Just a quick note reminding fans in the Chicago area/Northwest Indiana that I'll be doing my last event of the summer tomorrow in Merrillville, IN. I know... tear!

It's been so much fun touring the country with Ben and others, meeting all you guys and seeing a new Holiday Inn Express every night. Here's the info for tomorrow:

Sunday, July 1, at 2 PM
Borders
2060 Southlake Mall
Merrillville, IN
219.795.1925

If you live in the area, I hope to see you there!

Warner Brothers Records has sent MuggleNet details about a special edition Order of the Phoenix soundtrack set. Encased in a custom hinged box with Navy "velveteen" fabric, the set also includes a 20-page booklet with a foil embossed front cover.

Check out your first look at this special edition soundtrack right here! You'll see the box also has a clear plastic dome on the front with Voldemort inside. More details coming soon!

In other soundtrack news, WBR has released a widget for your MySpace or website that will play samples from the soundtrack. Check it out here!

One of our favorite founders of Hogwarts is now featured at JK Rowling's official website:

Godric Gryffindor

Medieval (precise dates unknown)
One of the four famous Founders of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Godric Gryffindor was the most accomplished dueller of his time, an enlightened fighter against Muggle-discrimination and the first owner of the celebrated Sorting Hat.

Attention all UK visitors: We'll be hosting a live Leaky Mug podcast after the Order of the Phoenix premiere on July 3rd! Join Jamie, Kevin, Melissa, John, Sue and me at the Piccadilly Theatre at 7 PM for the show. The address is:

Piccadilly Theatre
16 Denman Street,
London,
W1D 7DY

We apologize for the delay in announcing this event, but we hope everyone can still make it out! As you can see, it was for a good cause: We've never been in such a big or beautiful theater, and send big thanks to Borders for making it happen!

Attention all US premiere-goers: We will be doing a live Leaky Mug on July 9th at 5 PM in the Borders of Westwood - the same place where we hosted a Leaky Mug in September. The address is:

Borders Books and Music
1360 Westwood Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90024

As with all Leaky Mugs, we ask that you please send an e-mail to hplive at gmail dot com if you plan on going. In your e-mail, please include which podcast you plan on attending and with how many people. See you there!

NBC's Today Show aired the first official footage of Deathly Hallows being printed this morning! The clips showed pages being bound together and packaged into boxes (keep an eye out for red boxes in your book store).

To watch, click here and then click "Launch" on the right.

The Today Show also continued its weekly "Today's Mystery Question" relating to Deathly Hallows. This morning's question was asked by Scholastic editor Arthur Levine: "How Will Peter Pettigrew repay his life debt to Harry?" Considering Arthur is one of a select few who have already read DH, this may suggest that we'll definitely be seeing an answer in the final book!

The Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix UK website will have a live webcast of the London premiere on Tuesday, July 3rd at 17.00 BST. You can find out what time that will be in your area at this website.

MuggleNet will be attending and covering this event.

The British cinema chain, ODEON theaters, has a new contest for the residents of the United Kingdom. One lucky fan will win a trip to the set of the Harry Potter films, Leavesden Studios. Moviegoers will be automatically entered once they book their tickets between June 30th and July 22nd. One winner and a guest will be able to see how the magic is made as well as meet the cast members of the movie! Good luck!

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix opens on July 12, 2007 in the UK.

PC World is reporting a Harry Potter virus that has surfaced online. Security companies have found emails that contain an attachment suggesting to be Book 7, when in fact it infects the receiver's computer when opened. The worm creates new users on Windows such as "Harry Potter," "Hermione Granger," and "Ron Weasley." Then once Internet Explorer is opened, it redirects users to an Amazon page for "Harry Putter and the Chamber of Cheesecakes."

There are no spoilers contained in this article, as the attachment is fake.

We advise you to be safe on the internet and not to open any suspicious email from an unknown source that claims to have information on Deathly Hallows.

Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson recently did an interview with The Telegraph speaking about the end of the movie and book franchise, as well as some other topics. Dan discusses whether or not he's had a normal childhood, saying:

"I don't feel I've missed out on anything. Perhaps I've grown up slightly faster than some other people my age simply because from the age of 11 I've been surrounded by more adults than kids. I've had a working relationship with adults and that does change how you develop and mature. You possibly do grow up slightly faster.

"The other day, somebody said the last Harry Potter film will probably be released in 2010. I don't know how true that is, but if it's the case then that will have been 10 years of my life and that's a huge chunk, so I'll be sad because it will be the end of an era in a way. But I equally imagine it will be quite exciting to be out of that world."

Also, This Is London reports Dan will gross $50 million for the next two films together.

Don't forget the trio will be on Richard & Judy today. We'll have a video online shortly afterwards. EDIT: Looks like it didn't air. We'll update you with more soon.

Time magazine has a fantastic new article on the impending release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. It examines the stringent security measures surrounding the handling of the book until its release, and how these are meant, in Scholastic's words, to preserve the "magic moment" of euphoria when the reader finally turns the first page of the book at 12:01 AM on July 21st.

Scholastic won't give out the locations of the printing plants it uses or even how many there are. The finished books travel to stores on pallets, sealed in black plastic, in trucks tracked by GPS.

