For Herm The Bell Tolls ?

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Well, no sooner had I mentioned how happy I was that JK Rowling had been quiet as of late (thinking it meant she was hard at work on the final Harry Potter installment), then she opened her (lovely) pie-hole and starting offering hints about Things To Come...

"The final chapter is hidden away, although it's now changed very slightly," she said in an interview broadcast on Monday on Britain's Channel 4. "One character got a reprieve, but I have to say two die that I didn't intend to die."

When asked to be more specific, she added: "No, I'm not going to commit myself, because I don't want the hate mail or anything else."

She also deflects chatter about Harry getting offed in the final book:

"I've never been tempted to kill him (Harry) off before the end of book seven, because I always planned seven books and that's where I want to go.

"I can completely understand, however, the mentality of an author who thinks 'Well, I'm going to kill them off because that means there can be no non-author-written sequels ... so it will end with me, and after I'm dead and gone they won't be able to bring back the character'."

Notice, she just says he won't die "before" the end of the final book, so it's still entirely plausible the book could end with Harry's death.

Anyway, I don't actually think she'll kill off Ron and Hermione... I can only imagine the riots if she did. Twelve-year-olds burning her effigy in the square.

I think it's pretty certain Professor Snape's time is numbered - though his death will be a heroic one, I say. But who else? There are a thousand Weasleys, so maybe one of them - Percy's a little bastard, I'd be fine with him biting it.
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