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Last weekend, hundreds of fans from a large variety of fandoms (from Starwars, Startrek, Supernatural, Disney, Once Upon a Time, to Gilmore Girls and Parks and Recreation, and many more). This year, GeekyCon took place over the July 31st weekend. An important date in the Harry Potter Universe, particularly this year, with the release of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.

GeekyCon and over 800 of Harry Potters biggest fans gathered for Wizard Rock (Wrock) shows–performed by Harry and the Potters, Draco and the Malfoys, Tonks and the Aurors, Lauren Fairweather, The Womping Willows, and many more!–Harry Potter Puppet Pals live performances, panel discussions, Fandom trivia quizzes and Jeopardy, Quidditch matches, live Pottercasts, costume contests and a fantastical Cursed Child Midnight Release Party!

(A perfectly dressed Hufflepuff, Jay from Raging Storm Cosplay, cosplayed Newt Scamander, almost embodying Eddie Redmayne’s chracter! He also won the Cursed Child Costume Contest)

When fans had downtime between activities, attendees were able to peruse the GeekyCon Market place. Booths and Booths of venders gathered to sell various Harry Potter products. GeekyCon attendees could purchase beautifully hand-carved wands (both unique, Harry Potter character wands, and place custom order wands) from Hungarian Wandshop, as well as tshirts, hand-crafted jewlery, Funko POP!s, and more.

One of the best selling products was Ilvermorny merchandise. Vendors created Ilvermorny crested tshirts, Ilvermorny house necklaces, and much more. All designs were beautifully rendered. Many of the GeekyCon staff sported Ilvermorny shirts throughout the weekend.

 

(GeekyCon staff gather for an Ilvermorny T-shirt group picture)

GeekyCon attendees had a chance to learn how to play muggle Quidditch, sign up and play in teams during the Cursed Child Midnight Release Party, and watch the annual GeekyCon Staff vs. HPA (Harry Potter Alliance) staff Quidditch match. This year, for the first time in a long time, GeekyCon Staff won the HPA Quidditch match! They beat HPA 140-60, though HPA successfully captured the snitch!

 

(The GeekyCon Staff take a Quidditch Team picture with the GeekyCon pep band after their win!)

The largest (and possibly best) Harry Potter experience at GeekyCon 2016, was the Cursed Child Midnight Release Party! Hundreds of fans gathered to dance the night away at the Esther Earl ball, that doubled as a raging Cursed Child party. Other activities included team games of Wizard’s Chess, as GeekyCon attendees played a live game of chess, individually taking on the role of a chess piece, and Quidditch. GeekyCon staffers also manned Sorting Hat, Harry Potter Face Painting, Goblet of Fire Cursed Child Predictions, and trivia/games booths for attendees to participate at.

(A GeekyCon Volunteer Cosplays as Professor McGonagall for the Sorting Hat booth!)

GeekyCon attendees also got a chance to parade their cosplay and Harry Potter costumes on stage, as they participated in a Cursed Child Costume Contest. Newt Scamander (pictured above) won the contest.

Then the books came.

GeekyCon staff managed to check out hundreds of people in less than 40 minutes so fans could get back to their hotel rooms as quickly as possible to read!

The next morning, groggy with no sleep but full of new Harry Potter canon from finishing Cursed Child, GeekyCon staff lead panel discussions about different aspects of the new book. The morning began with individual house meet ups between Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff GeekyCon attendees and Staff.

Fans then dispersed gathered into groups to participate in panel discussions covering new characters from Cursed Child, familiar Harry Potter characters grown up, Harry Potter Stagecraft, Potterverse-building, and live Pottercast sessions were held on the main stage to discuss “19 Years Later” (19 years in the Harry Potter fandom) and Cursed Child reactions.

(Hufflepuffs had the largest turn out at the morning House Meet Ups–that loyalty!)

 

Most importantly, GeekyCon staff and attendees enjoyed a fabulous weekend of love and acceptance. If you missed GeekyCon this year, have no fear! GeekyCon 2017 is in the works. Harry Potter fans still have a chance to buy tickets to LeakyCon 2016 in Los Angeles! Currently LeakyCon has posted a Call Out (here) for programming for the conference, saying:

 

 

More information on LeakyCon 2016 and how to volunteer coming soon!

