This weekend promises to be one for the record books as bookstores and fans prepare for the en masse release of Harry Potter IV, the next installment in the best-selling children's series by J.K. Rowling. Across the country and throughout the Baltimore area, bookstores are staying open way past bedtime Friday (or waking up extra early Saturday) in honor of "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire."
The secrecy surrounding the much-anticipated release of Book Four rivals that of any shadow conspiracy. The gauntlet has been thrown to find out as much as possible before the big day. Until then we'll give you a daily Potter fix.
Although the specific plot lines are still sealed, we have pieced together some tidbits about the book from various sources - including Internet fan sites (one of which broke the story on the title days before the publisher released it) and Rowling's own online interviews. We're not going to quit our day jobs and join the Psychic Network, but we think these predictions are a sure thing:
Some characters will finally meet the Grim Reaper, as Rowling has designs on making the series a little bit darker. She says it's likely the reader will only care about one of the deaths.
We meet our first female villain, Icicle.
Harry, now 14, becomes interested in the fairer sex. Rowling says everyone falls in love with the wrong person.
The Quidditch World Cup is set to be played the summer before the kids come back to school and will feature a match between Ireland and Bulgaria.