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JK Rowling says that finishing her final Harry Potter book was “the most remarkable feeling” she has ever known and that she felt both “euphoric and devastated” when closing the final chapter.

	JK Rowling during her interview with Jonathan Ross

The multi-millionaire author finished writing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the seventh book of the series, last month and it will go on sale on July 21.

During the interview to be shown tonight on BBC1’s Friday Night with Jonathan Ross, she said: “Finishing the book is a relief. I can’t think of anyone who could know how I felt.

“Actually finishing it was the most remarkable feeling I’ve ever had… [I felt] euphoria, devastated, when I finished one chapter near the end I absolutely howled, it had been planned for so long.

“I was in a hotel room on my own, sobbing my heart out. I downed half a bottle of champagne in one and went home with mascara all over my face. It was really tough.”

The plots have taken a darker turn and Rowling has in the past revealed that she would kill off at least two of the main characters.

When asked by the chat show host whether the word “scar” was still the last word in the book, as had been reported, she said: “Scar? It was for ages, and now it’s not.

“Scar is quite near the end, but it’s not the last word.”

Harry Potter has a lightning bolt scar on his forehead as a result of a failed curse by the wicked wizard Lord Voldemort.

Rowling also revealed that the character Harry Potter was “totally imaginary” and not based on anyone, although his red-haired pal Ron Weasley was a lot like her oldest friend Sean.

She also disclosed that Hermione, the heroine of the series, is based on herself and said: “I was quite swotty when I was a kid.”

Speculation is mounting that J K Rowling will kill off Harry Potter in the final book about the teenage wizard after Daniel Radcliffe, the actor who plays the character in the films, predicted his death.

In an interview in America, Radcliffe said: “I think I might die in [the final book],” before quickly adding: “That’s just my prediction. I think so, but I’ve no idea at all; I have no inside hints.”

	Daniel Radcliffe: many of the characters die in the final book

However, it comes just a day after Rowling told the BBC that the seventh book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, has a grisly ending in which many of the characters die.

Rowling told Friday Night with Jonathan Ross that finishing the book was “the most remarkable feeling I’ve ever had”, but declined to be drawn on the young wizard’s fate.

She did, however, warn Potter enthusiasts that they may be surprised and said it was “unlikely” that she would ever return to writing more books about Harry and his friends, Ron and Hermione.

The fate of Harry Potter has been a source of speculation since December 2005, when actor Jim Dale, the voice of the teenage wizard in the American audio books, claimed that Rowling was looking forward to life without the character who has earned her a £500 million fortune.

“She’s lived with Harry Potter so long she really wants to kill him off,” he told a reporter after a business meeting with the author to discuss the characterisation of the parts.

In his interview with the MSN website, Radcliffe said that the highlight of the fifth and latest film, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, which opens in British cinemas this week, was working with the actor Gary Oldman, who plays Sirius Black.

“I respond really well to Gary,” he said. “We’re very close in real life and that can’t help but translate on film.”

The seventh book will be published on July 21. Previous books have been translated into 65 languages with more than 325 million copies sold. The films have grossed more than £1.7 billion worldwide.

Can the internet rescue Harry Potter and friends from a spell in oblivion?

Harry Potter fans are used to suspense and high drama but this cliffhanger is the biggest adventure of them all. J K Rowling has disclosed that she may write more books about the boy wizard.

Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter
Adventures must continue: Harry Potter

The author issued a statement yesterday saying “never say never” in response to the launch of a global “Save Harry” campaign.

Fans want her to continue her Hogwarts adventures after the publication of what she has maintained would be the seventh and final title, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, on July 21.

Rowling has told readers the she plans to write an encyclopaedia about all the Hogwarts characters, spells and place names. But until now she has been adamant that there would be no more adventure stories.

A spokesman for Rowling said yesterday: “As she said on Friday night in her BBC interview with Jonathan Ross - never say never.

“It’s not saying that she definitely is [going to write another title] and it’s not saying that she definitely isn’t. I cannot comment further.”

Rowling’s decision to leave the door open for further books will fuel even more speculation about which two major characters she kills off on July 21.

Half of her fans are convinced that one will be Harry, the other half believe that he will emerge triumphant from his battles with Voldemort.

Recent remarks, when Rowling spoke of her “sense of bereavement” at ending Harry’s adventures, now take on greater significance.

Is she thinking that the Hogwarts stories may continue into the future without Harry?

