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JUNE 11, 2008 at 1:26 AM
Posted by CHEESER
Source: Waterstone's via MuggleNet
The shorter-than-short Harry Potter prequel by author J.K. Rowling is now available to read online at Waterstone's web site. The story, handwritten on the front and back of a note card, was one of 12 from various authors auctioned for the bookseller's What's Your Story? charity fundraiser. Rowling's went for nearly $50,000.
It begins:
The speeding motorcycle took the sharp corner so fast in the darkness that both policemen in the pursuing car shouted...
Click here
and then click on "Read our authors' stories" and then J.K. Rowling to view the entire prequel!
UPDATE: The auction winner, Hira Digpal, president of Tokyo-based investment-banking consulting company Red-33, says that he wants to raise more money for charity with his purchase and has notified Rowling's publishers of his wishes:
Here I am, owning a piece of literary history. I think I got a bargain. Hopefully, we can raise much more than the sale.
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Vampire
Points: 2940
Dansgirl34 says:
That was interesting. Her handwriting was so small so she could use the postcard as much as possible it made it hard to read.
Posted Jun 11, 2008 at 1:54 AM EST
Witch
Points: 507
jmfrogger says:
Can't wait for a transcript...some of her writing is hard to read. (Better than mine, though.)
Posted Jun 11, 2008 at 2:10 AM EST
Squib
Points: 149
casey299 says:
Interesting... i really wish she would write a prequel
Posted Jun 11, 2008 at 2:24 AM EST
Points: 688
*Wonder Witch* says:
That was interesting. But I couldn't read it that well. A transcript would be nice.
-Ayse
Posted Jun 11, 2008 at 2:25 AM EST
Order of Merlin, 3rd Class
Points: 1530
ginny weasleypants says:
The speeding motorcycle took the sharp corner so fast in the darkness that both policemen in the pursuing car shouted, 'whoa!' Sergeant Fisher slammed his large foot on the brake, thinking that the boy who was riding pillion was sure to be flung under his wheels; however, the motorbike made the turn without unseating either of its riders, and with a wink of its red tail light, vanished up the narrow side street.
'We've got 'em now!' cried PC Anderson excitedly. 'That's a dead end!'
Leaning hard on the steering wheel and crashing his gears, Fisher scraped half the paint off the flank of the car as he forced it up the alleyway in pursuit.
There in the headlights sat their quarry, stationary at last after a quarter of an hour's chase. The two riders were trapped between a towering brick wall and the police car, which was now crawling towards them like some growling, luminous-eyed predator.
There was so little space between the car doors and the walls of the alley that Fisher and Anderson had difficulty extricating themselves from the vehicle. It injured their dignity to have to inch, crab-like, towards the miscreants. Fisher dragged his generous belly along the wall, tearing buttons off his shirt as he went and finally snapping off the wing mirror with his backside.
'Get off the bike!' he bellowed at the smirking youths, who sat basking in the flashing blue light as though enjoying it.
They did as they were told. Finally pulling free from the broken wing mirror, Fisher glared at them. They seemed to be in their late teens. The one who had been driving had long black hair; his insolent good looks reminded Fisher unpleasantly of his daughter's guitar-playing, layabout boyfriend. The second boy also had black hair, though his was short and stuck up in all directions; he wore glasses and had a broad grin. Both were dressed in T-shirts emblazoned with a large golden bird, the emblem, no doubt, of some deafening, tuneless rock band.
'No helmets!' Fisher yelled, pointing from one uncovered head to the other. 'Exceeding the speed limit by - by a considerable amount!' (In fact, the speed registered had been greater than Fisher was prepared to accept that any motorcycle could travel.) 'Failing to stop for the police!'
'We'd have loved to stop for a chat,' said the boy in glasses, 'only we were trying -'
'Don't get smart - you two are in a heap of trouble!' snarled Anderson. 'Names!'
'Names?' repeated the long-haired driver. 'Er - well, let's see. There's Wilberforce...Bathsheba...Elvendork...'
'And what's nice about that one is, you can use it for a boy or a girl,' said the boy in glasses.
'Oh, our names, did you mean?' asked the first, as Anderson spluttered with rage. 'You should've said! This here is James Potter, and I'm Sirius Black!'
