The Harry Potter Prequel – READ IT HERE!
June 11, 2008 by Wendy Boswell
SWEEEEEETTT! The book publisher Waterstone’s website has now updated with J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter prequel, which sold for a ton of money in a charity auction this week (you can read more about the prequel’s other authors here). Here, in its entirety (800 words), is the Harry Potter Prequel.
The Harry Potter Prequel, by JK Rowling
The speeding motorcycle took the sharp corner so fast in the darkness that both policemen in the pursuing car shouted ‘whoa!’ Sergeant Fisher slammed his large foot on the brake, thinking that the boy who was riding pillion was sure to be flung under his wheels; however, the motorbike made the turn without unseating either of its riders, and with a wink of its red tail light, vanished up the narrow side street.
‘We’ve got ‘em now!” cried PC Anderson excitedly. ‘That’s a dead end!”
Leaning hard on the steering wheel and crashing his gears, Fisher scraped half the paint off the flank of the car as he forced it up the alleyway in pursuit.
There in the headlights sat their quarry, stationary at last after a quarter of an hour’s chase. The two riders were trapped between a towering brick wall and the police car, which was now crashing towards them like some growling, luminous-eyed predator.
There was so little space between the car doors and the walls of the alley that Fisher and Anderson had difficulty extricating themselves from the vehicle. It injured their dignity to have to inch, crab-like, towards the miscreants. Fisher dragged his generous belly along the wall, tearing buttons off his shirt as he went, and finally snapping off the wing mirror with his backside.
‘Get off the bike!’ he bellowed at the smirking youths, who sat basking in the flashing blue light as though enjoying it.
They did as they were told. Finally pulling free from the broken wind mirror, Fisher glared at them. They seemed to be in their late teens. The one who had been driving had long black hair; his insolent good looks reminded Fisher unpleasantly of his daughter’s guitar-playing, layabout boyfriend. The second boy also had black hair, though his was short and stuck up in all directions; he wore glasses and a broad grin. Both were dressed in T-shirts emblazoned with a large golden bird; the emblem, no doubt, of some deafening, tuneless rock band.
‘No helmets!’ Fisher yelled, pointing from one uncovered head to the other. ‘Exceeding the speed limit by – by a considerable amount!’ (In fact, the speed registered had been greater than Fisher was prepared to accept that any motorcycle could travel.) ‘Failing to stop for the police!’
‘We’d have loved to stop for a chat,’ said the boy in glasses, ‘only we were trying -’
‘Don’t get smart – you two are in a heap of trouble!’ snarled Anderson. ‘Names!’
‘Names?’ repeated the long-haired driver. ‘Er – well, let’s see. There’s Wilberforce… Bathsheba… Elvendork…’
‘And what’s nice about that one is, you can use it for a boy or a girl,’ said the boy in glasses.
‘Oh, OUR names, did you mean?’ asked the first, as Anderson spluttered with rage. ‘You should’ve said! This here is James Potter, and I’m Sirius Black!’
‘Things’ll be seriously black for you in a minute, you cheeky little -’
But neither James nor Sirius was paying attention. They were suddenly as alert as gundogs, staring past Fisher and Anderson, over the roof of the police car, at the dark mouth of the alley. Then, with identical fluid movements, they reached into their back pockets.
For the space of a heartbeat both policemen imagined guns gleaming at them, but a second later they saw that the motorcyclists had drawn nothing more than -
‘Drumsticks?’ jeered Anderson. ‘Right pair of jokers, aren’t you? Right, we’re arresting you on a charge of -’
But Anderson never got to name the charge. James and Sirius had shouted something incomprehensible, and the beams from the headlights had moved.
The policemen wheeled around, then staggered backwards. Three men were flying – actually FLYING – up the alley on broomsticks – and at the same moment, the police car was rearing up on its back wheels.
Fisher’s knees bucked; he sat down hard; Anderson tripped over Fisher’s legs and fell on top of him, as FLUMP – BANG – CRUNCH – they heard the men on brooms slam into the upended car and fall, apparently insensible, to the ground, while broken bits of broomstick clattered down around them.
The motorbike had roared into life again. His mouth hanging open, Fisher mustered the strength to look back at the two teenagers.
‘Thanks very much!’ called Sirius over the throb of the engine. ‘We owe you one!’
‘Yeah, nice meeting you!’ said James. ‘And don’t forget: Elvendork! It’s unisex!’
