JK Rowling plots out an adult life for Harry and Co

AFTER months of feverish anticipation, cryptic clues from the author and dozens of false theories published on the internet, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was meant to be the final farewell to the boy wizard.

However, just like her legions of fans, it seems that JK Rowling cannot bear to let Harry and his Hogwarts friends be, and yesterday she detailed how their lives will develop after they leave the school for witches and wizards.

The Edinburgh-based author answers "ten questions" about Harry and his companions in tomorrow's Time magazine.

Rowling is number three in Time's Person Of The Year list – behind Vladimir Putin and Al Gore.

Rowling said she felt a "massive sense of release" to be able to answer any question from obsessive fans without giving the game away now that the books are completed. The author said that, as adults, Harry and Hermione Granger are both employed at the Ministry of Magic

Ron Weasley helps George at the joke shop, while Ginny Weasley becomes a professional Quidditch player and then a writer for the Daily Prophet. Rowling also revealed that Harry and his arch-enemy, Lord Voldemort, are related, albeit distantly, through the Peverell family.

But she added that "nearly all wizarding families are related, if you go back far enough". Among other revelations, Draco Malfoy marries Astoria Greengrass, while the luckless Neville Longbottom marries Hannah Abbott, who becomes owner of The Leaky Cauldron.

Rowling said: "I do have it all worked out in my mind because I couldn't stop myself doing that."

She called her time with Harry "one of the longest relationships of my adult life."

But Rowling does not rule out writing an eighth Hogwarts book. She said: "There have been times since finishing, weak moments, when I've said, 'Yeah, all right,' to the eighth novel."

"If – and it's a big if – I ever write an eighth book about the wizarding world, I doubt that Harry would be the central character.

"I feel like I've already told his story. But these are big ifs. Let's give it 10 years and see how we feel then."

A member of the Scottish Episcopal Church, Rowling said her books had no religious agenda. "I did not set out to convert anyone to Christianity.

"I wasn't trying to do what CS Lewis did. It is perfectly possible to live a very moral life without a belief in God, and I think it's perfectly possible to live a life peppered with ill-doing and believe in God."

HARRY POTTER and Hermione Granger both land jobs at the Ministry of Magic, where Harry goes on to leads the auror department – a group of elite dark wizard hunters he joins aged 17. Hermoine joins the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.

Ron Weasley helps George at the joke shop, while Ginny Weasley becomes a professional Quidditch player and then a writer for the Daily Prophet.

Draco Malfoy marries Astoria Greengrass, younger sister of the Greengrass family and Neville Longbottom marries Hannah Abbott, who becomes landlady of The Leaky Cauldron.