Fans beg Rowling to "Save Harry!"

By Peter Griffiths

LONDON (Reuters) - Thousands of Harry Potter fans have signed a petition urging J.K. Rowling to keep writing novels about the boy wizard after she admitted she could "never say never" to more books.

The "Save Harry!" petition calls on Rowling to reverse her decision to end the bestselling series with the seventh and final instalment, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows".

"Millions, perhaps billions of us, love reading his adventures and we never want them to end," says the online petition, launched on Monday at www.saveharrypotter.co.uk.

After spending 17 years writing the books, Rowling said she was both "euphoric" and "devastated" that it's finally over.

But in a television interview, she left fans with the tantalising, if remote, possibility that she may one day return to the magical world of Hogwarts.

"I think that Harry's story comes to quite a clear end in book seven," she told the BBC at the weekend. "But I have always said that I wouldn't say never.

"I can't say I will never write another book about that world, just because I think: 'What do I know, in 10 years' time I might want to return to it'. But I think it is unlikely."

Even if she does write another book, it is unclear whether some of the main characters, including Harry, would play a part.