Rowling discusses Harry Potter's fate

NEW YORK -- Less than a week after the release of the final Harry Potter book, author J.K. Rowling is giving hints about its conclusion.

In an interview broadcast Thursday on NBC's "Today" show and in one published Thursday in USA Today, she discussed the young wizard's fate in "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows."

THOSE WHO DO NOT WANT TO KNOW HOW IT TURNS OUT FOR THE BOY WIZARD SHOULD STOP READING HERE.

"I'm very proud of the fact that as we went into this book, many, many readers believed it was a real possibility that Harry would die. That's what I was aiming for," she said on NBC.

In the book, Lord Voldemort meets his end and Harry lives. But Rowling said Harry's survival was not always a certainty.

"In the early days, everything was up for grabs," she told USA Today. "But early on I knew I wanted Harry to believe he was walking toward his death, but would survive."

She said that after finishing the last book she "felt terrible for a week."

-- The Associated Press

"It was like a bereavement, even though I was pleased with the book. And then after a week that cloud lifted and I felt quite lighthearted, quite liberated," she said.

"It was this amazing cathartic moment -- the end of 17 years' work," she told NBC.

When asked if she felt like she had to say goodbye to Harry, she said, "Yes and no. He'll always be a presence in my life, really."

She acknowledged that the final Potter installment leaves some loose ends.

"It would have been humanly impossible to answer every single question that comes up," she told NBC. "Because, I'm dealing with a level of obsession in some of my fans that will not rest until they know the middle names of Harry's great-great-grandparents."

Rowling, whose seven Potter books have sold more than 335 million copies worldwide, said she plans to take time off to be with her family and will continue writing. She told USA Today she has two writing projects -- one for children and one for adults.

But whether she will write about her young wizard again, she said: "I think I've kind of done the wizarding world. ... I have done my Harry Potter."