Hey everyone,
Welcome to another installment of Harry Potter Theory. In today’s video, we’re going
to be discussing an important piece of Harry Potter history that many of you may not know
about. In fact, I’m willing to bet that the majority of you don’t know about it.
What is it exactly? Oh, only a Harry Potter prequel written by JK Rowling herself. In
2008, JK Rowling, along with 12 other authors, were invited by UK bookseller Waterstones
to contribute hand-written cards to a charity auction named ‘What’s Your Story?’.
The purpose of the auction was to raise money for sufferers of Dyslexia- and the way that
money was meant to be raised was through selling custom ‘storycards’ written by each author
that was invited.
Originally, Waterstones just expected the authors to write a small blurb- nothing major.
However, Rowling took it to the next level, and ended up writing a short, but very legitimate
Harry Potter prequel. The cards from the 13 participating authors (which included Rowlings)
were auctioned on the 10th of June 2008, and raised a total of £47,150. However, Rowling's
card was responsible for a whopping 25,000 of this- selling for more than all of the
other cards combined. In the end, a Tokyo-based investment banker ended up buying the ‘original’
prequel written by Rowling on the card. I’m going to share the prequel with you guys,
but first let’s hear what Rowling had to say about the whole ordeal:
A few months ago a number of authors were invited to handwrite cards for auction by
Waterstones, on June 10, all proceeds to go to English PEN, the writers' association,
and the Dyslexia Action. After playing around with a number of different ideas I decided
to write a short (for me!) excerpt from a prequel to the Potter series. It is about
800 words long and the action takes place around 3 years before Harry is born. Although
I did feel a bit like a relapsing addict as I sat down to write - the words poured from
my pen with frightening ease.
According to Rowling’s comments, the prequel takes place around 3 years before Harry was
born, which would make it set in the year 1977- the same year that James Potter, Sirius
Black, and the other Marauders were attending their seventh year at Hogwarts. For this reason,
the untitled prequel has been aptly named the ‘James & Sirius prequel’. It’s also
known as the ‘Marauders prequel’.
Without further ado, let’s get in to it:
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.
From the prequel I am not working on — but that was fun!
J.K. Rowling
2008
The synopsis of the above passage, in essence, is this:
Two Muggle policemen chase a speeding motorbike ridden by Sirius Black and James Potter. When
the policemen corner them, they confront the pair, and it’s at this point that three
men fly down the alley on broomsticks. James and Sirius magically upend the policemen's
car and the broomsticks crash into it, rendering their riders insensible. As the policemen
clutch at each other in fear, Sirius and James return to their motorbike, which then flies
away.
Pretty interesting and important piece of Harry Potter history if you ask me. I should
also mention that the hand-written storycard containing the prequel was actually later
STOLEN during a burglary carried out in Birmingham in 2017. To this day, the location of the
stolen manuscript is not known- but I do certainly hope it shows up one day.
And that’s it for this video! Did you know about this prequel? Comment down below
Until next time
Remember
Time will not slow down when something unpleasant lies ahead.