But Scholastic's reach can extend only so far, and once the books are delivered, security is in the hands of the bookstore owners, all of whom sign a long, tightly worded legal agreement requiring them to keep the boxes unopened until 12:01 a.m. on July 21. "No one here sees them," says Kim Brown, vice president of merchandising at Barnes & Noble, which hires an outside security firm to guard the padlocked trucks in which it stores its copies of Deathly Hallows. "We have our fulfillment centers cordon off a special section for the Harry Potter books," says Sean Sundwall of Amazon.com. "Only a very small number of people are allowed to look at it—or breathe on it—and even a smaller number of people can touch it."

The article does, however, note that while a leak from a large retailer is unlikely, the books are simply kept in a box dubbed "HARRY POTTER" in the smaller bookshops.

MuggleNet's very own Emerson Spartz was a guest on a Harry Potter panel on MTV News, where he debated the end of the series with Melissa Anelli from TLC, Alex Carpenter of The Remus Lupins, Caroline Bartels, Jennifer Vineyard of MTV, and Matt Vines of Veritaserum. Links to videos are below, and a transcript can be found here.

"Will Harry live or die?"
"Which side is Snape on?"
"Is Harry a Horcrux?"

The roundtable discussion, hosted by MTV's legendary Kurt Loder, first aired on TRL this afternoon. More showtimes can be found below (all times are EST).

MTV:
--Fri. 6/29 - 3:50 AM, 5:50 AM
MTV2:
--Thurs. 6/28 - 6:30 PM, 7:30 PM
--Fri. 6/29 - 2:30 AM, 3:30 AM, 4:30 AM, 5:30 AM, 6:30 AM, 7:30 AM, 8:30 AM
MTVU:
--Thurs. 6/28 - 7:45 PM, 8:45 PM, 9:45 PM, 10:45 PM, 11:45 PM
--Fri. 6/29 - 12:45 AM, 1:45 AM, 2:45 AM, 3:45 AM, 4:45 AM, 5:45 AM, 6:45 AM, 7:45 AM, 8:45 AM, 9:45 AM, 10:45 AM, 11:45 AM, 12:45 PM, 2:45 PM, 3:45 PM, 4:45 PM, 5:45 PM, 6:45 PM

A large number of new Order of the Phoenix cast interviews, never-before-seen clips, and B-Roll footage have emerged at OOTP community on IMEEM.

The London Times has posted the first official review of the Order of the Phoenix, giving it three out of five stars. While it does remark on some positive aspects of the film, including Immelda Staunton's performance, it also focuses on the negative parts:

"The acting skills of Radcliffe (Harry), Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley) and Emma Watson (Hermione) have improved, but not enough to truly flesh out the characters and provide the narrative depth this transitional, plot-advancing film needs. They have got “angry” and “determined” down pat at this point, but struggle somewhat on the more nuanced grimaces. Harry’s bellowing cod-psychoanalysis of Voldemort is jarringly awful."

Earlier we showed you some pictures of Daniel Radcliffe and David Heyman at today's world premiere of OOTP in Tokyo, and now the BBC has a video of the event. Dan also addressed the crowd at one stage in Japanese, saying: "Nihon no minasan, Konnichiwa" (hello, people of Japan).

"It's wonderful to come over here and to say hello," he said. "I hope people will be impressed by the new characters, the new performances, and the big battle."

The UK premiere will take place on July 3rd. Thanks to Ryan for the tip!

Bloomsbury, the UK Harry Potter publisher, has announced plans to release a box set of all seven Harry Potter books on October 1st. An article by the BBC also mentions how the firm is eager to find another hit series after Potter ends.

"Whilst Harry Potter remains a key ingredient in the group's future success, management are now having to look beyond the initial euphoria created, with new authors and acquisitions being sought."

The world premiere for the Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix movie was held today in Tokyo, Japan. You can now see five pictures from the event below which show Daniel Radcliffe and producer David Heyman:

UPDATE: 26 pics from the World Premiere in our gallery!

JKRowling.com has been updated to wish Dobby a happy birthday.

Actor Matthew Lewis, who plays Neville Longbottom in the Harry Potter films, turns 18 today. Happy birthday, Matt!

Continuing her support for the campaign to find Madeleine McCann, JK Rowling has added an appropriate page in the Links section of her official site. An extract from the page:

"Jerry and Kate McCann released this last photograph of their daughter before her abduction in the Algarve three weeks ago. The picture is of Madeleine sitting by the swimming pool on the day she was snatched from her bed. Kate took the photo of Madeleine at 2.29pm on May 3 - Mrs McCann's camera clock is one hour out so the display reads 1.29pm. Less than eight hours later, before 10pm that night, Madeleine disappeared. Mr and Mrs McCann, backed by an army of friends and family, remain convinced that four year old Madeleine is alive and are praying, along with people around the world, for her safe return."

We ask that you are respectful in the comments, whether or not you agree with this cause.

You can now view the eleven new Order of the Phoenix clips we reported about yesterday in English here. In addition, there are two behind-the-scenes videos, and interviews with the cast (more interviews will be added gradually) at the link above.

Attention those of you living anywhere in the United States: MuggleCast will be hosting live events from July 24th to the 31st in 8 different cities from (nearly) coast to coast!

What's more, we'll be touring alongside Wizard Rock band The Remus Lupins! At each show, Alex and his band will perform songs from both of his albums.

We recorded a mini-podcast that includes full details on the tour (hosted by Ben, Mikey, Alex, and me). You can download the audio file at this link! Full details can be found on this page. Find the city nearest you and come on out, because we want to see everyone there!

