Emerson Spartz, MuggleNet (ES): Who do you discuss Harry Potter with? JKR: When I'm working on it, you mean? Virtually no one, which is, for me, it's a necessary condition of work, I have this reputation for being reclusive. Now, that came, I’m not sure that it holds so true in America, but in Britain you really can’t read an article on me, and I read probably a hundredth of what's out there so I know it must be happening more, without the world reclusive being attached to my name. I’m not reclusive in the slightest. What they mean is that I'm secretive and I don’t do a lot of – I’m secretive because that for me is necessary condition of work. It's got nothing to do with the franchise, it's got nothing to do with trying to protect "the property” – I hate it being called “the property” but other people call it “the property” – it’s because I think if you discuss the work while you’re doing it you tend to dissipate the energy you need to do it. You will meet, we've all met, a hell of a lot of people who stand in bars and discuss the novels they are writing. If they were writing they'd be at home actually writing it. Very occasionally I might tell Neil that, I say, I've had  good day, or I've, you know, I wrote  good joke, it made me laugh, whatever, but I would never discuss in details. And then once I’ve handed in the manuscript then my editors, and that's Emma, who is my UK editor, and Arthur, who is my American editor, they would both see the manuscript at the same time. They collaborate on what they both think about it and then they come back to me and suggest things. Of course, it’s very liberating once someone’s read it to be able to then discuss it, so you know I've kept it quiet for 18 months while I've been working and then you get this explosion, because you really want to talk to someone about it now, so Emma and Arthur are the ones who get my first effusions and then it's wonderful to hear what they think. They were both very positive about this book, they really liked it. And then we have arguments as well, obviously. ES: This is kind of a strange question but how many times have you read your own story? JKR: That is not a strange question, it's a very valid question because once the book is published I rarely reread. A funny thing is when I do pick up a book to check a fact which I obviously do a lot, if I start reading then I do get kind of sucked in myself and I may read several pages and then I put it away and go back to what I’m doing, but I would never, if for example I was heading to the bath, and I wanted to pick up something to read, I’d never pick up one of my own books. Therefore there are thousands of fans who know the books much better than I do. My one advantage is I know what’s going to happen, and I’ve got a lot of backstory. Melissa Anelli, The Leaky Cauldron (MA): How many boxes is it, now, of backstory? JKR: It really is hard to say because I’m so disorganized, but yeah, there’s boxes. It’s mainly in notebooks because the backstory is so valuable, so I mainly need that in a format I can retrieve, because I lose stuff. So, it’s harder to lose a book than it is a bit of paper. ES: When book seven is out, will you keep the Web site open to keep answering questions? JKR: Yeah, I don’t see the Web site closing, like on the stroke of midnight when the seventh book’s finished. No, definitely not. My feeling is, I couldn’t possibly answer all the questions, because the novel is the wrong form in which to, for example, present a catalog of your characters’ favorite colors. But people actually want to know – it’s that kind of detail, isn’t it? So, I’m never going to answer everything that an obsessive fan would want to know in the novels, and the Web site is another way of doing that. Also I think people will continue to theorize about the characters even at the end of book seven because some people are very interested in certain characters whose past lives are not germane to the plot, they’re not central to the story, so there is  big leeway there still for fanfiction, just as there is, I mean – Jane Austen, I'm a huge Jane Austen fan and you wonder about the characters lives at the end of the story. They still exist, they still live, you're bound to wonder, aren't you? But I am as sure as I can be currently that seven will be the final novel, even though I get a lot of really big puppy dog eyes. “Just one more!” Yeah, I think it will be seven. ES: Seven books is a long series. JKR: Yeah, exactly, I don’t think they’re going to say you wimped out, come on! MA: If you were to write anything else on the Harry Potter series would it be about Harry