The Harry Potter prequel is an 800-word short story written by J. K. Rowling, and was published online on 11 June 2008. Set about three years before the birth of Harry Potter, the story recounts an adventure experienced by Sirius Black and James Potter.
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Two Muggle policemen PC Anderson and Sergeant Fisher are chasing a motorbike which is breaking the speed limit into a dead-end alley. They confront the two youths, and ask their names. After some joking, the boys introduce themselves as Sirius Black and James Potter. As the policemen attempt to arrest them for speeding and riding without helmets, three unidentified men on broomsticks fly down the alley towards them. James and Sirius use their wands to lift the police car up to form a barrier, and the broomstick riders crash into it. Sirius and James then leave the frightened policemen in the alley.
J. K. Rowling announced that she was writing a prequel story for the writers' association English PEN and Dyslexia Action. The story, handwritten on a card and signed by her, would then be auctioned off alongside thirteen similar cards from other authors on 11 June 2008, with the proceeds going to charity. The story card sold for £25,000 in the "What's Your Story?" auction at Waterstone's in Piccadilly, and the set raised around £47,150 for the two charities. The buyer of the Potter story card was Hira Digpal, president of Tokyo-based investment-banking consulting company Red-33.[1] He had privately mentioned £50,000 as one possible bid by him.[1]
As of June 2008[update], a book of facsimiles was scheduled for publication in August of that year,[1] to allow fans to own and read the stories; the Potter one has also been published on the Internet.[2]
Rowling has ruled out writing a prequel novel to the Potter series,[1] and concluded the story card with the words, "From the prequel I am not working on – but that was fun!"[3]
As of 12 June 2008, this article is derived in whole or in part from Harry Potter Wiki. The copyright holder has licensed the content utilized under CC-By-SA and GFDL. All relevant terms must be followed. The original text was at "Harry Potter Prequel".