If you're looking to hear about our plans for the Deathly Hallows release, those are coming very, very (very) soon. US and UK visitors of the site should both be pleased.

Scholastic announced today the company will host a midnight release party outside their New York City headquarters to celebrate the launch of Book 7:

The magical world of “Harry Potter Place” will feature a giant Muggle Board where Harry Potter fans can share personal messages about the Harry Potter books. Muggles will also be mesmerized by the twenty-foot high moving Whomping Willow, and entertained with activities and entertainment including: face-painting, wand-making, fire-eaters, magicians, jugglers and stilt-walkers. Harry Potter fans of all ages will also be able to have their photos taken with the cover art from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in the special Deathly Hallows Gallery. As the excitement builds, the Countdown Clock will track the hours, minutes and seconds until the 12:01 a.m. release.

A press release issued by Scholastic offers more details for those of you interested in attending!

Eleven new clips from the Order of the Phoenix movie have just surfaced at a German website. The clips (amalgamated into two videos) can be viewed here.

Thanks, HPANA.

WARNING: This is a very opinionated post!

Keith Olbermann has made some bold public predictions about the end of the series on his TV news show, Countdown with Keith Olbermann. Make sure you read the second page of the article before making judgment. It is my personal belief, and not necessarily that of the rest of the MuggleNet staff, that he is not far off the mark in his guesses. Except for that whole Harry turning into a Muggle business. I mean, really?

In other news, Scholastic has published the results of their fourth fan poll question. They claim a majority of fans - 56% - believe that Harry will end up with Hermione, 20% believe that Ron will end up with Hermione and 19% believe that Harry will end up with Ginny.

Um, was Scholastic polling people who have actually read the books? 56% of fans are wrong. I quote JKR, in the interview Melissa and I conducted with her two summers ago:

JK Rowling: Yes, we do now know that it's Ron and Hermione. I do feel that I have dropped heavy hints. ANVIL-sized, actually, hints, prior to this point. I certainly think even if subtle clues hadn't been picked up by the end of Azkaban, that by the time we hit Krum in Goblet...

I would think it's difficult to interpret "Yes, we do now know that it's Ron and Hermione" and "anvil-sized hints" any other way, but apparently 56% of fans disagree with me (or just haven't read the interview... or Book 6... or Book 5... or Book 4...). But then, many fans still believe Dumbledore is alive, despite JK Rowling saying that he is "definitely dead." Come on, guys. Wishful thinking isn't going to bring him back.

Note that the question wasn't Who Do You Want to End Up With Whom?, but Who Will End Up With Whom?. There's a difference between wanting something to be true, and believing it is true. There is a word in the English dictionary for holding a belief without evidence, and in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary... I'll give you a hint, it starts with a D.

UPDATE: I don't know if I can make this any clearer, but I will try one more time.

I am not calling all Harry/Hermione shippers delusional! I respect H/Hr shippers who acknowledge the obvious: that JKR paired up Ron and Hermione, but wish she hadn't. The only people I am calling delusional are the shippers who try to wriggle and rationalize their way around "Yes, we do now know that it's Ron and Hermione" and still believe the two will make babies in Book 7. Right, because JKR was lying to us? HOPING is different from BELIEVING!

The Insider recently aired some brand new footage from the fifth Harry Potter movie, including a thrilling look at the Occlumency scene with Harry and Snape.

Additionally, in KABC's report on the recent press junket for the film, they included some new footage from the film - Harry talking to Sirius about becoming bad.

UPDATE: CBBC has aired a new interview with Dan, featuring tons of new shots from the movie.

Click here to see these videos!

We now have a ton of new images from this weekend's photocall in London with the cast of Order of the Phoenix. These images, which are larger and high-resolution, feature Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Katie Leung, and Evanna Lynch.

Thanks to EW.ca!

Scholastic has updated its site with the sixth of seven questions they're asking in the lead-up to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Will Voldemort be defeated? The answers available are:

1) Yes and he will die (which is the current favorite)
2) Yes and he will live
3) No way
4) There will be a truce

An interview with Daniel Radcliffe was aired today on BBC Breakfast. Dan discusses the fifth film, his role in Equus, and how he feels about the last Harry Potter book less than a month from release. Click here to watch this video. Thanks to Nick!

A PC demo for the new Order of the Phoenix game is now online. You can find it via the UK section on the right hand side. The video game will be released tomorrow.

At Saturday's OOTP press conference in London, producer David Heyman was asked which character was referred to when they were advised by JKR not to cut it from the movie. Heyman responded with this:

"Jo reads each draft. She reads each screenplay, and she said, 'You know, I wouldn't do that if I were you. Or you can, but if you get to make a seventh film, you'll be tied in knots.'"

"Which character was it?" he was asked, but Heyman teased, "I thought you might ask that. I'm not going to say."

Luckily, however, MTV News caught up with director David Yates yesterday where he submitted. Please hightlight below to see what he said because it contains Book 7 spoilers:

--->“It was Kreacher, actually. We took Kreacher out, and Jo said, ‘Listen guys, you don’t have to put Kreacher back, but I’m just telling you, if you want to kind of keep a thread going for six and seven, you might want Kreacher to come back.’ She basically told us Kreacher plays a role in Seven, in a sense. She hinted. We thought about it for five seconds, and he came back.”<---

Read more on this here (link contains spoilers).

ComingSoon.net has posted their extensive report from the set of the fifth Harry Potter film. It includes a general article on the sets and interviews with Dan Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Matthew Lewis, David Barron (producer), and Stuart Craig (set designer).