She said: “I always knew that Harry’s story would end with the seventh book, but saying goodbye has been just as hard as I always knew it would be.

“I can hardly believe that I’ve finally written the ending I’ve been planning for so many years. I’ve never felt such a mixture of extreme emotions in my life, never dreamed I could feel simultaneously heartbroken and euphoric.”

The “Save Harry” campaign was launched last night by Waterstone’s. The book chain aims to gather a million signatures online - though it believes the final number may be several million - for a petition demanding that it will deliver to Rowling demanding more Potter books.

It reads: “We, the undersigned, petition J K Rowling to write more new adventures for Harry Potter and his friends no matter what happens at the end of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.”

The book store cites Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes as the closest example of an author killing off a hero then bowing to public demand to revive him.

In 1893, heartily sick of his creation, Conan Doyle wrote the Adventure of the Final Problem in which Holmes apparently tumbles to his death over the Reichenbach Falls in Switzerland while struggling with his arch-enemy, Prof James Moriarty.

“I weary of his name,” the author explained. “I must save my mind for better things.”

A public outcry followed -fans even wore black armbands for Holmes on the streets of London - and eight years later the hero of Baker Street returned in The Hound of the Baskervilles and in many other short stories.

“Couldn’t the same happen for Harry Potter?” Wayne Winston, the head of children’s books at Waterstone’s asked yesterday.

He went on: “Harry Potter is a fictional character and therefore can’t ever really be killed. In the end, characters such as Sherlock Holmes and Harry Potter belong to the public’s imagination - they’ll live forever no matter what happens in the books.

“We’re not asking J K Rowling to start work on another novel tomorrow, we’re just asking that she doesn’t rule it out.

“Of course she wants a break but when she wakes up one day in the future with a fantastic new idea half-formed in her mind, hopefully she’ll run with it and not deny her muse.”

In a recent survey by Waterstone’s, 85 per cent of eight- to 11-year-olds and 66 per cent of all readers said they wanted more Potter books from Rowling who, with a fortune estimated at more than £500 million, has become the richest author in history.

Mr Winstone said: “Harry Potter is a global phenomenon, not just in the UK and the US, so aiming for a million signatures may prove to be conservative.”

Harry Potter virus: Looks like the last file of a virus you just wiped out, until you try to erase it–then it wipes your drive.

Voldemort virus: You can’t get rid of it, only make it dormant. It can be reactivated by the Wormtail virus up to thirteen years later.

Dumbledore virus: Scares off all the other viruses but never seems to actually *do* anything.

Hermione virus: Fills up all available drive space with files of useless information.

Ron virus: Contains code, some of it buggy, from the author’s five previous viruses.

Draco Malfoy virus: Changes all your screensavers to insults.

Remus Lupin virus: Your computer becomes immune to all other virus and worm attacks, but three days out of the month it becomes a Commodore 64.

Weasley virus: Able to replicate even in limited space conditions.

Ginny virus: Looks like just another copy of the Weasley virus, but wreaks havoc every time you blog.

Tom Riddle virus: Masquerades as the Ginny virus, then retreats into memory.

Luna Lovegood virus: Repeatedly points your web browser to conspiracy-theory sites.

Slytherin virus: Your computer no longer reads hybrid CDs.

Gryffindor virus: All your games are reconfigured so you can no longer “Save As.”

Hufflepuff virus: Increases the efficiency of your computer, but gets no credit for it.

JK Rowling has dropped a tantalising hint to the plot of the seventh and final Harry Potter book by intervening in the making of the most recent film, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.
Harry Potter, played by Daniel Radcliffe, in the Order of the Phoenix
Harry Potter, played by Daniel Radcliffe, in the Order of the Phoenix

Rowling, 37, ordered director David Yates not to cut out the part of Kreacher, an elf who acts as servant to Harry’s Godfather Sirius Black.

The sly and mistrustful Kreacher had to be included in the fifth film because of his central part in the forthcoming Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, according to the author.

The film’s makers were initially reluctant to reveal exactly what Rowling had said, only admitting that she often warned them of upcoming plots after looking over planned scripts.

But Yates later divulged what had happened.

“We took Kreacher out, and Jo said, ‘Listen guys, you don’t have to put Kreacher back, but I’m just telling you, if you want to kind of keep a thread going for six and seven, you might want Kreacher to come back,’” he said.

The film makers immediately reversed their earlier decision to cut the house elf of Sirius Black.