Rowling's New Harry Potter Holiday Story Out, Fans Need to Solve Riddle for Access

Keeping her promise of releasing 12 new stories as Christmas gifts for Potterheads, author J.K. Rowling released the first story on the fantasy website 'Pottermore' on 12 December.

But, fans can access the story only by solving a riddle.

The story is about a small town named Cokeworth, which is the hometown of Lily Potter as well as Severus Snape.

Lily and her sister Petunia were raised in that town.

Now, if fans want to know more about this town, they must solve a riddle: "In a house on Spinner's End, a meeting takes place, a mother begs help for her son, tears on her face. Agreeing to help, though he doesn't know how. Which potions master performs an unbreakable vow?"

It is just the way a true Potter fan would enjoy reading a story. If you haven't solved it, the answer is (Spoiler Alert!) Professor Snape or as Time interprets it, "Severus (or Snivellus)".

Even though the story is very short, it provides some necessary details that might increase the eagerness of 'Harry Potter' fans and keep them waiting for the next one.

The place fabricated by Rowling is an industrial city in England. So, based on the riddle, this is the city where "Spinner's end" is located, which means the story reveals some important details about some key characters of the magical world.

"Spinner's End" is the name of the street where Professor Severus Snape spent his childhood. In the movies, actor Alan Rickman plays the character of Severus Snape.

The story also reveals that Lily Evans, Harry Potter's mother, used to live close to Snape's house and the two grew up together. Snape fell in love with her at a very young age but his love remained unrequited as Lily went on to fall in love and marry Harry's father, James Potter.

In 'Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows', Snape revealed that he was "always" in love with Lily.

Fans can recall Cokeworth as the place where the Dursleys wanted to escape (in the first book) following the flood of Hogwarts admission letters sent for Harry.

Rowling has already released some writeups based on the Harry Potter theme this year, which include an essay on 'Dolores Umbridge' and also a short story set during the 2014 Quidditch World Cup.