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October 7, 2008 1:26:48 PM CDT

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Rowling's Potter Prequel Conjures Up $49K for Charity

Posted Jun 11, 08 5:01 AM CDT in Arts & Living 

(Newser) – JK Rowling’s handwritten “prequel” to the Harry Potter books has sold for $49,000 at a charity auction to benefit the PEN writers organization, Reuters reports. In the 800-word story, which takes place before Harry’s birth, the boy wizard’s father and Sirius Black use magic to elude police in a high-speed chase. The work also manages to brush aside rumors that an eighth Potter book is in the works.

“From the prequel I am not working on—but that was fun!” Rowling writes at the end, just above her signature.

Source Reuters

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Author J. K. Rowling signs a copy of her book "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" in New Orleans, Thursday, Oct. 18, 2007.   (AP Photo/Bill Haber)
This 2007 file photo shows British writer J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter books.   (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)
British author J.K. Rowling poses for a photo at the release of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" at the Natural History Museum in London, in this July 20, 2007 file photo.   (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
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