New J.K. Rowling story angers Native American fans

Gone are the days when Harry Potter fans believed J.K. Rowling could do no wrong. The author's new story about the history of magic in North America has incensed fans who say her writing is laced with a colonial mentality and cultural appropriation. 

In the first of a four-part series about North American magic, Rowling describes members of the Native American wizarding community as "gifted in animal and plant magic," proficient in wandless magic and frequent Animagi (wizards who can turn into animals at will).

Dr. Adrienne Keene, who runs Native Appropriations, expressed reservations about how Native American magic would be portrayed even before Rowling's new piece was published on Pottermore. She took particular issue with the notion that Animagi would replace legends of Navajo skin-walkers.

"We’re not magical creatures, we’re contemporary peoples who are still here, and still practice our spiritual traditions, traditions that are not akin to a completely imaginary wizarding world (as badass as that wizarding world is)," Keene wrote.

Rowling alienated some longtime fans with just one short story -- when they would rather have left well enough alone.

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