I am from Scotland. I am not used to this.

I am going to read to you a little bit from this book.

Has anyone read this book?

Yeah!

So I don't need to explain too much of what I am going to read.

But I will for the people who haven't read it.

So this book is about a boy who doesn't realize he is a wizard

until a man called Hagrid from a wizarding school comes to tell

him so and takes him shopping for everything he needs to go

to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

So I'm going to read you a little bit of the book where

Harry gets the most exciting thing that you would need

if you were about to learn to become a wizard.

"The last shop was narrow and shabby.

Pealing gold letters over the door read: Ollivanders,

Makers of Fine Wands since 382 B.C.

A single wand lay on a faded purple cushion in a dusty window.

A tinkling bell rang somewhere in the depths of the shop as

they stepped inside.

It was a tiny place, empty except for a singly spindly

chair that Hagrid sat on to wait.

Harry felt strangely as though he had entered a very strict library.

He swallowed a lot of new questions that had just occurred to him,

and looked instead at the thousands of narrow boxes

piled neatly right up to the ceiling.

For some reason, the back of his neck prickled.

The very dust and silence in here seemed to tingle with

some secret magic.

Good afternoon, said a soft voice.

Harry jumped.

Hagrid must have jumped too, because there was a loud

crunching noise and he got quickly off the spindly chair.

An old man was standing before them.

His white, pale eyes shining like moons through the gloom of the shop.

Hello, said Harry all quickly.

Ahh, yes, said the man. Yes, yes.

I thought I would be seeing you soon.

Harry Potter.

It wasn't a question.

You have your mother's eyes.

It seems only yesterday she was in here herself buying her first

wand, ten and a quarter inches long, swishy.

Made of willow.

Nice one for charm work.

Mr. Ollivander moved closer to Harry.

Harry wished he would blink.

Those silvery eyes were a bit creepy.

Your father on the other hand, favored a mahogany one,

11-inches, pliable, a little more power,

and excellent for transformation.

When I say your father favored it,

it is really the wand that chooses the Wizard of course.

Mr. Ollivander had come so close that he and Harry were

almost nose to nose.

Harry could see himself reflected in those misty eyes

and that is where Mr. Ollivander touched the lightning scar on

Harry's forehead with a long white finger.

I am sorry to say I sold the wand that did it,

he said softly.

13 and a half inches, you, powerful wand, very powerful.

And in the wrong hands.

Well, if I had known what that wand was going out into the

world to do, he shook his head.

And then to Harry's relief, he spotted Hagrid.

Rubeus, Rubeus Hagrid, how nice to see you again.

Oak.

16-inches rather bendy, wasn't it?

It was sir, yes, said Hagrid.

Good wand, that one.

But I suppose they snapped it in half when you got expelled said

Mr. Ollivander suddenly stern.

Yes, they did, yes, Said Hagrid shuffling his feet.

I have still got the pieces though he added brightly.

But you don't use them, said Mr. Ollivander quickly.

Oh, no, sir, said Hagrid.

Harry noticed he gripped his pink umbrella very tightly as he spoke.

Umm, said Mr. Ollivander giving Hagrid a piercing look.

Well, now Mr. Potter, let me see.

He pulled a long tape measure with silver markings out of his pocket.

Which is your wand arm?

Well, I am not right handed, said Harry.

Hold out your arm. That's it.

He measured Harry from shoulder to finger and then wrist to

elbow, shoulder to floor, knee to armpit, and around his head.

As he measured, he said, every Ollivander wand has a core of a

powerful magical substance, Mr. Potter.

We use unicorn hairs, Phoenix tail feathers,

and the heart strings of dragons.

No two Ollivander wands are the same.

Just as no two unicorns, dragons,

or phoenixes are quite the same.

And, of course, you will never get such good results with

another wizard's wand.

Harry suddenly realized that the tape measure which was measuring

between his nostrils was doing this on its own.

Mr. Ollivander was flitting around the shelves taking down boxes.

That will do he said.

And the tape measure crumbled into a heap on the floor.

Right then, Mr. Potter.

Try this one.

Beechwood and dragon heart string.

Nine inches, nice and flexible.

Just take it and give it a waive.

Harry took the wand and feeling foolish waived it around a bit.

But Mr. Ollivander snatched it out of his hand almost at once.

Maple and Phoenix feathers, seven inches.

Quite wippy. Try.

Harry tried, but it hardly raised the wand when it too was

snatched back by Mr. Ollivander.

No. No. Here, ebony and unicorn hair, eight and a half inches. Springy.

Go on, go on. Try it out.

Harry tried. And tried.

He had no idea what Mr. Ollivander was waiting for.

The pile of tried wands was mounting higher and higher

on the spindly chair.

