Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince News & Info

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What we know so far...

1. ^new Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince will be released in bookstores July 16, 2005.
2. The title of book 6 is Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, not Harry Potter and the Pillar of Storgé.
3. ^updated The "half-blood prince" is neither Harry Potter nor Voldemort (so who is it?).
4. The title was once considered by author J.K. Rowling for the name of book 2, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, which incidentally "holds some very important clues to the ultimate end of the series." She admits "crucial pieces of information" to be revealed in book 6 were actually pulled from that story very early on, as it wasn't the "proper home" for them.
5. The opening chapter, Rowling has stated, is actually reborn from discarded early chapters removed from the first book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. We may see a more explicit scene of Voldemort killing Harry's parents.
6. Harry and friends will be in their sixth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and most in his class will be 16 years old.
7. Book six will be "quite a bit shorter" than Order of the Phoenix (book 5).
8. Mark Evans is nobody important. The fact that this minor character, mentioned only in passing, has the same last name as Harry's mother (Lily Evans, maiden name), is purely coincidental.
9. ^updated Most recent book 6 progress statement from J.K. Rowling:
   
   • 20 December 2004: "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is COMPLETED and has been delivered to my English language publishers..."
   • 15 August 2004: "I am normally like this when I write a book. Usually when I am just over halfway I normally love it... At the moment, I really like how the sixth book is going."
   • 24 July 2004: "Book 6 remains well on track. I still can't say for sure when it will be finished, but I have written a lot and I really like it."

-- Updated 21 December