SUNDAY

The kids' press conference took place at the castle at 9am. Melissa and I sat in the back row and slumped in our seats so we wouldn't stick out, being the only adults seated. (Yeah! I'm an adult now!) They asked a few good questions but we've heard most of them before. Read the transcript here. We waited around for a half hour afterwards for the transcript before they told us they'd just email it to us. Bloomsbury gave us gift bags like the cub reporters got and we headed off to the internet café to update our sites.

We had lunch with Lizo Mzimba, the CBBC guy who's been able to interview Jo several times in the past. He really knows his HP… I was impressed. Then we had to go back to the hotel and get started writing our reports and transcribing the interview. When we both had satisfactory drafts done and the first part of the interview transcribed, we went out to dinner to celebrate nothing in particular. Hey, you're not in Scotland every day - that's enough reason to celebrate! Well, you might be, but I'm not.

MONDAY

Hellish. But the trip was so incredibly positive overall, I don't want to leave a bad taste in your mouths by writing a blow-by-blow account of all the things that went horribly wrong this day. I did write it, actually, in vivid detail, but that was just to make myself feel better.

OVERALL

I read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone when I was 11 - Harry's age - so I have grown with Harry, laughed with Harry and cried with Harry. Every Harry Potter fan wishes they could go to Hogwarts, and after visiting the Goblet of Fire movie set in November and interviewing the creator, I think I have gotten as close to Harry's world as it is possible for a fan to get. And I have you, MuggleNet fans, to thank for this. Without your support, MuggleNet surely would not have gotten this kind of attention and I would not have been presented with these wonderful opportunities.

I don't know how mere words can express how grateful I am to J.K. Rowling and Bloomsbury for allowing me this amazing, once-in-a-lifetime experience. All the events surrounding the release were designed to reward Jo's fans, which says a lot about the kind of caring person she really is. She is truly a figure to respect and admire.

Thanks, Jo, for everything.