Potter series may continue

The seventh Harry Potter book may not be the last we hear of the boy wizard, author JK Rowling has hinted. Instead, she may write another instalment about Harry as a grown-up.

The writer has always maintained that the seventh book would be the last. But, quizzed by fans today, she would not rule out another book revealing what happens to Harry after he leaves Hogwarts.

In a web chat to mark World Book Day, she was asked: "Are you going to write books about Harry after school?"

Rowling gave fans hope when she replied: "Probably not. But I'll never say never because every time I do I immediately break the vow."

Rowling kept details of her latest the sixth Harry Potter book close to her chest. When asked if the wicked Voldemort would die, she replied: "Now do you really think I would answer that?"

But she was more open when asked about the magical powers she would like to possess. She said she would love to follow in the footsteps of the world's most famous boy wizard and fly on a broomstick like Harry Potter but would have a lot of apologising to do if she met the character himself.

"I think I'd most like to spend a day with Harry. I'd take him out for a meal and apologise for everything I put him through," she said

She also teasingly warned that even tougher times faced Potter: "In Book Six, the wizarding world is really at war again and he has to master his own feelings to make himself useful. If personally I was Harry Potter, I would hide because I know what is coming," she said.