Harry Potter returns as an adult in new story from J.K. Rowling

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Harry Potter and his friends are back in a brief piece penned by author J.K. Rowling for Pottermore, the online home for the series, that went live today.

(You'll need a Pottermore account in order to read it.)

The 1,500-word story is written from the perspective of Rita Skeeter, the catty Daily Prophet gossip columnist introduced in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Skeeter, covering the Quidditch World Cup, focuses on "a certain gang of infamous wizards" — Harry himself, on the verge of turning 34, along with Ron Weasley ("whose famous ginger hair appears to be thinning slightly"), Hermione Granger ("always the femme fatale of the group") and other members of Dumbledore's Army.

According to The Bookseller, Rowling has been contributing pieces about the Quidditch World Cup to Pottermore since March, although this is the first time she has written about Harry and his cohorts as adults since the publication of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in 2007. Rowling's next and final Quidditch World Cup story is set to be published July 11; it will focus on the Quidditch World Cup final between Brazil and Bulgaria.

A spokesperson for Rowling told The Bookseller that the author has "no plans" to write additional stories about grown-up Harry. Last September, Warner Bros. announced it was developing a Harry Potter spinoff film series based on the in-universe book Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, and Rowling will pen the screenplay for the first movie. Today also marks the opening of the Diagon Alley expansion to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, the Harry Potter theme park at Universal Orlando Resort in Orlando, Florida.