Book #7 of the “Harry Potter” series, [Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows][hp7], will be released in California in exactly 840 (4\*5\*6\*7) hours, or 35 days from right now. I plan on being one of the first people on the west coast to get my hands on a copy of the book, because I’m eagerly awaiting the answers to some open questions. There are lots of tantalizing bits of *official* information (i.e. affirmed by JKR) on the [debunked rumors](http://mugglenet.com/books/futurebooks/book7/rumors.shtml) and [confirmed information](http://mugglenet.com/books/futurebooks/book7/confirmed.shtml) pages of [Mugglenet][]. Obviously *everybody* wants to know whose side Snape is on, whether Harry or Voldemort (or both, or neither) will survive, et cetera. But I’m also wondering about some more esoteric things. Will Harry get assistance from Dumbledore’s portrait at Hogwart’s? Will Prof. Slughorn be back? And what exactly did he do on the two “perfectly lucky days” he mentioned in book 6? Will that have an impact on the story? Who’ll be the new D.A.D.A. teacher? Will Harry re-form “Dumbledore’s Army”? The [“loose ends”](http://mugglenet.com/books/futurebooks/book7/looseends.shtml) page has many other interesting questions, although some of them have already been answered on the other two Mugglenet pages referenced above.
Hopefully I’ll manage to be [first in line](http://sonicchicken.net/blog/wordpress/2005/07/15/im-1-im-1/) again at Border’s this year! I’m taking the pre-release day off, so I can get up early and score the #0001 ticket, go home and take a lo-o-ong nap, then read the book aloud to my family starting at a few minutes after midnight.
[hp7]: http://www.amazon.com/Harry-Potter-Deathly-Hallows-Book/dp/0545010225/
[Mugglenet]: http://mugglenet.com/index.php
