Chinese Web sites published reports and photographs today which they said may contain the ending to the eagerly awaited seventh and final installment of the Harry Potter book series.
The author of a Potter article on the Web site of a newspaper called Strait News, said by telephone that the pictures came from an overseas peer-to-peer download site.
"Since the actual book hasn't been released, no one can be sure if it's the real thing or not," he said. The pages were subsequently removed, he added.
But a handful of other sites, including the popular Sina.com, also ran the article and pictures.
The reports and photographs are the latest examples of material possibly from the eagerly awaited "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" appearing on the Internet.
The books about the boy wizard have sold 325 million copies worldwide so far, and anticipation over what happens at the end of the series is high ahead of its official publication at one minute past midnight British Summer Time (2301 GMT) on Saturday.
Author J.K. Rowling fuelled speculation about the ending when she said last year that at least two characters would be killed off and a third got a reprieve.
In China, the People's Literature Press is doing the official translation of "Deathly Hallows" with an expected release date of October 21, but Chinese-language knockoffs may well appear before then.
Everything from pirated movies to phony luxury handbags are widely available in China, which has a reputation for its poor protection of intellectual property rights.