By MICHAEAL BOYLAN
mboylan@thecitizennews.com

Has it been a while since you read about a good Quidditch match?

Are you dying to find out what's new with Professor Dumbledore and the rest of the staff at Hogwarts? Do you even know what either of the previous two questions means?

If the answer is yes, then you know that the new Harry Potter novel will be released Saturday. If the answer was no, read this article and you'll be caught up.

Harry Potter is a young boy in England. His parents have died mysteriously and he is sent to live with his boorish Muggle (meaning human) uncle, aunt and cousin, who treat him terribly. Eventually, Potter finds out he is a wizard and is sent to attend school at Hogwarts, a school for upcoming witches and wizards.

Over the first three books, Potter befriends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, makes his dormitories Quidditch team, (Quidditch is like lacrosse played up in the air on broomsticks) gets into some mischief and saves the day. The new book, titled “Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire,” promises to be a great read for fans. It is close to 800 pages long, longer than any of the first three novels.

The last installment, “Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban” was a fan favorite, offering more chills than the previous two books and delving deeper into the mythology of the characters.

Bookstores all around the country are going crazy. Amazon.com has close to 300,000 pre-orders of the book and has signed an agreement with Scholastic Press to ship the books out July 7, as long as none of the books are delivered before July 8. Amazon also promised free express delivery to the first 450,000 pre-orders received.

Barnes and Noble Booksellers in Fayetteville will have a Harry Potter release party starting at 11 p.m. July 7. There will be Harry Potter look-a-like contests, a magic show, prizes and snacks. At midnight, the book will go on sale.

Omega Books in Peachtree City will open at 9 a.m. Saturday, July 8 and will have a drawing for Harry Potter hats.

“We'll be selling a lot of books that day,” said George Duncan of Omega Books. “We have over 200 pre-orders and over 500 books ordered from the publisher. There will be plenty of books available, but nobody knows what will happen until it happens.”

Omega Books sells all bestsellers for 10 percent off the price and many customers at Omega have discount cards which gives them 20 percent off of each purchase.

Until the book comes out, the world will remain in the clutches of Harry Potter fever. And once the dust settles from the thousands of avid readers rushing around to obtain the book, the fever will begin for the next installment and the movie, which is scheduled to be relased in November 2001.

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