J.K. Rowling Releases New Harry Potter Story

Best-selling author J.K. Rowling has published a new story about Harry Potter and his allies all grown up. Fans will be able to view the 1500 words story for free without a Pottermore registration.

In celebration of the opening of Universal Orlando Resort’s newest addition to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter’s Diagon Alley, Rowling composed the short story making it available in full through Today.com.

It describes the beloved wizard as thirty-something with a mysterious cut on his cheek, sporting “a couple threads of silver” in his hair. The post is written from the viewpoint of gossipy Daily Prophet reporter Rita Skeeter, a minor character in the novels. It centers around the reunion of Potter and his old friends, Ron and Hermione, at the Quidditch World Cup Finals.

Read an excerpt from the newly released story below:

About to turn 34, there are a couple of threads of silver in the famous Auror’s black hair, but he continues to wear the distinctive round glasses that some might say are better suited to a style-deficient twelve-year-old. The famous lightning scar has company: Potter is sporting a nasty cut over his right cheekbone. Requests for information as to its provenance merely produced the usual response from the Ministry of Magic: ‘We do not comment on the top secret work of the Auror department, as we have told you no less than 514 times, Ms. Skeeter.’ So what are they hiding? Is the Chosen One embroiled in fresh mysteries that will one day explode upon us all, plunging us into a new age of terror and mayhem?

Or does his injury have a more humble origin, one that Potter is desperate to hide? Has his wife perhaps cursed him? Are cracks beginning to show in a union that the Potters are determined to promote as happy? Should we read anything into the fact that his wife Ginevra has been perfectly happy to leave her husband and children behind in London whilst reporting on this tournament? The jury is out on whether she really had the talent or experience to be sent to the Quidditch World Cup (jury’s back in – no!!!) but let’s face it, when your last name is Potter, doors open, international sporting bodies bow and scrape, and Daily Prophet editors hand you plum assignments.

This is the first time Rowling has written about the characters as adults, which possibly explains why the website crashed Tuesday morning. It’s been seven years since Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was published.

Though with the recent unexpected update, Rowling spokesman Mark Hutchinson said there are “no plans” for a new Potter novel.

For more original writing about the Quidditch World Cup Finals and other information about Harry Potter’s world, visit Pottermore.com.