'Things'll be seriously black for you in a minute, you cheeky little -'
But neither James nor Sirius was paying attention. They were suddenly as alert as gundogs, staring past Fisher and Anderson, over the roof of the police car at the dark mouth of the alley. Then, with identical, fluid movements, they reached into their back pockets.
For the space of a heartbeat both policemen imagined guns gleaming at them, but a second later they saw that the motorcyclists had drawn nothing more than -
'Drumsticks?' jeered Anderson. 'Right pair of jokers, aren't you? Right, we're arresting you on a charge of -'
But Anderson never got to name the charge. James and Sirius had shouted something incomprehensible, and the beams from the headlights had moved.
The policemen wheeled around, then staggered backwards. Three men were flying - actually flying - up the alley on broomsticks - and at the same moment, the police car was rearing up on its back wheels.
Fisher's knees buckled; he sat down hard; Anderson tripped over Fisher's legs and fell on top of him, as flump - bump - crunch - they heard the men on brooms slam into the upended car and fall, apparently insensible, to the ground, while broken bits of broomstick clattered down around them.
The motorbike had roared into life again. His mouth hanging open, Fisher mustered the strength to look back at the two teenagers.
'Thanks very much!' called Sirius over the throb of the engine. 'We owe you one!'
'Yeah, nice meeting you!' said James. 'And don't forget: Elvendork! It's unisex!'
There was an earth-shaking crash, and Fisher and Anderson threw their arms around each other in fright; their car had just fallen back to the ground. Now it was the motorcycle's turn to rear. Before the policemen's disbelieving eyes, it took off into thin air: James and Sirius zoomed away into the night sky, their tail light twinkling behind them like a vanishing ruby.
From the prequel I am not working on - but that was fun!
JK Rowling 2008
Posted Jun 11, 2008 at 2:42 AM EST
Order of Merlin, 3rd Class
Points: 1530
ginny weasleypants says:
Sorry if there are typos and soforth, but I did type it rather quickly, and it is late and I must sleep...
Posted Jun 11, 2008 at 2:46 AM EST
Lupin's Furry Girlfriend
Points: 6941
theslugclub says:
'And what's nice about that one is, you can use it for a boy or a girl,' said the boy in glasses
Haha! Thanks for posting that ginny weasleypants
I bet whoever spent all that money is kicking themselves now, they could have just waited a bit and read it online :P
Posted Jun 11, 2008 at 4:31 AM EST
Order of Merlin, 1st Class
Points: 1909
Hermione5 says:
Um.
This is kind of weird.
I'm not sure I'd be ready for a prequel.
I didn't quite get what was all that. It's... it's... (hard to say, but...) BORING.
Posted Jun 11, 2008 at 4:35 AM EST
Weird Sisters Bassist
Points: 8451
Paper Cut says:
I loved it. It wasn't boring at all - just a normal day in the life of James and Sirius. She had 800 words, you can hard;y expect an epic novel. It's cool to see James and Sirius at that age - and for all those people who've written marauder era fics, it seems like they've been spot on with the personalities!
Posted Jun 11, 2008 at 6:02 AM EST
Auror
Points: 2861
mad_eye muggle says:
Wicked!That was very interesting.The writting wasn't very clear,its a bit hard to read.But thanks to ginny weasleypants I get to read the prequel better.Thanks for posting it.Perhaps she could continue to write the prequel,that would be awesome.To be quite frank I was knda expecting the prequel was about the James and Lily's story.Ah....well,but the story was great!
Posted Jun 11, 2008 at 6:02 AM EST
Furry Little Problem
Points: 4526
Juicybit says:
Cute. Pity it's about James and Sirius though. (just about my two least favourite characters) And the handwriting really is hard to read but hey, I managed! Now I see someone has made a transcript, thanks anyway.
And I agree, you can't expect much if it's such a short story. It's fun all the same. *wishful sigh*
Posted Jun 11, 2008 at 6:33 AM EST
Antipodean Snow Goddess
Points: 3071
Tikihaha says:
Oh, that's IT?!! It was lovely to read, but like a drug dealer Jo Rowling has only given me a taste of the good stuff and now I crave MORE!