Potter himself or another character or a reference book? JKR: The most likely thing I’ve said this a few times before, would be an encyclopedia in which I could have fun with the minor characters and I could give the definitive biography of all the characters. MA: OK, big big big book six question. Is Snape evil? JKR: [Almost laughing] Well, you've read the book, what do you think? ES: She's trying to make you say it categorically. MA: Well, there are conspiracy theorists, and there are people who will claim - JKR: Cling to some desperate hope [laughter] - ES: Yes! MA: Yes! ES: Like certain shippers we know! [All laugh] JKR: Well, okay, I'm obviously – Harry-Snape is now as personal, if not more so, than Harry-Voldemort. I can't answer that question because it's a spoiler, isn't it, whatever I say, and obviously, it has such a huge impact on what will happen when they meet again that I can't. And let's face it, it's going to launch 10,000 theories and I'm going to get a big kick out of reading them so [laughs] I'm evil but I just like the theories, I love the theories. ES: I know Dumbledore likes to see the good in people but he seems trusting almost to the point of recklessness sometimes. [Laughter] Yes, I would agree. I would agree. ES: How can someone so - JKR: Intelligent - ES: be so blind with regard to certain things? JKR: Well, there is information on that to come, in seven. But I would say that I think it has been demonstrated, particularly in books five and six that immense brainpower does not protect you from emotional mistakes and I think Dumbledore really exemplifies that. In fact, I would tend to think that being very, very intelligent might create some problems and it has done for Dumbledore, because his wisdom has isolated him, and I think you can see that in the books, because where is his equal, where is his confidante, where is his partner? He has none of those things. He’s always the one who gives, he’s always the one who has the insight and has the knowledge. So I think that, while I ask the reader to accept that McGonagall is a very worthy second in command, she is not an equal. You have a slightly circuitous answer, but I can't get much closer than that. ES: No, that was a good answer. MA: It's interesting about Dumbledore being lonely. JKR: I see him as isolated, and a few people have said to me rightly I think, that he is detached. My sister said to me in a moment of frustration, it was when Hagrid was shut up in his house after Rita Skeeter had published that he was a half-breed, and my sister said to me, “Why didn't Dumbledore go down earlier, why didn't Dumbledore go down earlier?” I said he really had to let Hagrid stew for a while and see if he was going to come out of this on his own because if he had come out on his own he really would have been better. "Well he's too detached, he's too cold, it's like you,” she said!" [Laughter] By which she meant that where she would immediately rush in and I would maybe stand back a little bit and say, “Let's wait and see if he can work this out.” I wouldn't leave him a week. I'd leave him maybe an afternoon. But she would chase him into the hut. ES: This is one of my burning questions since the third book - why did Voldemort offer Lily so many chances to live? Would he actually have let her live? JKR: Mmhm. ES: Why? JKR: [silence] Can't tell you. But he did offer, you're absolutely right. Don't you want to ask me why James's death didn't protect Lily and Harry? There’s your answer, you've just answered your own question, because she could have lived and chose to die. James was going to be killed anyway. Do you see what I mean? I’m not saying James wasn't ready to; he died trying to protect his family but he was going to be murdered anyway. He had no - he wasn't given a choice, so he rushed into it in a kind of animal way, I think there are distinctions in courage. James was immensely brave. But the caliber of Lily's bravery was, I think in this instance, higher because she could have saved herself. Now any mother, any normal mother would have done what Lily did. So in that sense her courage too was of an animal quality but she was given time to choose. James wasn't. It's like an intruder entering your house, isn't it? You would instinctively rush them. But if in cold blood you were told, "Get out of the way," you know, what would you do? I mean, I don't think any mother would stand aside from their child. But does that answer it? She did very consciously lay down her life. She had a clear choice - ES: And James didn't. JKR: Did he clearly die to try and protect Harry specifically given a clear