Well, H/Hr peeps, here we are...
Full Text of Rowling-Watson Interview
She does toss out a breezy "Oh, maybe R/Hr would be all right in the end with counseling." (Gotta say, I think a wizard marriage counseling session like JKR mentions would be entertaining as hell to read.)
But the bulk of the interview backs up what a lot of H/Hr shippers have felt for so long. That despite what Rowling had originally planned, there was a pull to H/Hr, that she - and even the filmmakers - felt it just like we did. That Hermione is a heroine and equal to Harry, that she was there for him to the end.
It's not canon. It doesn't change the outcome of the books; much I might fantasize otherwise, I don't see Rowling going back to revise the books just to fix the romances, a subplot which ultimately had little if any bearing on the outcome of the major Voldemort arc. But to go from hemming and hawing over "Delusional" comments to admitting that she thought "in some ways H/Hr are a better fit" and R/Hr as executed had a "fundamental incompatibility" that would make an adult relationship difficult... it really is more than I ever expected to hear from her.
She does toss out a breezy "Oh, maybe R/Hr would be all right in the end with counseling." (Gotta say, I think a wizard marriage counseling session like JKR mentions would be entertaining as hell to read.)
But the bulk of the interview backs up what a lot of H/Hr shippers have felt for so long. That despite what Rowling had originally planned, there was a pull to H/Hr, that she - and even the filmmakers - felt it just like we did. That Hermione is a heroine and equal to Harry, that she was there for him to the end.
It's not canon. It doesn't change the outcome of the books; much I might fantasize otherwise, I don't see Rowling going back to revise the books just to fix the romances, a subplot which ultimately had little if any bearing on the outcome of the major Voldemort arc. But to go from hemming and hawing over "Delusional" comments to admitting that she thought "in some ways H/Hr are a better fit" and R/Hr as executed had a "fundamental incompatibility" that would make an adult relationship difficult... it really is more than I ever expected to hear from her.