We now have a bunch of photos showing some of the fifth Harry Potter movie cast in London this weekend for the various press conferences that were held. In these photos are Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Katie Leung, and Evanna Lynch.

1, 3, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19

Thanks to DanRadcliffe.com!

On Friday morning, MuggleNet attended a press conference in London for the Order of the Phoenix movie. Present were Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, David Yates (director), David Heyman (producer), and Michael Goldenberg (screenwriter).

We now have the complete transcript of the first part of this conference - with the trio - online here. We'll have the second part up shortly.

Big thanks to Haley, Jessica, Christina, Shelly, Luke, Eloise, Karen, Matt, Leah, Laura B, Rebeca, and Briana for transcribing this!

Several press conferences were held in London for Order of the Phoenix over this past weekend, with another one taking place just this morning. Now videos are starting to pour in - click here to view one from GMTV (with Dan), one from Sunrise (with a variety of cast), and one from Sky News (too with a variety of cast).

Thanks to Katie, and DR.co.uk.

You can now get your results for the third grade of WOMBATs on JKRowling.com.

Let's face it. After producing close to 100 episodes of our weekly Harry Potter podcast, we're bound to run into a couple problems. This show gets off to a bad start in a fun way, but the rest of the episode makes up for it. Here's the proof:

- Greg Porter from XalerStudios.com joins the show.
- A Summer of MuggleCastin'.
- We give a listen to some samples of the OOTP soundtrack.
- What was Bellatrix talking about to Voldemort in the Ministry?
- Could the symbol represent items of the Founders?
- Road to Deathly Hallows: Where are the Horcruxes?
- Diagon Alley, Hogsmeade, Hogwarts, Azkaban, St. Mungo's?
- Road to Deathly Hallows: Who Will be With Who?
- Connections.
- Chicken Soup.

All that and much more can be found on this week's episode! To download, we recommend subscribing through iTunes (just press "Subscribe" after clicking the link). You can also visit the MuggleCast website for complete shownotes, alternate download links, and much more. Thanks again go to our new show editor Nick.

Also: Look for some news on an upcoming MuggleCast summer tour very soon. More details in the next few days...

Tomorrow, Sunrise, a morning television breakfast show, will broadcast a story about the upcoming Harry Potter movie, with the official website sayinging, "We go one-on-one with the stars from the latest Harry Potter installment." The show airs from 6-9 AM Australian EST and on Channel Seven.

If anyone can capture a video of this and send it in, please let us know.

A trailer for the IMAX version of the Order of the Phoenix movie has been posted on IMAX.com. The trailer looks fantastic and contains some new shots from the film.

The Telegraph has an interview with Gary Oldman, who plays Sirius Black in the Harry Potter movies. In it, he talks about his time acting in theatre, what projects he has coming up, and how much he misses spending time with his kids. He also discusses his role in the fifth movie and working with the cast and crew. David Heyman, producer of the Harry Potter movies, said nothing but good things about Oldman:

"A wonderful combination of danger and heart. Gary has a youthful exuberance which is just beautiful. And you feel that he has lived. It's etched all over his face, and etched all over his performance. He brings a real depth and humanity to Sirius Black, who is a complex character. He's been locked up for 12 years in Azkaban prison, and now he's escaped. He is in many ways the father Harry never had."

AOL Movies has a new look at Professor Dolores Umbridge's office from Order of the Phoenix. You can see every detail, including a view from behind her desk and everything in pink!

In a new interview with Ain't It Cool News, Rupert Grint discusses both the upcoming movie Order of the Phoenix and filming Half-Blood Prince. Concerning the fifth movie, Rupert talks about one of the disappointments he faced:

"I was a bit disappointed when Quidditch didn't make it, but I mean... it's such a big book, there's so much to fit in I can understand why they pared it down.
But I'm kinda hoping it'll be in the next one."

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix comes out in theaters on July 11th.

UPDATE: Ain't It Cool News also has a report from this morning's press conferences with the OOTP cast and crew. It contains information about the fifth and sixth movies, but more interestingly, Book 7.

In the original draft of the screenplay Order of the Phoenix, they had decided to remove a character from the story. Rowling read over the screenplay and said “I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” that they were free to do whatever they liked, of course, but "if you make a 7th movie you’ll have tied your hands."

The report is spoiler-free for those concerned but contains theories from the author.

UPDATE #2: A second interview was also conducted with David Yates. Yates talks about the new movie and the sixth movie as well. In the interview he discusses the relationship between Dumbledore and Harry:

"It’s a very different dynamic this time because there’s a lot more between Dumbledore and Harry. I think we’ll be alright on this one. I’ve got a good feeling."

He has also said that he has "talked about" coming back for the Deathly Hallows movie as well.

JKRowling.com has indicated that the final WOMBAT results are "in the post." This means you can find out how well you did on the third and final WOMBAT soon!

Thanks to those who emailed!

Warner Bros. has released a number of new Order and the Phoenix stills. Among these new images are: a new look at Kreacher, Luna and Harry with a thestral, Trelawny and McGonagall, and Dumbledore's Army at the Department of Mysteries.

You can find all of these and more in our gallery.

Thanks to HPANA!

The seven US contest winners were announced on Scholastic's website today. These lucky fans will fly out to London to attend "J.K. Rowling and the Moonlight Signing" at London's Natural History Museum on July 21, 2007. They will receive a copy of the US edition of Deathly Hallows as well as hear a reading from Jo herself. Congratulations to those who won!

