What a few years can do to alter perception. Seven years after publishing the final book in the seven-part series, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," author J.K. Rowling has revealed that she has had a change of heart with the fates of the couples in her story.
If you're unfamiliar with the ending of the series, Hermoine winds up marrying Ron while Harry settles for Ron's sister Ginny. While there was always much debate about which of the two male protagonists would get Hermoine at the end, there was a consensus initially that maybe Ron was right after all. However, Rowling no longer feels this way and revealed that she would have preferred to give Harry the chance to marry Hermoine instead.
"I wrote the Hermione/Ron relationship as a form of wish fulfillment. That's how it was conceived, really," Rowling said, according to CNN. "For reasons that have very little to do with literature and far more to do with me clinging to the plot as I first imagined it, Hermione ended up with Ron."
"I know, I'm sorry," she added. "I can hear the rage and fury it might cause some fans, but if I'm absolutely honest, distance has given me perspective on that. It was a choice I made for very personal reasons, not for reasons of credibility. Am I breaking people's hearts by saying this? I hope not."
It seems that Ron was never really a favorite of hers because the author even admitted two years ago that she planned to kill him off at one point in her planning of the story's overall arc.
"Funnily enough, I planned from the start that none of them would die. Then midway through, which I think was a reflection that I wasn't in a very happy place, I started thinking I might punish one of them off. Out of sheer spite," she stated. "In my absolute heart of hearts of hearts -- although I did seriously consider killing ... Ron."
Are you happy with this reversal of fortunes? Would you prefer Harry to have married Hermoine instead? Does Harry Potter even matter to you seven years later?