LITMIR.BIZ

       Dark Arts, The

      Black magic. Professors of Defence Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts have a rather hapless time, the position being something of a poisoned chalice.

       Dark Mark

      What the Death Eaters have burned into their arms as a sign of allegiance to Voldemort. It also acts as a form of communication from Voldemort and appears when they’ve killed someone.

       Death Eaters

      Disciples of Voldemort who help him back to strength after the spell he casts on Harry rebounds on him. After his downfall they claim they acted against their will. If we wish to pursue a Nazi analogy (see Durmstrang) we will remember many of Hitler’s high-ranking disciples did likewise at their trials after World War 2.

       Deathday party

      Nearly Headless Nick organises this. What else would a ghost have—especially if he’s 500 years old?

       Deathly Hallows, The

      In the context of Rowling’s final book, the eponymous terms refer to items bequeathed by Death to three wizards who cheated death. These are an Elder Wand, a Resurrection Stone and an Invisibility Cloak.

      Rowling says this is her favourite of all the books and also the one that was most difficult to write. She confessed to Jonathan Ross in an interview that she gushed tears after killing off one of her ‘big’ characters in it. (Although she didn’t say which one.)

      Such was the secrecy surrounding the book that it was rumoured to have been printed in the dark at Bloomsbury to stop printers having a peek at its contents. It was launched at 12.01 a.m. on 21 July 2007 in bookshops everywhere. Many shops organised extravagant displays for the occasion and had theme parties. Some fans were so anxious to find out what happened to the characters that they read their book throughout the night and finished it by dawn.

      Every bookshop signed an embargo clause stipulating that none of the boxes of books would be opened until the appointed hour. No cameras were allowed into shops for fear of pages being photographed. Some chapters were leaked on a US internet site, and Scholastic threatened legal action as a result. Scholastic printed an unprecedented 12 million copies for its first run. The book takes Rowling’s overall page count to an awe-inspiring 3419 pages, or 1.4 million words.