In a press release yesterday, Wal-Mart announced its plans regarding the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. All of Wal-Mart's 24-hour stores will be holding celebrations on July 20, which will include trivia challenges and giveaways.

Senior Vice President Andy Barron commented on the release:
"Harry Potter book release weekends are very exciting for fans and we expect the July 20 weekend to make literary history.... We are committed to the best price and plenty of copies, and want to create a purchase experience our customers will enjoy and remember that weekend."

Wal-Mart also announced "Make the Pledge," a campaign to keep their stores spoiler-free. More than 1 million Wal-Mart associates will be asked to take the pledge. For those of you who want to preserve the magic and not spoil the story for others, please show your support at this link.

Thanks to Emma for the tip.

Is Severus Snape working for Voldemort, or the Order of the Phoenix? Pick your layout accordingly!

MTV News is running a two-part piece on the Order of the Phoenix video game. Click here to see what the U.K. EA Games crew has to say about their role in creating what has been called the most realistic game yet.

The London radio station Capital 95.8 is reporting auditions for two roles in the Half-Blood Prince movie. The producers of the sixth Harry Potter film are looking for two young actors between the ages of 15 and 18 and from the UK or Ireland to play Lavender Brown and young Tom Riddle. Auditions for Lavender will be held on Sunday, July 1st, while auditions for Tom will be on Sunday, July 8th, at the Earls Court Exhibition Centre in London.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is scheduled to be released in the United States on November 21, 2008.

The BBC has a new interview with Bonnie Wright, Matt Lewis, Katie Leung, and Evanna Lynch online now. When asked what his highlight of filming the fifth movie was, Matthew replied:

"I love comedy, I love making people laugh - but what I really loved this year was tackling the emotional side of Neville. That was a big challenge for me because Neville has always been a light-hearted, humorous character and I have never had to do anything as deep and emotional as that before."

Reports circulating online now say that a hacker allegedly broke into a computer at Bloomsbury Publishing Plc. in London and managed to obtain a digital version of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. The hacker subsequently posted what he says are "key plot details" from the book on the Internet. We don't believe it.

Bloomsbury has told us that "there is so much material on the Internet at the moment that people claim is from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, but anyone can post anything on the Internet and we're not confirming or denying these rumours."

REMINDER: While we do not have complete control over what is posted in the comments, you can rest 100% assured that the rest of MuggleNet is, and will remain, a completely spoiler-free website - even in the days leading up to the release.

A new interview with OOTP director David Yates discusses, among other things, how directing the film Sex Traffic was his ticket to receiving the offer to direct Potter.

"I think that's the thing that finally swung them into offering me Potter. It was just a matter of time, I guess, before the right film came along, but I didn't want to do a movie unless the script was really perfect. When the Harry Potter offer came along, it was difficult to turn down."

At that particular time, Yates had not read a single Potter book. "I read the fifth book first, then I went back and read the others, and it was really interesting. I fell in love quite quickly because the characters are great and education is a universal experience."

IGN.com has a virtual look at Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place from the fifth Harry Potter movie. You can take a 360-degree tour and view every detail from the kitchen to the table settings to the fireplace mantle.

Thanks to everyone who emailed with the tip.

People magazine has a new article speculating the fate of Harry in Deathly Hallows. A guide for parents is also provided with tips to help their kids cope if Harry dies.

In response to the question of whether or not JK will kill Harry, MuggleNet webmaster Emerson Spartz is quoted in the article as saying : "I trust JK Rowling. That's the bottom line." This, apparently, after spending 20 minutes on the phone with the writer of the article arguing his case for Harry not dying.

You can find scans of the article in our gallery. Thanks to Jansky who provided us with the scans and for all those who emailed.

Both the Telegraph and the Gazette have posted new interviews with some of the Order of the Phoenix cast.

The Telegraph interview features Katie Leung, Bonnie Wright, Matthew Lewis, and Evanna Lynch. They each talk about their characters in the Order of the Phoenix movie and how their roles in the movies have affected their lives. Bonnie Wright explains why she decided to go for the role of Ginny Weasley:

Why did you first go for the role?
My brother had read the books and told me that I reminded him of the character Ginny Weasley but I didn’t really know anything about it at that point. Then I heard that they were doing auditions and he told me I should go along. I never really realised at that point how big the films would become. I don’t think any of us did.

The second interview, conducted by the Gazette, also contains a question-and-answer session with Bonnie Wright, Evanna Lynch, and Matthew Lewis. When asked about Neville's fate, Lewis answered:

"A lot of people have come up to me and said, 'You're going to die, mate.' Cheers! But I like to think he'll be there fighting to the end. If he does die, I'd like it to be really heroic, saving someone else's life."

The BBC has conducted a new interview with the actress who will be playing Luna Lovegood in Order of the Phoenix. In it, she talks about her favorite book (OOTP) and what she'll be doing for the Deathly Hallows release:

This is my schedule - I get out of a summer course on Thursday night, go to the bookshop, start queuing, queue all day Friday with my biggest Harry Potter fan friends, then read all of Friday night, all of Saturday, and then Sunday is a mourning day.

I guess some people might recognise me in the queue, but everyone is just going to be so excited for the book that they won't care about me.

Edit: It looks like the BBC took the article down for no reported reason. Hopefully the full article will be back online soon!

