Pottermania encircled the globe today as millions of young fans rushed to buy the latest Harry Potter saga with author JK Rowling overjoyed that the plot had not leaked out.
"I don't think anything crucial has got out so I am happy," she said after visiting an Edinburgh bookshop at midnight, the witching hour when "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" was finally released.
With children brought to fever pitch by a meticulously orchestrated marketing campaign, the weighty tome looks set to become the fastest-selling book of all time.
Rowling, thrilled that her plot twists had stayed secret, said: "I think it is miraculous, given the number of books that have been produced and the number of people who have been involved, that everything hasn't been revealed."
"I am really happy. I think most kids are going to find out what happens because they have read the book -- and that is what's important to me," the author said on Sky News.
In Ireland, it was launched at midnight on Midsummer's Day, the longest day of the year in the northern hemisphere.
Bookshops opened specially so children could buy the book, all 255,000 words of it.
The latest edition in Rowling's tale of the teenage wizard Harry, his friends Ron and Hermione, and his ongoing battle with the evil Lord Voldemore, will be officially launched at a minute past midnight tonight - and bookstores nationwide are opening for the occasion.
The tightly-guarded secrets of Harry's latest adventure are, however, known to at least four people in Ireland - namely those lucky individuals who yesterday purchased four copies of the book, which were "inadvertently" placed on sale, at Tescos in Athlone.
But that was the only blip in a security operation of astounding secrecy - for a novel at least - which has seen 250,000 copies of the book, each vacuum packed in a bundle of six, delivered and placed under lock and key in Ireland's bookstores.
Precautions usually reserved for the transportation of large sums of cash have this week been utilised in the distribution of Harry's tome; Securicor Omega Express - a company not usually renowned for the transportation of children's books - has been vigilantly distributing The Order of the Phoenix in advance of the midnight sale.
But more importantly for the fans, young and old, what exactly is contained therein? Well, the news is, that nobody knows. The most abiding rumour is that Rowling has decided to 'kill off' one of the series' most important characters, but no-one appears to know who it is . . . yet.