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J.K. Rowling has been quite active on the Harry Potter newsfront this year, scuttling Ron and Hermione’s relationship, revealing new excerpts from her notes on Pottermore, and penning a Harry Potter prequel play, while just yesterday WB announced that the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them spin-off movie will now be a trilogy.

As if that weren’t enough, Bloomsbury UK and Scholastic have announced that Rowling will return to the wizarding world of Hogwarts with a new book series. Except this time, the star of the series won’t be Harry Potter!

In a press conference held at King’s Cross station last night, Rowling and her publishers revealed a new set of middle-grade books to be centered on Colin Creevey.

“I had been wanting to return to the world of Hogwarts for some time,” Rowling explained. “But instead of continuing the timeline forward I wanted to re-approach the relative innocence of the first volumes of the Harry Potter series.” The author went on to explain that she felt stymied as to how to approach this desire until she happened to catch a few minutes of the Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets movie in her hotel room during a convention appearance in the U.S. in 2013.

“Right there, it hit me. Colin Creevey. He’s got such charisma, his innocent impetuousness is clear, and his arc is simultaneously tragic and heroic.” She was further delighted to find a small but fervent fanbase for the character online.

According to Bloomsbury UK, the Adventures of Colin Creevey series will take place in and around the adventures chronicled in the main Harry Potter book series. Readers will see familiar events from a different angle, and Rowling hopes to balance the darker portrayal of Hogwarts in the latter books with Creevey’s more lighthearted view of the school and his classes. “I always regretted that,” the author elaborated. “As the war against Voldemort took precedent I lost the opportunity to portray Hogwarts as a school and a place where young wizards feel welcome.”

When questioned as to what Colin’s adventures will be like in the Adventures of Colin Creevey novel series, J.K. Rowling quipped, “Well, he’s going to be taking a lot of pictures, I can guarantee that! There’s an important aspect to Colin’s photography that I never got to reveal in the main series, so watch for that!”

For those who have never read a Harry Potter novel, Colin is mostly remembered for his excellent photography skills in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets in which he basically follows Harry Potter around and snaps photos. While initial reads confused Colin’s friendship with “stalking,” his deeds in further books revealed a fiercely loyal companion and vigilant shutterbug, aspects that undoubtedly contributed to why the character has been so well-received.

Some Harry Potter fan camps are disappointed in the announcement, citing other Potter-verse characters who deserve their own novel series just as much, if not more. Since the announcement, a poll on Mugglenet has been asking what other characters in the series should get spin-off novels. Tonks and Lupin currently enjoy a wide lead ahead of the other frontrunners Mad-Eye Moody, Lily Potter, and Argus Filch.

Rowling responded to the poll in a later tweet. “Could Filch have his own book after Colin Creevey? You know what Dumbledore would say: inspiration can strike at any time!”

Showdown, the first volume of The Adventures of Colin Creevey is tentatively scheduled for publication in fall of 2015, to be followed six months later by the second volume You’re a Star, Colin Creevey!

Rowling has not set a volume number or end-date to the series. “The books are short and don’t take long to write, but I’m having so much fun that you never know, I may write 15 of them! I fucking love Colin Creevey!”

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