8 Ways JK Rowling Could Continue The Harry Potter Series

7. Harry Potter And The College Years

Finishing up as second most obvious, is a direct continuation of where Deathly Hallows left off, minus the five pages of concluding cheese that, for our intents and purposes here, we€™re just going to ignore for now. The point is, we readers went from the end of a deeply destructive war full of devastating personal loss to €˜all was well,€™ with nothing in between. So, what we want to know is this: what happened? We left the Wizarding World at the end of the series completely shaken at its very foundation and our young characters only just beginning to come to terms with it (again, minus the epilogue). A direct sequel like this could explore the fallout of Voldemort€™s destruction in its entirety, the impact it has had on everyone€™s favourite characters, and the slow but eventual healing process of both the war heroes and the magical community at large. All while Harry and co. attend wizard college. Before you say anything, consider it: it could be like the Harry Potter we all know and love but without the restraints of it being a €˜children€™s book.€™ House parties (with magic!), illicit experimentation with Billywig stings (with magic!), underage wizards drunk on Firewhiskey, and whatever else it is cool people do at college...with magic! I don€™t really see any potential for failure here. Of course, it should be pointed out that nowhere in canon does JKR state that Wizarding University is an institution that exists, but come on. A fan can dream, right? In all seriousness, however, we could definitely see all of our seventh-year friends returning to Hogwarts after the war to complete their studies and get their NEWT qualifications (okay, we can see Hermione doing it, at least). What with the war behind them, the book could focus on the rebuilding of a magical society destroyed by hatred and a generation of young witches and wizards coming to terms with the events of the past seven years. With of course, our standard Hogwarts shenanigans and some fun plot twists thrown in there by the master weaver of intricate plotlines herself to make it worth our while. While not breaking the tried-and-true mould, this would be a solid follow-up to the Harry Potter series.