Rumors, anyone?
August 18 2002

When there's little reliable information available, where do you turn? The Internet, of course.

And when it comes to Harry Potter, it only seems like there are as many Web sites devoted to him as there are pence in J.K. Rowling's bank account.

Some of the Web sites are imaginative, others boast impressive effects, all are geeky.

And virtually all of them retail rumors about what's going to happen in the missing book five, reportedly titled Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and beyond. It's worth noting that in several instances in the past, they've been right. Given the sheer volume of surmising, it's hardly unexpected that a guess or two gets lucky.

Book Five

Harry tries to kill Voldemort, but fails; Hermione is made a prefect; Hermione and Ron will start dating; Harry and Cho Chang, the cute Quidditch player, will start dating; characters will fall in love with partners wrong for them; we'll learn more about Harry's parents and why Voldemort murdered them; more people will die, possibly including the Dursleys, Harry's odious Muggle foster family.

The Order of the Phoenix is a council formed before Harry's birth to combat the dark forces embodied in Voldemort; Harry, Ron, and Hermione are tapped to replace three Phoenix members killed by the Dark Lord.

Ron will discover that he can read other people's dreams; Mrs. Figg will be the next Defense of Dark Arts teacher (a post that has so far proven hazardous); Harry will visit Azkaban, the wizard prison; Professor Snape will go into hiding from Voldemort.

We'll learn why Harry has to leave Hogwarts and spend the summer with the Dursleys each year; also why some people turn into ghosts when they die, but others don't; Dumbledore will fire the Dementors and bring in giants to guard the school; Harry will go to live with Sirius Black; the book will not be as long as Goblet of Fire (awwww!), but will be as dark and scary (yaaaayyy!).

Book Six

Looking further into the future, book six will be titled Harry Potter and the Green Flame Torch, or Harry Potter and the Dark Witch, or Harry Potter and the Pyramids of Furmat, or Harry Potter and the Chariots of Light. Yeah. Definitely. One of those.

More romantic developments between Harry and Cho; Harry finds a healing/killing green torch (or maybe it's his eyes, which are green); Cho dies, the result of a spell by Hermione that goes awry.

Book Seven

Possible titles: Harry Potter and the Fortress of Shadows, or Harry Potter and the Forest of Shadows.

Harry and Voldemort both die; Harry comes back to life because he's the good guy, and the scar on his forehead will heal (good news for the moviemakers, who no longer will have to worry about which side of his face the scar is on); Snape falls in love; a student in Harry's grade becomes a teacher.

Ron will die saving Harry's life; Harry will go back in time to stop Voldemort, but things will go wrong; Dumbledore and Lupin die saving Harry; Harry and the villainous Draco Malfoy team up to fight an evil force; groundskeeper Hagrid dies or otherwise goes missing; Lupin rids himself of the werewolf curse.

The speculation, growing weirder and less likely, continues practically ad infinitum.

Copyright © 2002, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

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