There was an earth-shattering crash, and Fisher and Anderson threw their arms around each other in fright; their car had just fallen back to the ground. Now it was the motorcycle’s turn to rear. Before the policemen’s disbelieving eyes, it took off into the air: James and Sirius zoomed away into the night sky, their tail light twinkling behind them like a vanishing ruby.
What did you think? Who do you think the guys in the alley were? Why were James and Sirius trying to go so fast on their bikes? So many questions!
WOW!!! Great little snippet of sirius and james!!! i feel sorry for harry cause he misses out on a great dad and as soon as he meets sirius, sirius dies!!! i hope that JK Rowling will write a full prequel!!! I am not sure who the people on broomsticks were but they might be death eaters, one might be snape. James and Sirius did upest him…??? Whos knows??? Anyway… peace out xxx
i like megs theory: the boyfriend is Stubby Boardman. But I’m not sure that stubby would date a muggle… it possible, though, I guess…
i wonder if j.k. rowling has ever looked at all these comments… i think it’s a little amusing to have like 260 comments all arguing about whether it’s a snidgit or a phoenix, death eaters or ministry employees… and i think it might be very amusing to the the only women who can really confirm which…
according to wikipedia, the flying people are death eaters, as for the bird, the story says it’s a ‘large golden bird’ and while phoenixes are large and partly golden, snidgits are tiny and round, and barely look like birds at all, and a muggle would probably have thought it was a winged ball.
I feel like an absolute imbecile for never encountering this on the internet before. And I search avidly, and on a daily basis after HP stuff. Oh, well, at least I read it now, right?
I think the boomstickdudes are deatheaters, but some really clumsy ones. Because a skilled DE would never had flied in to that car. And I bet that James and Sirius are just playing with them, because they’re so much better than them that they don’t even have to try hard to defeat them. It would by just like them.
1. they people in the ally were most likely death eaters or ministry people.
2. James and Sirius were both in the order at the time, becasue Rowling said this prequel is based 3 years beofre harry is born. and james dies when he is 21 years old a year after harry is born.
3. Snape joined Voldemort when he was of age & James and Sirius both joined the Order when they were of age so yes they were 17 & they were in the order!
they two people on the broomsticks are unlikley to be deathath eaters as voldemort would probably not have been that strong when james and sirius were seventeen as when regulas joined the death eaters at the same age, he did not know what voldemort was like causing him to turn against voldemort and steal the horcrux (rab). i also think that three ministry officials would be unlikely to appear on broomsticks infront of muggles. therefore it might have been somebody james and sirius disliked. i think that it was not a snitch on their shirts but may have been a pheonix, but is more likly to have been a symbol of a quidditch team.
JK said that this takes place three years before Harry was born, which puts them at seventeen and of age. Sirius probably would have gotten his motorcycle when he got his own flat, which would be fairly recent in this story. Which means they could have been going fast because it is one of their first times flying it. Lily and James, though they do get married fairly soon after school, wouldn’t be married at seventeen. They could have very well been in the Order, though, and even engaged. As for what’s on their shirts… It could, indeed, be anything, from some Wizard band to a snitch, to a phoenix.
Andddd, Voldemort would be powerful by then, Anna. Though Dumbledore refused to recruit students, Voldemort had no qualms about it. The older, well known Death Eaters were recruited while in school.
I would love to have met James and Sirius,but they’re fictional and they die. At first I thought J.K. Rowling was trying to make Harry’s life horrible crap. Why did I think this? Well,because she killing everyone he loves and cares for. I’m mean they both seem like cool and fun people and Harry gets to spend so little time with them,it’s sad really. Meanwhile, I think that the people on brooms may have been death eaters. Well thats all I have to say. Bye!
P.S. Remember Elvindork is a unisex!!!
The bird is probably a phoenix as in the order of the phoenix, James and Sirius are the types to proclaim being a part of an organisation designated to fighting Voldemort. They’d probably get a thrill out of it knowing that Death Eaters might understand the meaning, or supposing that the Death Eaters don’t know the meaning they’d think it was hilarious how stupid they were. Like saying an inside joke to people who don’t know it’s meaning, it just makes it funnier.
Well, at first I thought ginny and harry didn’t make sense either because he never really liked her but it happens, best of friends fall for each other sometimes. I’m using Scully’s words here (paraphrasing) it’s like one day somebody switched on a light and everything looked different.
Well, I don’t mind Ginny and Harry, though i thought even though i would have liked it to be harry and Hermione, it would have been a bit on the predictable side, no?
