Did you cheat?

[MissPotterHead]

In the utter impatience of finally having Book 5 in our hands and reading its contents, did you find yourself peeking at the last sentances, perusing through chapters, looking though the drawings on each chapter page?

And of course, did you find yourself dissapointed in having doing so?

~~~~~~

As soon as I receive a new book, I read the last sentance. Well all I got out of doing that was learning that Harry lives.

I'm a sucker for chapter drawings, so that was my next.

Then, after about 5 hours of reading, I was too impatient and opened random pages of the book and--accidentally, I went to the page when Luna spoke of Sirius dying. I screamed into the nearest pillow, finding whom I predicted to die just before having the book was right.

And of course, as I was ever more impatient to reach that quote "It is time I tell you everything...", I searched ahead (I was nearing the last 60 pages of the book by now) and read that segment.

Well, of course, it is all read in time. :sorry:

[ilovelifex1000]

Nope I didn't peak, because I did not want to spend my evening screaming into a pillow. I went way out of my way to aviod any spoilers. I didn't leave my yard until I had finished because I did not want to overhear anything in anyones conversations.
From one extreme to another.

[sarcasticx514]

Yes *puts head in shame*, I did cheat. But no, for some unknown reason I can look ahead of things and have people tell me book/movie plots, and when I'm reading/watching it, I don't feel disapointed. I have no idea why. . .

[dog star]

I had read spoilers already, so I double-checked to see who died before I even left the bookstore parking lot. Then I came home, read the first few chapters, and started scanning the others. I ended up reading "Snape's Worst Memory" that night, but other than that, I didn't skip forward. I do have to say that I was *not* disappointed in either having peeked or read the spoilers. Doing things like that increases my anticipation.

[Kneazle]

When I finally had the book in my hands, I resolved not to flip quickly through the book and spoil anything for myself. But 10 hours later, 600 pages in, I was getting impatient and flicked ahead just to see when Dumbledore was going to "tell you everything". Of course, it just so happens that they discuss Sirius' death a lot in the surrounding pages. :shrug: :lol:

It didn't spoil too much, though, because I saw that coming. Still, I did regret it somewhat.

[daniel4hp]

Nope. I opened up at Chapter 1 and read straight through.

[MadMagic]

Shockingly, I was able to control myself. Usually I am the person that flips to the back to try and figure out what happened. But for this I was able to control myself and was surprised when I read each thing. I am really glad that I did!

[Filius Flitwick]

I avoided spoilers, the table of contents, and even most of the chapter pictures until after I had finished the chapter. So, no, I did not cheat. I was probably laughably cautious during my reading of the book.

[Silver Phoenix]

I didn't look ahead or read any spoilers. I waited 3 years for the book and I didn't want /anything/ ruined. Though, I almost had the death of the book ruined for me. I went to a midnight release party, and while I was standing in the extremely long line to pay for the book there were two little kids standing in front of me seaching for who died. I was not a happy person >.> lucky for them they dind't find it :angel:

[FoolOnTheHill]

I didn't even look at the chapter titles until I got to them. Most of the time I had my hand directly below the line I was reading in order to cover the lines below and not to spoil what was at the bottom of the page in case I accidently glanced at it. Nothing was spoiled for me. I'm proud of myself. :clappy:

[Crystal]

No I was a good little girl and read it straight through!

[Dark Fallen Pride]

I read the last few lines of the book and looked at the chapter pictures but thats all except when you could see Umbridges anouncements they were so big on the page that my eyes just went to it but that really didn't spoil anything.

[cedric]

i read the book from the beginning to the end, thoguh some tiems i would glance along the page and see somethign exciting and skip a part then have to go back over it. my fingers so badly wanted to turn to the last chapter

[Clarke]

I tried not to do so. I read the last word ('wake' like that has anything to do with anything) and just read straight through (even though I flipped through the pages and read the ToC). I didn't want anything ruined because Cedric's death in GoF was spoiled for me (pretty much ruining my liking for the book).

[pineapple]

I read straight through.....I did look at the chapter titles thoug, but they don't give much away.

I didn't want to spoil it for myself though...I didn't een have the urge.

[Eternal]

I found it very hard to resist the urge to skip ahead and see who died. But I didn't peek. I kept myself in line. I did occasionally skip ahead to look at the chapter drawings, which I sometimes wish I did not do. There was no permanent damage, though. However, sometimes (mostly late at night, when I had trouble focusing on what I was reading) I accidentally skipped a sentence only to discover, to my disappointment, something very important before I was ready.

[orclev]

I didn't cheat; in fact, when I happened to notice something in huge letters on the page to the right, I would cover it with my hand so that I could finish reading the stuff before it without it distracting me. :p

[hermiowninny]

Nope. Read it cover to cover, and got 3 hours sleep before working today because of it. Sirius' death was not a major surprise for some reason. And I hadn't even guessed that he was the one!

[tabby]

No cheating here. I didn't even read the chapter titles in case they let something out of the bag.

[Andora]

I looked at the chapter titles, and pictures when I came upon them, but I read it straight through... and 7 hours later... I was done, and I felt really good. I'm only sad that the next one is an entire year away... I really can't wait that long.

[Aelurus13]

I didn't cheat I was too nervous. I seemed to the only person that guessed right who was going to die, but I wanted more than anything to be wrong. I loved Sirius, he was the coolest. I cried so much when he died. :'(

[FatalBeauty]

The first thing I did when I got the book was to read the names of the chapters in the front. After that, I flipped through the book to look at the pictures at the beginning of each chapter. I was trying to be careful not to accidentally spoil the book by seeing something important, but somehow when I was looking at the picture for "The Only One He Ever Feared" I accidentally saw the words below it that said "He hasn't gone!" and Sirius' name. I shut the book immediately to make sure I didn't see any more. I knew it was at the part where somebody just died, but I thought Sirius said something, and that would be why I saw his name. I remember actually saying "Okay, so the person who dies isn't Sirius because he's talking after it happens." Then Sirius did end up dying.....

[Fleur]

I was so proud of myself because I did not cheat and read ahead for once. The only thing I looked at was the chapter titles and then just read. But by golly I was sorely tempted to read ahead, but I was really glad I did not.

[Flobberworm]

I cheated a little bit. I looked at like 3 of the chapter pictures which don't usually give much away, but of course one of the pictures I flipped to was the one with Harry and Cho. So I knew that was going to happen, though in the book it got a little obvious that they would eventually get together. When I was reading the left page I tried to always cover the right page with my arm so I couldn't read ahead. I learned my lesson after my eyes wandered in the 1st chapter and I read the part about the dementor almost kissing Dudley.

[Charmed]

It was very tempting but I restrained myself. There was a time where I started to flick through but I stopped myself. I'm glad I didn't skip ahead know though.

[Qeomash]

Nope. I didn't cheat. I used to look at the last sentence in books but this time I didn't. The only way I cheated was I read all the chapter titles on the table of contents before I started.

I ocasionally flipped ahead to see how many pages a chapter was, but I wouldn't read any of the page if I could help it.

