ASK GEORGE MOORE what he thinks of Harry Potter and he replies with one carefully considered word: “Brave”. You might think there is nothing unusual about a Harry Potter enthusiast saying this, but George’s economy with language is significant. Nine months ago he discovered that he has acute lymphoblastic leukaemia and began to appreciate — perhaps prematurely for a nine-year-old — that courage is an admirable quality.
On Friday George and his mother Terry will travel to Edinburgh Castle, where George will represent The Times at the latest incarnation of the Harry Potter phenomenon — the Harry Potter press conference weekend, which is being held to mark the launch of J. K. Rowling’s long-awaited sixth book, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. George is one of 80 children chosen to represent newspapers from throughout the world and invited to listen to J. K.
Rowling, who, after the stroke of midnight on Friday, will read the opening chapter of Harry’s sixth adventure. She will also present a signed copy of the new book to each cub reporter, who will then have a day and two nights (excluding the hours occupied by a Saturday night banquet) to read the book before putting their questions to her at 11am on Sunday.
Is George excited? After all, when he became ill he told a friend who asked what his three wishes would be that his first was to meet J. K. Rowling. “I was doing a project with my English teacher and Mum came upstairs and told me about the weekend,” he recalls in the literal way of nine-year-old boys. “And I went wild! Bounced off the wall. Nearly fell downstairs.”
George lives in Hampstead with his parents, both solicitors, his five-year-old brother Joseph and his nanny, Cathy. His mum introduced him to Harry Potter two years ago and he has since acquired several copies of each book (his favourite remains the first) and collected the videos and assorted accessories that are de rigueur for any committed Potterphile. Has he got a wand? “It’s broken,” he replies, and you gather that he wore it out.
George is also fascinated by Harry Potter’s scar, and I wonder whether this interest relates to his experience of becoming familiar with hospitals. He is being treated at the Royal Free Hospital and at Great Ormond Street, whose nurses were asked by The Times to nominate Harry Potter fans for the awesome honour of attending the launch. George’s name was then picked out of a hat.
He is currently undergoing his last block of intensive treatment, which is administered over seven weeks, and will continue to have maintenance treatment for a further two years. A Hickman line in his chest is used for taking blood and having transfusions and chemotherapy, which is also administered orally and through injections into his spine. The treatment makes your hair fall out and makes you sick, George reports, and shows me a photograph taken by his grandfather when he was five hours old. “Is my hair longer then or now?” he asks. “Now,” I am able to tell him.
George does not allow his illness to dampen his enthusiasm for Harry Potter and last week, in the spirit of a cub reporter who understands the importance of research, he committed Harry’s most recent Gryffindor timetable to memory. “On Mondays he has history of magic, double potions, divination and double defence against the Dark Arts; on Tuesday he has double transfiguration, care of magical creatures, herbology . . . I’d like to be in one of the films, maybe as a first year. Imagine having that dirty hat on my head! I’ll be sailing across a lake.”
So he’d like to go to Hogwarts? “I’m going to Hogwarts. Edinburgh Castle [where part of the school was filmed] is Hogwarts,” he points out.
George is interested in my tape recorder and even more fascinated by my shorthand, which he recognises as a secret code and thinks would be useful when asking questions of J. K. Rowling. I am required to translate it back to him, and to explain how it works. “You’re just like Rita Skeeter,” he comments, with reference to Rowling’s merciless tabloid hack of Daily Prophet fame. “She has a fast quill pen and she jots down everything for her articles. I’ll make up my own code.”
So he practices writing Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince very quickly, and begins to talk to himself using words that I don’t recognise. Helpfully, Joseph explains that this is Brother language, which he recognises because he speaks it, too. And now, in the spirit of one who understands magic, George announces that he will transform himself into Harry Potter, and disappears to his bedroom.
His cloak is impressive, though he is concerned that the stripes on his school sweater are red when they should be yellow. He supervises his mum as she applies a lipstick scar to his forehead (she is very skilled at this) and is satisfied only when the scar is big and impressive.
“Do you know how long the sixth book is?” he asks. “It’s all secret, isn’t it,” I say. “It won’t be a secret on July 16,” George replies, with the authority of one who knows that next weekend he will be as close to Harry Potter’s world as any muggle can get.
HARRY POTTER: THE MYSTERY DEEPENS
The Times asked young Harry Potter fans to imagine what SHOULD happen to the young wizard next. Here are some of the best entries:
I think Ron and Hermione will get together — reading between the lines of my favourite books, it definitely says so. I also think that some muggles are going to learn about wizards — if the wizarding world is really at war then some of them are bound to notice.
Laura Christofis, 13
Ron Weasley should die! J. K. Rowling should be ruthless and kill off one of the main characters. Lucius Malfoy, Draco’s dad, should kill him. Lucius is a death eater and there has been rivalry between the Malfoys and the Weasleys throughout the books. Before Ron’s death two romances should develop — Hermione and Ron, and Harry and Cho Chang. Harry and Ron should win the Quidditch cup together for the first time. I think the new defence against the Dark Arts teacher should be Dumbledore.
Callum Henderson, 14
Harry will find out that Voldemort is half wizard blood and half prince blood. When Harry returns to Hogwarts there is a new student called Von, who is a very mighty king wizard’s son. What everyone doesn’t know is that Von is Voldemort’s nephew and wears a necklace containing yellow blood which is the blood of a prince. When Von takes it off, he turns into a dark wizard and joins Voldemort. Once they have the blood of the prince and make a potion, they both drink it and are almost unstoppable unless Harry performs a spell. Then Voldemort and Von are both sent to a mystic place where they are trapped forever and Harry is awarded a bravery broomstick.
Jenna Self, 8
The opening chapter: Harry sat in his room in Privet Drive and worried about Dumbledore. Why had Fudge put him in Azkaban? What had he done wrong? Nothing, it was just Fudge’s jealousy. Although it was horrible to think of a cheerful, good-natured wizard, who had done nothing wrong, in a murderers’ prison, Harry knew that Dumbledore was strong-minded and wouldn’t give up easily to insanity and treachery. Hopefully Harry could think of a complex plan to get him out of there, but he would need a clever adult to help. Maybe Lupin or Moody, or someone he could trust? He could also do with Hermione’s brains and Ron’s support. All he needed was more time to think.
Harry Howard, 10
