CLEVER young witches like Harry Potter's workaholic friend Hermione Granger can make time go backwards in order to pack in double doses of work.
J K Rowling must wish she could borrow the trick from her books, after her publisher, Bloomsbury, finally admitted yesterday that the fifth Harry Potter book would not be published this year.
Ms Rowling could also make good use of Harry's invisibility cloak as she ducks the media spotlight while frantically trying to finish the manuscript of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, originally due for submission in January.
She had always planned the Potter books as a seven-volume series, to be published at the rate of one a year. Her hero would age at the same rate, taking him from nervous 11-year-old new boy at Hogwarts school in 1997 to a fully-fledged wizard of 17 flying off into the future in 2003.
She set this schedule herself, though a seven-year series also suited Bloomsbury.
The publisher conceded yesterday that the timetable had come somewhat adrift. A spokesman said it was now "very unlikely" that the book would appear before 2002. It has yet to see a word of the manuscript.
Ms Rowling was unavailable for comment last night, but a close friend said: "She's writing like mad, but there's no way the book will be ready for July. Bloomsbury did lean on her quite heavily to stick to the original timetable, but she said 'No'. She realised she was in a position to do that.
"She was afraid that she was going to stop enjoying the writing. I think she decided it was time to get a life."
Apart from the paperback of the huge Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, due out on July 6, the only work from Joanne Rowling to hit the shelves this year will be two small spoof Hogwarts text books being published next month to raise funds for Comic Relief.
Ms Rowling objected to the hysteria whipped up by the secrecy surrounding the publication of the hardback of Goblet of Fire. "She was desperately unhappy and quite ill last year and the madness over the publishing of the last book would be enough to put anybody off," said the friend.
Having given her young fans the equivalent of two-for-one with a book of more than 600 pages, she now feels entitled to take a break from the pressure, she added.
Last night Sarah Odedina, editorial director at Bloomsbury, denied Ms Rowling had been pressed for Order of the Phoenix, adding: "I don't think the books are a classic marketing scenario. There's no template for her. She wanted time to do it along with all her other commitments."
Glasgow booksellers were taken by surprise at the news. Grainne Cooney, deputy manager of Ottakar's, said: "Children keep asking when the fifth book will be out and we've been saying we don't know."
Patrick Neale, manager of Waterstone's, said: "There must be a worry that by 2002, children will have moved on to something else."