hobbitsrule1: Go suck on a cauldron cake.

@ hobbitsrule1 : lol, the "11 year old midget" is now 17... and LOTR has a fair amount of "midgets" don't you think? lmao

Holy goodness of gracious! That is amazing. So many questions errupted into my mind as I gazed dumbdoundedly at the wonderful masteripeice! 41 days is oh so long!

Hogsmeade is far more likely since it is in scotland, Godrics Hollow is not where there are really many mountains. It also could be a place we dont yet know of.

I dont know about that. I just know that 41 days are TOO MANY for those who are real HP fans!!! I cant wait.

hobbitrules1, just so you know, i have read LOTR and found them extrememly boring. Harry Potter is exhilarating, and actually INTERESTING to read! Why are you on a Harry Potter fansite if you hate it soooo much? Dont stir trouble where trouble shouldnt be stirred!!!!!!!!!

Fotini, 41 days might seem long but don't you remember when we had like 112 days to go? To me 41 days seems like a week, right now. Cos back then we couldn't wait for it to get to double digits... lol

ok. i definetly think the dragon is norbert judging by the fact that rowling tends to tie everything in the series toghether like that. also theres no telling what the village might be, as some said b4 it might be godric's hollow or hogsmead but my guess is thats is just some muggle village their flying over. i mean if the dragon IS norbert that probably means they had to go to romania to get him. and if thats the case they could be flying over some village in italy orgrmany or poland. heres just my little thoughts: jk rowling says we'll be seeing viktor again. they might be going to see (or just leaving) viktor i mean bulgaria is right next door to romania. maybe helped them in the fight they just left. also if u notice they seem to be looking at something in the sky no clue what that might be just thought id point that out

aha so there IS a dragon as the mugglecasters said ... and in the report they mention "a highly dramatic sunset"...and the mugglecasters talked about the orange sky in all the covers of the book...oh god what's happening i can't wait !!

That is malfoy Not Ron. And I know for a fact that they r flyingover godrics hollow. After a big battle. Ron prbbly got killed in the battle and malfoy came to the good side.

There r dementors around. See the mist?????

@ ProfessorPotter: Oh please...

There are definitly only Harry, Hermione and Ron on the back of a (yes, indeed) dragon. If you compare the US-cover of HBP, you will also recognize Ron with similary fair hairs who is looking up to the dark mark. Obviously Ron and Hermione are wearing school robes, which seem to be rather tatterd, may be from a fight or another dangerous incident. I think there is no way that the dragon could be an animagus, because they (dragons) are very powerful magical creatures. An animagus can only transform into non-magical beasts. Therefore I believe the dragon on the picture is according to Fantastic Beasts either a Welsh Green or a half-breed between different kind of dragons. It has lush-green colour and we see it is flying in the mountains. It couldn´t be an Opal-Eye, because the eye of the dragon is not multi-coloured as in the description of Fantatstic Beasts and his scales are not pearly. Also it couldn´t be Norbert, because Norwegian Ridgebacks are black and not green. Furthermore the dragon on the art-cover is looking old (because he has a white beard and tattered wings) and Norbert could only be 7.

My Theory: Harry, Ron & Hermione go to Gringotts, for whatever reason, and they find the Dragon. By some odd chance, the dragon turns out to be Norbert. Somehow, they recognize him, or he recognizes them, and then Harry, Ron, and Hermione are able to get what Norebert was guarding, which was what they came to Gringotts for in the first place. Then, they leave, and Norbert follows them, allowing them to ride him to wherever they need to go. I think that they stopped by Hogwarts to let Norbert see Hagrid, and to let Hagrid see Norbert. I think they also go to see Prof. McGonagall, or Dumbledore's portrait or something, so that they can help with finding the next Horcrux, or where they need to go next. Then, they leave, and they are flying over Hogsmeade, because they figured out where they needed to go next (possibly the final showdown, because the sky matches they other cover art). I think this makes alot of sense, anyone else agree?

thats what i thought to

hobbits and LOTR are GAY! HP RULES!

Oh My God, this is the version i bought, i cant wait for it...

