By Crystalee Webb
Mix this potion: a healthy dash of a former private investigator''s irresistible itch to solve mysteries and a generous dab of Harry Potter passion. Jared Myers will magically appear.
For those Harry Potter fans that simply cannot wait until the July 21 release date of the final book 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows,' there''s a new spoiler book to tide you over.
A foreman for BYU''s ground crew, Myers, a Pennsylvania native, believes he knows what is coming in the final Harry Potter book, and is selling his ideas in an e-book. The project sprouted from book discussions with friends. Myers decided to go one step beyond the typical theories. One and a half years and more than 400 research hours later, 'The Ultimate Unofficial Harry Potter Index' came to fruition.
'The guy went through every single page and tracked it,' said BYU graduate Jared Smith, one of Myers'' book-discussing buddies.
Myers started as early as 5 a.m. some days, according to his wife, to research J. K. Rowling''s books. He scavenged hundreds of online Potter chat rooms, and studied dozens of the author''s interviews. From his findings, he created an all-inclusive index of hundreds of characters, potions and places. The index is so thorough that a click of a button shows not only every potion, such as 'aging potion,' and 'confusing concoction' but also cites every page that a particular item can be found in the books.
'I like to pick things apart and dissect them,' Myers said. 'If you read carefully enough books one through six, then you''ll know what''s coming in book seven.'
Myers said he feels confident that being so detail-oriented has provided him with the answers about the last book. His 'Restricted Section' presents his theories on J. K. Rowling''s plan for the finale of the series that made her famous.
Myers said J.K. Rowling issued the challenge for readers to uncover the plot, and she doesn''t want to cheat the readers by throwing in new tricks. He said he believes that he''s beat Rowling at her own game, and that he would be shocked if his predictions are proven false when the seventh book comes out.
'She seems like she''s a little eccentric, and I may not be one to talk about that, but she seems to live in that world,' Myers said. 'She''s said in interviews that when a character dies, she cries about it.'
Some may feel that giving away the answers to the final book would spoil the surprise for readers.
' has been more stingy with information about this last book,' said McKay Bonham, from Palo Alto, Calif., majoring in physics and astronomy. 'She just doesn''t want to get her climax spoiled by someone guessing it right.'
Bonham, a self-labeled 'studious' Harry Potter fan, has been said to resemble the famous wizard-boy character. He remembers children on his mission to Russia would chase him down the street, calling him 'Harry Potter.' He looks forward to the July release of the book.