Bloomberg.com: U.K.

July 20 (Bloomberg) -- A U.K. children's charity has brought in extra staff to man its phone lines in expectation of a deluge of calls from distraught youngsters if Harry Potter dies.

``Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,'' the seventh and final book in J.K. Rowling's series of adventures about the boy wizard and his friends at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, goes on sale tomorrow.

``For many children, Harry Potter and his friends have become a major part of their childhood,'' said Kate Trench, a spokeswoman for ChildLine, based in London, which provides telephone support services for children. ``Excitement could give way to sadness for those caught up in the huge build-up to the seventh and final book.''

Speculation about the book's ending has been rife after Rowling admitted two characters perish, with many predicting that Harry himself will die. The New York Times, which said it bought a copy of the book this week in New York, described the ending as ``a big screen, bone-chilling confrontation,'' providing ``an epilogue that clearly lays out people's fates.''

The charity deals with reactions to the fate of fictional and real people alike, according to Trench. ``When boy band Take That split up, hundreds of distraught children contacted ChildLine,'' Trench said in a statement today. ``Last year we spoke to more than 6,000 children about bereavement, and many more may call this year in relation to death of characters in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.''

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