 

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We have been covering the unveilings of exclusive material at San Diego Comic Con’s Fantastic Beasts panel – first a trailer, and now an exclusive Q&A event with the cast – featuring a question from Leaky!

We’re live now with the cast of #FantasticBeasts and the NEW TRAILER. #SDCC2016 pic.twitter.com/g1sBRhAGiu

— Fantastic Beasts (@FantasticBeasts) July 23, 2016

We’re live at #SDCC2016 with the cast of #FantasticBeasts. Follow us on Snapchat for more magic. – Wizarding_World pic.twitter.com/ufAIlK4r9w

— Fantastic Beasts (@FantasticBeasts) July 23, 2016

Present at the event were: Director David Yates, Producer David Heyman, Ezra Miller (Credence), Collin Farrell (Percival Graves), Eddie Redmayne (Newt Scamander), Katherine Waterston (Tina Goldstein), Dan Fogler (Jacob Kowalski) and Alison Sudol (Queenie Goldstein).

In the U.K., fans (and Leaky) were in the Great Hall at Leavesden Studios to take part in the live stream Q&A, where Fantastic Beasts costumes and props were being flaunted – unfortunately only for this exclusive event. Georgia and Gemma represented Leaky in London, so keep posted for more updates on this!

Carianne and Tabitha attended Comic-Con in San Diego on behalf of The Leaky Cauldron, Carianne managed to ask what Eddie, Katherine, Dan and Alison’s favourite parts about the wizarding world are:

Alison answered “Anything is possible, and also that it’s a beautiful world, it’s close enough to our world that it feels real and yet the possibilities and just the wonder of it, on just the tiniest little details how magic is sort of workaday in the world is just constantly inspiring” 

Katherine says “I think the idea of a parallel universe is just something I think we can all relate to. Of course children have that sense and we kind of grow up and we are kind of bred out or encouraged to stop thinking that way and stop seeing  the beauty and the possibility and the magic around us, and to consider it in this much more literal way that there could be a simultaneous world happening around us that we might not be conscious of, that we might be able to notice if you tune into it or look for it … I love that idea” 

Presenter Edith Bowman asked what it was like in San Diego when the brand new trailer was shown to audiences, and Eddie Redmayne jumped straight in with his answer, clearly excited to be at such a huge event:

“You hear so much about Comic-Con, the moment you actually walk on stage, it’s like no sensory experience you can possibly imagine – it’s so overwhelming, but so exciting”

According to Redmayne, there were people dressed as Newt Scamander in the audience!

Ezra Miller’s character has been kept closely under wraps (he does, however, feature in the new Fantastic Beasts poster), so his answer was understandably more discrete:

“I can’t tell you my favourite scene” he says, but said his favourite thing about working on the film was working with Collin Farrell, Eddie Redmayne and Samantha Morton (Mary Lou).

Alison Sudol says she is a “big Harry Potter fan” so is obviously excited to be promoting Fantastic Beasts at such a great event. “You can’t help but feel like a kid” she says, “It is magical, it’s magical to be a part of this world and to have a continuation of the universe that we all fell in love with, but it’s something new, something different” 

Dan Fogler is a loyal Comic-Con fan, who says he’s been attending the event for probably the past 15 years, and compares the excitement of attending 2016’s event to 2015:

“Last year I didn’t have much going on … then I got the call from my agent saying you know, ‘Next Comic-Con’s gonna be a lot different’, and they were right.” 

Pottermore asked the first time Eddie Redmayne learned to use a wand, which apparently happened in what turned out to be a slightly awkward experience during screen tests for the film:

“I remember David said very kindly ‘Ed, just choose a wand’ and I was like *HUGE GASP*. What was extraordinary was that your inner 9-year-old has waited for this moment all your life, and I picked the thing up, and I got complete stage fright. I had no idea what to do with it – it looked really odd in my hand so in the end I actually went back and looked at some of the Harry Potter films and looked at Dan and Emma and Rupert’s work and thieved an idea or two!”

Alison Sudol echoed this ‘stage fright’, saying that she was also concerned about whether the wand was actually magic, but that after the initial shock is over with “it becomes quite addictive” – apparently she’d found herself actually walking around at home with a wand!

Katherine Waterston said that the muscles involved in wand work were a surprise for her, saying she got a case of ‘wand elbow’.

