Two deadlines for Volume 5 have come — and gone

In what could be the Worst News Ever, Rowling has now missed two deadlines, the later in July, when the fifth installment was expected in stores. Word now is that you\’ll have to wait until June 2003 to read a new Harry Potter book. Or maybe later. Rowling\’s reported title for the fifth book, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,Bloomsbury, her British publisher, insists that the Scotland-based author is \”happily\” working away, \”taking the time to write the best book that she can.\” But an air of desperation surrounds these denials. Harry Potter books, after all, account for 40 percent of Bloomsbury\’s cash flow.