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There are parties all over the world for the release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince tonight at midnight and they will all be jolly and festive in their own special ways. BUT, none will be quite as impressive or regal as the special Potter party at Scotland’s thousand-year-old Edinburgh Castle.
Potter series author J.K. Rowland will read to 70 children from the first chapter of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince there at midnight. The children, who will each receive a copy of the book, won competitions to report on the event on behalf of newspapers from around the globe.
The select 70, between 8 and 14, will arrive in high style, having been transported in 12 carriages drawn by black horses adorned with black ostrich plumes. Fire-eaters and jugglers will line the way to the castle, decorated to resemble the entrance hall of Harry’s school Hogwarts.
Live footage will be shown outside the castle on a big screen for more than a thousand other young Potterians, and the same footage will be broadcast live at Barnes and Noble bookshop in Manhattan, where Potter audio-book actor Jim Dale will host a launch party.
But it won’t be in a castle.
Edited: PC
