXMAN: Unlikely pairings? Not Hermione and Draco Malfoy or anything like that?

JK ROWLING: I don't really want to say as it will ruin all the fan sites. They have such fun with their theories ... and it is fun, it is fun. And some of them even get quite close. No-one has ever - I have gone and looked at some of it and no-one's ever ... There is one thing that if anyone guessed I would be really annoyed as it is kind of the heart of it all. And it kind of explains everything and no-one's quite got there but a couple of people have skirted it. So you know, I would be pretty miffed after thirteen or fourteen years of writing the books if someone just came along and said I think this will happen in book seven. Because it is too late, I couldn't divert now, everything has been building up to it, and I've laid all my clues.

ginnyskywalker: oh man. well at least i hope it's not a draco-harry pairing. hehehh.

JEREMY PAXMAN: Is Harry going to become a bolshy teenager?

JK ROWLING: He's a lot, lot, lot angrier in this book. He really is quite angry a lot of the time and I think justifiably so, look at what he has gone through. It is about time he started feeling a little bit miffed at the hand life has dealt him.

ginnyskywalker: anger leads to hate. hate leads to suffering. hrmmm....

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JEREMY PAXMAN: Are we going to discover in book 5, why Voldemort has such an animus against Harry's parents?

JK ROWLING: Yes.

JEREMY PAXMAN: What else are you willing to tell us about what's in book 5?

JK ROWLING: Obviously a new Defence against the Dark Arts teacher.

JEREMY PAXMAN: Is that going to be a woman?

JK ROWLING: Yes. And it's not Fleur which everyone on the internet speculates about. And it's not ...Who's the other one they keep asking about? Mrs Figg. It's not Mrs. Figg. I've read both of those.

ginnyskywalker: oh great! there goes my bet that it's mrs. figg! now who else could it be.... mrs. weasley, perhaps?

JEREMY PAXMAN: Are we going to discover anything more about Snape ?

JK ROWLING: Yes.

JEREMY PAXMAN: And Harry's mother? Did he have a crush on Harry's mother or unrequited love or anything like that?

JK ROWLING: Hence his animosity to Harry?

JEREMY PAXMAN: Yes.

JK ROWLING: You speculate?

JEREMY PAXMAN: I speculate, yes, I'm just asking whether you can tell us.

JK ROWLING: No I can't tell you. But you do find out a lot more about Snape and quite a lot more about him actually.

JEREMY PAXMAN: And is there going to be a death in this book?

JK ROWLING: Yes. A horrible, horrible

JEREMY PAXMAN: A horrible death of a significant figure.

JK ROWLING: Yeah. I went into the kitchen having done it....

ginnyskywalker: aha. does that mean ginny and colin creevey are exempt from getting killed off this time 'cause they aren't that significant? what if it's dumbledore, or mcgonagall, or mrs. weasley. hagrid? snape?

JEREMY PAXMAN: Is it going to upset people?

JK ROWLING: Yes. It upset me. I always knew it was coming, but I managed to live in denial, and carry on with the character and not think about it.

ginnyskywalker: just how upsetting is upsetting? oh dear....

JEREMY PAXMAN: Why stop when they grow up? Might be interesting to know what becomes of Harry as an adult.

JK ROWLING: How do you know he'll still be alive?

ginnyskywalker: is that a clue and a half????

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JEREMY PAXMAN: And these scraps of paper which you've filed elegantly in a carrier, they're plot ideas or ...

JK ROWLING: Well some of them are totally redundant now because its been written and I keep them out of sentimentality's sake, I suppose. But some of it has backstory in it like this - in here is the history of the Death Eaters and I don't know that I'll ever actually need it - but at some point - which were once called something different - they were called the Knights of Walpurgis. I don't know if I'll need it. But I like knowing it. I like to keep that sort of stuff on hand.

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Oh man. less than 12 hours to go. The excitement is killing me....


.:chronicled by senator skywalker at 11:30:00 PM:.
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