Harry Potter Fans Start a New Chapter

It was a dark and scary night.

Sleeping bags, pillows and flashlights in tow, wizard lovers camped out Friday night at bookstores from London to Los Angeles, awaiting the bewitching hour when the latest and darkest Harry Potter adventure would be released.

Midnight would be the hour when they could finally sink their teeth into the 640-page tome--752 pages in the U.S. edition--and experience Harry’s latest exploits. Then they’d be able to discover the most frightening secret of all: Which of their favorite characters dies in “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.”

“The books are e-e-xcellent. They capture you,” said Edward Wong, 12, as he waited for midnight to arrive at Waterstone’s bookstore in London’s Piccadilly Circus. “I read late into the night, and when I wake up in the morning, I have the book in my hand.”

Like most fans, Edward said he likes the magic and suspense of the stories. But author J.K. Rowling has said that one of her beloved characters will die in her fourth book. Who does Wong think it will be?

“I don’t even want to think about it. It’s scary,” he said with a shiver.

Booksellers also were shivery--with joy at the prospect of soaring sales. The first three Harry Potter books sold a total of 35 million copies worldwide in 30 languages, and the first printing for the latest book is more than 5 million copies in Britain and the U.S.

“Goblet of Fire” already is the biggest seller in the short history of online book sales, according to Amazon.com’s British Web site, with nearly 400,000 advance orders worldwide mailed Friday for delivery today. The book occupied the top spot on the bestseller lists of the company’s U.S. and British Web sites.

The book’s 3.8-million printing run in the U.S. may be the largest of any new release, according to Debra Williams, director of corporate communications for Barnes & Noble in New York. “We’re expecting to sell over 500,000 books in the first week,” Williams said of her company’s stores.

The sales have been helped, of course, by tremendous hype: Fort Knox-like security surrounding the title and plot of the new book ahead of publication, including delayed foreign editions so the translators wouldn’t talk; bookstore countdowns to publication date to rival Times Square on New Year’s Eve; religious uproar against the “pagan tales” and televised debates about the “worthiness” of Rowling’s fiction; and “I Waited for Harry” T-shirts.

Across the U.S. on Friday night, bookstores were girding for throngs of Harry Potter fans to descend during special post-midnight festivities celebrating the availability of the book. Pajama parties, Potter trivia contests, staffers in costume, and appearances by magicians and wizards were among the events scheduled into the night at various stores extending their hours to 1 a.m. Many planned to reopen early today--some at 8 a.m.--and continue the festivities.

The Mall of America in Bloomington, Minn., created a Potter Town, complete with enchanted forest. In Peoria, Ill., 550 children were expected at a party at the Barnes & Noble outlet.

In Long Beach, Crown Books general manager John Acero said: “Typically, with a good John Grisham book, we expect to sell 300 [copies] within a month. This particular Harry Potter book, we’re expecting that within three days.”

Here in London, Rowling herself was set to continue the promotion with a train trip today from King’s Cross Station--a steam locomotive departing from “Platform 9,” the imaginary platform where Harry leaves for wizardry boarding school each year on the Hogwarts Express.

But Friday night, the schoolboys and the Girl Guides waiting for “Goblet of Fire” at Waterstone’s seemed blissfully unimpressed with the fanfare. They were happy to partake of the popcorn, cake and magic show offered them to pass the time until midnight--it was a giant slumber party in the shadow of the Parliament building and Big Ben.

But it was the book they really wanted.

“I’m a bookworm, and I like Harry Potter best,” said Julia Seal, 10.

“They’re really adventurous and quite scary sometimes. I like that,” said Jamal Williams, 8.

Was he scared now, out at a bookstore in the dark of night?

“Well, you know you’re out with an adult and you’ll be safe,” he said hesitatingly. “But I want to be the first one to get it in my school.”

Blake Hinckley, on vacation from Portland, Ore., begged his parents and younger sister, Allie, to wait just two more hours until the clock struck midnight.

“I am a devoted science fiction and fantasy reader,” said the 12-year-old, a strapping youth sporting braces on his teeth and a navy blazer on his back.

“I heard someone is going to die in the fourth book,” interrupted Allie, 10. “I don’t think it will be one of the main characters, one of Harry’s best friends Ron or Hermione, because people would be really frustrated and upset.”

“Well, I read an article in Time magazine that said this was a more mature version, including some romance,” her big brother said. “Maybe a new character will die.”

“I’ve read all three books 12 times, and in my sleep,” Allie said, one-upping Blake into silence.

While the children were eager to get their hands on the next book, they were mixed about the upcoming release of a Harry Potter film and accouterments--presumably toys, video games, clothes and kitsch.

“I don’t want there to be a movie because everyone has their own idea of what the characters look like,” said Los Angeles tourist Colleen Everett, 13.

“I love reading the books, and I’m going to see the movie,” said Emily Starrs, an 11-year-old student at Christ Church school here. “Some friends of mine at school were interviewed to be in the movie.”

Rowling, a 34-year-old single mother, says she is still amazed by the phenomenal success of her books. Harry Potter has been on the New York Times bestseller list for 100 weeks and on the cover of Time magazine.

The newest installment “is the central book. It is pivotal in every sense. I had to get it right,” the author said in a pre-publication interview.

She said young readers of “Goblet of Fire” will not only find Harry’s hormones kicking in, but also confront death.

“This is the book in which the deaths start. I always planned it this way. It has become a bit of an idee fixe with me. I have to follow it just the way I wanted to write it, and no one is going to knock me off course,” she told the Times of London.

“If it is done right, I think it will be upsetting, but it is not going to be damaging,” she said.

But who will it be? The lovable giant Hagrid? Neville the disheveled lose-everything boy? Or Harry’s friends Ron and Hermione?

At 11:45 p.m., the children at Waterstone’s set out in search of the answer. Down through the darkened floors of books, with balloons, blowers and gummy bears in hand, they made their way to the ground floor.

By the front door, scores of photographers and camera crews waited--a media crush usually reserved for movie stars at a preview. Outside, hundreds of Harry Potter fans formed a line halfway down the block.

At the sales desk no one paid any mind to the stacks of Martin Amis’ “Experience” or Charles Williams’ “Adenauer: The Father of New Germany.”

In witches’ hats and wizard outfits, the children waited.

“Oh my God, I’m so excited,” said Julia Seal, jumping up and down.

Party poppers popped, children squealed. Teenage twins launched a preemptive countdown before they were stopped. And finally, “four . . . three . . . two . . . one,” and out came the carts of books.

“Look how thick it is,” said Yusef Badda, 11.

“This will last us all summer,” another delighted reader said.

And who gets killed? Flipping through the book, she said: “I don’t know yet.”

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Times staff writer Carla Hall in Los Angeles contributed to this report.