I'm bumping this thread back up because there have been a couple of HP-related news stories posted that I've found amusing (especially the second, since last I heard, the French and German national past times were bashing anything and anyone written and spoken in English - or maybe they've forgiven the English already and are only picking on Americans, but I digress).

Here's the first:

Harry Potter House Up for Sale
Jul 9, 9:53 am ET

LONDON (Reuters) - For sale: a prim suburban house in middle England that boasts a boy wizard and an owl among its former residents.

The house that played host to the loathsome Dursleys and their magical nephew in the Harry Potter movies is on the market, British newspapers reported on Tuesday.

With fans gripped by the fifth book in J.K. Rowling's series, the owner of No 4 Privet Drive -- in reality No 12 Picket Post Close -- is putting the house up for auction with a price guide of $415,000.

The detached house in Bracknell, south-east England, was first used by Warner Brothers when they filmed "Harry Potter and The Philosopher's Stone" -- known as "The Sorcerer's Stone" in America -- in 1999.

It is the place to which Harry reluctantly returns from wizarding school Hogwarts to spend his holidays.

From its gleaming front door to its pristine lawns, the house was selected by a location spotter for its lack of interesting features, the papers said.

But as readers will know, Harry saw little of the house in his formative years, spending much of them locked either under the stairs or in his sparse bedroom.

It will be auctioned on July 22 in London.