In this case, the Internet certainly did not kill the literary star.
The Boy Who Lived survived something even tougher than an Unforgivable Curse to become the fastest-selling book in history -- totaling more than 11 million in the United States, Britain and Germany in 24 hours.
The week before the highly anticipated "midnight magic" began at 12:01 a.m. on July 21 spoilers on the Internet, scanned versions of the novel's pages and early book reviews by two U.S. newspapers revealed the book's heavily guarded contents and plagued fans.
The book companies tackled the leaks with the one of the oldest strategies in the book: Deny, deny, deny.
On July 17, The New York Times reported that Lisa Holton, president of Scholastic's trade and book fairs division, said the company was asking various Web site hosts to take the photos down. "We're not confirming if anything is real," she said. "But in the spirit of getting to midnight magic without a lot of hoo-ha, can you just take some of this stuff down."
The company's lawyers were also pursuing the identity of the person who posted the pictures, the Times said.
It's impressive, first of all, that these individuals even got their hands on an early copy of the seventh installment -- something rarer than unicorn blood.
Britain's The Guardian Unlimited said ahead of the launch, the books were kept in guarded warehouses surrounded by barbed wire and extra guards and delivered in vans tracked by satellites. Bloomsbury, the publisher who owns the English language rights outside the US, said only one person had read the entire manuscript. J.K. herself made an impassioned plea on her Web site against the "sad individuals who get their kicks from ruining other people's fun. I want the readers who have, in many instances, grown up with Harry to embark on the last adventure they will share with him without knowing where they are going."
But the Potter fans I spoke to weren't at all shocked by early releases. The consensus seemed to be that there would always be someone who could find a way to get the information into cyberspace. "Curiosity is human nature," was a common refrain. "Everyone wants to be the first to know -- we have been waiting 10 years."
The real affront, I believe, wasn't these Internet wizards, but The New York Times and its decision to review the book in its July 19 newspaper. Other media outlets covered the controversy and said The Times received hundreds of complaints that same day.
As a member of the media, I was personally attacked by a pair of die-hard Muggles, who were disgusted that as a loyal reader since 1997, I would defend a newspaper that almost dimmed the magic. In their minds, it was as bad as admitting that I liked Rita Skeeter or respected the PR-machine, The Daily Prophet.
Secrecy is not a function of the media, I replied. Our job is make as much information as possible available to the public and let them decide what and what not to consume. No one is forcing anyone's eyes open on the spoiler Web site while a Howler screams the text out loud. If someone doesn't have enough self-control to wait until 12:01 a.m. and then blames the media for putting the information out there, I would say they were as stupid as a flobberworm.
I especially can't blame The Times because their prestige or influence had nothing to do with the early procurement of the novel. They walked into a New York bookstore that happened to be disobeying the publisher's embargo and purchased the book themselves. Any member of the public could have done it. There was no special treatment here.
The review didn't tell readers anything a well-informed fan didn't already know. It was common knowledge the book was the darkest of the seven-part series, that people close to Harry died and that there would be a final battle greater than any before.
Don't blame newspapers for fulfilling their role. If you don't want to know, avoid Wikipedia and your loud-mouth friends. Skip the Times review until after your marathon read.