A big day for 'Potter parent'

'Hallows' release has Obamas on full alert

BOCA RATON, Fla. -- Barack Obama is the ''Harry Potter parent'' who has read all six books about the boy wizard's adventures with his older daughter, his wife said.

Michelle Obama said the Illinois senator and Democratic presidential hopeful has read the books aloud with 9-year-old Malia and saw the latest movie, "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," with her last Sunday.

Both are awaiting the release of J.K. Rowling's seventh and final book in the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, at midnight tonight. But finding time to read won't be easy, she said.

''The challenge will be scheduling Harry Potter reading time in between Iowa and New Hampshire and fund-raising, but I guarantee you they will figure out a way to do it,'' Michelle Obama said. ''Harry Potter is huge in our house.''

She wasn't sure how the family would get their copy of the book.

''He handles all of that. That's one of those things, I'm like 'You are the Harry Potter parent,' '' she said.

AP

EDINBURGH, Scotland -- Harry Potter's life hangs in the balance. Millions of fans are holding their breath. Meanwhile, his creator is baking a cake -- and keeping her secret.

At midnight tonight, readers around the globe will learn the schoolboy wizard's fate with the publication of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the seventh and final book in J.K. Rowling's fantasy series. Will Harry defeat his evil nemesis, Lord Voldemort, and restore order to the wizarding world? Will he die in the attempt, as many fans fear -- and as Rowling, an expert narrative tease, has hinted?

''Harry's story comes to a definite end in book seven,'' is all she will say as she serves up tea and sponge cake in her comfortable Edinburgh house. Writing the final words of the saga felt ''like a bereavement.''

That sounds ominously final. So have we really seen the last of the staff and students of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry?

''Because the world is so big, there would be room to do other stuff [about Hogwarts],'' Rowling says carefully. ''I am not planning to do that, but I'm not going to say I'm never going to do it.''

Rowling is enjoying the absence of pressure from publishers and fans clamoring for the next installment in Harry's adventures. And she's reveling in the chance to focus on normal life with her husband and three children.

But after finishing the last book, ''I felt terrible for a week.

''The first two days in particular, it was like a bereavement, even though I was pleased with the book. And then after a week that cloud lifted and I felt quite lighthearted, quite liberated."

As for the future, she says she has no plans.

''I can never write anything as popular again,'' she said. ''Lightning does not strike in the same place twice.

''I'll do exactly what I did with Harry -- I'll write what I really want to write."

AP

ON CRITICISM FROM CHRISTIANS:
''I had one letter from a vicar in England -- this is the difference -- saying would I please not put Christmas trees at Hogwarts as it was clearly a pagan society. Meanwhile, I'm having death threats when I'm on tour in America.''
ON FAN-WRITTEN FICTION:
''I never read fan fiction, because you do feel ... as though they've come into your house and started moving your furniture around.''
ON MOVIE MERCHANDISE:
''I've said a couple of times, 'Yeah, I hate that.' The funniest one ever -- it was a product proposal that was sent to them -- was a Moaning Myrtle lavatory seat. We've got the plans for it framed in the office loo.''
ON THE FINAL CHAPTER:
''I allowed everyone to believe it was in a safe, but I've been losing that on and off for years. I lose notebooks left, right and center. I've left things in cafes. I've been quite careless with everything, looking back.''