Harry Potter

If fans can get the image of Daniel Radcliffe and a horse out of their heads, they'll be excited to learn the following:

Author J.K. Rowling has announced a released date for the final tome in the Harry Potter series.

7/21/07.

On that date, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows will be more sought after than those elusive Jayden James Federline pictures.

Meanwhile, the next Harry Potter movie hits screens this summer. It's gonna be a magical few months.

Literally.

What does a boy wizard do near the end of his magical run?

Make intimate friends with a horse, of course.

Seen here, Daniel Radcliffe is doing just that, but don't get the wrong idea. It's a promo picture for his London stage debut in Equus. It's not a new fetish. That we know of, anyway.

With Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix set to hit screens this summer, the movie's star has been expanding his acting chops in plays.

Meanwhile, fans fear co-star Emma Watson won't be expanding her acting chops at all in the next film adapation of the popular book series.

Author J.K. Rowling hasn't commented on either development yet. But that may be because she's too busy counting all her money.

As screen shots from the latest Harry Potter movie hit the Internet, we've uncovered more news about everyone's favorite young wizard.

The final book by author J.K. Rowling (pictured) will be called: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows.

Rowling's U.S. publisher, Scholastic, Inc., released a brief statement Thursday announcing the name of the world's most anticipated children's book, the finale to her phenomenally popular fantasy series.

No publication date or other details were offered. We're also not sure if Daniel Radcliffe has found a date just yet. But Rowling did have the following to say:

"I'm now writing scenes that have been planned, in some cases, for a dozen years or even more. I don't think anyone who has not been in a similar situation can possibly know how this feels: I am alternately elated and overwrought."

Fans have had a similar reactions to news that Emma Watson may not stick around to finish the film series of these books. We'll keep you updated on that situation as we learn more.

Evidently, magical powers can only take you so far. They may help Harry Potter escape trouble, but it's another story when it comes to finding a date.

"It's always a worry, yeah," Daniel Radcliffe, 17, told Newsweek in its new issue about girls who want to go out with him simply because he's famous, "but I've got pretty good instincts for people.

"Normally, the people who are not genuine are the ones who say, 'You know I'm not just being your friend because you're Harry Potter, right?' And it's like, 'Uh, fine, but if that's the case, why do you need to say that?' "

The young actor makes a point. It's one he can share with Zach Braff, as well.

Radcliffe, who is shooting the fifth Harry Potter film, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, will appear next summer in the London stage revival of the Tony-winning drama, Equus. He'll play a troubled young man obsessed with horses â€" and he'll have a nude scene.

Calm down, Nicky Hilton.

"Part of me wants to shake up people's perception of me, just shove me in a blender," he said. "It's a really challenging play, and if I can pull it off â€" we don't know if I can yet â€" I hope people will stop and think, 'Maybe he can do something other than Harry.' "

Radcliffe began playing Potter at age 11, but doesn't look back at his earlier films.

Ultimately, he said: "I would like to look back at them in 10 or 20 years and possibly cringe a little bit. I wasn't an actor when I was 11, really. I was just a kid having the time of his life."

Lindsay Lohan can certainly relate to that.

Forget Harry Potter pictures for a minute - what about Harry Potter music?

As fans wait for Order of the Phoenix to hit theaters next summer, they can rock out to groups based on J.K. Rowlings' sensation.

There's Harry and the Potters, Draco and the Malfoys and The Hermione Crookshanks Experience, all ensuring that kids can read and listen to tales about their favorite magician. We can't speak on the talent of these bands, but we can guarantee they sing better than Brooke Hogan.

The pioneers and most successful in this new music genre is Harry and the Potters, a band comprised of two brothers whose mantra is everyone should read books and then pick up instruments (regardless of whether or not you can play) and sing about it.

The band plays around the Boston area where it's based, but in the summer takes its tour on the road ... to libraries. This past tour they invited Draco and the Malfoys to join them.

And based on this Kevin Federline picture, maybe they actually came cross Britney's husband reading in one of these barracks of books.

Yesterday, we posted exclusive pictures of the upcoming Harry Potter movie, the fifth in this adored series. So it should be a time of excitement and anticipation for the cast, right?

But Emma Watson isn't sure if there's a future for her beyond Order of the Phoenix.

As negotiations carry on to bring back the full lot of actors - including Daniel Radclife (Harry Potter) and Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley) - the 16-year old who portrays Hermione Granger won't commit just yet.

"Every film is such a huge production, and it's a long time," she said.

Adding to the confusion for this talented actress is her recent grades on national exams for college: they were nearly perfect. Sort of like the father of Lindsay Lohan on the crazy scale.

But we digress (which is rare). Watson wants to make it clear that she enjoys, and is thankful for, this opportunity. However ...

"Daniel and Rupert seem so sure ... I love to perform, but there are so many things I love doing. Maybe that sounds ungrateful. I've been given such an amazing opportunity, but I'll just have to go with the flow."

While Harry Morton has been receiving a great deal of attention recently, a younger, more magical and popular Harry is anxious to capture headlines again.

Indeed, fans, Harry Potter is almost back. The fifth installment of this franchise, Harry Potter: Order of the Phoenix, hits theaters in July, 2007. But we've got a pair of exclusive pictures from the movie right here and now.

Fans already know two characters will die, but a pair of famous authors pray one of them won't be Harry Potter himself.

John Irving and Stephen King made a plea to J.K. Rowling on Tuesday not to kill the fictional boy wizard in the final book of the series, but Rowling made no promises.

"My fingers are crossed for Harry," Irving said at a joint news conference before a charity reading by the three writers at New York's Radio City Music Hall.

The author of "The World According to Garp" said he and King felt like "warm-up bands" for Rowling, who is working on the seventh and last book in the Harry Potter series.

"I don't want him to go over the Reichenbach Falls," King said in a reference to Arthur Conan Doyle's effort to kill off the character of fictional detective Sherlock Holmes.

Neither writer commented on Lindsay Lohan - but it's safe to assume they are, in fact, hoping for her demise.

Rowling said she was well into the process of writing the final book.

"I feel quite liberated," she said. "I can resolve the story now and it's fun in a way it wasn't before because finally I've reached my resolution, and I think some people will loathe it and some people will love it, but that's how it should be."

Fans of the Harry Potter series, consider yourselves warned: TWO characters will die in the seventh and final installment of the novels. While there's no release date announced for the book yet, this information comes from a reliable sources:

J.K. Rowling.

The author wouldn't name names, but she did have the following to say:

"I've never been tempted to kill him (Harry) off before the end of book seven, because I always planned seven books and that's where I want to go," the author told Britain's Channel 4. "I can completely understand, however, the mentality of an author who thinks 'Well, I'm going to kill them off because that means there can be no non-author-written sequels ... so it will end with me, and after I'm dead and gone they won't be able to bring back the character'."

Could Potter really perish? Or is Rowling just laying a few seeds of publicity a for the final novel already? No doubt it'll need it ...