Love Finds Harry Potter

By Stephen M. Silverman

10/08/1998 at 12:00 AM EDT

Harry Potter is about to grow up -- and graduate from wizards to women. "Last time you met him, he was 13," author J.K. Rowling said at the British Library in London yesterday. "He's 14 now, and he's started to realize girls are quite interesting." The fourth Harry Potter book -- the first three have sold more than 30 million copies -- is due in July. But mightn't Harry's new interest turn off part of his audience? "I tend to think that if someone is sufficiently engaged in one of the books, he's not going to be too disappointed if, at some point, his hero holds hands with a little girl," said Rowling. She said that while she'd never include such issues as drug use and teenage pregnancy in the blockbuster book series, there is one adult topic that doesn't frighten her. "I've said all along there will be death," she said. "And yes, you see a death in book four."