| Parents beware. In a month or so you may have a grieving child on your hands, says Nick Britten < = src="https://www.india-forums.com/core/NetGravity/mpu.js"> < = src="http://ads.telegraph.co.uk/js.ng/site=arts&spaceid=mpu&sz=200x200&sz=240x400&sz=250x250&sz=300x250&ls=f&transID=1182678562515&Section=arts/books&view=details&=/arts/2007/06/23/bopotter123."> on error resume next ShockMode = (IsObject(CreateObject("ShockwaveFlash.ShockwaveFlash.7"))) </> Millions of Harry Potter fans are bracing themselves for the publication of the seventh and final instalment and, with it, the possibility that Harry meets his maker. With many children having grown up with the young wizard, who arrived on our bookshelves in 1997, it is expected that, should J K Rowling kill him off when Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows hits the shops next month, a generation of Potter devotees will treat it as if a pet, best friend or even a relative has died. Suggestions are also circulating that if it is not Harry who perishes, then one or two of the other principal characters may meet a grisly end. Fortunately for parents fearing a level of teenage trauma not seen since Take That split up, help is at hand. Michael Brody, a leading American child psychologist, has drawn up a three-point plan to help parents comfort their tearful children: 1) Do not think that they will be scarred for life. Many parents today think that their children cannot experience any anxiety without rushing in, so they do not get any practice dealing with it. Reading a book where there is a conflict and terror is not the worst thing in the world. And the thing about reading as opposed to visual images on television is that it gives children time to process it. 2) Use the experience as a teaching moment. For younger children, there are two big mysteries: where do babies come from, and what happens when people die? If there is a death in the book, it is up to the parents to have a discussion. That said, the book may not be appropriate for very young children. 3) Do not say, "It's just a book!" You do have to make it clear that this is a fictional character, but to a child Harry Potter is very real, so his or her feelings are going to be very real. In some ways parents are going to have to deal with this in the same way they would with the death of a family member or pet. Rowling has teased her fans with the possibility that Harry will perish and others involved have added fuel to the fire. Jim Dale, the actor who voices Potter for US audio books, said: "She's lived with Harry so long she really wants to kill him off." Such is the rush of money for Potter's demise that William Hill has stopped taking bets as Potter mania builds ahead of publication on July 21. But one fan who refuses to believe it is Emerson Spartz, 20, the creator of the hugely popular American-based unofficial fan site mugglenet.com. Having run the site since he was 12, he said: "I trust J K Rowling. That's the bottom line." A number of his subscribers hold a different view. One wrote: "Forget the kids, there's going to be plenty of depressed adults out there if Harry dies." | 
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