Will next ‘Potter’ book answer these questions?

It’s been a long two-year wait for fans of the Harry Potter novels for J.K. Rowling to finish the next installment — a wait made a little easier by the best film adaptation so far, "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban." But at last, on July 16, copies of "Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince" will fly off bookstore shelves so fast it will seem like readers have cast summoning spells. (“Accio book!”)

Since there’s one more volume left in the seven-book series, it’s too soon to expect resolution to many of Rowling’s as-yet-unanswered questions. In fact, it’s likely that Harry will be in worse trouble than ever at the end of this book, the better to create a cliffhanger leading into the as-yet-untitled final story. But here are a few mysteries, some important and some trivial, that I hope Rowling will explore in "Prince."

Note: There are technically no spoilers here, since at press time, the book was not yet published, but if you prefer to stay away from any speculation and remain totally unspoiled, stop reading now.

What happened to Norbert the dragon?
Harry’s friend Hagrid, the huge, bearded Care Of Magical Creatures teacher at Hogwarts, is well-known for his penchant for taking in extremely dangerous animals as pets. In the first book, he gets hold of a dragon egg through extralegal means (though, as always, he means well), and soon enough it hatches a baby Norwegian Ridgeback dragon he names Norbert. The creature is eventually discovered and, despite Hagrid’s protests, sent off to Ron’s older brother Charlie, a professional dragon-keeper in Romania.

Although Norbert has hardly been mentioned again, Rowling left him just offstage, and he could return to the storyline with next to no difficulty. One can easily imagine how useful a tame full-grown dragon would be to Harry in his fight against Voldemort — especially one who might still think that Hagrid is its mother. And speaking of Hagrid, he’s still got his “little” brother Grawp — a 16-foot-tall giant — hidden out in the Forbidden Forest near Hogwarts.

Will Ron and Hermione finally become a couple?

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Although the feelings between Harry’s two best friends have never yet officially expanded beyond mere friendship, there’s been enough misunderstanding (usually on Ron’s part) and veiled hints (usually on Hermione’s) for the careful reader to suspect that these two might have greater things in store for them. It’s worth noting, however, that on her Web site, Rowling herself claims to “chuckle” at the idea of a Ron/Hermione relationship — but she also says “I can’t believe some of you haven’t worked this one out yet.”

Another relationship I’d like to hear more about is the one between Hagrid and Olympe Maxime, the half-giant headmistress from Hogwarts rival school Beauxbatons. And is there anything between Albus Dumbledore and Minerva McGonagall besides a close professional association? Of course, there’s also the biggest relationship question of them all…

Will Harry ever get a girlfriend?
Harry’s longstanding attraction to fellow Hogwarts student Cho Chang blossomed into romance in "Phoenix," but it didn’t last — Cho was jealous of Harry’s friendship with Hermione, and Harry wasn’t as sympathetic as he probably should have been to her continuing grief over her previous boyfriend, Cedric Diggory, killed by Voldemort in the previous book. It seems quite unlikely that Rowling doesn’t have a love interest in mind for the main character of her series. But who will it be? The most likely theory is … well, we’ll get to that in the next paragraph.

When will we get to know the rest of the Weasley family?
We've barely seen Ron’s oldest brothers, Bill and Charlie. Charlie, as previously mentioned, is in Romania with Hagrid’s dragon Norbert, so I’m hoping that the two of them might show up together sometimes in the next two novels. Bill, the eldest, has a desk job at Gringotts, the wizard bank, but that’s actually a cover for his work with Dumbledore’s anti-Voldemort group, the Order of the Phoenix.

Ron’s straitlaced brother Percy’s love of rules and order is leading him further up the ladder at the Ministry of Magic, and further into an embrace of officious authoritarianism that just might bring him dangerously close to the fascist philosophy of Voldemort.

And there’s also another Weasley we’ve already met, but who Rowling has kept as a fairly minor player so far: Ron’s little sister, Ginny. She was the nexus of a major plotline in book two "Chamber of Secrets," both embarrassing Harry with her schoolgirl crush on him and becoming the target of one of Voldemort’s plots by becoming possessed by his enchanted diary. She virtually disappeared for two and a half novels, but returned in the last section of "Phoenix" as a very intriguing character — smart, direct, uniquely able to understand Harry’s relationship with Voldemort, and to snap Harry out of the self-pity that dogged him throughout the book. And it’s clearly implied in the book’s final pages that Ron, at least, would be very much in favor of her dating Harry, if she chose to.

Will Harry rid himself of the giant chip on his shoulder?
Harry spent much of the time in "Phoenix" moping, lashing out at his friends and generally acting moody and confused — in other words, just like a typical 15-year-old. Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s a nice touch on Rowling’s part for her hero to be flawed that way; it’s realistic, and adds depth to his character. He’d be boring without his flaws, but it’s time for Harry to start growing up.