"die, ron, die"

[Robert Jones]

No: HPFGUIDX 92414

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Hitomi" 
<japanesesearcher at y...> wrote:
> I think she's just joking, because there is also this quote from 
an 
> interview in Time Magazine:
> 
> "It's great to hear feedback from the kids. Mostly they are really 
> worried about Ron. As if I'm going to kill Harry's best friend. 
What 
> I find interesting is only once has anyone said to me, "Don't kill 
> Hermione," and that was after a reading when I said no one's ever 
> worried about her. Another kid said, "Yeah, well, she's bound to 
get 
> through O.K." They see her as someone who is not vulnerable, but I 
> see her as someone who does have quite a lot of vulnerability in 
her 
> personality. Hermione is me, near enough. A caricature of me when 
I 
> was younger. I wasn't that clever. But I was that annoying on 
> occasion. Girls are very tolerant of her because she is not an 
> uncommon female type--the little girl who feels plain and hugely 
> compensates by working very hard and wanting to get everything 
just 
> so."
> 
> So, no, I don't think JKR will be cruel enough to take out Ron, 
> especially considering Harry's reaction when he sees the boggart 
as 
> a dead Ron in the Black Manor (when Molly is trying to get rid of 
> it).
> 
> Anyway, there's my opinion. ;)
> 
> ~ Hitomi

Bobby: I hope JKR was just kidding, but why did she move from an 
unambiguous statement to an ambiguous one?  I hope Ron lives but I 
still have my doubts.  (And as for Harry's reaction: of course JKR 
is going to have him stunned by Ron's death.)