8 Harry Potter Characters JK Rowling Really Didn't Have To Kill

4. Fred Weasley

The Battle of Hogwarts, the day the laughter died. We all knew deep down that the chances of the entire Weasley clan surviving the war were slim to none, but I think we all just kind of hoped it would be Percy. And it so easily could have been! Percy and Fred were fighting side by side when an explosion outside the Room of Requirement killed the latter and took away half of the double act that kept us laughing well into the darkest reaches of the story. When things got hairy in the run up to the final showdown, Percy turned cloak and sided with his Imperiused boss, Minister for Magic Pius Thicknesse. It was only in the moments before the battle that the estranged Weasley decided that he€™d been batting for the wrong team, so it only seemed fair that his be the first face scratched off the family clock, right? Wrong! At least JK had the decency to apologise for this one, making a rare appearance on Twitter to accept responsibility for her actions: €œToday I would just like to say: I€™m really sorry about Fred. *Bows head in acceptance of your reasonable ire.*€
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Phil still hasn't got round to writing a profile yet, as he has an unhealthy amount of box sets on the go.