missed it by that much

With each passing day, avoiding Harry Potter information has become slightly more difficult. When we stopped at highway rest areas on Thursday, it was tempting to pick up a USA Today and read the front page interview with J.K Rowling. Fortunately the headline warned that the article would reveal Harry's fate. We decided to wait and read the interview online after finishing the book. During my limited time on the Internet this week, I've been careful not to click on any news stories about Potter or Rowling. Instead of turning on the radio, we've been listening to the audio book. We're now up to chapter 32, which means we should finish the story tomorrow. I did allow my favorite radio station to break through my media embargo. Since we were within range, I could not resist the urge to tune in to WLNG in the hope that Paul Sidney would be doing a remote broadcast on "92 point fun" in glorious mono. I knew that there was virtually no chance of hearing a mention of Harry Potter on their air.

It was not the media that penetrated our cone of silence. We had a visit with some friends of the family tonight. They have all finished reading the book. Before dinner my wife and I were still early in chapter 31. One of the friends deadpanned, "Oh has (blank) died yet?" I think he was only kidding but the very fact that he joked about it tells me that (blank) probably won't die in the book, thereby spoiling the ending a little. After everyone left, my wife and I listened to the rest of chapter 31. Of all the characters in jeopardy during that chapter, we knew which one was safe. If you're going to joke about the ending of a Harry Potter book, at least make it completely implausible.