Harry Potter Returns to Hogwarts in New J.K. Rowling Short Story

Harry Potter is all grown up, and he's heading back to Hogwarts. The wizard is back for a new short story from J.K. Rowling that brings the old gang back together for a Hogwarts school reunion.

The 1,500-word Harry Potter short story, published on Rowling's Pottermore website, describes the now thirtysomething Harry who not only has a scar on his cheek now, but also has "threads of silver" running through his dark hair, for time is a harsh mistress indeed.

The story, which takes place during a Quidditch tournament, is loaded with touches of satire on the media via fictional gossip columnist Rita Skeeter, who rips on ol' Harry for continuing to wear glasses that are "better suited to a style-deficient 12-year-old".

Skeeter writes: "One always hesitates to invade the privacy of young people, but the fact is that anyone closely connected with Harry Potter reaps the benefits and must pay the penalty of public interest."

In short, it seems like Rowling wasn't kidding when she claimed, in a Leveson Inquiry, that she felt "under siege" by journalists, an attitude reflected in Skeeter's cutthroat gossip-mongering. The columnist claims that not only has Ron Weasley aged badly (his "famous ginger hair appears to be thinning slightly"), but Skeeter also suggests that Ron might be losing it a bit after quitting his job with the Ministry of Magic in order to co-manage the Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes joke shop.

But, really, the main takeaway from all this is that Harry Potter has been a busy man in the years since we saw him last. He is apparently a member of a top-secret group of wizards called the Aurors, and the less I say about the plot, the better. You can read the story right now by going to the Pottermore website here.

H/T: The Mirror

Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures