Bless you, J.K. Rowling!
The British author surprised fans on Tuesday, July 8 when she gave a glimpse of where her beloved characters Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger are today in somewhat of a continued epilogue via her Pottermore website. The new published work is her first time returning to Hogwarts since Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in 2007.
The story is written from the point of view of pesky Daily Prophet reporter Rita Skeeter’s column, who often gossiped about and misconstrued Harry and Hermione’s close friendship as more than platonic. (Rubbish!) Flash-forwarding to the eve of Harry’s 34th birthday, Skeeter describes what the trio have been up to as they attend a Quidditch World Cup final.
Potter, as Skeeter so sweetly points out, has “threads of silver” hair now and still wears “the distinctive round glasses that some might say are better suited to a style-deficient 12-year-old.”
Ron’s physical appearance has also changed. As seen in the last Harry Potter film, the fan-favorite’s red hair “appears to be thinning slightly.” Professionally, he’s taken over the family joke shop that his twin brothers George and Fred Weasley created. Fred, as readers of the series know, tragically died in the seventh and final book.
Hermione, meanwhile, has done well for herself since her bookworm days while in Gryffindor. She’s now a high-flying civil servant, Deputy Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.
Rowling has noted before that Deathly Hallows would be the last novel she writes about the teenage wizards. She went on to pen the spin-off story collection The Tales of Beedle the Bard and the adult novel The Casual Vacancy. Last year, it was revealed that she wrote the crime thriller The Cuckoo’s Calling and used the pseudonym Robert Galbraith to keep her identity hidden.