This is supercool, i only just discovered the prequel, can you believe that? Anyway hope Mrs. Rowling changes her mind and stuns (elates) us all by writing the Marauders’ Journey at Hogwarts………up till the Fall of good ol’ v0ldy.
Oooh~~ here’s a theory~~
James and Sirius something akin to stole the bike from black market dealers, and were riding away from them, when the police caught on.
The three were the “violent” dealers~~~
*wiggles eyebrows*
eh~? Hows’ that~?
i love this prequel ofcourse because i think sirius and james were extremely funny and cool! i hope Mrs. Rowling really writes a book on the marauders journey of hogwarts. That would definitely be an interesting piece of work! UMMMMMMM……. about harry and ginny’s relationship i also think that it was a bit sudden but i believe that ron and hermione are suitable for each other because they liked each other from the beginning of the series but were reluctant to admit it. also their relationship strengthened over time until their feelings were finally expressed but the point is that their attraction for each other was present for sometime although it was just shimmering a bit whereas harry and ginny just happened out of the blue. so that was weird…..
When I read about the design on their t-shirt,, i was thinking of the Holyhead Harpies because
Both were dressed in T-shirts emblazoned with a large golden bird (a harpie) ;
the emblem, no doubt, of some deafening, tuneless rock band. <-which is definite proof that it is them because that is the only rock group that comes out in the HP series.
i think JKR should write Harry potter books about like voldemort in hogwarts and his parents
this was so cool! i love it (: i have just found it and i think its really cool that j.k rowling has wrote this prequel. i wouldnt have thought they were death eaters; because wouldnt they have just killed the muggles? cos thats what they’ve done beforee? maybe that was when they first stole the motor bikes (sirius’ motor bike) and it was the owner coming after them? very odd! but very cool!
this was so cool!! i just love the marauders especially sirius. i wish jk rowling would write about the marauders time. that would be just amazing! but unfortunatly she’s said she’s not writing any such story. aww! but anyway this was great. it was also kinda sad coz you know james is gonna die soon and sirius will go to azkaban and peter goes of and joins voldemort.ugh, how i hate him!
i think the people flying were some people that james and sirius didnt like because i think they werent skilled enough to be death eaters!
cheers!
p.s: i have my fingers crossed, maybe rowling will change her mind and write about the marauders!:P
This piece of writing is horribly chauvinistic in every respect possible. Rowling is a male-centered traitor of women. The fact that her parents intended her to be a boy, and that she was constantly told that girls are not as cool, really is obvious from her writing. She doesn’t nearly give strong and cool women the same credit she’s giving strong and cool men, cool women are shamefully underrepresented in her work, and she constantly perpetuates horrible gender-clichees instead of challenging them. What a dreadful disservice to women and girls.
Can’t believe I hadn’t heard of this until a few minutes ago!! Short, but it was great. Too bad it doesn’t go any longer.
The others in the alley were obviously lupin and peter.
rotflmao That was brilliant! This just reminded me why I read so much Marauders fanfiction! I LOVE JAMES AND SIRIUS!!! I’ve ALWAYS wanted J.K. Rowlings to write about the Marauders years at Hogwarts! I’m giggling and smiling right now! THANK YOU, J.K. ROWLINGS FOR WRITING THIS!!!
thanks jo, it’s a great thrill to get a glimpse, however small,of the harry potter world before harry. james and sirius must have had loads of adventures like this one.
OMY! Why haven’t I read this little snippet before? This is absolutely great! I’m getting to know James and Sirius a little bit more! Thank you so much for posting this!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6o2aHzfHFzM
If anyone is interested in watching a Harry Potter video, check this out!
i love this i wish there was more to it though. i find it an awesome idea to auction it off for charity. The only thing is will J.K rowling autherize more prequels ????
That was an excuse for a Harry Pitter prequel TBH.
** Spoilers **, And I really mean spoilers…
Amazing… Truly amazing… why oh why did Rowling kill Sirius? I mean, killing James was a part of the series, but SIRIUS? AND LUPIN? AND TONKS? AND BELLATRIX? Naw, just kidding… But Rowling is a murderer
I can’t believe I didn’t even find this until today!!
I really wish JK Rowling would write some more on the Marauders – I positively adore them! This snippet left me begging for more!
I supsect Sirius only just got the bike and he and James were going nuts testing it out. *Such* a Padfoot and Prongs thing to do.
