The INSIDER Summary:
- J.K. Rowling wrote an 800-word "Harry Potter" prequel in 2008.
- The notecard she wrote it on is now stolen.
- It was auctioned off for charity several years ago.
- You can still read it online.
In the summer of 2008, a year after the release of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," J.K. Rowling published a prequel to the "Harry Potter" series. It's brief — just 800 words — and is an episode where James Potter and Sirius Black ride around on motorcycles and escape from Muggle cops. Rowling jotted it down on a postcard.
That postcard was stolen in late April, and the West Midlands Police Department is looking for it.
—West Midlands Police (@WMPolice) May 12, 2017
Rowling originally auctioned off the postcard in the summer of 2008 for about $32,000 in order to raise money for literary causes. Since being notified of the theft, she's asking her 10 million followers on Twitter not to buy it.
—J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) May 12, 2017
An investigating officer for the West Midlands Police Department said in a statement: "The only people who will buy this unique piece are true 'Harry Potter' fans. We are appealing to anyone who sees, or is offered this item for sale, to contact police."
Scans and transcriptions of the short stories are widely available online: you can read it here.
More recently, Rowling has worked on "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" — a play that takes place a couple of decades after the events of the final "Harry Potter" book, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" — as well as "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them," a movie series that takes place a few decades before the main series.