[Lily Black]

I didnt cheat. I seriously <--:( considered it but I wanted to read it all the way through. My mom kept asking me if I knew who died it...it was frustrating...

[bubblesofdeath88]

I am proud to say I didnt! But the book did fall open and I read one line that said Dumbledore was replaced as headmaster. I was so mad!

[limey]

Originally posted by Lily Black (original post (http://www.cosforums.com/a/showthread.php?postid=390773#post390773))
I didnt cheat. I seriously <--:( considered it but I wanted to read it all the way through. My mom kept asking me if I knew who died it...it was frustrating...

my mom too... I kept telling her I wasn't saying anything but then she cracked and went ahead in her copy. grrrr.
but anyways I didn't cheat, I read through the chapter titles and, when they were fighting the deatheaters, I took a sheet of paper, ripped it in half, and used it to cover both pages that were open, because my eyes tend to wander, and I can never forget that when I was reading GOF I saw "Lord Voldemort had risen again."

[tttiiimmmmmmyyy]

No cheating here. I made it a point to not read the chapter titles. The pictures contained minor spoilers, but meh.

I feel bad for my brother though. He graduated today (6th grade), and hadn't finished the book (I had). One of his friends asked him "Do you read the Harry Potter series?" "Yeah." "Sirius dies."

[feeniks]

Nope. I was tempted to but I didn't.

[seashell323]

I'm really bad about "cheating" whenever I read any good book, and OotP was no different. I'm one of the rare people who actually likes to know what's going to happen ahead of time -- otherwise, I get so nervous about what might happen that I can't sit back and enjoy the story. ;) It's a backward way of thinking, I know! For this story, I had to know who died, so the minute I got the book, I flipped through it to the final few chapters. I found the chapter in which Sirius dies by the chapter title. "The Only One He Ever Feared" (actually the chapter following the death) just sounds like the title of a sad section. I then proceeded to read parts of Dumbledore's talk with Harry toward the end of the book. Otherwise, I glanced over the whole book, flipped a few pages, and then settled in to read the entire thing. Like always, I have no regrets about cheating. I would never spoil the story for someone else, but for myself, I prefer to know in advance. In OotP I needed it so I could get used to the idea of Sirius' death.

[Yavanna]

I was so proud of myself! I was so worried that I would go to the back, read who died, then end up reading the book backwards to find out why they died. And whenever I turnd the page and saw something interesting or exciting like Loskhart's name, I covered it up with a handy sheet of paper and put my bookmark over the words beneath the line I was reading. I was over protective of myself. So, no, I did not cheat (cuz I usually do read the last lines of a book!)

[GrintSistah]

Useually when i get a new book i read the last sentence as well. except for this one. i was afraid it would reveal who died. i didnt cheat at all. yay me;)

[Amadeus]

You are not the only one..

I still haven't got the book yet..

(It wasn't my intention to do so...)

so I tried to peek at what other people posted after they finished the book...

[Loz]

I didn't cheat. :clappy: not even a bit. I didn't even speed read. I'm so proud of myself. I'll never forget the constant fear and mystery. :D

[Ame]

Nope... I didn't cheat at all. I was tempted, and I sped up my reading but I didn't cheat a bit. I'm very proud of myself. :D

[Picko]

I didn't cheat and I didn't even think about it.

[Mad-I Moody]

I didn't cheat, unless you count reading the Table of Contents. I actually yelled (not really, just spoke forcefully) to a girl in line with me on Friday night as we were waiting to pay for our books. She was desparately flipping through the pages, asking everyone around her "Who dies, who dies?" I turned to her and said "How could you possibly want to know that now?! You might ruin it for everyone in line!" I fumed for a little while and then got out of there as fast as I could, lest something be spoiled for me. I read the whole book very quickly, but everything in it was certainly a surprise. I waited for too long to have all of my questions answered by flipping through the book.

[Virtuousdream]

I didn't cheat, yet for the first time ever I was tempted to do so. But I was strong :D

[~BrandyTook~]

The only cheating I did was look at some of the chapter titles. So before I got there, I knew he would visit the MoM and St. Mungos. But the titles didn't give much away other than that. I have the Canadian version, so there are no chapter drawings to look at. I was checking out the chapter titles and jsut glancing through and I happened to glance at the top of page 645 and saw "Voldemort's got Sirius". I wanted to hit myself for seeing that. I'm such a bad person because I always glance at the next paragraph or page when it seems like somehting interesting. Wehn I got to the death, I had no idea that it was going to be the death, I just glanced and saw "There's nothing you can do, Harry... nothing... he'd gone" And I got mad at myself for seeing that too. So when I got to the prophecy, I actually had to sover up the italic writing that I knew would be the prophecy. I covered it with my hand so I couldn't read it.

[jimmy06]

NO WAY would i ever think of cheating on something that I waited that long for! In my opinion looking ahead is not worth the three years! However I did want to know how many pages there were so I pulled up the last page just enough to see the 870 staring back at me, and then quickly shut the book on my hands! However when I was reading the book I readjusted myself on my bed as having stayed in that same position for about 5 hours, and the book flipped open to Snape's Worst Memory. I started to read...but then pulled a Dobby and pinched myself very hard for not being loyal to my master(JKR) ha!!!

[Maggles_W]

I didn't really cheat...but I had a softball tournament the weekend of the release so my brother was way ahead of me and I kept asking him if anyone died or if Dumbledore told us everything yet and when he got up to page like 750 and none of this had happened yet I got nervous and checked the last sentence to make sure that the famous Dumbledore telling everything wouldn't be a cliff hanger to book 6 and I received no spoilers there the only thing i knew ahead of time was that Ron would be keeper. :rotfl:

[DoctorWho]

Harry...(from Harry Mets Sally)...who always read the last chapter of every book he started...(in case he dies)...

I'll have to admit I was wondering when Dumbledore was going to tell Harry about his past...the chapters kept passing and no meeting...I took some quick glances at the last half to see if I could spot it...

[Crashcatto]

I did a little bit.

About half way through I read the last page which basically told me Ron and Hermione didn't die. (big surprise! :rolleyes: ) But, if I had the American version, I definetly would have looked at the chapter pictures.

[bobtduck90]

I was very happy for myself during this book, because in GoF, I looked at the illustrations on the cover, and got so intriuged (spelling?) by the people on it, that I just HAD to flip through the book until I figured out who they were. As soon as I got the book this time, I took the cover off, gave it to my Dad, and told him that if I asked for it back or he saw me flipping through the book at random before I'd finished it, he was to hit me over the head with the book. It was a very good reason not to cheat, considering that an 870 page, hardcover book could do extreme damage. :)

[Celestine_Adams]

Originally posted by sarcasticx514 (original post (http://www.cosforums.com/a/showthread.php?postid=390466#post390466))
Yes *puts head in shame*, I did cheat. But no, for some unknown reason I can look ahead of things and have people tell me book/movie plots, and when I'm reading/watching it, I don't feel disapointed. I have no idea why. . .


I'm the same way. It just makes me more curious to find out how it happened that way. It doesn't ruin it for me at all.

And yes, I did look ahead, just b/c I was so desperate to know what was going to happen. :whistle:

[andreadelacour]

Hey, how come you guys get chapter titles and chapter drawings? I have the British version because I'm from Canada and there's not even a content table!

[Arissya_00]

Are you kidding? I have the most annoying habit of always reading the end (briefly) first. I solemnly swear, I will NOT do it for Book 6. (Okay, I will try my hardest)

[Raven]

Didn't cheat. Wasn't tempted to cheat. Read like a maniac. I even used two pieces of construction paper (one for the opposite page, and one for the page that I was reading, to keep myself from skipping too many lines.

Therefore, it didn't sink in who had died until Lupin actually said that Sirius was dead.

[Hermione Cosplayer]

I didn't cheat.
I was afraid I wouldn't make it though the book that weekend though, I was exausted. I was "Hermione" from 8 till about 2am at one bookstore, and then back in my Hermione outfit at 8am the next morning at a mall bookstore that wasn't able to stay open for a midnight party. I had my picture taken with hundreds of fans (I brought my collection of Hogwarts robes in all sizes for the others to wear in the pictures).

I read for a few hours when I got home at 2am, slept maybe 3 hours, then back for more pictures. Then I read and slept on and off until very early Sunday morning (or late Saturday night depending on your point of view) before I finished.

[VyoletVega]

For some reason, I always read the very last word in a novel before I even begin reading it. I have never had anything spoiled for me by doing this; I'm quite good at blocking out the words around it.

To answer your question completely, I didn't skip ahead at all. I know a few people who did though.

[slider142]

The night we got the book, my best friend and I went through the chapter titles and had fun extrapolating possible meanings and events (The last few titles were pretty obvious though :) ). However that was as spoiled as we were willing to get. I love surprises. :)

[Wakkachuta]

No way I didn't read ahead, although I was tempted to.
But I started from Chapter 1 and went right through.
Although I think I did have a look at the chapter titles hehe
and in Australia we get the UK cover/version of the book so no chapter pictures. *although I REALLY like the look of the blue US version*

[heirofslytherin_dm]

I was really tempted to look ahead but I couldn't bring myself to actually do it.

[flibbertigibbet]

I usually don't cheat, and this was no exception. There were no chapter pictures to tempt me, and I was too afraid that I'd see something important by flipping through and finding all the chapter titles. I even had my bookmark covering the lines below what I was reading, at first, but that got uncomfortable, so I stopped.

[Oddfellow]

I did not cheat but I did read the chapter titles and saw the images. I too covered up the Umbridge announcements. They really made me angry.

[Hufflepuffy]

I wasn't even tempted to cheat! I would have been so mad at myself if I had. I remember being little and finding and opening my christmas presents before christmas morning, and it just wasn't the same. I'm glad I didn't peek. The most I did was read the chapter titles. My best friend said she read the end first. I couldn't imagine doing that. I've been waiting for this book for so long, I didn't want to spoil it for myself.

[RiskyChris]

I went through a lot before reading this book. I'm a true procrastinator, and I didn't go to a bookstore to preorder OotP until the week of release, and much to my dismay I found the book was already sold out. I ordered it on Amazon, and received it the following Tuesday. Saturday night, I was at a friend's house, and one of them thought it would be nice to tell the whole room who died. Luckily I was not there at the time, but I was really shocked. Needless to say, I became paranoid the rest of the night, and stayed upstairs alone. That same night my girlfriend was talking to a parent about the book, and mentions something about harry getting expelled, and that ticked me off too... A friend tells me two days later that the person who dies was "really cool," eliminating a few possibilities from my mind. He also says that you wouldn't know him if you've seen the first two movies(ARGH!!:angry: ) And furthermore, my gf says to me(she's only read the first 200 pages, and knows who died already) that she feels bad whenever she reads the name of the person. All that together...I pretty much was narrowed to two or three choices, and that was depressing =( O well, I'm glad to get all that off my chest. BTW, I thought the death scene was terribly disappointing and anti-climactic...Neville's scene in the hopital was much more depressing, :'(

[You-Know-Who]

I wanted to cheat by reading the last sentence, however I forgot about it :o

Originally posted by Qeomash (original post (http://www.cosforums.com/a/showthread.php?postid=390763#post390763))
Nope. I didn't cheat. I used to look at the last sentence in books but this time I didn't. The only way I cheated was I read all the chapter titles on the table of contents before I started.


There is a table of contents in the American version? I did not know that.

[totally_auror]

all i did was read the last page to see who were there, when i read the sirius want there, i thought it was because he was still hiding, not because he was dead. but if he was still alive he wouldnt be in a public place would he?

[Darthsky]

i really wanna get over it. i wanna know who died. i wanna know what happened to voldie. i wanna know about hermione and ron. i wanna know the ending.. the real ending, as in book 7. but since it's still impossible at the moment, i became rational and did not cheat. but i'm gonna reread it. this time, s-l-o-w-l-y. till book 6 is out. teehehe.

[mallorniphredil]

Alright, I admit it, I cheated! :D When I get new books, it's my habit to flip through them, read a sentence or two.... and it just so happened that my eye fell on the exact sentence where Sirius dies! :rolleyes: The whole book was spoiled for me because I honestly thought Hagrid would die..

[go_anna40]

Nope.
I did not cheat at all, well, not intentionally.
But I did spoil myself, but 'accidently' coming into here and discovering who died before I finished.
I did look at the St. Mungo's part and some others, only because there had to be some recalls of some Harry Potter books because chapter 29 was accidently replaced by chapter 9 during printing. And I checked the book if it was missing the chapter...and thankfully it wasn't.

[girl_wizardry]

As much as i wanted to, I didn't like I did when I read POA. In POA I cheated a LOT. But I've learned my lesson so I didn't. But the temptation is there tho. If my eyes felt the urge the scroll down the last sentences of the chapter or something, I'll immediately cover the part with my bookmark. So yay for me! I didn't cheat! :p

[Llopin]

I didn't cheat and didn't feel any desire to do so either. I wasn't in a hurry to know who died, I took my time and read it normally, taking breaks, but never looking the next pages. I didn't even look at the chapter list...

[Quasi_EviL]

See, I would start to cheat...but then as I flipped through the pages and started to read ahead, I would realize what I was doing and squint my eyes so I couldn't see anything that I didn't want to.

[jmk623]

I was really proud of myself until about 5 days before the 21st. I had started looking for spoilers, and I clicked on one that said "Who dies in OotP" I closed my eyes and debated with myself. I decieded not to peakm and when I opened my eyes, I was seeing at the bottom of the screen : Sirius dies.
Then, when I got the book I flipped though it to feel how thick it was. Then I was looking at "Did you kiss? " Harry and Cho.....I pretty much ruined it for myself.

[Thyme_of_Change]

Nope! I didn't peek. And I got the Deluxe edition so there was not printing on the book jacket to read either, lol.

[malfoyschick]

I did skip ahead a bit - mainly because I wanted to see who dies. But it wasn't as bad for me because spoilers don't really spoil anything for me. I'm one of those people who can know most of what will happen in a book and still get excited.

[Ecthelion]

Not at all! To me that's defeating the whole purpose of the book. What's the point of building up to the climax or putting little foreshadowing hints when all your going to do is peak ahead and spoil it! It just doesn't make sense!

