bout Comic Relief: A note from J. K. Rowling

Comic Relief is one of Britain's most famous and successful charities. Begun in 1985, the organization has raised more than $250,000,000 for such charities as the Red Cross, Oxfam, Sight Savers, the International HIV/AIDS Alliance, and Anti-Slavery International. The Harry Potter books represent a new opportunity in Comic Relief's quest to make a meaningful difference in people's lives. A special Harry's Books fund has been created where twenty percent of the retail sales price less taxes from the sale of Quidditch Through the Ages and Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them will go to support children's causes throughout the world. Every book sold counts! Fifty cents will send a child to school for a week ¨C and change his or her life forever.

Log on to www.comicrelief.com/harrysbooks and see how the money from the purchase of these books is being used to help others. The Harry's Books fund will support such efforts as the education of children, the fight against child slavery, and the reuniting of parents and children separated by war. The fund will also educate people about the AIDS/HIV epidemic and will support child victims of landmine explosions.

What is so wonderful about Comic Relief is that its costs are sponsored, therefore it does not take money for its own administration from the money given by the public. This means that in fact, because of accumulated interest, more than 100% of the money it raises it passes on to charity projects.

I have always had a sneaking desire to write Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them and Quidditch Through the Ages, so when Richard Curtis of Comic Relief wrote to me, I thought it was a wonderful opportunity to help a charity I have always supported. Everyone involved with bringing these books to fruition, the publishers, vendors, and retailers, has enabled the contribution of a proportion of the cover price of these books to Comic Relief's Harry's Books fund.

Thank you for buying this book!

Foreword

QUIDDITCH THROUGH THE AGES is one of the most popular titles in the Hogwarts school library. Madam Pince, our librarian, tells me that it is "pawed about, dribbled on, and generally maltreated" nearly every day ¨C a high compliment for any book. Anyone who plays or watches Quidditch regularly will relish Mr. Whisp's book, as do those of us interested in wider wizarding history. As we have developed the game of Quidditch, so it has developed us; Quidditch unites witches and wizards from all walks of life, bringing us together to share moments of exhilaration, triumph, and (for those who support the Chudley Cannons) despair.

It was with some difficulty, I must own, that I persuaded Madam Pince to part with one of her books so that it might be copied for wider consumption. Indeed, when I told her it was to be made available to Muggles, she was rendered temporarily speechless, and neither moved nor blinked for several minutes. When she came to herself she was thoughtful enough to ask whether I had taken leave of my senses. I was pleased to reassure her on that point and went on to explain why I had taken this unprecedented decision.

Muggle readers will need no introduction to the work of Comic Relief U. K. (which, funnily enough, has nothing to do with the American organization of the same name), so I now repeat my explanation to Madam Pince for the benefit of witches and wizards who have purchased this book. Comic Relief U. K. uses laughter to fight poverty, injustice, and disaster. Widespread amusement is converted into large quantities of money (over 250 million dollars since they started in 1985 ¨C which is the equivalent of over 174 million pounds or thirty-four million Galleons).

Everyone involved in getting this book to you, from the author to the publisher to the paper suppliers, printers, binders, and booksellers, contributed their time, energy, and materials free or at a reduced cost, making it possible for twenty percent of the retail sales price less taxes from the sale of this book to go to a fund set up in Harry Potter's name by Comic Relief U. K. and J. K. Rowling. This fund was designed specifically to help children in need throughout the world. By buying this book ¨C and I would advise you to buy it, because if you read it too long without handing over money you will find yourself the object of a Thief's Curse ¨C you too will be contributing to this magical mission.

I would be deceiving my readers if I said that this explanation made Madam Pince happy about handing over a library book to Muggles. She suggested several alternatives, such as telling the people from Comic Relief U. K. that the library had burned down, or simply pretending that I had dropped dead without leaving instructions. When I told her that on the whole I preferred my original plan, she reluctantly agreed to hand over the book, though at the point when it came to let go of it, her nerve failed her and I was forced to prise her fingers individually from the spine.

Though I have removed the usual library book spells from this volume, I cannot promise that every trace has gone. Madam Pince has been known to add unusual jinxes to the books in her care. I myself doodled absentmindedly on a copy of Theories of Transubstantial Transfiguration last year and next moment found the book beating me fiercely about the head. Please be careful how you treat this book. Do not rip out the pages. Do not drop it in the bath. I cannot promise that Madam Pince will not swoop down on you, wherever you are, and demand a heavy fine.

All that remains is for me to thank you for supporting Comic Relief U. K. and to beg Muggles not to try playing Quidditch at home; it is, of course, an entirely fictional sport and nobody really plays it. May I also take this opportunity to wish Puddlemere United the best of luck next season.