J.K. Rowling: Magic is fascinating to me, clearly, because I've spent a lot of time writing about it. But I think that it connects to very important things about what it is to be human, and what human beings want, and what they believe. Children believe in magic because they're starting to make sense of and control their world. But I think we all have that inside us. The world is complex and largely unknowable, and although we've moved onto science, I think that we all, at heart, retain a certain amount of magical thinking.

I had a really vivid dream about Nicolas Flamel, during the writing of Philosopher's Stone. I dreamt that I was in his alchemist's studio and this kind of symbolism was all over his walls. I didn't even ask questions, I was just watching. Typical writer, just observing. Didn't even ask!

I've never seen anything quite like this before. I would imagine few people have.

It sounds so powerful, doesn't it, the Avada Kedavra? It's got a real force to it. It's Aramaic, I think. Well, that is genuinely the derivation of Abracadabra, not many people know that. That's where Abracadabra came from. It literally translates to 'may the thing be destroyed.'