[Sweetie]

Of course I cheated...I always do...but I made it farther this time than with the other books, I was half way through before I skimmed the ending to see who died...

[McKinnon02]

I did, but only a tiny bit. I looked at the last page and was relieved to find Harry happy.

Of course, I had no idea how miserable he'd be during the book. :rolleyes:

[hermownninny]

I'm telling you, I have to restrain myself from cheating...I wanted to read who died so badly..and I was depressed because everytime someone got attacked I thought that would be the person who died and then started screaming...":"Oh, NOOOO, Mr Weasly!!!!!...
or "OH NOOOOOO< NO, Hermione!!!!!, NOOOOOO, No RON!!!!!

It was really bad but I could control myself...

And then, this made me so angry....A friend called me when I was about to start the chapter when someone died...and he was like"I finished it, and you cannot imagine how important Neville is, and you know who dies??" Seriously, I WANTED TO KILL MY FRIEND......but I didn't let him spoil it from me...I introduced this friend to the series, and maybe my friend wanted for once to be the one who explained things, but I thought it was very rude considering that I told the friend not to call me until I had finished and all the torture I had to go through not to open the final and read it.....grrrrrr...I'm really angry!!!!

[Mad Macca]

nope! :D I was good. I didn't cheat!
I was so paranoid about getting it spoiled, I made extra care not to accidently open at the wrong page and read the chapter titles. Yup, that bad. And when I found out that there was a printing error in a batch of books that was shipped over here (to Australia) I was still paranoid, that I got my sister to flip through the titles and make sure it was ok :lol:

[gryffindor g1rl]

Nope I didn't peak, because if I did I knew I would regret it. And lucky for me the Australian versions do not have chapter pictures in them. I can't believe I was able to control myself. I avoided spoilers and the table of contents. But I found that Umbridges anouncements were impossible to avoid. I'd turn the page and straight away my eyes would be drawn to them. Most people I know cheated to see who died but I was far too scared to do so.

[gryffindor g1rl]

Nope I didn't peak, because if I did I knew I would regret it. And lucky for me the Australian versions do not have chapter pictures in them. I can't believe I was able to control myself. I avoided spoilers and the table of contents. But I found that Umbridges anouncements were impossible to avoid. I'd turn the page and straight away my eyes would be drawn to them. Most people I know cheated to see who died but I was far too scared to do so.

[dementor23]

Nope, didn't peak. I can't stand to know the ending of something and then go back and start it from the beginning. It makes me rush through it, whether it be a movie or book, to get to the part that i read or saw. I can just relax and enjoy it as the story unfolds if I wait.

[swishandflick]

Yup. The moment I got the book I looked around and read the page where Sirius died. I'm really bad about things like that. My reaction was: "Huhmm, wonder how he's gonna die?". I love spoilers. Maybe I'll try for no spoilers on book 7 since it'll be my last chance to do so :)

[AllanTheGreat]

When I buy a book I alwas read the last word of the book. I guess that's not really cheating is it?

Oh, and the book was also spoiled for me because I went to a comments box in MugglePride.com and some fool who had already read the book posted who died.

I was so annoyed.:grumble:

[Rose Hunter]

Nope.

I can say with complete conviction that I did not cheat by looking at the back of the book before it was time to get there.

I can't say I wasn't tempted to though.

[Atalanta]

No, I didn't!

I started off on chapter 1 and got to the point of the death of Sirius so quickly that I thought he wouldn't be dead because I wasn't at the end of the book yet!

[tigerlily17]

Nope, I read book #5 shortly after it came out and I read it straight through. I did the same with the other four, because I think that going ahead would ruin it for me.

Also, gryffindor g1rl, is it possible for you to type in a color that is easier to see than blue, especially since the page itself is blue- it is hard to read! I would really apreciate that! :cool:

[SilverStar]

Yes I did cheat. My sis had called it first to read, so I had to wait until she was done. Well she was gone that afternoon and three guesses what I did?

I turned to the last page, read it, didn't get anything out of it. So I turned it back chapters to find out who died and eventually found it.

I wish I hadn't, because not only does it ruin the book for you, but you're expecting-and actually waiting for-it to happen, and it's a secret burning inside you. I couldn't tell my mom or sis, and it killed me (no pun intended).

[Windstar]

Nope, I did not cheat. I started reading it as soon as I got home (around 1:30am) and read until I could no longer stay awake. I got the book at a midnight party and just before hand, had spent umteen hours at a dance recital. Then I had to take the kids out to eat after I got the book! Imagine, they were hungry. The nerve!
Anyway, I didn't cheat, I read through to the end the next day. I kept trying to figure out who died, Mr. Weasley, no, Hagrid, no, and so on.
My friend, however, did cheat. She only read the part where she found out who died and then went to bed.

[cleansweep11]

When I get a new HP book I always study the cover,then read the summary(I just love the 4th book one!)Then I read pretty much everything(like dedication,chapter titles etc) Then I start to read. My rule for chapter pictures is I can look at the one after the chapter I'm about to read. But did I cheat? No.

[hermy_weasley2]

I didn't peak, because I did it with GoF and I immediately saw the words "Cedric's body." Grr...

[Vequihellin]

Surprisingly, actually, no I did not. Usually I peek to the ends of books to finds out who dies/wins/gets together etc but I managed to restrain myself because I wanted the surprise of reading it after I had read the rest of the book. The UK copies don't have chapter pics, which I cannot tell whether or not is a good thing. LOL.

"Do you read the Harry Potter series?" "Yeah." "Sirius dies."Oh Nooooooooo! Thats awful! My friends and I were on fieldwork (I'm a Geology student for anyone who can't be bothered to look at my profile) and when April and I stopped off at service stations selling copies of the book (at Extravagent prices I might add) she had to physically restrain me! :lol: I refused to watch the local news and didn't read my text messages until I had read the book in case one of my friends at work spoiled it for me (I work at WHSmith by the way, so that was a very real possibility LOL) But that is one of the few books I have read page by page without knowing the ending!

Veq.

[Jacob]

I didnt cheat. I read the whole book page by page. I didnt even look at the table of contents just in case the title of one of the chapters gave away something. I wish i had a UK copy of the books o the chapter pictures didnt give stuff away.

[teffybob]

No, I started at chapter one and read all the way through. The suspense made me read more often and faster. I read for basically 2 days straight with breaks for stuff I had to do. My sister peeked though and the whole time I was scared she was going to spill the end.

[saphira]

Lol no I dindt cheat, it only took me a day to read the book so I had no need *beams* I would have screamed hysterically and started crying had I turned to the page of Sirius dying. *shudders* Im glad it came when it did. :upset:

[Quasi_EviL]

I cheated...I was so eager to get to the end of the darn thing. But the most disappointing aspect of that was peaking at the other side of the page and seeing who died. It kind of made me lose my momentum. Ah well.