SnitchSeeker then asked Eddie Redmayne what makes Newt Scamander a true Hufflepuff. Eddie said he’d recently taken the Pottermore sorting test:

“I’d been holding off doing it for an age because I couldn’t believe it would actually work, and I was sorted into Hufflepuff and it was the most exciting moment of my life”

“It’s his heart – he’s a complicated, knotty, at moments spiky character, but he has a wonderful heart and a passion for his creatures, and I suppose it’s those qualities which I associated with a Hufflepuff”

You can view the trailer and the full Q&A in the video on the Fantastic Beasts below, and check out our break-down of the trailer here!

Thank you to Carianne for asking Leaky’s question, and to Alison Sudol and Katherine Waterston for answering it! Many thanks to Tabitha, who joined Carianne and represented Leaky at SDCC 2016, and Gemma and Georgia, who joined the festivities at Leavesden Studios in London on Leaky’s behalf–thank you!!!

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LeakyCon recently posted an exciting – yet mysteriously vague – letter to Minerva McGonagall to their Facebook page. The letter came from Ana Rodriguez – Director of Magical Gatherings and Celebrations at the US Department of International Magical Cooperation all the way in New York City:

The letter hints at an exciting event being planned, and LeakyCon posted this letter with the caption “Magical things are happening…”:

“I personally reviewed your recent proposal and am happy to inform you on behalf of MACUSA and the Quahog Administration, that we are excited to work with Hogwarts and the British Ministry of Magic to make this exciting and historic event a reality.

I have already alerted my counterpart at the California DOIMC office as well as our embedded contact within the Consulate General in Los Angeles to begin coordinating the logistics. Representatives from Ilvermorny are also excited to help in whatever way possible.

…

We are thrilled to have a hand in making this celebration a truly international affair”

The exciting integration of new knowledge of North American magical institutions – thanks to Fantastic Beasts – and the incorporation of our beloved Professor McGonagall (maybe hinting at Cursed Child links?). Who knows! We’re glad to hear that Harry’s legacy is still going strong in the wizarding world!

LeakyCon is also now looking for programming proposals for presentations on magical subjects:

“We are looking for a select number of knowledgeable witches and wizards to present on their favorite magical topics at LeakyCon 2016. If you have a burning desire to share your ideas and research on the Harry Potter universe, this is the place to tell us about it so we can help you make it happen!”

What do you think it all means? Find out more and buy tickets at the LeakyCon website, here!

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The Leaky Cauldron has a new way of reaching fans: we have decided to join Instagram! We are trying to stay as relevant as muggle, no-maj, wizardingly possible by joining more social media networks, and we want to be able to connect and share with as many Harry Potter and J.K. Rowling fans as possible.

Thank you already for being such loyal fans to our website, and for following our Facebook and Twitter. Here at Leaky we continue to strive to fulfill our promise to bring you the best, most trustworthy, and timely Harry Potter news–and in as many ways as possible! Please join us in sharing the visual fun and fantastic nature of our beloved Harry Potter series, and follow us on Instagram!

Our username is theleakycauldronnews! See you there!

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Today, October 6, Bloomsbury is publishing the first illustrated edition of the Harry Potter books–Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone is hitting shelves in stores near you. As a part of publication celebrations, illustrator Jim Kay agreed to participate in Q&A sessions with major Harry Potter news sites, calling it The Great Big Harry Potter Fansite Interview. The Leaky Cauldron was honored with the opportunity to be apart of this event.

The Leaky staff came together to create and ask Kay four specific questions that we thought fans might like answered, and questions that Kay had not yet answered in previous interviews or Q&As. Jim Kay took the time, between drawing illustrations for Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, to answer two of each site’s questions, and send never-before-seen images from Philosopher’s Stone. Please see the images and the interview below!

 

The Great Big Harry Potter Fansite Interview

Were you influenced by previous Harry Potter illustrators/the films or did you veer away from both?(Alwaysjkrowling.com)

I’m a huge fan of both the books and the films. I thought the screen adaptations were a wonderful showcase of the best set design, product design, costume, casting, directing and acting their disciplines had to offer. I knew from the start that I’m competing to some degree with the hundreds of people involved in the visuals of the film. I remember watching the extras that come with the movie DVDs a few years back, and wondering how on earth you’d get to be lucky enough to work on the visuals for such a great project. To be offered the opportunity to design the whole world again from scratch was fantastic, but very daunting. I’d like to think that over the years lots of illustrators will have a crack at Potter, in the same way that Alice in Wonderland has seen generations of artists offer their own take on Lewis Carroll’s novel. I had to make it my version though, and so from the start I needed to set it apart from the films. I’ll be honest I’ve only seen a few illustrations from other Potter books, so that’s not been so much of a problem. I love Jonny Duddle’s covers, and everyone should see Andrew Davidson’s engravings – they are incredible!

