Earlier this week, J. K. Rowling admitted in an interview that she thought Harry might have been a better match for Hermione at the end of her best-selling series. The author told the magazine Wonderland that she "wrote the Hermione-Ron relationship as a form of wish fulfilment", and that "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".

JK Rowling, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Premiere
Rowling's announcement was followed by waves of panic or triumph.

She also mentioned that the likely outcome of Ron and Hermione’s marriage would be relationship counseling. Rowling must have learned by now that it’s best not to mess with HP fans’ favorite characters – even if she happens to be the woman, who created them in the first place. Fans, who like Ron and Hermione just the way they are, were quick to mobilize online.

"Well thanks Jo for kicking down 10 years of what I consider to be the most beautiful, unconditional & bare bones real relationship that could ever exist between 2 people," one reader wrote on the The Leaky Cauldron fan site. "Ugh Jo… PLEASE, don't re-write your own canon, it was perfect how it was."

There were equally strong opinions on both sides however. Some fans took it as a personal quest to defend the Harmony ship (if neither of those words made sense, click here for an explanation).

"Ever since I became attached to the Harry Potter universe I have always shipped for Harry/Hermione all the way. After that last monstrosity of a book came out I read the epilogue first and boy was I furious by what I saw," wrote one. "To all those people who have sneered, jeered, made fun of us for supporting Harry/Hermione and called us delusional I say this to you. We the ones who stood by the Harry/Hermione ship are now having the last laugh at you."

JK Rowling, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Premiere
Rowling probably won't be rewriting the series though.

Rowling, knowing her fanbase, predicted the outrage and apologized in the interview for any heartbreak her revelation might cause. Still, one fan’s suggestion to pick up where she left off and pen “Harry Potter and the Messy but Inevitable Divorce” doesn’t seem likely to happen.