The door holding the third and final WOMBAT on JK Rowling's official website is now closed. All tests are being reviewed now, and everyone should have their results back within the next few days. We'll let you know when your score is viewable!

Did you hear the news? It's true. For the first time ever, Eric Scull hosts an episode of MuggleCast. We didn't think this would happen until an impossible act of mother nature occurred, so something must've went awry down under. Eric joins Laura and Micah for lots of great discussion, including:

- We discuss Jo's U.S. book tour.
- Laura has a big PO Box update.
- Rebuttals: Opals and the Chronology of Book Covers.
- Does the deluxe edition cover have to be over New Zealand?
- Can Harry transfer his protection from Privet Drive to Hogwarts?
- What are the powers of Hufflepuff's Cup?
- Road to Deathly Hallows continued: Who will live and who will die?

All that and much more can be found on this week's episode! To download, we recommend subscribing through iTunes (just press "Subscribe" after clicking the link). You can also visit the MuggleCast website for complete shownotes, alternate download links, and much more. Special thanks goes to our new show editor Nick... he did a great job. Enjoy!

For those of you who missed us on Fox and Friends (video) yesterday, you have another chance to catch Emerson and me on the tube. This morning around 11:20 AM EST, we'll be appearing on MSNBC to discuss the fate of Harry. If anyone captures a clip of the interview, please send it to us at tips at staff dot mugglenet dot com.

We already appeared on the show around 8:15 this morning and if anyone captured it, please send it in!

Soundtrack.net has an exclusive preview of the entire Order of the Phoenix soundtrack. You can listen to a 30-second clip and view a description of each song.

The soundtrack, composed by Nicholas Hooper, is due to be released on July 10, a day before the movie comes out in the US.

The Scotsman has a new interview with actress Katie Leung. In the interview, she talks about how she got the part to play Cho Chang, how she felt when acting with Imelda Staunton, and how she feels about the infamous kiss with Dan.

"It is supposed to be an awkward moment because it's Harry's first kiss," she says. "So it's very endearing and sweet. I think the director, David Yates, wants the audience to be taken back to the memories of their first kiss."

She also discusses what she plans on doing once the Harry Potter phenomenon has toned down.

In Forbes' annual "Celebrity Top 100," JK Rowling is ranked as being the 48th most powerful celebrity in the world. A person's rank is decided by web hits, press clippings, television coverage, and pay related to that person.

"While Harry Potter fans breathlessly await the final installment of the series, Hollywood braces for the fifth film adaptation, this summer's Order of the Phoenix. DVD sales of Goblet of Fire (2005), the fourth in the series, brought in $259 million. Paperback sales of The Half-Blood Prince hit 1.3 million copies in the last year. Universal Studios says it will build a Potter theme park by 2009."

Also, Dan Radcliffe is ranked at #79 and Emma Watson at #97. Thanks to everybody who emailed.

UPDATE: Thanks to staffer Rosey, video from our appearance is now available right here on YouTube!

Hey all, Emerson and I just received word that our debut on FOX's Fox and Friends has been postponed until Saturday around 9:40 AM EST. We'll keep you posted if anything changes.

If you capture a clip of the TV spot, please e-mail it to tips at staff dot mugglenet dot com.

Also, we'd like to take time now to thank our wonderful sponsor, Alivan's, for providing us with prizes to giveaway on our tour.

Warner Bros. announced today that the Order of the Phoenix soundtrack will be released on July 10th, the day before the release of the movie itself in the US and Canada.

Nicholas Hooper, composer of the OOTP score, said, "I saw the scoring of this Harry Potter film as a great opportunity to work with such important themes on a grand scale. David Yates and I started early, even before filming started, working on such themes as Ministry of Magic, Umbridge, and Voldemort. However, as we came closer to the final cut, the music developed beyond what we had first imagined, so there was that inevitable race against time. My process is one of discovery, rather than having a specific plan. This can be nerve-wracking, but it has its creative benefits."

JK Rowling announced plans today to embark on an "Open Book Tour" of the United States. From her news section:

"In October I will be touring the USA for the first time since 2000. The Tour will include four events, three to be held for schoolchildren in Los Angeles, New Orleans and New York City and one event in New York City for any U.S. Harry Potter fan who wins a ticket through a sweepstakes to be held by Scholastic, my US publishers. At each event, I will read from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the seventh and final book in the Harry Potter series, answer questions about the entire series, and sign copies of the latest book."

Visit Scholastic's Potter section beginning July 30th for information on how to enter this sweepstakes and complete rules.

It was announced this morning on NBC's Today Show that Jo will give a rare television interview about the outcome of Deathly Hallows, as well as her plans for the future, shortly after the book's release. This is scheduled to air in the US on July 26th, July 27th, and on Dateline on July 29th.

Thanks to everyone who sent that in!

UPDATE: UK fans will not miss out, as Jo will also make an appearance on BBC One's Jonathan Ross on July 6th. We'll most certainly have a video of this online shortly after it airs.

UPDATE #2: Another appearance has been scheduled, this time for BBC children's show, Blue Peter on July 20th, just a day before the release of Deathly Hallows. The show will be recorded, however, on July 5th.

JKRowling.com has been updated with the third part of the WOMBATs (Wizards' Ordinary Magic and Basic Aptitude Tests)! Click on the eraser on Jo's desk to get to the door whose "Do Not Disturb" sign has now been removed.