What was the most important detail for you to get right with your illustrations? (Magical Menagerie)

To try and stay faithful to the book. It’s very easy when you are scribbling away to start wandering off in different directions, so you must remind yourself to keep reading Jo’s text. Technically speaking though, I think composition is important –the way the movement and characters arrange themselves on the page – this dictates the feel of the book.

What medium do you use to create your illustrations? (Snitchseeker)

I use anything that makes a mark –I am not fussy. So I don’t rely on expensive watercolour or paints, although I do occasionally use them – I like to mix them up with cheap house paint, or wax crayons. Sometimes in a local DIY store I’ll see those small tester pots of wall paint going cheap in a clear-out sale, and I’ll buy stacks of them, and experiment with painting in layers and sanding the paint back to get nice textures. The line is almost always pencil, 4B or darker, but the colour can be a mixture of any old paint, watercolour, acrylic, and oil. Diagon Alley was unusual in that I digitally coloured the whole illustration in order to preserve the pencil line drawing. I’d recommend experimenting; there is no right or wrong way to make an illustration, just do what works for you!

Because each book is so rich in detail, what is your personal process when choosing specific images?(The Daily Snitcher)

I read the book, then read it again and again, making notes. You start off with lots of little ideas, and draw a tiny thumbnail illustration, about the size of a postage stamp, to remind you of the idea for an illustration you had while reading the book. I then start to draw them a little bigger, about postcard size, and show them to Bloomsbury. We then think about how many illustrations will appear in each chapter, and try to get the balance of the book right by moving pictures around, dropping or adding these rough drawings as we go. With Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone Bloomsbury were great in that they let me try all sorts of things out, different styles, concepts. Some I didn’t think would get into the final book, but everyone was very open to new ideas. There was no definite plan with regards to how the book would look; we just experimented and let it evolve.

(McGonagall is from Telegraph’s photos)

Given the distinct split of younger vs. more mature readers of the series, how do you construct your illustrations so that they can appeal to both audiences at once? (Mugglenet)

The simple answer is I don’t try. I think only about the author and myself. You can’t please everyone, particularly when you know how many people have read the book. I don’t think good books are made by trying to appeal to a wide audience. You just try to do the best work you can in the time given, and respect the author’s work. Most illustrators are never happy with their own work. You always feel you want to try more combinations or alternative compositions. You are forever in search of that golden illustration that just ‘works’, but of course it’s impossible to achieve –there will always be another way of representing the text. Effectively you chase rainbows until you run out of time! You get a gut feeling if an image is working. I remember what I liked as a child (Richard Scarry books!). Detail and humour grabbed me as a nipper, and it’s the same now I’m in my forties.

Did you base any characters or items in the book on real people or things? (Leaky Cauldron)

Lots of the book is based on real places, people and experiences. It helps to make the book personal to me, and therefore important. The main characters of the books are based on real people, partly for practical reasons, because I need to see how the pupils age over seven years. In Diagon Alley in particular, some of the shop names are personal to me. As a child we had a toad in the garden called Bufo (from the latin Bufo bufo), Noltie’s Botanical Novelties is named after a very clever friend of mine who works at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh. The shop called ‘Tut’s Nuts’ is a little joke from my days working at Kew Gardens; they had in their collections some seeds from the tomb of Tutankhamun, which were affectionately known as ‘Tut’s Nuts’. The imprisoned boy reaching for an apple in Brigg’s Brooms is from a drawing my friend did when we were about 9 years old –that’s thirty two years ago!

Which character was the most difficult to draw? (Harry Potter’s Page)

Harry, without a doubt. Children are difficult to draw because you can’t use too many lines around the eyes and face, otherwise they look old. One misplaced pencil line can age a child by years, so you have to get it just right. Also Harry’s glasses are supposed to look repaired and bent out of shape, which I’ve found tricky to get right.

