J.K. Rowling Stunned by Harry Potter Fans Demanding the Major Character She Thought No One Wanted

Here is a fun little time capsule from peak Potter mania: the biggest crowd J.K. Rowling ever saw pleading for one character’s life wasn’t about Harry. It was Washington, D.C., and they were obsessed with saving Hermione.

1999: D.C. begs Rowling not to kill Hermione

Rowling told this story on The Diane Rehm Show back in 1999. She had met readers everywhere, but D.C. stood out because it drew the largest wave of fans all begging her to spare Hermione Granger.

"Don’t kill Hermione."

Rowling said kids often talk about these characters like they’re real people, and in D.C. they treated Hermione like a friend in danger. What made it stick for her: she was amused that, in most places, people didn’t panic about Hermione. The assumption was she was too smart to get into real trouble. That D.C. flash mob of protectiveness told a different story.

Why Hermione mattered more than some fans admitted

• She was the team’s backbone from day one — essential without bragging about it.
• Big-budget fantasy at the time wasn’t exactly overflowing with brainy female leads; Hermione felt new: brilliant, opinionated, bossy, scared, loyal, brave — sometimes all of that in one scene.
• Being muggle-born put her directly in Voldemort’s crosshairs. Harry had prophecy and destiny; Hermione had discrimination aimed straight at her. The stakes were personal.
• Her whole vibe was rolled-up sleeves and perfect study notes — the kind of competence you lean on even if you pretend you don’t.
• Across eight movies, she kept proving the title she’s famous for: the brightest witch in the room, and often the moral compass too.

2014 curveball: Rowling says Harry and Hermione should have been endgame

Fast forward to 2014. In a conversation with Emma Watson for Wonderland magazine, an excerpt of which ran in The Sunday Times that February (it even got front-page teasing and the usual Twitter circulation), Rowling admitted the Ron/Hermione pairing came from what she called a form of wish fulfillment. She said she stuck with the original plan for reasons that had very little to do with literature — and, yes, she agreed Harry and Hermione should have ended up together.

Emma Watson, for her part, has said the Ron/Hermione match always felt a bit shaky. Cue the great ship wars reboot. Fans who always side-eyed the epilogue felt incredibly vindicated; the Harry/Hermione camp treated that interview like a notarized document.

The takeaway

Hermione was never just the clever third in a trio. She was the engine. Smart enough to survive on her own, tough enough to face the villains, and loved enough that a whole city once basically tried to put her in witness protection.

So, should the brightest witch have ended up with the Boy Who Lived? Drop your take in the comments.

Want a rewatch? All eight Harry Potter movies are currently streaming on Max.