NEW YORK — Someone should have slipped J.K. Rowling a bit of Veritaserum before her reading Tuesday night at Radio City Music Hall. Perhaps then Harry Potter fans could have gotten a better sneak peek at what's to come in the much-anticipated Book Seven.Though the reclusive author refrained from giving too many spoilers, she did reveal a little bit about the next and final book of the series during a Q&A session that night and a news conference earlier that morning."I think some people will love it, and some people will loathe it," she said. "I'm well into writing it now. To an extent, the pressure's off, because this is the last book, so I feel quite liberated. It's fun in a way that it hasn't been before, because I'm finally doing my resolution. There's still a lot to find out and expand on, and I will probably leave some loose ends, but there won't be a Book Eight. I've plotted [the series] out, and I'd run out of plot if I pushed it past there. Sorry."Rowling made her first U.S. appearance in six years as part of a two-night star-studded event called "An Evening with Harry, Carrie, & Garp," which also featured readings from "Carrie" author Stephen King and John Irving to benefit Doctors Without Borders and the Haven Foundation.Kathy Bates introduced King by jokingly referring to her infamous role in the film incarnation of King's "Misery": "I am his number-one fan."Jon Stewart introduced Rowling, saying he was there because he has kids: a 2-year-old son and a 5-month-old daughter. "[My daughter's] been in line for the new 'Harry Potter' for the last three months," Stewart said. "We miss her terribly, but I want that damn book."The readings, which continue Wednesday night, drew a crowd of 6,000 the first night, raising a quarter of a million dollars. Fans from all over the world showed up, including one who flew in from China. Both King and Irving acknowledged that Rowling was the real draw, joking that they were her opening acts, to which she responded, "That's like being told the Beatles and the Stones are opening up for you!"Whoopi Goldberg, who emceed the show, said Rowling, King, and Irving should have been brought together long before: "If just one boy from Hogwarts had asked that poor girl — you know, the one from the prom? — out on a date, it would have saved a lot of grief. I'm just saying." Then again, she attributed the screams in the audience to King fans whispering to Rowling fans, "Harry's going to bite it."If Harry Potter's death were imminent, Rowling wouldn't say, although she joked that King's advice to her should be -— as she said in a witchy voice -- "Kill him.""I don't always enjoy killing my characters," she said. "I didn't enjoy killing the character at the end of 'Half Blood Prince,' but I had been planning that for years, so I'd already done my grieving when it came time to write it."Rowling did hint that Harry's archrival, Draco Malfoy, who was supposed to commit the murder but failed at the last moment, has a chance at redemption."Harry believes that Draco, even given unlimited time, would not have killed," she said. "But for Draco's future, you'll have to wait and see."As for the future of Harry's best pals Hermione and Ron, Rowling hinted more romance was in the air for the would-be couple."Hermione most likely wants to see the three of them alive, unscathed and Voldemort finished, but I think she also wants to see herself closely entwined with another person," Rowling teased. "I think you can probably guess." To cheers in the audience, she responded in disbelief, "There are people who wanted Harry and Hermione. They're still out there. Come on now."Though Rowling said she was amazed at the relationship wars — the "gang warfare" between fans who want certain relationships to happen between characters — she doesn't need any more feedback about "weird couplings." "Jane Austen probably got less feedback," she joked.Even though Rowling wrote the final chapter of the yet-untitled Book Seven back in 1990, and has steadily been working "towards the end I planned from the beginning," she acknowledged that she'd made some "fairly major changes.""A couple of the characters I expected to survive have died, and one character got a reprieve," she said.But she's not going to shy away from more death scenes just because "fans accuse me of sadism.""I feel I'm toughening them up to go on to read John Irving's and Stephen King's books," she said. "They've got to be toughened up somehow. It's a cruel literary world out there. I'm doing them a favor!" source: MTV ASIA.COM