Earlier this week Harry Potter author JK Rowling participated in a web chat with fans on the Bloomsbury web site. In the chat JK answered questions about the Deathly Hallows book, gave spoilers for those who haven't read the book and told all to keep an eye on her web site for answers to questions in due course. Over 120,000 questions were submitted so she could only answer some in the 90 minute chat.
The first half of the transcript is below (spoilers abound):
J.K. Rowling: I'm here and I can't wait! Bring on the questions!
Leaky Cauldron: What, if anything, did the wizarding world learn, and how did society change, as a direct result of the war with voldemort? (i.E., not as a result of harry, ron and hermione's future careers.)
J.K. Rowling: The Ministry of Magic was de-corrupted, and with Kingsley at the helm the discrimination that was always latent there was eradicated.
J.K. Rowling: Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny et al would of course play a significant part in the re-building of wizarding society through their future careers.
Ryan Love: From your fans at thesnitch.Co.Uk. Weren't we supposed to see ginny display powerful magical abilities in “deathly hallows” and find out why it's significant that she's the seventh child? Was her main role in the books only to be harry's love interest?
J.K. Rowling: Hi Ryan! Well, I think Ginny demonstrated powerful magic in the final battle, and that for a sixteen year old witch she acquitted herself pretty well. I don't remember ever saying that her 'seventh child' status would prove particularly important in the last book, though - are you sure I said that?!
Georgina: Did lucius malfoy, and all the other escaped death eaters, go back to Azkaban
J.K. Rowling: No, the Malfoys weaseled their way out of trouble (again) due to the fact that they colluded (albeit out of self-interest) with Harry at the end of the battle.
Elisabeth: In the chapter of kings cross, are they behind the veil or in some world between the real world and the veil?
J.K. Rowling: You can make up your own mind on this, but I think that Harry entered a kind of limbo between life and death.
Renee: From reading about the original owners of the deathly hallows, the peverell brothers, i'm wondering if harry and voldermort are distantly related voldermorts grandfather ended up with the resurrection stone ring?
J.K. Rowling: Yes, Harry and Voldemort are distantly related through the Peverells.
J.K. Rowling: Of course, nearly all wizarding families are related if you trace them back through the centuries. As was made clear in 'Deathly hallows', Peverell blood would run through many wizarding families.
Fomy: What did you feel when you finally wrote the kiss, awaited so much by the fans, of ron and Hermione
J.K. Rowling: I loved writing it, and I loved the fact that Hermione took the initiative!
J.K. Rowling: Ron had finally got SPEW and earned himself a snog!
Angela Morrissey: Why is it that albus dumbledore can see harry under his invisibility cloak at certain moments? (during the series is the cloak only infallible to those who do not own a deathly hallow).
J.K. Rowling: Dumbledore, who could perform magic without needing to say the incantation aloud, was using 'homenum revelio' -
J.K. Rowling: - the human-presence-revealing spell Hermione makes use of in Deathly Hallows.
Jamie Lewis: What ever happened to winky
J.K. Rowling: She's still at Hogwarts, and she was one of the oncoming house-elves who attacked the Death Eaters in the final battle.
Katieleigh: Does hermione still continue to do work with spew and is life any better for house elves!
J.K. Rowling: Hermione began her post-Hogwarts career at the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures
J.K. Rowling: where she was instrumental in greatly improving life for house-elves and their ilk. She then moved (despite her jibe to Scrimgeour) to the Dept. of Magical Law Enforcement
J.K. Rowling: where she was a progressive voice who ensured the eradication of oppressive, pro-pureblood laws.
Tineke: Did teddy grow up living with his grandmother?
J.K. Rowling: Yes, Teddy was raised by Andromeda.
J.K. Rowling: However, unlike Neville, who was also raised by his grandmother
J.K. Rowling: Teddy had his godfather, Harry, and all his father's friends in the Order, to visit and stay with.
Blodeuwedd: Hi jk, first of all thank you for all the books I have enjoyed each and every one of them could you tell us what professions harry, hermione, ron, ginny and luna go on to have did the trio do their final year at school and take their newts who became hea
J.K. Rowling: Thank you! I've already answered about Hermione. Kingsley became permanent Minister for Magic, and naturally he wanted Harry to head up his new Auror department.
J.K. Rowling: Harry did so (just because Voldemort was gone, it didn't mean that there would not be other Dark witches and wizards in the coming years
J.K. Rowling: Ron joined George at Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes, which became an enormous money-spinner.
J.K. Rowling: After a few years as a celebrated player for the Holyhead Harpies, Ginny retired to have her family and to become the Senior Quidditch correspondent at the Daily Prophet!
Camille: What or who is peeves exactly, is he linked with the blood barons story?
J.K. Rowling: No, Peeves is not linked to the bloody Baron's story.
J.K. Rowling: He is a spirit of chaos that entered the building long ago and has proved impossible to eradicate!
Jessie: Were the deathly hallows based on any realworld myth or faerie tale
J.K. Rowling: Perhaps 'the Pardoner's Tale', by Chaucer.
Alicepie: What happend to luna, did she get married who to?