LMAO at James’s “Elvendork! It’a unisex name!”
i loved this story! JKR should consider making a whole book of sirius and james’s life, right to how he started dating lily, the marriage, and harry being born. it would be really interesting, like all of harrys books, but with james instead. also i thought harry and ginnys relationship was TOTALLY expected! IT. WAS. EXPECTED. when i first read the chamber of secrets (i finished all the books in fifth grade, and right now im in seventh)me and my brother we like i think i know who hes gonna end up with. hey, i no this stuff, uve gotta give a girl credit when she can spell antidisestablishmentarianism and deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)
Isaiah, that is a good theory, but the Holyhead Harpies are not a rock band, that is the Weird Sisters. Rather, the Harpies are a Quidditch Team, led by Gwenog Jones lol Slughorn mentions them in the sixth book
isaiah holyhead harpeies are a Quidditch team
,
They were seventeen, they were in the Order, the bird on their shirts is a Phoenix, and I’m quite sure that they WERE Death Eaters, mainly because both Lily and James had already refused Voldemort’s offer to join his ranks in their seventh year. Sirius is the white sheep of his family (lolol), so it’s only natural they’d want them for lunch.
I can imagine they were in Auror training at the time, which makes them climb higher on Voldemort’s wanted list, either Death Eaters thought they’d be rewarded for the capture of James Potter and Sirius Black, or they were ordered to track them by an inner circle officer (Think Lucius Malfoy, Bellatrix Lestrange-Black, Rodolphus and Rabastan Lestrange, an Antonin Dolohov, Augustus Rookwood, etc.) however I find that highly unlikely, because up until that point, they hadn’t exactly proven to be a threat to Voldemort or any of the officers.
I’m under the impression that they could have been rookie Death Eaters of around James and Sirius’ age that wanted to impress the older DEs. Hence why they were so dumb as to crash into the front of the car. You wouldn’t do that if you were an experienced Wizards, and most seventeen year olds aren’t too experienced (With the exception of some, naturally.)
Over the years, James will continue to be a thorn in Voldemort’s side and refuse him two more times – be it another offer to join his ranks and promises of immortality and all that shizbang or in another, more physical way, I don’t know. I can imagine that Voldemort had tried to recruit fellow Order-members and colleague-Aurors Frank and Alice Longbottom when THEY were in school too, and like Lily and James, they refused.
Before you start saying Lily is a muggle born, he would never want her; This is fact. J.K. Rowling said this herself. Although you must realise that Voldemort is quite the hypocrite and uses Pureblood Supremacy merely as a veil to cover his endless need for absolute power. He, himself, is a “mudblood”, a half blood, much like Harry was, Severus Snape, and many others whom he let fight for his cause. In my opinion, Voldemort doesn’t much care for the purity of blood as he lets on. He’s in it for the pure, absolute power he will have over Britain and after that, the rest of the world. And he got so close to getting that absolute power too, in Deathly Hallows, but his greed and inability to understand love was his undoing.
YOU ARE ALL WRONG ABOUT THE DEATH-EATERS! They had to be Mrs. Potter, Dumbledore and Lupin, or Prof McGonigal.. or Moodie who were all “friends” of James and Sirius….they were HELPING them escape from the cops!
wow just found this prequel today! very fun to read… i’m thinking it was a snitch on their shirts and it must have been former classmates of theirs they were running from… but assuming they were all of age why were they on the motorbike and broomsticks? so it couldn’t have been deatheaters they would have just apparated. Maybe it was during the summer before their last year at hogwarts?
Always good to read something new in the “Harry Potter” series, however short. It’s sometimes a shame to think that there won’t be a definitive prequel or sequel to “Harry Potter” but, then again, perhaps it’s best
that the books are left as they are to maintain an aura of mystery.
My guess would be that the people on the broomsticks are Deatheaters – it’s not likely that James and Sirius would be trying to cause harm to anyone else (and what else could come of smashing into a police car than serious injury?!?!). If they’re not Deatheaters, they’re of a kin.
Jackie’s “argument” that James and Sirius would have just apparated if it had’ve been Deatheaters they were running from is flawed. Firstly, broomsticks are used throughout the novels as a means of transport instead of apparation, even by characters “of age” – even Deatheaters use them. Secondly, it can be inferred from the novels that Sirius’ flying motorbike was his preferred form of transport, despite the fact that he could apparate. As such, it’s not unusual for Sirius and James to be using it to travel and to escape from pursuers (which probably are Deatheaters or suchlike).