I read it and I wanted MORE - I want the full encyclopeadia!
I want the full story of how James and Lily finally got together!
I want the full story of the early years in Godrics Hollow!!
(*storms away in a huff*)
Posted Jun 11, 2008 at 7:15 AM EST
Witch
Points: 928
Moggiesmom says:
It seems to me that JK misses Potterverse as badly as we all do. Having just finished the 7 volumes for the 5th (?) time, I am left wanting more, more and more! Prequel would be great, but so would "Hogwarts, A History"! ^..^
Posted Jun 11, 2008 at 7:39 AM EST
Auror
Points: 2363
Nataly says:
ginny weasleypants thanks! It was so hard to read it in handwriting...
Posted Jun 11, 2008 at 8:05 AM EST
Lady of Godric's Hollow
Points: 5294
GodricsGirl says:
Well that just does exactly what I knew it would...leaves me wanting more. I would love a novel on the Marauders, but ehn again, we do know their fate don't we? It would be extremely bittersweet.
Posted Jun 11, 2008 at 8:19 AM EST
Delusional Army Soldier
Points: 4400
ILoveHP! says:
Well... it was okay. I expected more though. But anyways, go J.K.!
Posted Jun 11, 2008 at 9:25 AM EST
Keeper of Harry's Fate
Points: 9051
TheOneWhoMustBeNamed says:
The price does seem a bit cheap given the prices for the books and the beadle the bard materials. I bet it could go for more in a year or two.
Posted Jun 11, 2008 at 9:30 AM EST
Mrs. Draco Malfoy
Points: 27909
Arika Granger Malfoy says:
Oh jeez that was sooo awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ha ha. If only there was more :(
♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥
Posted Jun 11, 2008 at 10:03 AM EST
Mrs. Draco Malfoy
Points: 27909
Arika Granger Malfoy says:
theslugclub - Well I think the reason they bought it is because it is her handwriting and they will have a piece of history :p And it will be worth SOOO much more later on.
And just so you guys all know, we can buy this at Waterstones for 5 pounds. I would order it right now but the shipping is almost 8 pounds...so thats 26 dollars to get it, so no way. Ha ha.
(sorry if I double posted)
Posted Jun 11, 2008 at 10:08 AM EST
Student
Points: 292
Severely Lupine says:
Wow. I like James more in that postcard than I did throughout any part of the entire book series. "Elvendork" indeed. *snerk* (Okay, so Sirius said the name, but James made it funny.)
Posted Jun 11, 2008 at 10:38 AM EST
Witch
Points: 892
Linakekei says:
Gosh I really wish she was going to make this prequel! It sounds so great! I already have ideas in my head about what James and Sirius were like. How great.
Posted Jun 11, 2008 at 11:09 AM EST
Muggle
Points: 34
Ascii says:
D'ah! I loved the short prequel. Heh, that's some awesome thingys... And thanks to the critter whom typed it up. I loved reading it. Anyhows, I wish it would be a nice long story.. Heh! Anyhows, no worries.
Posted Jun 11, 2008 at 11:17 AM EST
Witch
Points: 743
Secret Keeper says:
Thank you Ginny Weasleypants for taking the time to type it out, it made reading the prequel much easier. I read it EARLY this morning when it was first posted but had such a hard time reading the small writing. Definately enjoyed it much more now that it has been typed. And like others have said, it really left me wanting more.
Posted Jun 11, 2008 at 11:36 AM EST
The Creative Witch
Points: 7109
Gryff-girl says:
It was fun to read. Very amusing, hehehe. It's unbelivable how much she can capture in such a short text.
Applause to Rowling:D
Posted Jun 11, 2008 at 11:40 AM EST
Order of Merlin, 4th Class
Points: 1301
hmrpotter says:
I feel like a drug addict...I need more.
This was cute, though...and I've always said that I would love for her to do a series on the Maurauders!
Posted Jun 11, 2008 at 12:01 PM EST
Squib
Points: 107
ameryth74 says:
HAHA... Elvendork... I give it about 32 seconds until Elvendork is someone's new username on any/all HP discussion boards.
Posted Jun 11, 2008 at 12:16 PM EST
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