Dumbledore Dies!?

So ... I love the Harry Potter series. Say what you will about its lack of description, seemingly predictable plot lines, one-dimensional treatment of female characters, sloppy verbiage, and sometimes excessively harped-on themes. You could also feel free to mention the ridiculous amount of overhyping it receives in the media or the fact that the world in which it takes place makes The Lord of the Rings seem plausible by comparison.

If you're being a real bitch, you could even just remind me that it's for children with a 4th grade reading level.

Regardless of all that, I've become yet another victim who falls into the Harry Potter trap every time a new book comes out. Whenever one hits the stands, I have no choice but to let go, drop my life into the hole for a while, and dig myself out page by page. Order of the Phoenix came out and I had it done in 5 days. Half-Blood Prince came out when I was on tour with the Cadets, but upon my return I finished it in three. Follow this pattern linearly, and I'd almost be willing to bet that I'll finish The Deathly Hallows in two full days or less, depending when I start it. To my mind that means it will have to be a Friday or Saturday, cause let's face it ... going into work isn't an option when there's Harry Potter to be read.

The reason I bring this up is due to the extreme amount of coverage on the apparent leakage of the final book's text online. Supposedly someone was able to obtain a copy of the publication, take pictures of each page, and then upload them to BitTorrent. Countless blogs and online news sources are currently covering this situation, many of which contain links that actually lead to the alleged text itself. Combine this leakage, the coverage behind it, and the fact that I won't be able to purchase the book probably until next Saturday (due to work travel), and I think it's safe to say that I'm in a considerable amount of spoiler-related danger. This is a threat I now take seriously, thanks to certain individuals who did their best to destroy the last novel for me.

It was during the summer of 2005, when HPB hit the shelves around mid-July or so. Most of us Cadets who were Harry Potter fans opted to not read it on tour, given that 1. we needed to be able to sleep 2. we wanted to be able to enjoy the book somewhere more comfortable than a raging hot bus and 3. once we started, we'd probably want to skip rehearsal every day in order to read it. To that end I didn't start reading the book myself until the day I got back from tour, and I finished it during late nights at gryphon training (a fact which got me in more narcoleptic trouble than I'd anticipated). The problem with waiting like that, though, was that there were several Cadets who did decide to read it on the bus. Being the fans they were, they also had little hesitance about discussing the book out loud amongst themselves. As more and more people told them to stop talking about it (often angrily), the readers became more and more perturbed with the whole situation. The eventual result was one angry reader who finally screamed "YOU KNOW WHAT? DUMBLEDORE DIES!"

I don't need to tell you that the bus erupted into chaos in seconds.

I won't say that the announcement completely ruined my own reading of HPB, nor did it lessen my dismay upon finally reading the chapters in which his death took place. That's one of the strengths of J.K. Rowling's writing, at least for me- the empathy she is able to build up between her characters and the reader. Knowing Dumbledore was going to be killed did not make his actual demise and subsequent funeral any less impactful or sad. What the announcement did do was place me in a state of heightened awareness for the majority of the novel. There was thus significantly less enjoyment to be found in speculating what certain hints, conversations, or clues might have meant since I already knew who was destined for the chopping block. Any of you who have actually read the Harry Potter books knows that the ambiguity of the story can be half the fun ... you receive only as much information (or misinformation) as Rowling decides to allot you, and the rest will only come in time. That's why the release of DH is being looked forward to with so much enthusiasm; it supposedly answers all our questions. For HPB I lost that excitement of the book in one fell swoop, while en route to Texas on a smelly bus filled with brass players.

To that end, I'm begging anyone who reads this- please do not even hint at the plot of the story around me. Yes, I will be safely stowed on a construction site in Maryland for almost the entirety of next week, surrounded by construction workers who I can almost guarantee do not read Harry Potter, but still ... don't do it. Not this time. I promise upon my honor to return from Maryland and read the book as fast as physically possible so that we may all discuss ad nauseum the death roster, the ending, and why Rowling decided to do what she did. But until then, I implore you from the depths of my soul:

Don't tell me who dies.