According to the site, "The Grade 3 WOMBAT is the final examination, and the most difficult. Not only is the subject matter much more advanced, but the examination is also more stringently marked. Certain answers will LOSE YOU MARKS, so choose carefully..."

We recommend you try to figure out how to open the door on your own, but for instructions, click here.

Hello from Boston! Ben and I are having a blast on the road meeting all you crazy MuggleNetters. Thanks to everybody who's come out to see us so far - especially Sammy, Cara, Jessica, and anybody else who has given us presents in the form of pineapples, ninjas, rubber ducks... you get the idea.

Tune in to Fox and Friends at approximately 7:40 AM EST on Friday, June 15 to hear us discuss what we think will go down in Deathly Hallows and promote our new book MuggleNet.com's What Will Happen in Harry Potter 7. The book, which we are SO proud of, is currently #2 on the New York Times Children's Bestseller list and there are over 335,000 copies in print. Also, I will be a guest on a Potter Panel on MTV next week - stay tuned for airtimes.

Finally, while this has nothing whatsoever to do with Harry Potter, more than a few MuggleNet staff members are graduating from either high school or college this year, so join me in saying CONGRATULATIONS to Andrew, Ben, Brendan, Dylan, Katie, K'lyssa, Laura, Nick, Rachael, Damon, and Emily!

Jamie is finally back this week on our Harry Potter podcast, and we kick off the episode by playing a cruel trick on the poor English lad. Join Ben, Eric, Laura, Micah, Jamie and me for that, plus:

- Final thoughts on the Harry Potter theme park.
- Lots of discussion about the new Deathly Hallows deluxe cover.
- Is the dragon on the deluxe cover an Antipodean Opaleye?
- One week left to sign up for Pickle Pack!
- National Wear Your MuggleCast t-shirt day is a huge success.
- We start off our "Who will live and who will die" series.
- The premiere of Andrew's new Wizard Rock single!

To download, we recommend subscribing (for free) in iTunes so your computer automatically receives each week's latest show. You can also visit the MuggleCast website for full shownotes, alternate download links, and much more. Enjoy!

As reported previously, on July 21st, JK Rowling will be reading from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows at London's National History Museum, and Bloomsbury opened a contest where 1,700 fans could get the chance to meet Jo and get their copy of Book 7 signed. Furthermore, the first 500 randomly selected winners would attend her midnight reading. This contest is now closed and the winners will be notified by June 18th.

However, a number of other publishers are still accepting entries - Scholastic, Raincoast, and Allen & Unwin - though these will also be closing soon.

Good luck to those who enter.

Scholastic has posted the fifth of their seven pressing questions about Deathly Hallows leading up to the release of the book: Where are the Horcruxes?

A downloadable bookmark with this question can be found here.

A new article examines how some major retail chains have implemented huge discounts for the last Harry Potter book, causing them to earn minimal profit. According to the article:

"They are literally not going to make one penny out of the book. It is stupid -- just throwing money away... The world has gone mad.

"Retailers try to make up the shortfall by marketing loyalty cards, which they hope will entice shoppers back into their store."

The track titles for the Order of the Phoenix movie soundtrack have been posted on Amazon. The soundtrack can be purchased on July 10th.

1. Fireworks
2. Professor Umbridge
3. Another Story
4. Dementors in the Underpass
5. Dumbledore's Army
6. The Hall of Prophecies
7. Possession
8. The Room of Requirements
9. The Kiss
10. A Journey to Hogwarts
11. The Sirius Deception
12. Death of Sirius
13. Umbridge Spoils a Beautiful Morning
14. Darkness Takes Over
15. The Ministry of Magic
16. The Sacking of Trelawney
17. Flight of the Order of the Phoenix
18. Loved Ones and Leaving

In a new interview, Harry Potter movie producer David Heyman discusses how he "can't wait" for the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. On his life post-Potter, he says:

"It's a combination of sadness and excitement, I think—for Jo, and for all of us. This world has become a huge part of millions and millions of people's lives. We all love it so much, and I think, afterward, there will be a little hole in our lives for a while."

The official Order of the Phoenix website now features a brand new Death Eaters area which allows you to view masks from the film and create your own! From Warner Brothers:

To get started, download the ‘Death Eater Art Kit’ which contains some items you might find useful, or create your work entirely from scratch. Register to post your artwork on the site. Your art can be rated, downloaded, embedded on your blog or you can send it to a friend.

Upon download, we learned that the Art Kit includes lots of templates, textures, borders, and frames! Definitely a cool little package to use if you want to make your own mask.

Starting today, Harry Potter fans have the chance to win a free copy of the game for the Wii by signing up for the Harry Potter newsletter through the EA.com homepage. To enter, find the Harry Potter promotion in the main flash box, and click "Sign up" to enter your information.

Also, IGN has posted a video of several OOTP cast members recording audio for the in game dialogue. Thanks to everyone who emailed.

MuggleNet's own review of the video game will be released shortly. The video game will be released on June 26th!

From July 6th through July 8th, ABC will air the first three Harry Potter films, and feature never-before-seen clips from the Order of the Phoenix film. Sorcerer's Stone will air at 7:30 PM ET on the 6th, Chamber of Secrets at 7:00 PM ET on the 7th, and Prisoner of Azkaban at 5:00 PM ET the following day.

We hope to have the new OOTP footage aired online shortly afterwards.

MTV has released an article covering all aspects of the growing music genre in the Harry Potter fandom known as Wizard Rock.

