If Potions Professor Horace Slughorn had mixed a brew to conjure up torrential rain, the weather could not have been worse for the premiere of "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince." Dedicated fans braved thunder, lightning and Biblical downpours in London's Leicester Square to catch a glimpse of the film's stars arriving at the opening of the sixth film in the wildly popular "Harry Potter" franchise. While dreadful weather has become an unfortunate tradition at Potter premieres (it rained during ...

Britain's Prince Harry, the second son of Princess Diana and Prince Charles, will arrive Friday in New York, the site of his first official trip overseas, British officials announced. During his two-day visit, Harry plans to meet with family members of September 11 victims, lay a wreath at ground zero and meet with veterans of the Iraq and Afghan wars, royal palace officials said. Harry, 24, served for two months in Afghanistan as a coalition forces soldier in 2007. ...

Attention aspiring princesses: Prince Harry has almost landed. On Friday, the 24-year-old prince begins a two-day tour of New York City, his first international trip as a representative of the British royal family. Among other things, he'll meet with families who lost loved ones on September 11 and visit soldiers injured in Afghanistan and Iraq at Manhattan's Veterans Affairs Medical Center. With those engagements in mind, the royal heartthrob, who has a well-known penchant for long, alcohol-fueled nights, won't be hitting New York's dance floors. "Quite frankly ...

A first-edition Harry Potter book was sold for about $19,000, according to an auction house in Dallas, Texas. The soft-cover book was one of 200 copies printed and is a rarity compared with later editions of the popular series that were printed in the millions, the Heritage Auction Galleries said. The book, "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone," includes an autograph from author J.K. Rowling. It's the first book in the Harry Potter series and was published in the United ...