Midnight is the witching hour. But midnight on July 16th is the wizarding hour, when the next Harry Potter novel is officially released amidst magic and media fury. So is this a literary event? A celebrity circus? A serious landmark in the chronicles of 2005? For answer, I turned to the blogosphere, to see what's the buzz on the boy wizard.

This is truly a world-wide phenomenon, folks. There are Harry Potter blogs in Spanish, German, and French, of course—but bloggers also focus on the young wizard from Thailand and in Persian.

J.K. Rowling, the series' author, is the world's only billionaire author, and the second-richest woman in Britain (after the Queen), according to the Mirror online. The linked story looks at several other celebrities who've grown from the Potter phenomenon, Daniel Radcliff, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint; and it tracks the actors' growth as the movie versions of Harry Potter novels progress.

Diana Sprinkles uses Harry and his friends as inspiration for her original art. Her images are sometimes reminiscent of animé, sometimes of old drawings in Edgar Rice Burroughs' paperbacks. (You'll know I have permission to use an image from her catalog if it appears in this post.) And dua also borrows creative power to breathe life into Rowling's wand-vendor, Ollivander, with an original story at her Lumos blog.

Ron and Hermoine seem to be linked more and more strongly as the books progress, so it's no surprise there is a blog devoted to them as a couple. These bloggers seem to have Emma confused with her movie role as Hermoine, and likewise with Rupert Grint and Ron. The Magical Three website concentrates on Emma and Rupert as well. A trademarked image shows Emma sporting braces, which leads one blogger to gasp, "Is Hermoine changing her looks?"

To read Hermoine Grainger's dairy, check out The Firebolt, a realistic (if rather breathless) journal with pictures gleaned mostly from the first movie. The blogger does a good job of reproducing the slightly-snotty tone of Hermoine's approach to life.

"Draco Malfoy" also keeps a blog (at a page called potterstinks, naturally), in which he muses about Malfoy Manor, his sisters and his future. For Harry Potter fans, there's not much here, and for their parents, the site uses language J.K. Rowling wouldn't allow to foul her pen—although it seems natural enough from such a nasty wizard as Draco. Don't miss the Comment threads, where Harry and Draco's mother both put in an appearance.

Speaking of people who hate Potter, there is a world-wide anti-Potter mirror to Pottermania. One group names itself TOOPAP, The Organization of People Against Potter. The emotion here is so total, it appears to have overwhelmed the blogger, who can only say "This page is temporarily down due to how much Harry Potter sucks. Please check back in a few days and it will most likely be back up again." In German, the Anti-Potter Clan hosts modified versions of the German book covers, one of which (Harry Potter und der Feuerkelch (Goblet of Fire)) shows Harry's hair on fire.