New photos from 'Half-Blood Prince'

This weekend, two new photos from Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince have surfaced, one showing Harry standing pensively in a hallway with a stained glass window and the other showing the confrontation between Snape, Malfoy, and Filch at Slughorn's Christmas party. Check them out here, courtesy of Oclumencia!

Update: Three new photos have just surfaced online, showing the trio in the Gryffindor Common Room, in Ron's bedroom and Draco and Snape in a corridor. In addition, there is an already known picture in better quality.

(SOURCE: VERITASERUM: originally posted on 1/6/08)

Buyer of Harry Potter Prequel Seeks to Use Item for More Charity Fundraising

The buyer of the new Harry Potter prequel, which you can read online via this link to Waterstone's or this new link, says he purchased the special note card donated by J.K. Rowling in hopes that he will be able to do more for charity. Bloomberg.com reports the new owner of the Harry Potter prequel note card sold last night at a charity auction in London, England, is Hira Digpal, president of a Tokyo-based investment-banking consulting company, Red-33. The article notes that the new owner "who originally had a closed bid of 50,000 pounds before halving his offer, said he faxed a letter to Rowling's publisher asking for the author's cooperation to use the story in a way that would raise more money for charity. He declined to give details of the proposal. ``Here I am, owning a piece of literary history,'' said Digpal in a phone interview from Tokyo. ``I think I got a bargain. Hopefully, we can raise much more than the sale.''

As we've reported several times previously, this note card featuring a short story involving Sirius Black and James Potter 3 years before Harry was born, along with the 12 other cards from various authors such as Tom Stoppard, Neil Gaiman, Margaret Atwood among others will be published on August 7 by Waterstones, with proceeds to benefit English Pen and Dyslexia Action in the UK. At this time we do not know what other efforts may be made with the card for charity, however pre-orders for the book containing the Harry Potter prequel card are available via this link.

Last night proved to be an exciting time for the auction. Bloomberg continues to describe how Mr. Digpal ended up winning the card, saying "Digpal's bid topped the offer of one of the crowd of 100 guests who attended the event, conducted by Sotheby's auctioneer Edward Rising at Waterstone's branch in Piccadilly. The Rowling lot attracted interest from only one bidder in the room.

``I told them, if it gets past my limit, call me -- wake me up,'' said Digpal, 36, a Briton who received the news that he'd won at 5:27 a.m. ``I was thinking of buying stocks, but the market's been very volatile. It's a good investment for when I kick the bucket in 30, 40, 50 years' time.''

Asked why the auction had been an invitation-only event, without participation from the general public, Johnson said: ``We felt this was the best way to do it. This was a charity auction. It wasn't exclusively about making money.''

(SOURCE: THE LEAKY CAULDRON)

New Harry Potter Prequel Now Online

Waterstone's is set to reveal the entire new Harry Potter prequel contained on the special card that was auctioned earlier tonight in London, England. Update: the entire card featuring the prequel story about Sirius Black and James Potter is now available for all to read via this link. At the link, click "Read Our Author's Stories," then click on J.K. Rowling. Enjoy!

As reported below, the card was sold tonight for 25,000 pounds ($48,855 USD) at a charity event, with the proceeds to benefit English Pen and Dyslexia Action. There is a new photo of the card available here via the Evening Standard, and you can see a video of Lizo from the BBC read a short excerpt where James and Sirius meet two police officers here in our galleries. This card from J.K. Rowling, along with the 12 other cards donated by various authors such as Neil Gaiman, Doris Lessing, Margaret Atwood, and Irvine Welsh among others will be made available in a special book which will be published on August 7, pre-orders available via this link.

(SOURCE: THE LEAKY CAULDRON)

Photos of "Half-Blood Prince" Items at Licensing Expo

A few days ago we first reported on the new products due from retailers and Warner Bros tied into the release of the upcoming Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince this fall. These items were to be displayed at Licensing International Expo currently ongoing in New York, and some new photos from the event are now online. Of interest are much clearer photos of Draco, Snape, Ron, Harry, Tonks and Lupin that were seen previously on those mysterious ads for Opal yarn. In addition are some new products due, including a nice set of water globes, as well as what is perhaps a pensieve replica from the Noble Collection. Other items are new OotP themed bags, books and tees, and much more.

On a related note, another purported photo from HBP has now surfaced, this showing Harry and Ginny hugging. While we do not know if this is from the film or where this came from, we will try to find out more and update when we can.

