Number seven may spell trouble for Harry Potter

THE seventh and final book in the Harry Potter series could spell the end for the teenage wizard — literally.

JK Rowling, author of the multi-million selling adventures at Hogwarts School of Wizardry, has revealed that she is to kill off two characters in the final instalment of the series.

However, in an interview on Channel 4, she would not be drawn on which of the wizard’s associates would meet an untimely demise.

She is doing nothing to alleviate the fears of Potter fans that the young wizard himself will not be one of those cast into oblivion.

“I’ve never been tempted to kill him (Harry) off before the end of book seven, because I always planned seven books, and that’s where I want to go,” she said.

“I can completely understand, however, the mentality of an author who thinks, ‘Well, I’m going to kill them off because that means there can be no non-author-written sequels’.”

However, she would not say whether that was her plan for her main character.

In the interview on the Richard and Judy show, she admitted she wrote the last chapter of the book many years ago, adding that another character had been slated to die in that original version.

“One character got a reprieve, but I have to say two die that I didn’t intend to die,” she said.

Wizard fanatics will now be kept waiting to see whether Harry, Ron, Hermione and Hagrid make it to the end of the adventures unscathed. How long that wait will be remains as much of a mystery.

Rowling has admitted that she is “well into” the last instalment, but a release date has still not been revealed. Given the mass hysteria each of the last six books created, it is certain to be an international bestseller.

The Harry Potter series has sold millions of copies worldwide, been translated into more than 40 languages, and made its creator one of the richest women in Britain.