I wonder why didn’t this interview make every possible newspaper headline in the world…. but the one from 2014 did… OH I WONDER WHY!!! 🤯🤯 After reading this back when I was 15 I never in a MILLION years thought that Jo would do an interview 9 years later saying maybe Hermione and Harry were a better fit…. I blame Kloves for that not to mention the hundreds of Harmony shippers who made her feel guilty after this interview in 2005! they just messed up with her mind and her desires to make everyone happy *rolls eyes* but I have faith in you Jo, just like you said many times, you wrote Ron and Hermione from your heart, because that was your personal wish, and NOTHING beats a heart wish, not even the “right way to write literature romance”  Melissa: How much fun did you have with the romance in this book? Jo: Oh, loads. Doesn’t it show? Melissa: Yes. Jo: …….. How did you feel about the romance? [Melissa puts her thumbs up and grins widely] Emerson: We were high fiving the whole time. Jo: [laughs] Yes! Good. I’m so glad. Melissa: We were running back and forth between rooms yelling at each other. Emerson: We thought it was clearer than ever that Harry and Ginny are an item and Ron and Hermione, although we think you made it painfully obvious in the first five books. Jo: [whispers] So do I! Emerson: What was that? Jo: Well, so do I! So do I! [Everyone laughs] Emerson: Harry/Hermione shippers – delusional! Jo: Well, no, Emerson, I am not going to say they’re delusional! They are still valued members of my readership! I am not going to use the word delusional. I am, however, going to say… now I am trusting both of you to do the spoiler thing when you write this up… [Everyone laughs] Jo: I will say, that, yes, I personally feel… Well, it’s going to be clear once people have read Book 6. I mean, that’s it. It’s done, isn’t it? We know. Yes, we do now know that it’s Ron and Hermione. I do feel that I have dropped heavy… [Everyone laughs] Jo: … hints. ANVIL-sized, actually, hints, prior to this point. I certainly think even if subtle clues hadn’t been picked up by the end of “Azkaban,” that by the time we hit Krum in Goblet… But Ron… I had a lot of fun with that in this book. I really enjoyed writing the Ron/Lavender business, and the reason that was enjoyable was, Ron up to this point has been quite immature compared to the other two, and he needed to make himself worthy of Hermione. Now, that didn’t mean necessarily physical experience but he had to grow up emotionally and now he’s taken a big step up. Because he’s had the meaningless physical experience… let’s face it; his emotions were never deeply engaged with Lavender. [Everyone laughs] Jo: And he’s realized that that is ultimately not what he wants, which takes him a huge emotional step forward. Emerson: So he’s got a little bit more than a teaspoon, now there’s a tablespoon? Jo: Yeah, I think. [laughs] Emerson Spartz and Melissa Anelli – “The MuggleNet and Leaky Cauldron Interview Joanne Kathleen Rowling: Part 2” July 16 2005