You guys, that dragon is definitely an Opaleye. I checked Fantastic Beasts and it says the Opaleye has no pupil and they're the friendliest dragons, who rarely attack. That dragon on the cover definitely doesn't seem vicious. So unless I am sorely mistaken, that rules out the possibility of it being Norbert. Also, I somehow don't think that's Hogsmeade. It just doesn't look like Hogsmeade to me and I'm leaning more towards Godric's Hollow. And I'm 99.9% sure that that's Ron, not Malfoy.

@hobbitsrule: Question #1: If you hate Harry Potter, why do you visit Mugglenet and why do you have an account? Question #2: LOTR is nothing like Harry Potter. I read the series and found it a bore. The author spends like five pages talking about snow. How fun. Question #3: I don't see why you call Harry a midget because if you've read the books, Mrs. Weasley keeps telling him how tall he's getting. And, yes, he doesn't have 20-20 eyesight so he needs glasses. Have a problem with that?

yes i already ordered my copy! this looks sooo intenses i cant wait!

I've read LOTR. As a scholar, that bl**dy ridicoulously boring book, was something that I was expected to read and know inside out. Thank God I put my foot down and demanded that I learnt Beowulf. Dragon looks friggiin' awesome, btw! I agree with whatever person put that wizards can't animagi-ify (new word, use it often, please! =P) into magical creatures such as DRAGONS. To use an UNFORGIVABLE curse on a magical creature of "near-human intelligence" would also be a grave crime, in my opinion. And I DO think that Dragon is intelligent. **JKR mentions "never tickle a sleeping dragon" in Latin at the beginning of every book. Maybe for a reason. The Gringotts' Dragon, rules. ;) **

Cess, mist is the fog that the dementors produce. It's been referred to plenty in the sixth book, especially in THe Other Minister. HobbitsRule, I love LotR much more than I love HP, notice my screenname - MITHRIL95 - (although I know I may get flamed for admitting that on this website) but can't you like both? (To those other people on this site who are dissing LotR, and espcially the ones who say they are lit majors or something, how could you? Yes, JRR spends two pages talking about snow, but the scene is necessary to set up. It's literature. Just because you've never come across real literature doesn't mean it's all bad.) Plus, I don't think JKR copied that much so it's ok. I do think he could well be reaching for the dragon. They'd be using him for transport because Voldemort obviously cast anti-apparation spells on wherever they are, as we know most powerful wizards can. And the dragon could be Norbert's father. The setting? Over Hogsmeade flying into the inlet where the Great Lake is - it's kinda simple. I don't think the final battle is necessarily going to take place near Hogwarts, but that setting explains why they're flying instead of Apparating.

AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!! The book needs to hurry up and get here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!! This looks so amazing and fantastical with the dragon. I love it!! HURRY UP JULY 21!!!!

I think the dragon is an Antipodean Opaleye. In the 'Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them' book, page 11, it reads: "The Opaleye is a native to New Zealand, though it has been known to migrate to Australia when territory becomes scarce in its native land. Unusually for a dragon, it dwells in valleys rather than mountains. It is of medium size (between two and three tonnes). Perhaps the most beautiful type of dragon, it has iridescent, pearly scales and glittering, multi-coloured, pupil-less eyes, hense its name. This dragon produces a very vivid scarlet flame, though by dragon standards it is not particularly aggressive and will rarely kill unless hungry. Its favourite food is sheep, though it has been known to attack larger prey. A spate of kangaroo killings in the late 1970s were attributed to a male Opaleye ousted from his homeland by a dominant female. Opaleye eggs are pale grey and may be mistaken for fossils by unwary Muggles." * they are clearly in a valley * it must be less aggressive than most as they are riding it * it has no pupils * it is fairly small/medium in size :D Kaylie O, UK xxxxx

***David Saylor, Vice President, Creative Director, Scholastic described the art: "Set during a highly dramatic sunset, Harry, Hermione, and Ron--clothes in tatters--cling atop a flying dragon" *** Ok it even says it IS RON!!!!!!!!! Not MALFOY. RON. yep. But jeezzz I REALLY wanna know where they're all going & how they got that dragon!!!!!!!!!!! CANNOT WAIT!