choice? No. It's a subtle distinction and there's slightly more to it than that but that's most of the answer. MA: Did she know anything about the possible effect of standing in front of Harry? JKR: No - because as I've tried to make clear in the series, it never happened before. No one ever survived before. And no one, therefore, knew that could happen. MA: So no one - Voldemort or anyone using Avada Kedavra - ever gave someone a choice and then they took that option [to die] - JKR: They may have been given a choice, but not in that particular way. *** ES: When Sirius was framed for the death of Pettigrew and the Muggles, did he actually laugh or was that something made up to make him look even more insane? JKR: Did he actually laugh? Yes, I would say he did. Well, he did, because I’ve created him. Sirius, to me, he's kind of on the edge, do you not get that feeling from Sirius? He's a little bit of a loose cannon. I really like him as a character and a lot of people really liked him as a character and are still asking me when he's going to come back. [Laughter.] But Sirius had his flaws – I’ve sort of discussed that before – some quite glaring flaws. I see Sirius as someone who was a case of arrested development. I think you see that from his relationship with Harry in “Phoenix.” He kind of wants a mate from Harry, and what Harry craves is a father. Harry's kind of outgrowing that now. Sirius wasn't equipped to give him that. The laughter – he was absolutely unhinged by James's death. Harry and Sirius were very similar in the way that both of them were craving family connections with friends. So, Sirius with James wanted a brother, and Harry has nominated Ron and Hermione as his family. This is the thing I found interesting — it might have been on MuggleNet's comments, this is a while back when I was actually looking for fan sites of the month (or whatever arbitrary time period I do) — it was around the time I was reading comments for the first time and there was something in there where kids were saying, “I don't understand why he's shouting at Ron and Hermione, I mean, I’d shout at my parents, I would never shout at my best friends.” But, he has no one else to shout at. That was interesting from young kids, because I just don't think they could make that leap of imagination. He’s very alone. Anyway I've wandered miles away from Sirius. He was unhinged. Yes, he laughed. He knew what he'd lost. It was a humorless laugh. Pettigrew, who they, in a slightly patronizing way, James and Sirius at least, who they allowed to hang round with them, it turned out that he was a better wizard than they knew. Turned out he was better at hiding secrets than they knew. MA: You said that during the writing of book six something caused you fiendish glee. Do you remember what that was? JKR: Oh, god. [Long silence as Jo thinks.] What was it? It wasn't really vindictive [laughter] – that was more of a figure of speech. I know what I've enjoyed writing – you know Luna's commentary during the Quidditch match? [Laughter.] It was that. I really enjoyed doing that. Actually I really enjoyed doing that. You know, that was the last Quidditch match. I knew as I wrote it that it was the last time I was going to be doing a Quidditch match. To be honest with you, Quidditch matches have been the bane of my life in the Harry Potter books. They are necessary in that people expect Harry to play Quidditch, but there is a limit to how many ways you can have them play Quidditch together and for something new to happen. And then I had this moment of blinding inspiration. I thought, Luna’s going to commentate, and that was just a gift. It’s the kind of commentary I’d do on a sports match because I'm — [laughs]. Anyway yeah, it was that. MA: That was a lot of fun. She’s fun. JKR: I love Luna, I really love Luna. ES: Why does Dumbledore allow Peeves to stay in the castle? JKR: Can't get him out. ES: He's Dumbledore, he can do anything! JKR: No, no no no no. Peeves is like dry rot. You can try and eradicate it. It comes with the building. You’re stuck. If you've got Peeves you're stuck. ES: But Peeves answers to Dumbledore - JKR: Allegedly. MA: Allegedly? JKR: Yeah. I see Peeves as like a severe plumbing problem in a very old building, and Dumbledore is slightly better with the spanner than most people, so he can maybe make it function better for a few weeks. Then it’s going to start leaking again. Would you want Peeves gone, honestly? MA: If I was Harry I might, but as a reader I enjoy him. I enjoyed him most when he started obeying Fred and George at the end of book five. JKR: Yeah, that was fun. I enjoyed