J.K. Rowling profiles "malicious" Dolores Umbridge in new "Harry Potter" tale

Harry Potter fans just got a Halloween treat better than boxes of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans or a cauldron full of chocolate frogs.

As promised, J.K. Rowling published a new piece of writing Friday on the website Pottermore.com, profiling one of the more sinister characters in her wizarding universe: the malicious Ministry of Magic bureaucrat and former Hogwarts teacher Dolores Umbridge.

An ice-cold inquisitor dressed in pastel pink, Umbridge first appeared in "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," the fifth of seven books in Rowling's multimillion-selling series. She was played by Imelda Staunton in the film adaptations.

In the essay, Rowling calls Umbridge "one of the characters for whom I feel purest dislike," and says she is as reprehensible as the saga's arch-villain, Lord Voldemort.

"Her desire to control, to punish, and to inflict pain, all in the name of law and order, are, I think, every bit as reprehensible as Lord Voldemort's unvarnished espousal of evil," she wrote.

Rowling said Umbridge was inspired by a real person, "whom I disliked intensely on sight," who had a "pronounced taste for twee accessories" including frills, bows and undersized handbags.

Rowling did not disclose the individual's identity (only that it was someone she had as a teacher "long ago...in a certain skill or subject"), and said she did not share Umbridge's sadism or bigotry. But, she added, "a love of all things saccharine often seems present where there is a lack of real warmth of charity."

Rowling has said she has no plans to write another Harry Potter book, but she has released nuggets of new material on Pottermore, an online store-cum-treasury of magical information.

Rowling published several other entries on the site Friday, including a history of Azkaban prison and details of everyone who has held the post of Minister for Magic.