JK Rowling Releases New ‘Harry Potter’ Story, Has ‘No Plans’ For Book 8

Almost seven years after the final “Harry Potter” installment hit bookshelves, British author J.K. Rowling has released a short story chronicling the former boy wizard’s adult years.

Released on her Web site Pottermore (read the full story here via Today.com) the 1,500-word story, told by infamous Daily Prophet gossip reporter Rita Sketeer, gives an inside look into the lives of the book’s leads, Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley years after Lord Voldemort’s wizarding world reign.

In the tale, Potter, described as being roughly 34, still wearing his iconic black-rimmed glasses and having “threads of silver” in his hair, has joined his friends (known as Dumbledore’s Army) and family to attend the Quidditch world cup final. Accompanied by his two sons, Albus and James. Skeeter describes the former savior as being heavily guarded while chatting up his pal, Quidditch seeker Viktor Krum.

“As their devoted fans and followers will remember, Potter and Krum competed against each other in the controversial Triwizard Tournament, but apparently there are no hard feelings, as they embraced upon meeting,” reads the tale.

In the story, Weasley, described as having “thinning” ginger locks, is still wed to book-smart witch Hermione Granger but no longer works alongside Potter as a Ministry of Magic auror.

“[He] left only two years later to co-manage the highly successful wizarding joke emporium Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes,” reports Skeeter, adding speculation the wizard’s battle against Lord Voldemort may have taken its toll.

“Was the work of the Auror Department too much for a man who has admitted that the destruction of He Who Could Not Be Named’s Horcruxes ‘took its toll’ on him? He shows no obvious signs of mental illness from a distance, but the public is not allowed close enough to make a proper assessment.”

Granger, who welcomed two children with Weasely (as first seen in the final book’s epilogue, “Harry Potter and the Dealthy Hallows”), is reported in the short as working as the deputy head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement with plans to “go even higher” in the ministry. Despite her successful family and career, Skeeter gives a final dig to the female “Harry Potter” lead.

“Does Hermione Granger prove that a witch really can have it all?” asks Skeeter. “No -- look at her hair.”

While the release of the new “Harry Potter” short may be seen by fans as a sign of another novel installment on the horizon, a spokesperson for Rowling quickly shot down the rumor. Rowling, 48, has “no plans” to write any stories about “the older Harry,” TheBookseller.com is reporting.