What is done is done; Rowling erroneous

By KATIE REDMILES

In the past week, popular author JK Rowling broke the cardinal rule of literature, and backtracked a major plot component of her beloved and canonical series, “Harry Potter.” Rowling, in an interview with Emma Watson for Wonderland magazine declared that she regrets pairing Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger as a romantic couple. She even went further to say it should have been Hermione and Harry Potter all along.

As a lifelong fan and enthusiast of the “Harry Potter “series, as well as a writer myself, I was horrified by this announcement.

It is true, Ron and Hermione most likely would not have worked out in the long term, but no one can deny that couples so opposite, yet good friends all the same, do not fall in love in real life.

However, to say that Hermione and Harry would have made the eternal relationship is bullocks, and shows Rowling must be grossly bored with the series being completely over. She wrote the books as setting up Ron and Hermione, as well as Harry and Ginny. Thus, that is the only form in which the characters exist, in her books. If one were to go back and read through the books again to see signs of Harry and Hermione’s supposed potential romance, one will not find it, because that is not how she wrote it.

Only one instance comes to my mind that could possibly hint at a Harry and Hermione love affair, and it occurs when, at the end of the fourth book, Rowling writes “ ‘Bye, Harry!’ said Hermione, and she did something she had never done before, and kissed him on the cheek.”

Yet, even in that very book, Hermione has a romance with star Quidditch player, Victor Krum, and who gets ridiculously jealous and upset with himself for not initiating anything with her first? Ron Weasley. Then there are the hints to Harry’s rightful romance found in Ginny in that very book as well. For when Harry asks her to go to the Yule ball with him late in the game, Ginny is heartbreakingly upset he did not ask sooner for she already accepted Neville Longbottom.

In fact, the real victim of this terrible revelation is Ginny Weasley, Harry Potter’s lover in the series. Harry and Ginny’s chemistry and love for each other is very real in the series, again because that is how Rowling wrote it. She even went as far to write that Harry’s last thought before he dies in the forest by the hands of Voldemort is of Ginny and the feel of her. How could Rowling say that Harry was meant for someone else when she felt so strongly about him and Ginny that she wrote about their love in his final moments?

Furthermore, Rowling exposing this “truth” was unfair to her devoted readers because it derails all they believed to be true based on what they read, and for what? So that Rowling could make headlines again?

JK Rowling has been a hero of mine since I was very young, and I have loved all the writing and wisdom she put forth, but I completely disagree with her actions right now. Once a book is written then there is no turning back, no change of heart. If that happens then the books are wrong, demoted to merely rough drafts. I do not want to read my favorite books, go to my favorite parts with Harry and Ginny and have to think it is all a lie, that the creator of this universe would do it over again differently.

Yes, Rowling is right, Ron and Hermione would never have made it together in marriage, and they are very different people who constantly fight.

But so are Harry and Hermione. If you want to backtrack, Rowling, then say this: Hermione should not have her love life be decided at age 17. There is so much more time for someone else to come along who is more compatible, and is not her platonic best friend. Rowling even asked herself why everyone always has to be paired up during an interview about Dumbledore’s love life.

What exists in the books is how it was meant to be, no matter what the creator says. The deed is done and over with, so JK Rowling, for the first time, you should be ignored.