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J.K. Rowling Pleads With Fans Over Stolen ‘Harry Potter’ Prequel

By Stacey Cole
Published on: 04:32 PST, May 14, 2017

A rare handwritten Harry Potter prequel by J.K. Rowling was stolen during a British burglary, and now the police need help from Harry Potter fans around the globe.

The brief handwritten story by J.K. Rowling on a postcard, which sold for more than $32,000 at a 2008 charity auction, was stolen from a Birmingham property last month, and now the police want Harry Potter fans around the world to help them find it.

Although the police do not offer an invitation to Hogwarts as a reward, the fact that this 800-word story postcard was touched only by few, including author J.K. Rowling herself, is reward enough to find the stolen Harry Potter prequel.

The Harry Potter prequel written on a postcard was stolen between April 13 and 24, and J.K. Rowling wants Harry Potter fans around the world to keep an eye for it in case they ever stumble across the valuable postcard online, according to Rolling Stone.

On Friday, J.K. Rowling retweeted the British police’s statement appealing to Harry Potter fans to contact the police in case they stumble across the stolen Harry Potter prequel.

The Harry Potter author added in the tweet, “please don’t buy this if you’re offered it.” The Harry Potter prequel is set three years before Harry Potter was born, and the 800-word untitled story features the character Sirius Black and Harry’s father, James.

In a statement appealing to Harry Potter fans to help police find the stolen Harry Potter prequel, investigating officer P.C. Paul Jauncey said that “true Harry Potter fans” are “the only people who will buy this unique piece.”

“We are appealing to anyone who sees, or is offered this item for sale, to contact police.”

The Harry Potter prequel, handwritten by J.K. Rowling on a postcard, sold at a charity auction in 2008 and benefited two charitable organizations, English PEN and Dyslexia Action.

The story, written by J.K. Rowling herself on both sides of an ordinary A5 postcard, centers on Sirius and James Potter getting caught by angry police officers after a high-speed motorcycle pursuit. The duo avoid arrest thanks to using magic.

In the final note regarding the Harry Potter prequel, J.K. Rowling writes that this was an excerpt from “the prequel I am not working on.” The Harry Potter author has had plenty to work on over the years.

Last year, the Harry Potter universe saw the release of the franchise’s spin-off Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them starring Eddie Redmayne. In November 2018, the second installment of the five-part franchise, starring Jude Law as Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore and Johnny Depp as Gellert Grindelwald, will be released.

The news of the stolen Harry Potter prequel came more than half a year since J.K. Rowling sent eBooks of the entire Harry Potter series to a seven-year-old girl from war-torn Syria.

Back in November 2016, Bana Alabed, who boasts nearly 370,000 followers on Twitter, tweeted to J.K. Rowling that she would like to read Harry Potter books.

Within minutes, J.K. Rowling responded to the Aleppo girl via Twitter and within days, Bana had eBooks of the entire Harry Potter series.

Bana, who says she likes to read “to forget the war,” regularly posts images and videos of the horrific bombings in Aleppo.

Bana also took to Twitter to share a photograph of her and her two brothers reading Harry Potter eBooks. The caption read, “My brothers want to read the Harry Potters too.”

Bana’s mother, Fatemah, told CNN in November, 2016, that her daughter was reading the first Harry Potter book, “little by little” in between the bombardment of Aleppo.

[Featured Image by John Phillips/Getty Images]

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