Harry Potter and Number 8

Published on 21/10/2002 01:00

IT’S magic! Millions of faithful readers around the world had expected seven Harry Potter books, to cover each year of his secondary school days. We were assured that the author, JK Rowling, had written the end before she even embarked on the first novel of the great saga. But now comes news that there might be a secret eighth Harry Potter book.

Anxious to protect copyright, the US film company Warner Bros has applied to the UK Patent Office for over 50 patents. And among them were the titles to complete JK Rowling’s seven promised volumes about Harry Potter. Plus the secret eighth title.

The new titles are book five (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix) plus Harry Potter and the Pyramids of Furmat, Harry Potter and the Chariots of Light and Harry Potter and the Alchemist’s Cell.

Does this extra book mean Harry fails his A-levels and has to resit because of a regrading spell by the Ministry of Magic? Or that he now has a gap year travelling on his new Firebolt broom? Or that he goes to a sixth-form college to study Care of Magical Creatures? Or can this be a response to recent claims that sending your child to a private school such as Hogwarts achieves no better results than sending them to a bog-standard muggle school? We can’t wait to find out.