J.K. Rowling: Luna became a very famous wizarding naturalist who discovered and classified many new species of animals (though, alas, she never did find a Crumple-Horned Snorkack and had, finally, to accept that her father might have made that one up).
J.K. Rowling: She ended up marrying (rather later than Harry & co) a fellow naturalist and grandson of the great Newt Scamander (Rolf)!
Rosi: What does in essence divided mean?
J.K. Rowling: Dumbledore suspected that the snake's essence was divided - that it contained part of Voldemort's soul, and that was why it was so very adept at doing his bidding.
J.K. Rowling: This also explained why Harry, the last and unintended Horcrux, could see so clearly through the snake's eyes, just as he regularly sees through Voldemort's.
Superhans: What was duldeys worst memory?
J.K. Rowling: I think that when Dudley was attacked by the Dementors he saw himself, for the first time, as he really was. This was an extremely painful, but ultimately salutory lesson, and began the transformation in him.
Casey Kunze: Who killed remus and tonks I think if I knew this, I would get some closure over the very sad, but understandable, death of two of my favorite characters
J.K. Rowling: I'm so sorry! I met a couple on launch night who had come dressed as Lupin and Tonks, and I felt dreadfully guilty as I signed their books!
J.K. Rowling: Remus was killed by Dolohov and Tonks by Bellatrix.
Laura Trego: Was the absence of snapes portrait in the headmasters office in the last scene innocent or deliberate
J.K. Rowling: It was deliberate. Snape had effectively abandoned his post before dying, so he had not merited inclusion in these august circles.
J.K. Rowling: However, I like to think that Harry would be instrumental in ensuring that Snape's portrait would appear there in due course.
Stephanie: If the wand chooses the wizard, then why do wands work when passed down from father to son eg neville had his fathers wand
J.K. Rowling: As established by Ollivander, a wizard can use almost any wand, it is simply that a wand that chooses him/her will work best. Where there is a family connection, a wand will work a little better than a wand chosen at random, I think.
James Farrell: How did umbridge manage to conjure a patronus while wearing the locket when harry wasnt able to
J.K. Rowling: Because she is a very nasty piece of work. She has an affinity for this horrible object, which would help rather than hinder her.
Tineke: What happened to percy did he return to his job at the ministry
J.K. Rowling: Yes, the new improved Percy ended up as a high-ranking official under Kingsley.
Su: How did neville get the gryfindor sword, is there a link to the hat
J.K. Rowling: Yes, there is very definitely a link to the hat!
J.K. Rowling: Neville, most worthy Gryffindor, asked for help just as Harry did in the Chamber of secrets, and Gryffindor's sword was transported into Gryffindor's old hat -
J.K. Rowling: - the Sorting Hat was Gryffindor's initially, as you know.
J.K. Rowling: Griphook was wrong - Gryffindor did not 'steal' the sword, not unless you are a goblin fanatic and believe that all goblin-made objects really belong to the maker.
Steph: Will azkaban still use dementors?
J.K. Rowling: No, definitely not. Kingsley would see to that. The use of Dementors was always a mark of the underlying corruption of the Ministry, as Dumbledore constantly maintained.
Smallbutpowerful: On behalf of all harry potter fans who consider themselves to be hufflepuffs could you please describe the hufflepuff common room as it is the only common room harry hasn’t visited
J.K. Rowling: The Hufflepuff common room is accessed through a portrait near the kitchens, as I am sure you have deduced.
J.K. Rowling: Sorry - I should say 'painting' rather than portrait, because it is a still-life.
J.K. Rowling: It is a very cosy and welcoming place, as dissimilar as possible from Snape's dungeon. Lots of yellow hangings, and fat armchairs, and little underground tunnels leading to the dormitories, all of which have perfectly round doors, like barrel tops.
Camille: How is george getting along without his twin
J.K. Rowling: Well, I don't think that George would ever get over losing Fred, which makes me feel so sad. However, he names his first child and son Fred, and he goes on to have a very successful career, helped by good old Ron.
Jessica Lynn: Did hagrid have to be able to see thestrals in order to train them if so, whose death did hagrid witness
J.K. Rowling: Hagrid has seen many deaths in quite a long life, so yes, he can see Thestrals.
Allie: What did dumbledore truly see in the mirror of erised
J.K. Rowling: He saw his family alive, whole and happy - Ariana, Percival and Kendra all returned to him, and Aberforth reconciled to him.
Snapedinhalf: You promised that someone will do magic late in life in book 7. I've now read it three times but cant work out who it might have been! Please help!!
J.K. Rowling: I'm sorry about this, but I changed my mind!
J.K. Rowling: My very earliest plan for the story involved somebody managing to get to Hogwarts when they had never done magic before, but I had changed my mind by the time I'd written the third book.
Christiana: How did voldemort get his wand back after he was in was exile
J.K. Rowling: Wormtail, desperate to curry favour, salvaged it from the place it had fallen and carried it to him. I admit that would have been a bit of a feat for a rat, but they are highly intelligent creatures!
Amanda: Hiya, ive grown up with harry and the gang, did any of the characters change in any unexpected ways as they grew up
J.K. Rowling: They all became pre
