“Harry Potter” is a seven-novel fantasy series by the British author, J.K. Rowling.  The books follow the numerous adventures of wizards Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley, and Hermione Granger during their time at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.  The book is centered around their plight to fight off the dark wizard, Lord Voldemort.

It was on this day, June 21, 2003, that the fifth Harry Potter book was released to become the fastest selling book in history.  The book, “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,” illustrates Harry’s fight against the newly-resurfaced Lord Voldemort, although the Ministry of Magic claims no such thing.  Within the first 24 hours of its release, five million copies were sold.

Patient fans had waited three years between the release of the fourth and fifth book, and thousands of people waited outside stores at midnight just to get their hands on the book as soon as it came out.  Since then, J.W. Rowling has completed the seven-book series and all of the books have movie adaptations as well.  The “Harry Potter” brand is worth over $15 billion dollars.