BOOK 6 ANNOUNCEMENT ON JKR WEBSITE

[Debra]

No: HPFGUIDX 103280

>> Alina:
>> Not Harry nor Voldemort... well at least exclusion is 
>> something. One thing makes me cautious about guessing, 
>> however. JKR told us that in book five we'll have a 
>> female DADA teacher and the fandom exploded with theories. 
>> However, it was a char we've never met before and thus 
>> couldn't possibly have guessed. I get the feeling it might 
>> be similar with the half-blooded prince. Hmmm is it viable 
>> that a vital new character be introduced in the penultimate 
>> book of the series?

> Joj:
> What about Lockhart?  Do we know if he's pure blood or not?  
> I think there's definitly more to him than his vanity.  Plus 
> she set it up in OotP that he's getting his memory back.  
> Having him lose his memory is a good way to hold him off for 
> 4 more books.

Debra:
I don't think she has more in store for Lockhart than his vanity. She 
said she modelled him after someone in her own life, whom she must 
have seen as being purely vanity, as she said he will never guess 
that he was the model for Lockhart, and that he's probably going 
around saying he was the model for Dumbledore or something.

As for it being a completely new character that we haven't heard 
mention of even once: I don't think this is a possibility because 
although we couldn't possibly speculate about the female DADA teacher 
in OP, this character forms the entire *title*. I still think it's 
someone we have *barely* met before, because I think JKR gets so much 
joy out of making the entire fandom go "D'oh!" Some seemingly 
insignificant character, mentioned once in passing.

I think this book will mirror Prisoner of Azkaban in this respect. 
Before PA was released, we had heard of Azkaban in CS, and we 
obviously knew what a prisoner was. However, the actual person who 
was the prisoner of Azkaban was mentioned once in seemingly 
insignificant passing at the very beginning of SS/PS. I think we 
should all go comb our books for names. However, there may be no 
need. Mark Evans was mentioned once in seemingly insignificant 
passing at the very beginning of OP. He only seems like more because 
the entire HP fandom has been quivering with anticipation about his 
last name being Evans. The theories that have come out of this seem 
so real to us that we may have to remind ourselves that they aren't 
canon -- yet.