I can't stand knowing this is the end of Harry Potter. Is there no hope for more books? What would they be about?
—Blythe, Massachusetts, via the inbox
Yes, beginning of the end of the Harry Potter series is at hand, with Part I of Deathly Hallows arriving in theaters. But there is hope for more books. I even have a possible number of new books—and a predominant theory or two about who might star.
Even more impressively, I discovered this information in strict muggle fashion, without the aid of any extendable ears, or a cloak of invisibility, or anything!
But I did get some help from Oprah.
In case you missed it, Potter creator J.K. Rowling visited Oprah's show recently, and said something that should give hope to would-be wizards everywhere.
"They're all still in my head," the author said of her iconic characters. "I could definitely write [a book] eight or nine."
Details?
Well, no one knows for sure, especially given that (a) Rowling really, really doesn't like to be rushed, (b) she has some other projects she wants to get out of the way first, and (c) there also has been some talk of Rowling penning the ultimate Potter encyclopedia.
A big book of pretend wizardry. That would be swell. But of course, it wouldn't be a Harry Potter adventure.
So why, then, did Rowling even tease us like that?
Because she might get to those eighth or ninth stories someday, and they would have to say something. But what? Well, full-time Potter watchers have tossed around theories for a while, and now they're sharing them with this B!tch.
The most likely possibility:
The adventures of Potter's children.
"That's the main theory going around right now," says Lizzie Keiper of The Leaky Cauldron news site. "It's the next logical step."
Of course that's not the only theory floating out there, just the one that seems most promising. But there are others, including the possible adventures of Potter's grandchildren, says Rosianna Halse, the news editor at the Cauldron.
"I feel that Harry's own story is kind of complete," she explains to me. "But I change my mind all the time."
There's a third option out there, one that's getting a lot of traction from fans. That, of course, is a prequel—some sort of jape involving the elder Potters or Albus Dumbledore, say. But of all the adult characters in the Potter universe, the one who has truly capture the interest of the fans is...
Severus Snape. Yes. Really.
"There's a very big following for him," Halse tells me. "Many people would like a prequel, and they'd like it to be about Snape."
Is it too early to vote for Jack White to play him?