But the more wands Mr. Ollivander pulled from the shelves,

the happier he seemed to become.

Tricky customer, hey.

I wonder now. Yes, why not.

Unusual combination.

Holly and Phoenix feather, 11-inches.

Nice and subtle.

Harry took the wand.

He felt a sudden warmth in his fingers.

He raised the wand above his head,

brought it swishing down through the dusty air,

and a stream of red and gold sparks shot from the end like

a fire work, throwing dancing spots of light onto the walls.

Hagrid whooped and clapped and Mr. Ollivander cried, oh, bravo, yes, indeed.

Oh, very good.

Well, well, well. How curious. How very curious.

He put Harry's wand back into its box and wrapped it in brown

paper still muttering curious.

Curious.

Sorry, said Harry, but what's curious?

Mr. Ollivander fixed Harry with his pale stare.

I remember every wand I have ever sold, Mr. Potter.

Every single wand.

It so happens that the Phoenix whose tail feather is in your

wand gave another feather.

Just one other.

It is very curious indeed that you should be destined for this

wand when its brother, why it's brother gave you that scar.

Harry swallowed.

Yes, 13 and a half inches, you curious indeed how these things happen.

The wand chooses the wizard, remember.

I think we must expect great things from you, Mr. Potter.

After all, he who must not be named did great things.

Terrible, yes. But great.

Harry shivered.

He wasn't sure he liked Mr. Ollivander too much.

He paid seven gold gallions for his wand.

And Mr. Ollivander bowed them from his shop."

Thank you.

(applause)

Thank you very much.

So I'm allowed to take a few questions if there is anyone who

would like to ask a question about Harry Potter or about

writing books anything like that.

In the pink T-shirt there.

Audience Member: (inaudible)

J.K. Rowling: Why did fire works shoot out of his wand?

It was just a sign that the wand recognized it's real owner.

An important feature of the books.

And I have to be careful what I say,

in case you haven't read all the books and you would like to.

An important feature of the books is that when you -- when

the wand that is really meant for you finds it's rightful

owner, it will work very well.

So that is why the sparks shot out.

It was just a sign that the wand recognized Harry as the person

who should own it.

In the smart shirt.

Audience Member: Do you think that movie produces did a good job to the story?

J.K. Rowling: Do I think that the movie producers do a good job

for the story?

Yes, I do. I do.

I sometimes meet readers of the book who say to me, oh,

they didn't include everything.

But realistically, if they included everything in the

books, the films would have to be 15 hours long.

So I have to accept as fans of the books have to accept that

they have to cut somewhere.

But, yeah, on the whole I think they have been great.

I think they have been really great and the actors they have

chosen to play the characters are really like the people as I imagine them.

So, yeah, I have been very, very happy.

Yes. Let's see.

In the purple. You need to really shout.

Audience Member: (inaudible)

J.K. Rowling: Why did I decide to write about witches and wizards?

Well, it is slightly like the wand choosing the wizards,

it felt like it chose me.

I just had the idea, very suddenly.

And I have always been very interested in folklore.

And fairytales.

And the way you often find them in different cultures.

So it was exciting to write a book about a world that united

lots of those things.

But really the idea came very suddenly.

It wasn't a conscious, conscious process.

Yes.

Audience Member: (inaudible)

J.K. Rowling: That was how did I get the idea that the -- the first idea.

I was on a train traveling from the north of England right down to London.

And it just came to me.

I was looking out a window and the initial idea was a boy who

doesn't know he is a wizard.

Yet delighted to say he goes to wizard school.

And then my mind started firing in all directions.

What the school would be like. Who he would meet there.

And how it would feel not to realize that you were the

son of famous parents.

Which is something he realizes very soon after he gets that invitation.

Audience Member: (inaudible)

J.K. Rowling: My favorite Harry Potter book?

Is probably the seventh one.

Yeah. Yes.

Which was a great way to end the series.

But this one, the first one has a very important part in my,

place in my heart, because it is the first thing I ever got published.

So -- Yes, but you really need to shout your question.

Audience Member: (inaudible)

J.K. Rowling: How did Harry Potter get to -- how did he get his

lightning scar?

Good question.

Very good question.

When he was a little bit younger than you,

a very evil wizard tried to kill him.

The evil wizard killed his parents and then he

tried to kill Harry.

But he couldn't kill Harry.

So that is the great mystery of Harry's life.

That is why when he goes to school, he is very famous,

because he is the only boy who ever survived an attack by that

wizard and no one knows why.

And really Harry's whole journey through the seven books is to

try and find out why he survived.

You need to really shout over the --

Audience Member: Why did he survive?

J.K. Rowling: Why did he survive?

Well, I would have to explain a lot to tell you.