'Harry Potter' author says she plans to kill off another character in next book

LONDON (AP) _ ``Harry Potter'' author J.K. Rowling said Friday that one of her characters will not survive the next book in her series about the young wizard. <br/><br/>Asked on her official Web

Friday, October 8th 2004, 8:01 am

By: News On 6

LONDON (AP) _ ``Harry Potter'' author J.K. Rowling said Friday that one of her characters will not survive the next book in her series about the young wizard.

Asked on her official Web site whether she planned to kill off any more characters, Rowling replied, ``Yes, sorry.'' But she refused to identify that character.

The sixth book in the series, ``Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince,'' is due to be published next year.

Potter himself is safe, at least for now. Rowling has previously said her teenage hero will survive until the seventh and final book in the series, but has refused to say whether he will reach adulthood.

``You have to wait and see whether he survives to be a grown-up,'' Rowling said in August.

The 39-year-old author keeps the plots of her novels tightly under wraps, teasing fans with morsels of information.

Before the publication of her last installment, ``Harry Potter and The Order Of The Phoenix,'' she said a major character would die. Readers had to wait until the book appeared last year to discover the victim was Harry's mentor, Sirius Black.