Huge Things Everybody Learned About Harry Potter AFTER The Books

Do not make J.K. Rowling mad when she is writing, she may go all George R.R. Martin on your favorite characters. When she was in a bad place personally, Rowling nearly killed off Ron and Arthur Weasley. Despite making a promise to herself to keep the “Golden Trio” in tact through all seven Harry Potter books, her fingers got all twitchy over the keyboard at one point.

In the final film's extra features, Rowling told Daniel Radcliffe about her dark thoughts. "I started thinking I might polish one of them off. Out of sheer spite. 'There, now you definitely can't have him any more.' But I think in my absolute heart of heart of hearts, although I did seriously consider killing Ron, [I wouldn't have done it]." 

Arthur very nearly died from an attack by Voldemort the snake but he made it through because "there were very few good fathers in the book. In fact, you could make a very good case for Arthur Weasley being the only good father in the whole series,” Rowling said.  

Rowling, however, found it necessary to kill at least one of the Weasleys. Sorry, Fred. 

Source: Telegraph

On Rowling’s 2007 American book tour, Rowling had a surprise for fans. One of the perks of destroying one of the most powerful Dark wizards that ever existed is to have your face and accomplishments appear on one of the collectible Chocolate Frog Cards. 

Harry’s card says: "The first and only known wizard to survive the Killing Curse, most famous for the defeat of the most dangerous dark wizard of all time, Lord Voldemort." 

Hermione’s card says: "The brightest witch of her age, who eradicated pro-pureblood laws and campaigned for the rights of non-human beings such as house-elves." 

Ron’s card says: "Destroying the Horcruxes and subsequent defeat of Voldemort and revolutionising the Ministry of Magic." 

Ron, an ardent card collector, considered this to be one of the greatest achievements of all time. This is also why Ron is beloved. The revelation had fans saying, “awww.” 

Despite their great coming down in the world, the Malfoys had the unmitigated gall to look down on Draco’s wife, Astoria Greengrass. She wasn’t of pure blood nor one of the sacred 28 wizarding families.  

Draco, however, did not end up a bitter old Slytherin talking about the good ol' days when he was almost somebody in the Dark Lord’s world. Possibly in a subconscious move to break the pattern of hate, he married Astoria Greengrass, who may have helped the warped boy become a better man. She does not share her in-laws' obsession with pure blood and is dead set on raising her child differently than they raised her husband, according to Rowling.

This did not exactly go over well with Lucius and Narcissa. “As Astoria refused to raise their grandson Scorpius in the belief that Muggles were scum, family gatherings were fraught with tension,” Rowling wrote. 

Despite coming from a very weak gene pool, perhaps something in Petunia’s makeup allowed her son to be less awful than his parents. Petunia and Lily were sisters after all. During her 2007 book tour, Rowling said, “Harry and Dudley would still see each other enough to be on Christmas card terms, but they would visit more out of a sense of duty and sit in silence so that their children could see their cousins.” 

In a deleted scene from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1, Dudley has a comical, nearly moving moment of defying his crap parents. In his less than eloquent way, Dudley redeemed some of the terrible treatment of Harry by saying, “I don’t think you’re a waste of space.” 

To which Harry says, “See ya, Big D.”  

It’s a start. 

Sources: Telegraph, Mental Floss 

Crazy, right?! But Rowling’s family tree links James Potter with Ignotus Peverell. James left Harry the Invisibility Cloak, one of the necessary hallows to achieve immortality, which was passed down by Ignotus, who is James’s direct ancestor.  

Tom Riddle, aka Voldemort, was also related to the Peverells. This is why he had the Resurrection Stone. There are hints in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, but it’s not super obvious. 

Blood is not thicker than Death Eaters, apparently.  

Because Rowling was on a “kill parents” spree to demonstrate Voldemort’s absolute evil, she just had to kill newly-wedded Tonks and Remus Lupin. Why?! "I think one of the most devastating things about war is the children left behind. As happened in the first war when Harry's left behind, I wanted us to see another child left behind. And it made it very poignant that it was their newborn son."

Rowling did feel real remorse. "Fred, Lupin, and Tonks really caused me a lot of pain. Lupin and Tonks were two who were killed who I had intended to keep alive. It's like an exchange of hostages, isn't it?" 

Source: Telegraph