I’ve got to confess that after the much-celebrated press conference J. K. Rowling held with John Irving and Stephen King to promote their Radio City charity gig, I thought we were done with the story. Turns out, though, that there was a Q&A period during at least one of the readings and, as Harry Potter fansite The Leaky Cauldron reported, Salman Rushdie has big questions about book #7, and “flat-out asked (along with whether Dumbledore was alive) whether Snape was good or bad.” Her answer: Dumbledore’s definitely dead and not going to “pull a Gandalf,” and she really didn’t say about Snape, but maybe good. No word on who’s going to snuff it in the final episode, but apparently there’s something about Aunt Petunia…
In other Potter news, Helena Bonham Carter will play Bellatrix Lestrange in the film version of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.