As for the emblem on their t-shirts? Probably a phoenix: remember that this is a tie-in to the rest of the series and is dotted with clues and snippets that the reader would recognise (though the characters in the short story, e.g. the policemen, would not). The policeman thinks it is the emblem of a rock band only because he isn’t part of the magical world and wouldn’t necessarily recognise a phoenix or know what the Order was; at the very least he recognises it as some kind of bird and therefore not likely a snitch. Though the Harpies and the Weird Sisters are mentioned occasionally in the “Harry Potter” novels, they aren’t a material part of the storyline whereas the Order of the Phoenix is. Given that special mention is made of what is on the t-shirts (no mention is made of what shoes they were wearing!), it should be assumed it’s of some major relevance or link to the novels and is likely to a phoenix.
They’re my theories anyway though only one woman knows for sure and that’s JK Rowling – but it’s fun to ponder, isn’t it?!
that was great!!! i love harry potter!!! jkr sould write more!!
@Isaiah actually.. The Holyhead Harpies is a quiditch team.
I really liked this snippet =] it made me smile.
i love this!!!!! so glad i found it!
the guys on the brooms are probably from the ministry (maybe the missuse of muggle artefacts office coz the bike’s been charmed)
Ooops! I misread…. I agree with Greg and Forge…they could’ve been Ministry…OR their “enemies” at school Snape? Malfoy? Malfoy’s “friends”… I LOVE HARRY and I’m in my 50’s! I wish JKR would write more about Harry. A full prequel would be great, I’d bet!
This is so amazing! But I disagree that she should continue writing about the Marauders. If JKR did that, no one would be able to write a lot of fanfiction about the misadventures of them! If you want stories about the Marauders, look for fanfiction! There are a LOT of good ones out there! Kthx.
-Friday
I don’t think the guys on the broomsticks in the alley were Death Eaters, I think they were from the Ministry of Magic’s Department of Magical Law Enforcement.
Grrrr! where v i been!!!
Wow! I had no idea this existed up until today and it made my day! What a funny story. Two thumbs up, J. K. Rowling! I think that the Death Eathers must have been Alecto and Amycus Carrow along with another young wizard. They couldn’t really have been smart guys if they hit the car, and the Carrow’s do seem a little bit dumb sometimes, so maybe it was them…
Great job for Sirius and James! You just have to love their jokes
It was a nice story! Wish it were a little longer, but that can’t be helped. Love JK Rowling, however, and who knows, maybe she’ll write some more? I don’t think so, though. Harry Potter was the main focus of this whole craze, and I think the focus should be kept on him. Sure, it’s nice to read things having to do with Harry, but still…
I think for this snippet they must have been out of school, but they might not have been. It says it was three years before Harry was born…could that mean before they graduated, or after? But why wouldn’t they Apparate if they were of age? So many things don’t make sense!
Actually ginny had always liked harry remember how she would always clam up when harry would come lol I think its cute how he finally noticed her and she got her wish
“This piece of writing is horribly chauvinistic in every respect possible.” Dorothy
Wow, bitter, much? Ever hang around a bunch of guys? They are pretty disgustingly manly.
“She doesn’t nearly give strong and cool women the same credit she’s giving strong and cool men, cool women are shamefully underrepresented in her work, and she constantly perpetuates horrible gender-clichees instead of challenging them. What a dreadful disservice to women and girls.”
Hey, uh, there’s a character in the book called Hermione. She does some pretty extraordinary stuff. Don’t forget half the quidditch team is made up of girls, the holyhead harpies are an all-girls team, the mothers in the novel are pretty amazing, and Luna, Ginny, & Fleur are all pretty cool and very tough IMHO.
harry potter is sexist:
http://community.livejournal.com/whileaway/125360.html
http://www.anglofille.com/2007/07/25/harry-potter-is-sexist/#comment-141070
Dorothy: Rowling does far better with both genders in Harry Potter than Meyer does with either one in Twilight. If you want to be upset about a bad portrayal of women, be upset at Twilight.
On the matter of the story, I’m betting they’d be Death Eaters. And the shirts? Phoenixes, of course. I’m betting both of them are new members of the Order of the Phoenix, thus the shirts.
i love harry and love rowling for introducing him to muggles. I feel harry really exists.is there anyone else
i wish i were a witch,then i wouldnt have to wait for rowling to write prequels and sequels. I could ask everything from harry. do u think he would tell me?……and ilove dumbledoer{hope i spelled it right}