That definitely is Godric's Hollow. The dictionary defines a hollow as a small valley between two mountains. You can clearly see this town sitting between two mountains.

It's really the end. Wow, a scene from the end. You know? XD Sorry, I'm just all.. yeah. I'm so glad the whole trio's there.

I don't know if anyone considered this, but in HBP, Snape lives near a river....perhaps they're going somewhere near Snape's house??

If anyone is curious, you guys should know that the triangle symbol is an important key in the series. If you looked at the OOTP commercial, you would see a very brief view of a large triangular shaped building that had waves crashing upon it. It was Azkaban. And I researched a bit. And I found out about the SEAL OF SOLOMON. It turned out that it keeps dangerous and dark spirits confined in a place. And look at the spine of the UK Cover...A Triangle....

Its kinda hard to notice that there's four people when you first look at it, because the head and green shirt does look like it's part of Hermione. Her body is off to the side, so you can't really see her legs. You can clearly see Harry's legs, he's wearing blue jeans. I promise there is a fourth person there. You can see his/her arms. Hermione's right arm is holding onto this person's head, and right below her arms are another pair of arms. Save the picture and zoom in on it, you'll see.

I pre-ordered it!!! It's amazing, I can't wait to have the book in my hands, this is the first book in english that I bought, because I can't wait until Salamandra, the spanish publisher decide that it is already enough suffering for us, they always make us wait 8 months and It seems that with this book it will last much more... Now about the Dragon I don't think that is Norbet, it doesn't looks like a Norwegian Ridgeback, it's more like a Antipodean Opaleye and a Chinese Fireball... of course Mary GrandPre could just draw what she imagined with the descriptions of the book, maybe is another dragon... a dragon that the wizarding world think that doesn't exist any more... I hope that the valley will be a new place... somewhere else than Hogsmeade...

ALL U PEOPLE THAT THINK J.K COPIED FROM LORD OF THE BOARING RINGS IM SORRY TO SAY THIS BUT THIS IS A HARRY POTTER SITE NOT A HOBBIT OR WATEVER THINGY J.R.R TOLKIN WROTE I DONT HATE LORD OF THE RINGS OR HOBBIT IT'S JUST THAT U GUYS COMMENT BAD STUFF ABOUT HARRY POTTER AND YOUR ON A HARRY POTTER SITE!!!!! ~~~ ravenclaw prince ~~~

J. K. Rowling says herself that a dragon cannot be domesticated. I have not found the reference where she says a wizard cannot turn into a magical creature. Let me know if you find the quote. I think everybody assumes that a wizard cannot take the shape of a dragon or a magical creature because there his no precedent at this point in the books. Also, there is no doubt that Harry, Hermione, and Ron are the three riding the dragon.

It looks like an old, blind (hence the white eyes) Chinese Fireball. It being elderly would also explain the tattered wings.

Notice the similarities between tattered robes and dragon wings.

I think they do it on purpose, with the dragon's appearance, I mean. Thanks to those of you who posted the link to that dragon page. As many of you have noticed , the eyes. That automatically brings you to the Opaleye, but it also states it has pearl colored scales, which doesn't seem to be the case here. It has a long curved body, which does make you think it could be some type of oriental dragon, plus the fact that it's got the white hair around its head. But, the chinese fireball is shown to have hair all along it's back, which this one doesn't have, plus it has some sort of ridges/spikes on its tail area. For all we know, it really could be Norbert, of course , there's no real way of knowing. Point is, I think that everyone has different ways of drawing dragons in the first place. I don't think they want it to be so easily discovered as to which type it is. Really beautiful artwork nonetheless. Can't wait!

I've got it, that isn't Godric's Hollow, it's Little Hangleton, because that's where teh final battle takes place, and Harry, Ron and Hermione are flying away on a Dragon, as much as I don't like to agree, I think it's Norbert, because why else would JKR write about a Dragon, and why would Ron's brother have been the one to take him? I really can't wait any longer! I love seeing the covers but I hate it because it makes me more eager.