that. That was satisfying. [Laughter.] ES: When I signed onto MSN messenger after the book came out, there were at least four or five people whose IMs said, "Give her hell from us, Peeves." JKR: [Laughter] Awww. Well, Umbridge, she’s a pretty evil character. MA: She's still out and about in the world? JKR: She's still at the Ministry. MA: Are we going to see more of her? [Jo nods.] You say that with an evil nod. JKR: Yeah, it's too much fun to torture her not to have another little bit more before I finish. ES: MuggleNet “Ask Jo” contest winner Asrial, who’s 22, asks, “If Voldemort saw a boggart, what would it be?” JKR: Voldemort's fear is death, ignominious death. I mean, he regards death itself as ignominious. He thinks that it's a shameful human weakness, as you know. His worst fear is death, but how would a boggart show that? I'm not too sure. I did think about that because I knew you were going to ask me that. ES: A corpse? JKR: That was my conclusion, that he would see himself dead. ES:As soon as it became clear this question was going to win, I started getting dozens of email from people telling me I shouldn't ask it because the answer was too obvious - except, they all disagreed on what the obvious answer was. Some were sure it would be Dumbledore, some were sure it would be Harry, and some were sure it would be death. ES: A couple of follow-ups on that, then — what would he see if he were in front of the mirror of Erised? JKR: Himself, all-powerful and eternal. That's what he wants. ES: What would Dumbledore see? JKR: I can't answer that. ES: What would Dumbledore's boggart be? JKR: I can't answer that either, but for theories you should read six again. There you go. MA: If Harry was to look in the Mirror of Erised at the end of book six, what would he see? JKR: He would have to see Voldemort finished, dead, gone, wouldn't he? Because he knows now that he will have no peace and no rest until this is accomplished. ES: Is the last word of book seven still scar? JKR: At the moment. I wonder if it will remain that way. MA: Have you fiddled with it? JKR: I haven't actually physically fiddled with it. There are definitely a couple of things that will need changing. They’re not big deals but I always knew I would have to rewrite it. MA: But it's definitely still on that track? JKR: Oh definitely. Yeah, yeah MA: How do you feel that you're starting the last book? JKR: It feels scary, actually. It’s been 15 years. Can you imagine? One of the longest adult relationships of my life. MA: Have you started? JKR: Yeah. Realistically, I don't think I'm going to be able to do real work on it until next year. I see next year as the time that I’m really going to write seven. But I've started and I am doing little bits and pieces here and there when I can. But you’ve seen how young Mackenzie still is, and you can bear actual witness to the fact that I do have a very small, real baby, so I'm going to try and give Mackenzie what I gave David, which is pretty much a year of uninterrupted “me time,” and then I'll start writing seriously again. ES: What prompted people to start referring to Voldemort as You-Know-Who and He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named? JKR: It happens many times in history — well, you’ll know this because you’re that kind of people, but for those who don’t, having a taboo on a name is quite common in certain civilizations. In Africa there are tribes where the name is never used. Your name is  a sacred part of yourself and you are referred to as the son of so-and-so, the brother of so-and-so, and you're given these pseudonyms, because your name is something that can be used magically against you if it’s known. It’s like a part of your soul. That’s a powerful taboo in many cultures and across many folklores. On a more prosaic note, in the 1950s in London there were a pair of gangsters called the Kray Twins. The story goes that people didn’t speak the name Kray. You just didn’t mention it. You didn’t talk about them, because retribution was so brutal and bloody. I think this is an impressive demonstration of strength, that you can convince someone not to use your name. Impressive in the sense that demonstrates how deep the level of fear is that you can inspire. It’s not something to be admired. ES: I meant, was there a specific event? JKR: With Voldemort? It was gradual. He was killing and doing some pretty evil things. In the chapter “Lord Voldemort’s Request,” when he comes back to request that teaching post in book six, you get a real sense that he’s already gone quite a long way into the dark arts. By that time a lot of people would be choosing not to use his name. During that time his name was never used except by Dumbledore and people who were above the superstition. MA: Speaking of world events – JKR: Chapter one? MA: Yeah, chapter one, and current world events, specifically in the last four years. Terrorism and the like; has it factored into your writing, has it shaped your writing? JKR: No, never consciously, in the sense that I've never thought, "It's time for a post-9/11 Harry Potter book," no. But what Voldemort does, in many senses, is terrorism, and that was quite clear in my mind before 9/11 happened. I was going to read last night [ie, do the midnight reading at the castle] from chapter one. That was the reading until the 7th of July [bombings in London]. It then became quite clear to me that it was going to be grossly inappropriate for me to read a passage in which the Muggle prime minister is discussing a mass Muggle killing. It just wasn't appropriate, as there are touches of levity in there. It was totally inappropriate, so that's when I had to change, and I decided to go for the joke shop, which is all very symbolic because, of course, Harry said to Fred and George, “I’ve got a feeling we’ll all be needing a few laughs before long.” It all ties together nicely. So no, not consciously, but there are parallels, obviously. I think one of the times I felt the parallels was when I was writing about the arrest of Stan Shunpike, you know? I always planned that these kinds of things would happen, but these have very powerful resonances, given that I believe, and many people believe, that there have been instances of persecution of people who did not deserve to be persecuted, even while we're attempting to find the people who have committed utter atrocities. These things just happen, it's human nature. There were some very startling parallels at the time I was writing it. ES: Has the sorting hat ever been wrong? JKR: No. ES: Really? JKR: Mm-mm. Do you have a theory? ES: I have heard a lot of theories. JKR: [laugh] I bet you have. No. [laugh] Sorry. MA: That's interesting, because that would suggest that the voice comes more from a person's own head than the hat itself - JKR: [makes mysterious noise] MA: And that maybe when it talks on its own it comes from - JKR: The founders themselves. MA: Yeah. Interesting. How much of a role are the founders going to play in book seven? JKR: Some, as you probably have guessed from the end of six. There's so much that I want to ask you, but you're supposed to interview me, so come on. [Laughter.] ES: I know you get asked this in every interview, but the length of the book, has it changed at all? JKR: Seven? Shorter than “Phoenix,” you mean, “Phoenix” always being our benchmark of a book that's really, really nudging the outer limits? I still think it will be shorter than “Phoenix.” ES: Significantly? JKR: I don't know. That is the honest truth, I don't know. I have a plan for seven that's not yet so detailed that I could honestly gauge the length. I know what's going to happen, I know the story, but I haven't sat down and plotted it to the point where you think, “We’re really looking at 42 chapters,” or, “We’re looking at 31 chapters.” I don’t know yet. MA: R.A.B. JKR: Ohhh, good. [All laugh.] JKR: No, I'm glad! Yes? MA: Can we figure out who he is, from what we know so far? [Note: JKR has adopted slightly evil look here] JKR: Do you have a theory? MA: We've come up with Regulus Black. JKR: Have you now? MA: Uh-oh. [Laughter.] JKR: Well, I think that would be, um, a fine guess. MA: And perhaps, being Sirius’s brother, he had another mirror – JKR: [drums fingers on soda can] MA: Does he have the other mirror, or Sirius’s mirror —  JKR: I have no comment at all on that mirror. That mirror is not on the table. [Laughter from all; Jo's is maniacal.] MA: Let the record note that she has drummed her fingers on her Coke can in a very Mr. Burns-like way. [Laughter.] JKR: Oh, I love Mr. Burns. ES: If you had the opportunity to rewrite any part of the series so far, what would it be and why? JKR: There are bits of all six books that I would go back and tighten up. My feeling is that Phoenix is overlong, but I challenge anyone to find the obvious place to cut. There are places that I would prune, now, looking back, but they wouldn't add up to a hugely reduced book, because my feeling is you need what's in there. You need what's in there if I'm going to play fair for the reader in the resolution in book seven. One of the reasons “Phoenix” is so long is that I had to move Harry around a lot, physically. There were places he had to go he had never been before, and that took time — to get him there, to get him away. That was the longest non-Hogwarts stretch in any of the books, and that's really what bumps up the length. I'm trying to think of specifics, it's hard. ES: Any subplots that you think could have been left out, in hindsight? JKR: I find it very hard to pinpoint any because I feel that they were necessary. How can any of us judge? Even I, until seven's finished, will not be able to look back really accurately and say, “That was discursive.” And maybe at the end of seven I'll look back and say, thinking about it, “I didn't really need to be quite so elaborate in that place there.” Until it's written it’s a hard thing to be accurate about. But certainly there are turns of expressions that irritate me in hindsight. There are repetitions that drive me crazy in hindsight. MA: Now that Dumbledore is gone, will we ever know the spell that he was trying to cast on Voldemort in the Ministry? JKR: Uuuummmm...[makes clucking noise with tongue ] ES: Let the record show she made a funny sound with her mouth. [All laugh, Jo maniacally.] JKR: It’s possible, it's possible that you will know that. You will — [pause] — you will know more about Dumbledore. I have to be sooo careful on this. MA: Can we have a book just on Dumbledore? Like a life story? ES: Please? JKR: Oh, all right then. [All laugh.] ES & MA, hi-fiving: YES! JKR: That's not a binding contract! [Laughter.] MA: No, it's an oral agreement - where's Neil [her lawyer, not her husband]? [Laughter.] ES: How many wizards are there? JKR: In the world? Oh, Emerson, my maths is so bad. ES: Is there a ratio of Muggles to wizards - MA: Or in Hogwarts. JKR: Well, Hogwarts. All right. Here is the thing with Hogwarts. Way before I finished “Philosopher's Stone,” when I was just amassing stuff for seven years, between having the idea and publishing the book, I sat down and I created 40 kids who enter Harry's year. I'm delighted I did it, [because] it was so useful. I got 40 pretty fleshed out characters. I never have to stop and invent someone. I know who’s in the year, I know who's in which house, I know what their parentage is, and I have a few personal details on all of them. So there were 40. I never consciously thought, “That's it, that' s all the people in his year,” but that's kind of how it's worked out. Then I've been asked a few times how many people and because numbers are not my strong point, one part of my brain knew 40, and another part of my brain said, “Oh, about 600 sounds right.” Then people started working it out and saying, "Where are the other kids sleeping?" [Laughter.]  We have a little bit of a dilemma there. I mean, obviously magic is very rare. I wouldn't want to say a precise ratio. But if you assume that all of the wizarding children are being sent to Hogwarts, then that's very few wizard-to-Muggle population, isn’t it? There will be the odd kid whose parents don't want them to go to Hogwarts, but 600 out of the whole of Britain is tiny. Let's say three thousand [in Britain], actually, thinking about it, and then think of all the magical creatures, some of which appear human. So then you've got things like hags, trolls, ogres and so on, so that's really bumping up your numbers. And then you've got the world of sad people like Filch and Figg who are kind of part of the world but are hangers on. That's going to bump you up a bit as well, so it's a more sizable, total magical community that needs hiding, concealing, but don't hold me to these figures, because that's not how I think. MA: How much fun did you have with the romance in this book? JKR: Oh, loads. Doesn't it show? MA: Yes. JKR: There's a theory - this applies to detective novels, and then Harry, which is not really a detective novel, but it feels like one sometimes – that you should not have romantic intrigue in a detective book. Dorothy L. Sayers, who is queen of the genre said — and then broke her own rule, but said — that there is no place for romance in a  detective story except that it can be useful to camouflage other people’s motives. That's true; it is a very useful trick. I've used that on Percy and I’ve used that to a degree on Tonks in this book, as a red herring. But having said that, I disagree inasmuch as mine are very character-driven books, and it’s so important, therefore, that we see these characters fall in love, which is a necessary part of life. How did you feel about the romance? [Melissa puts her thumbs up and grins widely while…] ES: We were hi-fiving the whole time. JKR: [laughs] Yes! Good. I'm so glad. MA: We were running back and forth between rooms yelling at each other.