(SOURCE: THE LEAKY CAULDRON)

Rowling and Radcliffe Make Forbes Celebrity 100 List for 2008

Once again, Harry Potter author J. K. Rowling has made Forbes Magazine's annual listing of The Celebrity 100. Forbes tracks a number of statistics throughout the year, producing this ranking of the most powerful celebrities. Coming in at number nine on the list, J. K. Rowling was ranked behind such names as Oprah Winfery, Tiger Woods, Johnny Depp, and The Police on the 2008 report. Forbes notes the following:

It was wizardry that transformed J.K. Rowling from a destitute single mother on welfare into a best-selling billionaire. Her adventures of teenage magician Harry Potter and his classmates at Hogwarts became a children's literary sensation in 1998 with the U.S. publication of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. It and the six subsequent books have now sold 375 million copies worldwide. The final one, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, has sold 44 million since it was published last July, including 15 million in the first 24 hours.

Actor Daniel Radcliffe also made the list this year. Forbes ranked him number 64 on their list. Both Rowling and Radcliffe were included in Forbes' rankings last year.

(SOURCE: THE LEAKY CAULDRON)

New Harry Potter Prequel Sells for 25,000 Pounds at Charity Auction, Video Excerpt Now Online

Early reports are starting to surface tonight from the charity auction at Waterstone's, featuring the special card from author J.K. Rowling. A new 800 word prequel to the Harry Potter series sold tonight for 25,000 pounds ($48,855) reports Bloomberg.com. The article continues to note the "buyer was an absentee bidder. More than 100 guests attended the invitation-only event, called ``What's Your Story?'' and run by Sotheby's auctioneer Edward Rising at the Waterstone's branch in Piccadilly." UPDATE: As reported previously, one of 13 cards donated for this charity event in London, England, AFP now has more on the prequel involving two of our favorite Marauders set 3 years before Harry was born. The article reports that the prequel story involves Sirius Black and James Potter who "are confronted by two policemen after a high-speed motorcycle chase, and evade the authorities using their broomsticks and magic." ( Editor's Note: A motorcycle! No word if that is indeed the motorcycle of later flying legend, but very exciting business indeed) J.K. Rowling is also quoted in the article as saying "I had great fun writing the card and I'm absolutely delighted that it has raised 25,000 pounds for two such worthy causes." UPDATE 2: Lizo, now from BBC, has a new video report online, where he reads an excerpt of the prequel whichyou can watch via this link. In the excerpt, we hear a bit involving James and Sirius as they are confronted by the two police officers in front of a dark alley.

We are working to get this into our galleries and will continue to update this post as needed. We are working to find out more about the events at the auction, including the contents of the card,which will be placed online tomorrow for all fans to read via this link to Waterstone's. This prequel will also be part of a book that will be published August 7th containing all 13 of the cards, proceeds to benefit charities English Pen and Dyslexia Action. You can pre- order this book from Waterstones (who will ship internationally) via this link. Stay tuned!

(SOURCE: THE LEAKY CAULDRON)

New Image of Harry & Ginny from 'HBP'

A new image featuring Harry and Ginny in a hug from the Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince movie has appeared online.

Thanks to Potterish for the link.

UPDATE: Since Potterish seems to be experiencing some problems you can view the image below.

(SOURCE: HPANA)

Warwick Davis Talks "Deathly Hallows" and "Half-Blood Prince"

Actor Warwick Davis has given a new interview to MTV, where he discusses his role as Professor Flitwick. Warwick Davis addresses his role as the Ravenclaw Charms Professor in the upcoming Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, saying his character is "light relief," and notes “My character seems to get involved in fun stuff now,” Davis said. “I’ve had an immensely enjoyable time again. It’s a real honor to be a part of number 6.”

He also appears to be very enthusiastic about the two films of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows "I think that’s a good idea because when you try and squeeze these quite lengthy novels into a two-hour movie, a two-and a half hour film there is gonna be stuff that’s left out,” Davis enthused. “There’s so much in the last book, I think it’ll make two really good films. It’s worthy of that.” Please note: While this article does not confirm the actor will officially be back for the final films, he does seem quite positive about the role as he joked, “I very much like the scenes with Griphook,” Davis deadpanned recently when asked to name his favorite scene in “Deathly Hallows.” “I think that’s a great character to have involved more in the film.”

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince will be released in theaters November 21, 2008, with production to begin on both "Deathly Hallows" films in February of 2009.

Note: As some noted in the comments, the MTV article originally contained an error regarding the casting of Griphook in Sorcerer's Stone, and this has now since been rectified.

(SOURCE: THE LEAKY CAULDRON)