[Cindy]

There wasn't any chapter titles and illustrations in the UK version, and I didn't peek behind to read the ending. However, I did log on IRC after reading about half the book (before Sirius died) and someone told me Sirius died in IRC. I still thought the one that J.K.R. killed off was Hagrid before I saw that in IRC. I will never ever come online before I finish a Harry Potter book again. :grumble:

[Auror Williamson]

I confess, I'm guilty. :lol:


For every chapter I started on, I looked at the title and illustration of the next.

Also, I read the last sentence of the book. In doing so, my eyes wandered all over the last page, and I read something about Petunia. That spoiled my hope that Harry wasn't going back with the Dursley's or that the Dursley's died. :(

[SnorkackCatcher]

Nope, didn't look ahead - I really prefer to have the anticipation of what's coming up the first time I read a novel. If the novel's any good, you'll want to go back and read it again, so there's time for a hindsight view later. I got it on pre-order from Amazon and read it straight through that day, and will probably do the same for the next two (just to prevent some b*****d telling me what happens!).

[SUPERxSADIST]

i did read some 1 line spoilers on the net but nothing that gave anything away, it did take all i had to not skip ahead and try to find out who died.

[thinkpink38]

Yeah, infact I skipped the entire novel and went on too the Chapter of the Prophecy, and read it. UGH, yeah right! And ruin what I have been waiting to read, I like reading the other chapters as well, but I must admit that I did think about taking a peek at the end just out of curiosity.

[jeddyjeddy]

OKay so I read the last page in the fifth book so sue me!!!!! :upset:

I feel bad enough! But heh atleast I'm not along! :eyebrows:

So anyone else read the last page of Order of the Pheonix like I did? :huh:

Come on you can tell me! :angel:

[Jonny Boy]

No, I don't like reading ahead.

[Chrissy_Weasley]

In line to pay, I tried to figure out who was on the cover, and looked through the table of contents. Even though I had to wait for my friend, (who was in the last group to get the books because she reserved late by Borders' House system) but I didn't start reading until I got home. then I went straight to bed and read straight through until 5 a.m. "Uhm... the sun's coming up, I prolly ought to go to sleep now" and did the same the next night and the night after though the last night wasn't so late beacuse I finished it then. I finished ahead of my friend I had gone to get it with because she needs it on audio because she has reading issues. She got the tapes and the book and she finished it in about 2 weeks.

Also, I went here after it reopened, before I finished, and looked through subject titles to see what the new controversies were. I didn't read any posts

[Moontrimmer]

I never cheat when reading books. :angel:

Ok, so maybe I did when I was younger, but I don't now, and I've never done it with a HP book and never intend to. I didn't even look the Chapter list while reading book 5.

[Spirit]

:D No, I didn't really "cheat". I mean, I read the last sentance of the book (I always do that) and I very, very carefully tried to find the part where that quote "I am going to tell you everything" was without ruining everything. But I knew that Sirius was going to die because I found out beforehand. :evil: Heh, so in a way I kind of stepped a toe out of line and cheated, just a little.

[Picko]

I didn't cheat, I prefer the shock of events occuring rather than wondering how they'll come about.

[sykosis17]

I'm a good boy. I never cheat....on Monday's and Wednesdays. :evil:
As far as the book goes, nope. Honest this time with a halo around my head. :angel:

[Guardian Angel]

No, no, no, no and no! :D

Well, I guess I am just one of those people who would NEVER read the last part and then started from the beginning. I hate knowing what will happen. Sure, I like to speculate before the book comes out, but to know for sure when I have the book in my hands... No, thank you.

But, as a big jinx that I've always been, I have accidentally read in newspapers who dies in OotP... I don't know if you can imagine my reaction, but let me put it this way: I didn't eat the whole day, I was jumping around house, muttering something in my beard, yelling at my Mom: "How could they write it in the newspapers?? How?? I am gonna sue them!!", etc.

[dumbleedore]

I didn't cheat- was very tempted too but :D

[Niffler_8882]

Nope..i didn't peak..i did give away the death to my sister tho..accidentally that is..sorry!!

[SiriusPig]

No I didn't cheat but I know who died early because my sister look in the back of the book and told me when I didn't want to know.

[Doggy]

No, I didn't cheat, it didn't even cross my mind. Finding out who was going to die and what the whole "I'm going to tell you everything" quote was about wasn't top priority. I just wanted to find out what happened in the entire book. I started on the first page of the first chapter, and finished on the last page of the last chapter.

[HarryPotter]

I didn't cheat and I never will... I hate to know what will happen in the next chapters before I should...

[gottaloveLupin]

Yes , I looked at the last pages, hoping to find out something, but not too much.
Unfortunately, or fortunately I found out about Sirius's death.
That didn’t stop me from crying like a baby for 30 minutes when 2 days later I got to that scene.
And he wasn't even my favorite character, although I liked him a lot.
I can't imagine how much I'll cry if Lupin dies.
And not to talk about Harry. I can't even imagine Harry dieing.

[Dru Malfoy]

I spent the whole weekend reading and avoiding anyone who could have read it before I did. I also didn't switch on my TV or radio not to get spoiled. You can bet I didn't read ahead. I want to read step by step and not miss a thing!

[NepSy]

I cheated in GoF but not in OoP. I learned my lesson when I read the last chapters of GoF and didn't want to spoil OoP and kill the fun of the book like I did with GoF.

[Miasma]

Well...you know that thing that was released, about Dumbledore telling Harry he'd tell him everything? I kept reading, but really wanted to know where that bit was, so I flicked the pages a bit, realised where it was in the book, and carried on reading!

[Dedalus]

To be honest, I don't even understand why anybody would want to!

I didn't want to find anything out before the rest of it, because it all looked pretty interesting to me! And reading it in the proper order means you find out the bits you might have skipped ahead to but at the right time. You're going to miss important things otherwise, and there's no point in being impatient just to end up being confused. You may as well be patient, get enjoyment and make some sense out of it, in the long run.

[springthing4]

i can't remember...but i probably did, i do that all the time , i'm glad that the last sentences in hp didn't tell anything! i promise i won't do it 4 the last two though!

[Tirwen Lupin]

Nooooo, I didn't cheat even once. I did that with GoF, and accidentally came accross a passage where someone mentions Cedric dying. With OotP, I made a point not to even look at the table of content before reading.

As Dedalus said, I don't see why anyone would actually want to. Impatience takes out a good bit of the enjoyment.

[Megan Mystic]

...:whistle:
... OK yeah I did. I always read the last sentence of the book. Any book I read. It gives me a reason to keep reading. I believe that for a good book, you have to have a powerful or meaningful concluding paragraph or sentence so...

[WeasleyIsOurKing]

I definitely cheated.

I'm horrible when it comes to suspense. I ruined OotP for me. By skipping ahead I discovered who died, what the "weapon" was, and what happened to Umbridge. I also found myself skimming ahead to find out what kind of advances would be made in the lurrrrrrrve department. I felt bad later on because I accidentally blurted out that Sirius died to my friends, and they weren't too happy. :shrug:

[tizzy weasley]

I can honestly say I didn't cheat. It was really tempting but I like the suspense and the surprises. I was good. :D

[hesdead-dealwithit]

Absoutely not. Beside the fact that it would ruin the experience, what I love about the HP books is not finding out what happens, but the process of finding out what happens. Sure, I want to know who dies at the end, and all that, but the best part of HP for me is not learning those facts but the entire experience.

