News-Record.com

Back in the day, I was a Harry Potter reader. Hey, my kids were fans, and I'm a nurturing father. That was then. I haven't read the last two Potter books and don't plan to read the one coming out later this week.

So I'm no expert in these matters, but one of our staff, Melissa Umbarger, is and she sent me an e-mail at 6:45 a.m.

"On the Books page today, there is an article about security surrounding the book coming out Friday ('Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince'), and in the last paragraph, something really big is potentially spoiled for fans. It talks about how betting has been ceased on the death of one of the (huge) characters in the town where the book was stolen.

"And there's no warning at all -- had I not already been spoiled earlier this week by a well-meaning co-worker, I would have been really upset."

Now, if you care enough about these sorts of things, a quick look around the Web will reveal the rumors about the character's death. But my guess is that most Potter readers won't look around the Web and could be disappointed by the ending of the article.

I did take, however, and discovered that this rumor is a couple months old. The publishers of the book pooh-poohed the rumor and said it should be taken "with a pinch of salt."

But, if you don't want to know, don't read to the end of the article in today's Ideas section.