What was the GoF error that caused JKR so much trouble?

[Koinonia2 at hotmail.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 24993

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., cynthiaanncoe at h... wrote:

> As I understand it, JKR was writing GoF and was about half through 
> when she noticed a plot problem.  She went back and fixed it.  It 
is 
> something other than the wand order. 

BBC Online/Newsround/Lizo's Interview with JKR

Lizo:  Last time we spoke you said there'd be a Weasley cousin.  It 
didn't appear.  You've deceived me!

JKR:  It got pulled.  Sorry about that.  What happened on Book Four, 
and one of the reasons why it was easily the most difficult to write, 
which had absolutely nothing to do with Harry being famous or me 
being famous, was that for the first time my plan fell down.  I got 
halfway through and realised there was a huge gaping plot hole. The 
two ends just didn't meet.  It was entirely my own fault:  I should 
have had the sense to go through it very carefully before I started 
writing.  So I had to do an enormous amount of unpicking and in the 
process I'm afraid the Weasley cousin disappeared.

Entertainment Weekly, September 7, 2000/'Firestorm'

Question:  And what exactly was that gaping hole all about?

JKR: I had to pull a character.  There you go: "the phantom character 
of Harry Potter."  She was a Weasley cousin [related to Ron Weasley, 
Harry's best friend].  She served the same function that Rita Skeeter 
[a sleazy investigative journalist] now serves.  Rita was always 
going to be in the book, but I built her up, because I needed a kind 
of conduit for information outside school.  Originally, this girl 
fulfilled this purpose.

Hope this helps!

Koinonia