@ HermioneForever, if you see the movie clip of Goblet of Fire, where Harry is telling Dumbledore his nightmare, Dumbledore glances at a bronze object in his cabinet, an object that is a 3-dimensional triangular thing and has a ball in the middle...the line goes halfway though, but we could be perceiving that it goes through the middle just by the drawing and not seeing it in it's 3D, real life, form....that scene was discussed on Leaky's Pottercast recently, and you can see the picture at pottercast.com.

it's cool that the trio is on this cover. Mary Grand Pre hasn't put the trio on any of the regular covers, so I think its cool that she put them all together on the last deluxe edition cover. has she done that with any of the other deluxe covers? I don't buy those so I wouldn't know.

Hobbitrules1: Harry Potter is not a midget. To see Harry as a hobbit, try to find a copy of Harry Potter and Leopard-Walk-Up-To-Dragon . It's just The Hobbit with HP characters. Sadly, it's in chinese.

It's not copying and you can't blame younger fantasy authors for being born post LOTR.

See the mist??? That means that there are dementors around.

Personally, I think that it's the Opaleye dragon. When I looked it up in my Fantastic Beasts, the description was really really similar. If you print it out, the opal-y gleam becomes easier to see and it has the pupil less opal eyes. Fantastic Beasts also says that the Opaleye comes from New Zealand, so possibly this could mean that the trio leaves England?

JKR is copying JRR Tolkien Period. Like the dementors jrr had almost the exact thing in his books. I'm not saying I hate harry potter It's just that she copied jrr tolkien

Don't be so ridiculous. JKR did not copy from LOTR. I have read both series, multiple times, and I understand that JKR might have been influenced by LOTR, but there are distinct differences in every aspect of Harry Potter from LOTR. But JKR did NOT COPY. Go reread both series. Also, I LOVE the deluxe art -- it looks fantastic!! But why is Harry in muggle clothes and Ron and Hermione in black robes?????

All authors pull ideas from other sources. JRR Tolkien didn't just come up w/ elves, dwarves, dragons, wizards, etc. all by himself. JKR also pulled from other sources, especially mythology and history. Both authors also draw from personal experience. Tolkien was heavily influenced by WWI, while Rowling was influenced by her time as a school teacher. It's what an author does with these influences that counts. Who says you can't like both?

what if their chasing Viktor.....Viktor could be flying in front of them on his broom. I'm guessing that Viktor might turn to the bad side.

okay, after careful consideration... it is the trio chasing after the dementors (hence the mist) on the way to the final battle with voldy (Harry's clothes on the US version are similar to what he is in & it is sunset) not sure who the dragon is. does look like an opaleye, but what about norbert? how are they riding a dragon?

OMG Im gonna die its amazing! It looks as if Hermione and Ron go back to school but Harry isn't in his robes....maybe its the Hungarian Horntail...but this dragon looks friendly! I don't know Im just tooo excited!!! It looks like they are being rescued....by Harry... AHH 42 days! ahhhh

There are a number of possibilities: it could be Hogsmeade, but I don't think there are any mention of crop fields in Hogsmeade, although we have only gotten details on a small portion of Hogsmeade from the book, and there could be smaller groups of buildings on the outskirts of the Hogsmeade village. To me the buildings look German. I'm not sure why. There appears to be a lake on the far right side of the picture where the water for the stream/river flows from. The lake could be the lake near Hogwarts. It could be just a random village the trio is flying by on a long trip, like they used the Thestrals for in the 5th book. Harry is wearing some strange clothing, but Ron and Hermione look normally dressed for Hogwarts students, perhaps indicating Harry didn't return to Hogwarts but Ron and Hermione did? Or Harry just lost his robes. And Harry looks determined, unlike Hermione who looks nervous or even frightened. It's hard to tell what Ron's emotions are. And finally, the dragon's eye looks strange; also what is that stuff on the bottom left part of the picture? Autumn trees? Buildings that are out of focus? Something else?