The article mentions well-known bands such as Harry and the Potters and Draco and the Malfoys. It goes on to say:

"Fans of the Harry Potter books and movies have done something magical — and practically unheard of — with their devotion: They've turned it into song. Yes, there have been songs inspired by other cult books and movie series (think Led Zeppelin and "Lord of the Rings"), but wizard rock isn't a song here or there or even a concept album. It's become a genre."

Gallimard, the French Harry Potter publisher, has announced that the French translation of Deathly Hallows will be released on October 26th.

It will be titled Harry Potter et les Reliques de la Mort ("Harry Potter and the Relics of Death"), will consist of around 850 pages, and retail at €26.50.

Electronic Arts and Warner Bros. Digital Distribution have announced a Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix video game specially designed for mobile phones. The game is being developed at EA Mobile's UK studio and is expected to be available from UK cell providers beginning on June 15. The game won't be available in the US until June 26.

"We're thrilled to deliver Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix for mobile," said Travis Boatman, vice president worldwide studios at EA Mobile. "Our teams worked diligently to create a visually rich, immersive mobile game that is faithful to the Harry Potter universe. We believe our consumers will love taking the experience with them wherever they go."

You can read the official press release here.

We now have 64 new scans from the Order of the Phoenix sticker book. The scans include brand new shots of Percy, Luna, Umbridge, the Order, and much more.

UPDATE: We now have three new low-res stills:

- Harry and Dudley in an alleyway
- Moody and Tonks
- Dudley retching, Harry watching

Thanks to Portkey.it and UHP!

The American Harry Potter illustrator, Mary GrandPre, recently spoke in an interview about her coveted job and a little about the Deathly Hallows cover. On whether people pester her for inside info on the books, Mary says: "Not really so much. I think people just know that I can't talk about it."

She says the cover of Book 7 is probably her favorite and thinks "it's fun to see the reaction from people. The fans that are really diehard fans look very closely at the artwork.

"I try to make everything have a meaning. There is a reason why something is in the illustration. I don't just put it in because it looks better. It really does have to have a meaning or part of the story has to support it."

Thanks to those who emailed in.

JK Rowling's official website has been updated to wish Draco Malfoy a Happy Birthday for June 5th.

It's all about the recently announced Potter theme park on this week's episode of our Harry Potter podcast! Luckily for us, Laura has visited Universal Studios several times. We take advantage of her knowledge and analyze what this park means for the area, the fans, and the executives.

To download, we recommend that you click this link and then press "Subscribe" so that iTunes will automatically download each episode for you. You can also find a low-bandwidth version of the show, complete shownotes, and alternate download links over at the MuggleCast website. Enjoy!

Hey guys, the tour has been going great - Ben and I are finishing up the last two events on the West Coast leg of the tour and catching the red eye to Chicago Tuesday evening to start the East Coast leg. Thanks to everybody who has come out to support us!

We recently added another event, scheduled for tonight, June 4, at 7 PST.

Danville Village Theatre
233 Front Street
Danville CA 94526
For information: 925-837-4889

Click the link below to view a video Mikey put together with clips and information on remaining events.

The Greek translation of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows will hit stores in Greece on November 3rd.

A news station in Orlando recently filed a report concerning the upcoming Potter World theme park, which clues us in on what may be coming. "Industry insiders" have told Local 6 that the centerpiece attraction in the upcoming Harry Potter theme park will be a "ride in Ron's Flying Car."

Additionally, Universal hints "it may need to retheme the Dueling Dragons and Flying Unicorn roller coasters to become part of Harry Potter's world."

As always, we'll keep you updated on these rumors! Thanks to Hannah and her dad for the tip.

Order of the Phoenix was up for "Best Summer Movie You Haven't Seen Yet" at the 2007 MTV Awards, and unfortunately, it lost to Transformers. Thanks to everyone who e-mailed with the update!

According to a new report today, Jo Rowling may have bookmarks bearing the face of missing UK child Madeleine McCann placed in each copy of the British Deathly Hallows.

Madeleine's father says, "There has been some indirect contact with her. We are thinking about getting bookmarks with Madeleine's photographs and getting the author's agreement. Someone like JK Rowling has got massive appeal and a Harry Potter book would be ideal."

You may remember that Jo already donated money to the reward for anyone who can help find this girl.

On Saturday, JK Rowling attended the Raisa Gorbachev Foundation's Second Annual Gala Dinner at Hampton Court Palace. The foundation provides support for families dealing with cancer and raises money for cancer research. Also in attendance were Ralph Fiennes, Emma Watson, Elton John, and Madonna.

As we first reported the other day, Warner Brothers and Universal have announced plans to build a Harry Potter theme park in Universal Studios Florida. The Sun Sentinel is now reporting that the whole project will cost between $230 and $265 million:

Universal intends to spend $230 million to $265 million to create "The Wizarding World of Harry Potter" at Islands of Adventure along with a previously announced Simpsons attraction, according to a filing Thursday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

This year alone, the expenditure is expected to reach from $75 million to $85 million, the filing said.

The article includes some more details on the deal as well. Universal must pay Warner Brothers undisclosed licensing fees and the current deal lasts for 10 years (with two optional 5-year extensions).

Scholastic's Knight Bus, which will be travelling to 37 libraries along the USA's east coast to promote Deathly Hallows, left NYC today. Check out some photos here.

The bus will stop at each library, allowing fans to embark on the bus and enter a video booth to record their thoughts about Harry Potter.