8 Harry Potter Edits JK Rowling Made From Earlier Book Drafts

8. One Of The Weasleys Was Going To Be In Slytherin

At the beginning of the writing process, when Rowling was plotting the lives of her innumerable characters, she struck upon the idea of placing one of the Weasleys in Slytherin. The Weasley in question was Mafalda Weasley, daughter of Molly Weasley's second cousin. It turns out Mafalda was set to play quite a significant role, acting as a messenger between the Death Eaters and Harry, Ron and Hermione. Nevertheless, Rowling ultimately couldn't make the character work, saying:

"However bright I made her, there were obvious limitations to what an eleven year old closeted at school could discover, whereas Rita Skeeter, whom I subsequently built up to fulfil Mafalda's function, was much more flexible."

According to Rowling, Mafalda was to go head to head against Hermione:

"To the latter's horror, Mafalda was highly gifted and a real show-off, so that Hermione was torn between deploring the rule-breaking and longing to join in and beat her."