[Godrics_Heiress]

I was so tempted to scan through my reading, but I resisted. I half-cheated, though. I had to see the chapter illustrations and make some assumptions out of them. Not a good idea since most of what I thought the chapter was about were wrong.

[Bee]

I have the British/Canadian version of OotP, so it doesn't have chapter drawings... which is good in a way... nothing to spoil, but I've seen the drawings you Americans have, and I think they're pretty cool, actually.

And no, I didn't peek... I can't stand reading "the last sentence", or looking at spoilers, or all that stuff. When they had the spoilers on Mugglenet, I scrolled up and down really fast, just for the heck of it, but it was too fast to read anything. Haha.

[DarkMark90]

I read the last sentence before I started the book. I didn't look at the chapter drawings until I got to that chapter. I'm still very mad, because before I even had gotten a copy of the book, the next day we had school after it came out, someone whose sister had read it, told me who died. The person who told me hadn't actually read it, so at first I didn't believe them. Then someone came into school the next day, and said that it was true, so I was even madder. My former social studies teacher actually threatened to fail the person if they told her who died ahead of time.

[GryffindorSeeker]

Naw, I didn't cheat. I was tempted, but books like this, certainly not. I only do when I'm getting bored with the book, but I didn't in this!

[Aseldar]

I was told a few days before June 21st by a Barnes and Nobles book seller who would die.

[springthing4]

well that really kind off takes the fun out of reading the books, don't you think? its like finding out what your christmas presents are on christmas eve.

[mirandam]

Noway. That takes the whole fun out of reading a book for me. I like to work up to it and then get the great finish. Or in some cases a blah finish. Although, one of my sons friends said to us "my sister said Sirius dies" , I wanted to kick his butt. The next time he watched a movie here I told him "oh, its so sad when his girlfriend dies at the end". I was only kidding, but I think he knows never to tell me the end of anything again. :lol:

[springthing4]

me and my brother were reading ootp at the same time, and if he annoyed me i would just threaten to tell him what was happening in the spot i was reading. when mrs.weasley was trying to get rid of the boggart, he came out of his room screaming ron is the one who dies! i was soo mad at him, but i was happy when i found out ron didn't die!:)

[Cammie]

I didn't cheat...intentionally, anyway. Someone on this forum gave away who died before the book was released. I didn't really believe the person, but he/she also listed other details about the book to prove their validity. Some of the details included all the chapter titles. When I got the book, I saw the chapters in the table of contents and assumed that the person was telling the truth. As it turned out, he/she was correct. Bummer.

[AWallZ0715]

I didn't cheat. I basically ABSORBED the book in four days, reading ever waking moment. :-D

[Moonlight]

I did scan through the chapter titles, not that I gleaned much from them. But other than that I didn't cheat because I didn't see much point in it. :) And the British version didn't have any pictures, so there was no temptation there.

[fleur magique]

I didn't cheat. I like surprises and I didn't want to know what happened before it actually happened. Although a person that I work with skipped ahead to the "Snapes Worst Memory" chapter and tried to tell me what happened. Yea I ran away yelling "don't tell me, I don't want to know"

[Sniv]

There are no drawings in the books I read (Im from DK)....and no I didnt cheat... :angel:

[Dashriprock]

Nope, I read straight through. I'm surprised I did, though; I have cheated sometimes when I read other books, heh.

[Grapez]

I didn't cheat (if you like to call it that) but I caught myself skipping lines and reading too fast...
That's why I like reading it a second time, you can read more calmly.

[OrlisGrape]

I read the book In order. Even though it was Killing me to know what happnened, I finished the whole thing first. I never left the house till I was done, becuase I didn't want any of my friends telling me who it was that died and stuff.

[Sniper]

I read it in order, though it was spoiled for me that he dies >:O My GF read it the night it came out and didnt stop til 12 the next day when she finished. And she let it slip to me. And i was quite irate, i didnt want to know and i didnt want HIM to die .... It was a real shame and i was uber depressed about it.. .:-\

[a s h]

I am an evil little thing. When I got home and saw the book in my brother's hands, I pounced on him, spirited the book away and turned to the last page before anything else.

I do not like being kept in suspense, obviously.

Ironically though, when my friend told me Sirius was dead, I was extremely tempted to kill her with nothing but a potato peeler. I was in utter denial. And I hadn't read that part yet either :3

[Jinxie Cat]

I was so tempted to flip through the pages to see who died... But I fought temptation and didn't cheat! I was actually very careful in not letting the book accidently flip to another page. The whole fun in reading an HP book is finding out what comes next and not spoiling the whole thing.

[doadpadfoot]

alright u caught me! well actually you caught my best friend :upset: my friend kind of like peaked towards the back of the book, and...... she read that sirius was the one jkr said would die :upset:she didn't actually tell me who it was until i was reading the chapter. :sad: :upset:

[Lupin_Lady]

The girl in the bookshop told me when I bought OOTP.... She's gone
"Do you know a character dies?"
Me: "No. Really????!!!"
Her: "Yeah, are you dying to know who?"
Me: "Yeah"
Her: "Sirius Black"

I meant I was dying to know, not dying for her to tell me!!!

[Ed Sane]

You might consider it cheating, but for all the HP books i always read the chapter titles first, but i dont look at the pictures

[Marvolo]

Never, ever, never.
A true HP fan would never, mark my words, do anything like that.
The books are like a Bibel, what would Hod think of cheaters.
I guess he would forgive you, but anyway..

[MistressOfMagic]

Yeah, I did. :(

Right as I got the book, I flipped through the pages and discovered who died. It wasn't who I thought it was though.

[MSLupin]

Peak? With Harry Potter? Oh no, not I. I waited for this book for three years, no petty curiosity was going to have it's conniving ways with me! (I was in an overnight camp when GoF was released. I walked around with my hands clamped over my ears for almost a week, so as not to have the end spoiled.)

[grawp66]

Yes, but not to see who died. I wanted to see how far I had to read untill "beyond the veil" cuz the title sounded cool and I accidently saw the part in "Snapes worst memory" where Lily is yelling at James. Didn't get it though. I usually hate reading ahead in books but I was *VERY* tempted with this one.

[grawp66]

[QUOTE=~BrandyTook~] I was checking out the chapter titles and jsut glancing through and I happened to glance at the top of page 645 and saw "Voldemort's got Sirius".

I saw that too! I was still sure it wouldn't be Sirius, though.

[Avalon]

i did not cheat, i just read straight through :):):):):)

[Lupin_Lady]

I was sooooooo, tempted to cheat with POA, because I had no idea how it was going to end and it drove me up the wall.... but i stuck in there, and got an awesome shock... that I still love :love:

[padfootgrim]

i admit it... i cheated... i read the ending cause i wanted to know who died...

