Notes from JKR Chats

[Admin]

Well no one says that we have to stick to canon but here:
Relevant excerpts from various chat transcripts with JKR:
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J.K. Rowling: BBC Online Chat
Red Nose Day 2001
http://history.250x.com/vaults/c118.htm

Q: How old is Prof. Dumbledore and Prof. Snape?
A: Dumbledore's about 150 years old... Wizards have a longer life expectancy than us Muggles. Snape's 35 or 36

Q: Do you need a Wand to do Magic?
A: You can do unfocused and uncontrolled magic without a wand (for instance when Harry blows up Aunt Marge), but to do really good spells, yes, you need a wand..

Q: When is Ron's Birthday?
A: First of March, in case you're thinking of sending him a card, and Hermione is the nineteenth of September..

Q: Have any of the Hogwarts professors had spouses?
A: Good question - yes, a few of them, but that information is sort of restricted - you'll find out why..

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".....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." - JK Rowling

http://history.250x.com/vaults/a101.htm

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"...I love Nabokov...." - JK Rowling

http://history.250x.com/vaults/c103.htm

<<< (insert Autumnmist's comment here:) >>>
Nabokov, the author of Lolita - young girl/older man relationship (among other things...)

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Q: I'm a big fan of yours, and I hope you can answer this question: Why would you use most of the names in the book written in Latin?
A: I like to think that the wizards use this dead language as a living language, and it also gives readers a chance to work out clues along the way!

Q: Who is the head of Ravenclaw? Professor Sinistra perhaps?
A: No, the head of Ravenclaw is good old Professor Flitwick!

http://history.250x.com/vaults/c103.htm

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Q: Is there ever going to be female Defense Against The Dark Arts teacher?
A: Emily, I can exclusively reveal (because I'm feeling guilty I'm not answering so many good questions) that there WILL be.

Q: Why did you make Quirrell the bad guy instead of Snape?
A: Because I know all about Snape, and he wasn't about to put on a turban.

http://history.250x.com/vaults/c107.htm

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Q: If Harry had a magic duel with Hermione, who would win?
A: Very good question! Because until about halfway through Azkaban, Hermione would have won. But Harry - without anyone really noticing it - is becoming exceptionally good at Defence Against the Dark Arts. So that's the one area in which, almost instinctively, he is particularly talented. Apart from Quidditch.

http://history.250x.com/vaults/c113.htm