Hermione married the wrong man, J.K. Rowling admitted in a recent interview with Emma Watson, who made her name playing the young witch.
"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," Rowling told Wonderland magazine, which Watson has been busy guest-editing. The interview between the two was previewed by the Sunday Times.
The British author even went so far as to say Hermione and Ron Weasley would have ended up in marriage counseling.
"I know, I'm sorry, 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."
Watson agreed, telling the Sunday Times: "I think there are fans out there who know that too and who wonder whether Ron would have really been able to make her happy."
Not all Harry Potter fans were quite as ready to accept the admission.
"She has lost touch," one reader said of the author. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to diss anyone else's perspectives, but the reason Harry & Ginny and Ron & Hermione ended up together is because they wanted to. They were attracted to each other, and they worked together, and there are seven books documenting that."
Another fan even went so far as to suggest yet another character into the love triangle.
"I get what she is saying but I don't think Harry would have been happy with Hermione either," the commenter wrote. "Ginny is a great match for him, maybe Luna would have been too. Luna and Harry always seemed to connect on such a deep level. Hermione? I don't think so."