i wasnt disppointed... i always cheat when i read books... i was shocked when i found out he died... but i always read the ending... i just cant wait... im not disappointed.,. i got used to knowing the ending before the beginning

[SnowyOwl]

No way, not even the table of contents. Nothing can come close to the anxiety of seeing first one character than another in a tight spot! I loved it!

My husband and I had our own copies and then turned them over to our kids. We were very careful not to give anything away--though I felt bad when my 8 year old came to Sirius' death and burst into tears.

[sindatur]

I read all the minor spoilers, but avoided those claiming to know who died.

I did however, accidentally, read a post that was not properly identified as a spolier (on another site where we had an agreement not to spoil for the first week), and it was a bit of a bummer finding out who was killed, when I had only read 1/3 of the book.

I also read about 10 of the chapter titles, in advance, and stopped myself from reading more chapter titles.

So, no disappointment, other than reading the post, that I didn't want to read containing the Death.

[LadyLuck]

No I knew someone who said I should and did so themselves but no I did not I enjoy the HP books way to much I wanted to but I didnt knowing I would regret it

[LadySummer]

I had an accidental ooopsie regarding cheating and checking out things ahead of time. I came into the harry potter world relatively late...as in i didnt start the series until november of 2003...i managed to read the first four books in about a week, and discovered this website before i could get back out again and buy book 5. I managed to stumble on the thread that discussed the first 5 books....for some reason my brain didnt register that i hadnt read book 5 yet. So i was shocked and bummed ahead of time about the death of sirius, so when i got to that part it didnt effect me....it wasnt until the third time i read the book that his death really effected me. Am still wondering if my initial reaction to his death would have been different had i not found this out ahead of time.....

[NorthStar]

I actually went out and bought the book at midnight, and half an hour later sat down and read the entire thing at one sitting - took me from 12.30am until 10 am!

The death was a huge surprise, as I'd forgotten that one was even due, being so absorbed in the book, and I'm very glad I wasn't tempted to cheat - books don't have the same impact on me if I know what's coming, I like being able to read it again after the first time and see the signs of later events I'd missed the first time, but I would hate to know what was happening in the first reading.

[rotsiepots]

The only cheating I did was reading the American chapter headings online. I was a bit disappointed that I didn't resist temptation, because the chapter headings give an awful lot away (eg "Dudley Demented", "The Lost Prophecy", "The Department of Mysteries", "Professor Umbridge" etc).

I did read the book from cover to cover, though, with no peeking. ;)

[Furienna]

Oh yeah I cheated. I was up til 3 AM one night and discovered that Sirius died, McGonagall was hurt and Harry and Cho became history (I'm still relieved about the last one).

[firebolt2000]

I never cheated, and I'm actually kind of proud of myself for that, because normally I do with most books. But after I read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, I vowed never to look at the last page of a book again, just because I didn't want to spoil it for myself and know the whole time what is actually going to happen. I love the feeling of suspense and not knowing what is going to happen next, especially when reading Harry Potter.

[Horntail]

Right at the end of the book when DD is getting ready to tell Harry the prophecy I almost cheated. The font for the prophecy is different than the normal text, so you can see it coming a page ahead of time. I had to cover it up with my hand so I was able to read everything before it and not just skip right to that bit.

[ErickGama]

YES!, I did cheated, i was looking throught the drawings in each chapter and watching some sentences but then I decided to start with the beginning. :D

[emerald eyes]

I never read any of the HP books until about 3 weeks before OotP was released and at the time, I was nanny to two girls who had already read 1-4 and knew about all the possible happenings for the upcoming 5th book. I actually took them to the midnight party to get the 5th book. Before we were to the car, I just had to find out who died. So I flipped through til I found it. I only caught the name and nothing else. Then I started and didn't put it down til the end!!! And I didn't peek ahead to find out anything else. :)

[rotsiepots]

Right at the end of the book when DD is getting ready to tell Harry the prophecy I almost cheated. The font for the prophecy is different than the normal text, so you can see it coming a page ahead of time. I had to cover it up with my hand so I was able to read everything before it and not just skip right to that bit.

Argh, yes all the screaming and shouting was really distracting wasn't it?! I ended up doing the same thing, actually. I started reading with a folded-up piece of paper so that it would cover the words below the line I was reading. My eyes were automatically drawn to the different fonts, whether it was SHOUTING or, the italicised prophecy.

I thought I was the only one. ;)

[Lilly Rose]

No!!!! I even avoid cheating at the Midnight release of OoP. A lady had started reading it at 12:10 just as I got out of line. I cupped my hand over my ears, said, "I don't want to hear this...La..La..La" and proceeded to the back of the store for a Caramel Machiato. I also liked watching the kids sit around reading the book, getting all excited. So..I couldn't bring myself to cheat. That takes the fun out of reading the books!
:D

[Furienna]

I think one of the big reasons why I cheated was because I don't mind if I know the ending of a book before I see it. I mean, for example, OK, I might have known that Sirius was the one to die, but I didn't know how he died, why he died or where he died or indeed when he died. Even if you know how it's gonna end... OK, some of the excitement might be gone, but you still wouldn't know all the details, you known.

[harripottrfreek]

No I didnt cheat but I did know Sirius was the one to die but it wasnt my fault...my friend wrote me an e-mail before i got my copy of the book saying how do you feel about sirius' death? like in the middle of the letter...i was like huh? and then i was shocked...throughout the book i kept thinking its a joke shes lying...but...it was true...but i did not cheat

[Scoop33]

I didn't, I have to keep my hand on the next page so I don't try to sneak a glance over to see if I see any key words that would give it away. I also hate seeing the chapter pictuers untill I start that chapeter, so I do the hand-covering method once again.

[RJBradbrook]

the only book i cheated on was PoA. when i was about 1/2 through it and found out that Sirius was Harry's godfather, i wanted him to be a good guy so much i had to check the last page. fortunetly the last paragraph is about harry having a better summer bacause he scarerd uncle Vernom with the news of his murderous godfather

[Prof.Blink]

oh i cheated too... i flicked through the book to find out who was gonna die in Ootp. i've learnt my lesson though, i will not be doing that again!!!! it spoilt the surprise.

[Dottie]

I had a friend of mine who was a little upset over book 5 blurt things out at me and ruin the surprise for me. I think I'll have to go hermit until I finish books 6 and 7 to avoid this in the future. :lol:

[Bouncing_Ferret]

I can proudly say that I didn't cheat at all in any of the books! It took a lot of determination and willpower (well... lots of chocolate biscuits anyway) but I never looked at any page other than the one I was reading and previous pages. I've learnt from ages ago that skipping to the back just ruins the story, and anyhow, I guessed that Sirius would die fairly early on in OotP, so I wasn't that eager to get to the end.
:(

[Morag]

Yes I cheated :blush:

I was at the part where Sirius and the trio talk about DA when I got this feeling that Sirius is going to die...and I wnted to convince myself that he won't...so I looked...cried for 10 minutes...read the rest of the book...and cried some more whene I got to that part again!

It didn't ruin the book for me though because there was so much I still didn't know - the Prophecy, Harry using Crucio (loved this part, it made me smile...what can I say I'm mean :evil: ) and so on!

I will try not to cheat whit books 6 and 7 though!

