I don't know how you people did it. I honestly don't. I just finished The Half-Blood Prince about half an hour ago and already I'm on pins and needles here in sweaty-toothed anticipation of tomorrow. How on earth have you slept these past couple of years? How will I sleep tonight? Wow.

The Half-Blood Prince was by far the best book in the series (with The Goblet of Fire coming in a very close second). What a story! I'm not going to review it here because, well, first of all, I'm two years too late for that. But more importantly, if you're one of the few Muggles out there who have yet to read it, there's really nothing I can tell you expcept: READ IT! Well... read the other five books first, of course. Every single thing you've heard about their greatness is true. The hype is real.

"I am not worried, Harry. I am with you."

Do you remember those words? Dumbledore spoke them gently to his favorite pupil as they came out of the cave together. They resonate with me.

So tonight, I will sleep. And tomorrow, I will wake, and go pick up The Deathly Hallows. Then I will drive to New Hampshire and spend the next week on the lake, reading the final installment in J.K. Rowling's brilliant, heart-wrenching, beautiful, magical series. For the first time, I'll be sharing this experience with readers everywhere. Up until this moment, I have been behind in the game. But no more. I'm here now. And I'm not going anywhere, except with you and Harry, to once and for all defeat the evil Lord Voldemort.

It's really a great feeling to know that you'll be reading the same words as countless other people around the world tomorrow isn't it? How often does this happen? Not as often as it should. We're all going to be connected through Harry. We're all going to share his experiences one last time, together. I'm going to be thinking about you all when I crack the book open for the first time tomorrow. And then... well, then...

I will not be afraid. I will not worry. Because I will be with Harry. As will you, dear friends.

Happy reading.

2 days till the last Harry Potter book! Woo!

Until then, get your fill of Harry Potter by seeing the newest movie, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. You can even read an interview with the director here.

I would definitely recommend this movie. Before I get into why though, I have a confession to make. This is really hard to admit, so go easy on me. Deep breath ... OK, here goes. I, a Weekly Reader editor and strong advocate of both reading and pop culture, have never read a Harry Potter book. Never even had an interest to do so. I thought it was for kids, and was dragged kicking and screaming to see Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, which I enjoyed. I became hooked on the movies--but never picked up one of the books. I know, I'm so ashamed! On that note, I get a little confused sometimes by plot points in the HP movies. I don't even remember all the characters' names. So please, keep this in mind, and bear with me.

So back to the movie. If you were hoping for a colorful game of Quidditch or some of those fun bean things that have all those weird flavors, you're out of luck. This movie is a lot darker and more serious than the other films. But, rightly so. After all, Harry Potter is now a teenager, and as we all know, there is no darker time than when one becomes a teenager.

At the start of the movie, Harry is expelled from Hogwarts because he performed magic in front of his horrible Muggle cousin. But it was in self-defense! Harry must go on trial in order to get back into school. He is also introduced to the Order of the Phoenix, a secret society that is fighting against Voldemort.

However, Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic, doesn't want to believe Voldemort is back. He installs a new professor at Hogwarts: a chipper, pink-attired cat lady named Dolores Umbridge. Despite her cheerful persona, she causes havoc at the school, and as she gets more power, takes more away from the students and faculty. The students are not even allowed to practice defensive magic!

Well, after some moody protests, Harry is convinced to start Dumbledore's Army, an underground band of students who practice spells in secret. Will they be able to stop Voldemort, who we all know is back, and is sneaking into Harry's mind to control him? Will Umbridge destroy Hogwarts? What will come of the prophecy "either must die at the hand of the other, for neither can live while the other survives"? Just who is Bellatrix Lestrange? What's with that girl who can change her hair color (no, seriously, I was really confused)? Well ... I'm not going to tell you. There are spoilers all over the Internet for the new book, and I'm certainly not going to be the one who's responsible for spoiling the movie for you. Go see it!

Seriously, go see it. Despite being dark and scary, there are also tender moments of sweetness. Harry gets his first kiss, Ron and Hermione cast unrequited looks at one another, Luna Lovegood provides deep thoughts among her wide-eyed stares, Harry learns to count on his friends and cares deeply for his godfather Sirius Black. It's chaos planted in familiarity, scary and tender, dark and yet somehow hopeful. Just like being a teenager.

That's right, baby! Only 3 days to go!

There's Today
There's Thursday
There's Friday

And then there's Harry Potter day! Yah!

Can you handle it? If I can offer up a little advice, you should probably just take it one breath at a time. And then... after only about 60,000* breaths or so Deathly Hallows will be in your eager hands.

Me? I've got about 200 pages left now in Half-Blood Prince. Can I tell you that I have a love/hate relationship with the way Ms. Rowling writes ALL her books? On the one hand, I love the mystery of it all. I love how we never know what's going on behind the scenes until Harry, Ron, and Hermione know. It's like, we aren't readers, we're wizards-in-training, right there with them every step of the way. When Harry gets under his invisibility cloak, our hearts beat just as fast. When Hermione and Ron start slinging hurtful insults at each other because they can't deal with how they really feel, we want to step in and show them how dumb they are being. We ride the broomsticks, too. Don't we?

And yet... I absolutely cannot stand the fact that I have no idea what the heck is going on! What's Snape really up to? What's Malfoy been doing this whole time? Why is Dumbledore's hand burned? When is the next Voldemort encounter going to jump out at me and scare me to death? I can't take it! I need to know! Turn the page! Turn the page! Turn the page!!!

I gotta go. I'm taking this thing way too seriously. (Or not seriously enough??)

 *Totally a made up number. What do I look like, a Doctor?

Oh my!

With only 4 cruel July days to go, Muggles everywhere are freaking out! Everywhere I turn, it's Harry Potter this and Harry Potter that. Things are quite different than they were just a couple of weeks ago when I posted this. Now, there are all sorts of magical stories in the news.

For starters, the new film, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix cleaned up at the box office over the weekend. Anyone who has read this book knows it is darker and more intense than its predecessors. Actually, things really stopped being "fluffy" at the end of The Goblet of Fire. Let me tell you something, that scene in Goblet where Harry confronts Voldemort and about a dozen death-eaters is probably one of the scariest things I've ever read. But I digress...

In China, there are "Harry Potter knock-offs" floating around. What are they exactly? They are poorly written books that use the characters of J.K. Rowling's epic series and place them in unbelievable scenes. They are counterfeit novellas full of phony plots that in no way at all are affiliated with the real Harry Potter. From what I've heard though, a lot of people over there in China really dig 'em. So I guess they aren't bothered by the whole copyright infringement thing. Me? I'm a purist. I need my books authentic. There's just no substitute.

I'm about halfway through The Half-Blood Prince right now. These kids have really grown up, haven't they? Ron's making out with Lavender Brown but really, he wants to "snogg" with Hermione. It's sooo obvious, Ron! Even Harry sees it! Of course, Hermione seems like she's got the hots for Ron as well. Meanwhile, Harry's wandering eye has landed on Ginny, Ron's younger sister! Uh oh Harry. Don't you know it's "pals before gals?!" I hope this doesn't get out of hand. But ahh ... young love. The heart wants what the heart wants, does it not, my friends?

On an unrelated note, our dear old blogger friend, Sandhya told me about this new fad called "wizard rock". Rather than trying to explain it to you, you can read the NPR article on it by clicking here. It seems pretty wacky and I like it.

That's it for now on the HP front. Wish me luck in my quest to finish book 6 by Saturday.

Peace.