When it comes to deaths in the Harry Potter universe, JK Rowling is somewhat traumatized by one ... but perhaps not the one you might think. Florean Fortescue, owner of the Diagon Alley ice cream parlor, was kidnapped and killed by Death Eaters in The Order of the Phoenix after making a brief appearance in The Prisoner of Azkaban, Refinery29 reports. As Rowling explains on the Pottermore website, she initially intended Fortescue to play a larger role. "I originally planned Florean to be the conduit for clues that I needed to give Harry during his quest for the Hallows, which is why I established an acquaintance fairly early on. The problem was that when I came to write the key parts of Deathly Hallows, I decided that Phineas Nigellus Black was a much more satisfactory means of conveying clues," she writes.
Thus, "I seemed to have [Fortescue] kidnapped and killed for no good reason," she continues. "He is not the first wizard whom Voldemort murdered because he knew too much (or too little), but he is the only one I feel guilty about, because it was all my fault." Rowling earlier promised, "Christmas is coming early to Pottermore ... a #PottermoreChristmas surprise every day," and the Hollywood Reporter notes that this revelation is one of those surprises. (More Harry Potter stories.)
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