[Ginevra Molly]

I didn't cheat, all I did was look at the chapters in the front and occasionally looked at a drawing for a chapter. But I did -not- read ahead. Something I have never done in a HP book, I find it not as fun if you know whats going to happen early on in your first reading.

[Uther]

I cheated but only a bit. For all the books i read from start to finish without reading ahead. The only crime i did commit was that in a couple of the books i read the last few lines and on all occassions it gave nothing away, except that Harry was alive (but thats not a suprise since he has to live til the 7th book).

[mevam]

I cheated all the time with OOTP and GOF! I'm awful, I know, because I just ended up spoiling the death of Sirius before I'd actually read about it in sequence for OOTP. I just find myself being more intrigued and curious about the big points and happenings in the plot than the small bits of dialogue when I first read the book. I'll skip through the chapters and read snitchets of writing from each, usually without understanding what it meant, and I'll put it together as I'm chugging through the book in order. I figure for book 6 and 7 I'll do the same.

[noxerised]

i actually didn't cheat at all...it was hard, but i realized that if i cheated, i'd just try and get to that point so fast that i'd skip over a lot of stuff...

[jen15poms]

I was actually so excited to get through the meat of the book that I didn't even think to look ahead and find out what happened at the end! Although the temptation would have been great had I thought to do that, I don't think I would have allowed myself to ruin the ending before I actually got that far. I was disappointed that I read the book so fast, having waited such a long time for it to come out. It would have been a better idea to limit myself to one chapter per day, so as to extend my enjoyment!

[DarkMark]

i didn't cheat either. I knew the date OoTP was coming out, but i just turned over the tv whever they were going to discuss the release of it and how someone is supposed to have died. I did the same one the net, so when i read the book and saw that Sirius had died it was honestly shocking! The one good thing Harry had was taken from him! I found it was nice to read what happens as well rather than having it spoilt!

[Stephie]

Well sorta, not really. I always read the last page.

[Weasley24]

I'm proud to state that I didn't cheat. I read the chapter title's in the beginning, that's about it. I was tempted to look at the chapter pictures, but I resisted.

Near the end of the book though, everytime I flipped the page I had to cover the next page, only because I was so incredibly anxious to find out what happens. I remember the one time though I wasn't quick enough, and my eyes saw the words "Avada Kedavra" in capital letters on the next page, and I nearly fell off my bed in a panic. False alarm though, thank goodness.

[dhfroggy11]

No way! I actually knew who was going to die exactly one chapter before I got to it, so the surprise was completely ruined.

oh, and by the way for people who don't alerady know this.... J.K. Rowling just finished with the 7th book!!

[crazycool]

Yes I peek. I do this with all my books. I read the last page.

[FizzingWhizbee]

When I got towards the middle of the book, I became anxious. I opened a random page at the end, and I gathered that Sirius was the one to die. I was mad at myself for doing it... I promise I won't do it for the 6th!

[LouisaB]

I didn't peek at the ending. Never do unless I know I am not going to finish a book for whatever reason and I seriously doubt that will ever happen with this series.

As for the drawings...I have the adult addition (thought that cover was better) which does not have them. In fact I did not know there were any pictures until coming here.

[no1 potter fan]

i always read the last page 1st then read from the begining

[Mercedes]

I never peak. That's evil. Though I found out who 'died' beforehand; 'surprise' ruined.

[joinedupwriting]

I didn't read ahead, but I ordered my book from Amazon, so naturally it took Fed Ex the whole day to get to my house, so I couldn't stop myself from logging online and checking alt.fan.harrypotter and thus spoiling the "big death" for myself.

[SnorkackCatcher]

As for the drawings...I have the adult addition (thought that cover was better) which does not have them. In fact I did not know there were any pictures until coming here.
There aren't any pictures in the UK editions, except on the front and back covers - are they perhaps specially drawn for the US "children's editions"?

[Anne Prewett]

I think I read it straight through... I may have skipped to the very last sentence at some point though, I think...

[doyle_paddigan]

Everytime I get a new book, I read the last paragraph, but in this case that didn't make much of a difference. I was pretty sure from the beginning who was going to die, but I didn't peek about that...I was hoping she'd make it someone not that obvious.

[Edd_Hogsmeade]

some person shouted it out at school, the day after it was released, i should have read it all the day it came out.

[danteluna]

There aren't any pictures in the UK editions, except on the front and back covers - are they perhaps specially drawn for the US "children's editions"?

Pretty much all of the U.S. editions of HP are the same...in fact, I don't think I've ever seen a different editions other than the ones with the pretty covers. There are little illustrations at the beginning of every chapter above the title.

[Frankie Inkblot]

I'm ashamed to say that I wasn't nearly as crazy about Harry Potter as I am now. So, when I saw that my bf's dad had the book lying on his mantle, I thought, hey, cool. Mr. B reads HP.

So, he lent it to me, a few weeks after it came out, (which, had I been a member of this forum - would have been a few weeks after everyone had started ruining the book for all the others who weren't done yet) and it took me a couple of weeks to read it.

So, I was not tempted in any way to read the last page or whatever - because I hardly cared enough. Had the book accidentally propped open at a different page, I wouldn't have even noticed.

But now I'm a freak, you can be sure of that. I'll be waiting in line at Chapters just like all you crazies too next year.

[ragga]

i sometimes flick through the book and read the italicised pieces such as letters etc...or sometimes i go to the last chapter and have a flick...

about the death i had actualy went on a message board and someone had wrote the name on sneekly and i gathered from the post that it was he, but i had also read a second name as well so i wasnt totaly sure...but as i got towards that section of the book it started to become more clear...

[LouisaB]

There aren't any pictures in the UK editions, except on the front and back covers - are they perhaps specially drawn for the US "children's editions"?

Oh. Didn't realise that. I have the UK adult addition but have never opened one of the children editions over here.

[Firebolt_2007]

I try so hard to stop myself lol. Really. I don't enjoy ruin it for myself but i just can't help it.:p

[ragga]

I try so hard to stop myself lol. Really. I don't enjoy ruin it for myself but i just can't help it.:p

i know what you mean...im reading a book at the moment called Sabriel...and i have a feeling some romance is going to develop between some of the characters and so i was flicking ahead to try and get a hint of what will happen and if my theory is correct....i just can help it lol

[EJS]

I didn't cheat. Truthfully I did not want to know who died. I wanted to be shocked when I got to that part of the book (which I was).

[silvercJD4]

Oh no no no! I couldn't do that! Well, I guess I could but I would know what's coming and that's what I'd be looking for. I hate anticipation but at the same time it's so nice to not know what's coming next. For instance, I love going to see a movie that I haven't already read the book on. Anyway, no I didn't cheat. The closest thing to cheating that I did was read the table of contents, and whenever I thumbed through the book I'd stop and look at the chapter pictures occasionally.

[VelvetSkies]

I only managed to get through the first few chapters before I skipped to the back. Then I skimmed over the Department of Mysteries parts, but I only found a couple hints that Sirius had died, so I gave up and I went back to reading it from where I was. I don't think I have the mental strength not to look. :blush: