Harry Potter marries Hermione marry in AI Harry Potter art

The Harry Potter series ends with several characters dying — including Professor Snape and Fred Weasley — and Ron Weasley getting married to Hermione Granger. Lead character Harry Potter marries Ginny Weasley, Ron’s sister.

But in an alternate universe, there exists a version of the story that goes a different way. The harrypotter.unofficial Instagram account used AI to generate images of what some of those paths not taken might look like:

J.K. Rowling thinks Hermione should have married Harry, not Ron

The first image in this slideshow shows Harry Potter and Hermione Granger as a married couple. This didn’t happen in the books, but speaking years after the fact, author J.K. Rowling has said that it’s the ending she would have preferred.

“I wrote the Hermione/Ron relationship as a form of wish fulfillment. That’s how it was conceived, really,” Rowling said in 204. “For reasons that have very little to do with literature and far more to do with me clinging to the plot as I first imagined it, Hermione ended up with Ron.”

"I know, I’m sorry. I can hear the rage and fury it might cause some fans, but if I’m absolutely honest, distance has given me perspective on that. It was a choice I made for very personal reasons, not for reasons of credibility. Am I breaking people’s hearts by saying this? I hope not."

Emma Watson, who played Hermione in the movies, agreed with this. “I think there are fans out there who know that too and who wonder whether Ron would have really been able to make her happy,” she said.

Maybe the upcoming Harry Potter TV show will change things around a bit? Although that would risk ticking off the fandom in a major way, so who knows?

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