What is your favourite scene you have illustrated? (Alwaysjkrowling.com)

That’s a difficult one. I’m fond of the ghosts. I paint them in reverse (almost like a photographic negative) and layer several paintings to make them translucent. I enjoyed Nearly Headless Nick. I really enjoyed illustrating the trolls too. Your favourite illustrations tend to be the ones that gave you the least amount of difficulties and I think Diagon Alley was nice for this reason. It was more like a brainstorming exercise, slowly working from left to right. My favourite character to illustrate is Hagrid – I love big things!

Are there any hidden messages/items in your drawings for the Harry Potter series? (Magical Menagerie)

There are, but they are little things that relate to my life, so I’m not sure how much sense they’d make to other people. I like to include my dog in illustrations if I can (he’s in Diagon Alley). I also put a hare in my work, for good luck. There’s a hare in A Monster Calls, and in Harry Potter. My friends appear as models for the characters in book one, and some of their names too can be seen carved on a door, and on Diagon Alley. There are little references to later books too, such as on the wrought-iron sign of the Leaky Cauldron. I do it to keep things interesting for me while I’m drawing.

How did you approach illustrating the Hogwarts Castle and grounds? (Harry Potter Fan Zone)

I really enjoyed doing this. You have to go through all seven books looking for mentions of the individual rooms, turrets, doors and walls of the castle, and make lots of notes. Then you check for mentions of its position, for example if you can see the sun set from a certain window, to find out which way the castle is facing. I then built a small model out of scrap card and Plasticine and tried lighting it from different directions. It was important to see how it would look in full light, or as a silhouette. Then it was a long process of designing the Great Hall, and individual towers. I have a huge number of drawings just experimenting with different doorways, roofs. Some early compositions were quite radical, then I hit upon the idea of trees growing under, through and over the whole castle, as if the castle had grown out of the landscape. This also gives me the opportunity to show trees growing through the inside of some rooms in future illustrations.

What illustrations in the book are you most proud of? (Leaky Cauldron)

Usually it’s the ones that took the least amount of effort! It takes me so many attempts to get an illustration to work, that if one works on the second or third attempt, it’s a big relief. There is one illustration in the book that worked first time (a chapter opener of Hogwarts architecture, with birds nesting on the chimney pots). It kind of felt wrong that the illustration was done without agonising over it for days, it didn’t feel real somehow, so I’m proud of that one because it’s so rare that I get an image to work first time! The only other illustration that was relatively straightforward was the Sorting Hat. Illustrations that come a little easier tend to have a freshness about them, and I think those two feel a little bit looser than others in the book.

 

Which book do you think will be the most challenging one to illustrate? (Harry Potter’s Page)

At the minute it’s book two! I think book one I was full of adrenaline, driven by sheer terror! Book two I want to have a different feel, and that makes it challenging to start again and rethink the process.

Is there a particular scene in the future Harry Potter books you’re excited to illustrate? (Harry Potter Fan Zone)

I’m really looking forward to painting Aragog in book two. I’m really fond of spiders – there are lots in my studio – so it’s great having reference close to hand! I’m hoping that by the Deathly Hallows we will be fully into a darker and more adult style of illustration, to reflect the perils facing Potter!

How many illustrations did you initially do for the book, and how many of those appeared in the final edition? (Snitchseeker)

There are stacks of concept drawings that no one will ever see, such as the Hogwarts sketches, which I needed to do in order to get my head around the book. Then there are rough drawings, then rough drawings that are worked up a little more, and then it might take five or six attempts for each illustration to get it right.

What house do you think you may have been placed in, aged 11, and would it be the same now? (Mugglenet)

I’d like to think it was Ravenclaw as a child. I was much more confident back then, and creative, plus they have an interesting house ghost in the form of the Grey Lady. These days I work hard and am loyal, so probably Hufflepuff.

Illustrating aside, what is one thing that you love doing to express your creativity? (The Daily Snitcher)

It’s difficult to say because for the past 5 years I have worked on illustration seven days a week, every hour of the day. A few years back I started to write, and I really enjoyed that, it’s far more intimate than illustrating, and I love going over the same line and trying to hone it down to the core of what you are trying to express. My partner makes hats, and I’m very envious. It looks like wonderful fun. We have lots of designs for hats in sketchbooks. I really want to get some time to make some. I’ve always been slightly torn that I didn’t go into fashion, but my sewing is terrible. I used to play guitar a lot and write little bits of music, but that’s difficult now because my hand gets very stiff from drawing all day! The funny thing is, if I did ever get a day off, I’d just want to draw!

This morning, J.K. Rowling invited all to check out the book and “see Harry Potter through Jim Kay’s extraordinary eyes,” and Pottermore also released their exclusive interview.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone–Illustrated Edition by J.K. Rowling, illustrated by Jim Kay, is now available from any book retailer near you (or online)! Happy reading and please let us know your impressions of the new version of the Harry Potter books–our favorite books!

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Sorry for the delay everyone, we were busy cleaning up the mess after Peeves had a bit too much fun with a paintball gun, but the April 1st edition of The Quibbler is now online for your reading pleasure featuring the delightful, dashing and daring Gilderoy Lockhart, here to share with us the "untold truth of that night at Hogwarts when I defeated the Dark Lord" as well as a harrowing yet ultimately inspiring tale of his struggle to write in cursive.

You can read The Quibbler in pdf format here or as a zip file at this link. Find The Quibbler's archives and guidelines on Quibbler submissions right here.

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A brand new issue of The Quibbler is now online! The latest issue of The Quibbler brings you all that the Ministry of Magic will not tell you about the mysteries of Time and Place — the magic of both mind and heart. You can get the January issue at this link or alternatively download a zipped format. If you'd like to write for The Quibbler, Leaky's source for "all the news you won't find anywhere else", you can find the submission guidelines right here.

~*~
Special announcement: Leaky is looking for news editors! If you have what it takes, email us at news [at] the-leaky-cauldron [dot] org.

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Just in time for December, the November issue of The Quibbler -- Leaky's monthly publication "for all the news you won't find anywhere else," -- is now online (Errol must have delivered this one to the printer)! You can read the PDF version at this link, or a zipped version right here. To learn how to submit articles to The Quibbler, please go here.

Happy reading!

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Thanks for entering in day two of our giveaway; the potential winners will be contacted privately in order to claim the prize.  Now for your FINAL chance to win!

The Leaky Cauldron and Best Buy have teamed up to offer a special three-day-long Harry Potter contest in the lead up to the Black Friday sales taking place the day after Thanksgiving.  Best Buy is getting into the Harry Potter spirit for this event with special screenings of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2" for waiting crowds Thanksgiving night.

Readers will have a chance to win one of two great gift packages each day!  Here's the info:

Best Buy "Harry Potter Home Viewing" Gift Package:

• Scene It? Harry Potter Game: The Complete Cinematic Journey
• Insignia - 10" LCD Portable DVD Player
• $25 Best Buy Gift Card

In order to enter, leave us a comment below sharing your favorite Harry Potter film AND what about that film makes it your favorite!

The entry period for today, Wednesday, runs until 11:59pm EST.  Two winners will be randomly selected each day, based on the entries received that day.

On Wednesday we will also be giving away a grand prize to one lucky winner who enters any of our daily contests and follows one additional extra step.

Grand Prize Pack:  $760 each

• Samsung - 51" Class / Plasma / 720p / 600Hz / 3D/ HDTV
• 3D Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 (3D is exclusive to Best Buy)
• Samsung 3D glasses for viewing

In order to enter to win the Grand Prize Pack, enter any of our daily contests, follow @Leaky on Twitter and tweet the following:

"I just entered to win @Leaky's Harry Potter Grand Prize Pack from @BestBuy! #HarryPotterGiveaway [link to your entry post]"

Be sure to include the full URL (Twitter will shorten it) to the news post in which you commented on to enter!  Example, if you entered today:

I just entered to win @Leaky's Harry Potter Grand Prize Pack from @BestBuy! #HarryPotterGiveaway http://the-leaky-cauldron.org/2011/11/23/leakys-black-friday-harry-potter-giveaway-with-best-buy-final-day

Our partners, Best Buy, are hosting special free, big-screen, out-door viewing of, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2," at select store locations nationwide in order to entertain the Black Friday shopping crowds.  The movie starts at 9 p.m. local time on Thanksgiving night with Harry Potter giveaways and refreshments given away.  Add a Comment

Thanks for entering in day one of our giveaway; the potential winners will be contacted privately in order to claim the prize.  Now for day two!

The Leaky Cauldron and Best Buy have teamed up to offer a special three-day-long Harry Potter contest in the lead up to the Black Friday sales taking place the day after Thanksgiving.  Best Buy is getting into the Harry Potter spirit for this event with special screenings of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2" for waiting crowds Thanksgiving night.

Readers will have a chance to win one of two great gift packages each day!  Here's the info:

Best Buy "Harry Potter Home Viewing" Gift Package:

• Scene It? Harry Potter Game: The Complete Cinematic Journey
• Insignia - 10" LCD Portable DVD Player
• $25 Best Buy Gift Card

In order to enter, leave us a comment below sharing your favorite line from the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows novel by J. K. Rowling.

Entry information for the contest on Wednesday will be revealed tomorrow.  The entry period for today, Tuesday, runs until 11:59pm EST.  Two winners will be randomly selected each day, based on the entries received that day.

On Wednesday we will also be giving away a grand prize to one lucky winner who enters any of our daily contests and follows one additional extra step.

Grand Prize Pack:  $760 each

• Samsung - 51" Class / Plasma / 720p / 600Hz / 3D/ HDTV
• 3D Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 (3D is exclusive to Best Buy)
• Samsung 3D glasses for viewing

In order to enter to win the Grand Prize Pack, enter any of our daily contests, follow @Leaky on Twitter and tweet the following:

"I just entered to win @Leaky's Harry Potter Grand Prize Pack from @BestBuy! #HarryPotterGiveaway [link to your entry post]"

Be sure to include the full URL (Twitter will shorten it) to the news post in which you commented on to enter!  Example, if you entered today:

I just entered to win @Leaky's Harry Potter Grand Prize Pack from @BestBuy! #HarryPotterGiveaway http://the-leaky-cauldron.org/2011/11/22/leakys-black-friday-harry-potter-giveaway-with-best-buy-day-two

Our partners, Best Buy, are hosting special free, big-screen, out-door viewing of, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2," at select store locations nationwide in order to entertain the Black Friday shopping crowds.  The movie

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Two of our book clubs at the LeakyLounge have selected brand new books to read. Firstly, the Harry Potter Book Club is reading Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and you can take part right here. Secondly, Jo's Book Nook (our non-Harry Potter book club) is reading The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchett and you can take part at this link.

Happy reading!

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The Lily and Stag Inn is open for business again. Come and discuss your favourite characters in our Reading Groups in a cozy atmosphere; we invite you to sort and join us for our reading of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. The Lily and Stag Inn is a subforum set apart from the rest of the Leaky Lounge, allowing members a more intimate area to post and discuss their favourite books.

By sorting into the Reading Groups you gain access to three extra rooms called The Lily and Stag Inn where we discuss a book at a time: you can discuss chapters, in depth topics such as alchemy, characters and themes, or just hang out in our light hearted area where we also have some little surprises waiting for you. Simply move from room to room to find your favourite topics and dive into the fun and discussion that awaits you.

Take part at this link. Happy reading!

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The Hallowe'en edition of The Quibbler, Leaky's monthly publication for "all the news you won't find anywhere else" is now available for your reading pleasure! You can download it in PDF here or zipped format here. If you want to submit an article to the next issue, find out how you can do so right here!

Happy reading!

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For several years we have been telling you to use LeakyNews.com as a quick shortcut to get to our admittedly difficult-to-remember domain name, the-leaky-cauldron.org. Yet as soon as we got the name and started using it, we realized that it had the potential to be its own entertainment site. The idea of getting your news as soon as it "leaks," the continuation of the kind of exhaustive coverage we do on Harry Potter with all the other things we love... the idea had merit, but we got busy with other things, namely covering the releases of the final books and films, and LeakyCon.

It was at this year's LeakyCon, however, that things started to come together and the right pieces fell into place: and now we're thrilled to announce the Leaky team's newest venture, the brand new LeakyNews.com.

Firstly: The Leaky Cauldron and LeakyCon are still Harry Potter. That has not changed and won't any time soon! We are still your number one Harry Potter community online and do not anticipate any difference in how often we update or how the site functions.

LeakyNews is a site made by fans. It is based on the idea that we as fans of things are the most detailed reporters and even the best loving critics of the things we love. To that end we have started purposefully small, with just a handful of fandoms -- Harry Potter, StarKid, Glee, The Hunger Games, Game of Thrones, Doctor Who -- with other scattered coverage throughout. This list is solely composed of the things we wanted most to cover. For the rest, we're dependent on you: for our native "submit" feature, which allows anyone with a login to submit a piece on your favorite topic, or, if you want to contribute more frequently, to apply to become part of our writing team. You can find out how to do all those things right on LeakyNews.com's main page.

This is a really exciting time for us: it's fulfilling a several-years-long dream of the editors of this site, and a bit like the Leaky name is growing up. Instead of being one of a few large sites on one topic, we are one of MANY - hundreds, perhaps thousands - sites that are on many topics. Yet we're full of excitement and possibility and have a metric ton of ideas for making the site engaging and fun.

The site was designed by Jordan Edwards and made real by Andy Friel; Edward from Leaky will be covering Harry Potter there while Rosi will be handling Doctor Who and The Hunger Games news - I will be getting my Game of Thrones geek on with you all.

Don't forget you can follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook - we would really appreciate it if you did!

See you over there, Leakies!

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Yesterday, the Crafty Witches launched a brand new Craft-Along, this time inviting you to join them as they finish crafting all the WIPs (works in progress) or UFOs (unfinished objects) they have lying around. Dust off your unfinished Harry Potter-related craft projects, finish them and show them off on the Craft-Along thread at the Leaky Lounge. If you have no such WIPs or UFOs, design somethi... Read the rest of this post

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Our Crafty Witches and Wizard have chosen crafter hermione_jean_7 as February's Featured Crafter of the Month. Hermione_jean_7 was nominated for her skills in quilting, knit and crochet. Some examples of her fine work include a Harry Potter quilt and a Gryffindor messenger bag. A short interview with hermione_jean_7 will be available on the Crafty Witches and Wizard YouTube channel shortly.

Mor... Read the rest of this post

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Today we bring you a brand new issue of The Quibbler, The Leaky Cauldron's monthly publication for "news that no-one else will publish." In this issue you will find articles on the remarkable discovery of a common herb cure for Dragon Pox, baffled Muggles on New Year's Eve, as well as Aberforth's page three girls and a new installment of "Dear Luna" letters. Along with all this we have games, r... Read the rest of this post

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... Read the rest of this post

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Today is a special day for Leaky and all its loyal readers. Five years ago today the Leaky Lounge, our forum, was born, and Leaky itself changed forever: from a small news-posting blog to a worldwide community, from a one-way news posting service to a great depository of ideas, writing, theories, reading groups, creativity, laughter, parodies, essays, and much, much more. The Leaky Lounge blew ... Read the rest of this post

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Our non-Harry Potter book club, Jo's Book Nook, has chosen to read Dodie Smith's timeless novel I Capture the Castle for the month of January. Jo's Book Nook is open to all MyLeaky members, providing the opportunity to discuss the chosen novel with others who are discovering or rediscovering it at the same time. This month, there is a quiz, a section to post your favourite quotations, a thread ... Read the rest of this post

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Today brings both a new year and a new Craft-Along, this time with an invitation to join the Crafty Witches and Wizards in crafting your own Weasley Family Clock. The January Craft-Along page has a list of the basic supplies and a link to a tutorial to help you get started on this month's project. A thread in the Leaky Lounge has been set up to tackle any questions you may have. Once you've fin... Read the rest of this post

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Our Crafty Witches and Wizard have chosen crafter Overcast as January's Featured Crafter of the Month. Overcast has used her skill with crochet hooks and knitting needles to produce crafts such as Babbity Rabbity and Her Cackling Stump, a lightning bolt scarf and even a Leaky Cauldron hand towel. One of the Crafty Witches asked Overcast some questions about her work and you can watch Overcast's... Read the rest of this post

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Closing out Leaky's 2009 Year in Review is the third part of our look back at the year in Harry Potter news.  Parts One and Two are online below.  Enjoy!

... Read the rest of this post

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Here now is Part Two of Leaky's 2009 Year in Review of Harry Potter news!  Part One is posted below.  Enjoy!<>
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<>After years of planning, the time had come for LeakyCon 2009, our very first Harry Potter fan conference.  In the lead up to the event, two LeakyCon songs and our official schedule were published.  For four days, witches and wizards from all over the world gathered in Boston, MA... Read the rest of this post

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