"A picture is worth a thousand words." And Mary GrandPre's newest "picture," the cover illustration for HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS, certainly fits the bill. As GrandPre herself has said, "There is a reason why something is in the illustration." So even though fans haven't read so much as one single word of the seventh and final installment of Harry's story, a closer look at the cover hints at things to come.

- Harry has the front of the cover to himself --- but Voldemort is lurking behind him around the "bend" of the spine.

- Harry has his left hand out and up, his wand strangely absent, but looks focused and determined. Perhaps what he needs has just been Summoned, outside of the frame of the picture?

- And what, exactly, is around his neck? He has a small pouch hanging down his front. What's inside? The last we saw of the "fake" locket R.A.B used as a replacement for the Horcrux, it was in a similar pouch. Has Harry found Slytherin's real locket?

- Voldemort, too, has his hand outstretched. But unlike Harry, his hand appears to be warding something off, his arms raised in protection, not aggression. The stronger person in the image is most definitely Harry.

- Though the only clear figures in the picture are Harry and Voldemort, there seems to be at least a dozen or so observers standing behind them, at a distance, within the coliseum-like structure where the main two are battling. But why are these figures static? Why aren't they partaking in the fight? Maybe because they aren't quite a part of this world.

- The title may hold a clue that GrandPre has visualized for readers. Based on the names she gives her characters ("Lupin" for a guy who turns into a werewolf, "Umbrige" for a very, very angry lady), locations and even the spells that are cast, JK Rowling loves a clever play-on-words. The word "hallow" means "to respect or set apart; to revere greatly."

- So what then, exactly, are "the Deathly Hallows"? Something set apart, revered --- and perhaps fatal. With this in mind, possibly the most interesting hint the cover gives is this: Where exactly is this battle taking place? It's those curtain-like pieces of cloth on either side of the image that tells careful viewers something: maybe the Deathly Hallows aren't quite of this world. And, if readers cast their memories back to the battle in the Ministry of Magic at the end of Harry's fifth year, they'd probably remember a certain mysterious archway, with a certain tattered veil, from which Luna could hear voices whispering…