Found this on Mugglenet:

More info revealed from Jo's reading in NYC
More info revealed from Jo's reading in NYC 2,000 lucky fans had the opportunity to interact with JK Rowling this evening at Carnegie Hall. The reading was rather eventful, as Jo revealed a lot of new information previously unknown about the series.

The most notable news of the night was the revelation of Dumbledore's sexuality. Jo says Dumbledore was gay and in love with Gellert Grindelwald. JK, in response to the audience's reaction, said "If I had known this would have made you so happy, I would have told you years ago."

Not quite as head-turning, but equally significant, Jo announced Neville Longbottom's marriage with Hannah Abbott. Hannah became the new landlady of the Leaky Cauldron.

Other heart-warming (ha!) news was revealed about Petunia Dursley. The night Harry left Privet Drive, Petunia wanted to tell Harry, "I know what you're up against and I hope it turns out okay."

Stay tuned, more to come soon!

Oh that make sense... I figured that he was prolly not interested in romance at all... I guess that makes sense...

As for Neville... Hannah Abbot? I would have thought that would have been like Luna or someone...

Just read this on Mugglenet - what an anvil of a revelation - to be honest, I would never have guessed. This puts a new literary spin on the stories actually - now it can truly be explored as a masterpiece.

tbh, i never really thought about Dumbledore's sexuality, other than a possible sex scandal with McGonagall. lol

but gay? i didn't expect that. i was like Finn, thought that he was too old for that. so this is why he was reluctant to go and fight Gellert, not because he was afraid who killed his sister (although i'm sure it played a part.)

again, i agree with Finn on Neville's choice. saying that, i think Neville sees Luna as too weird to love, but also a very good friend. i can see why he wouldn't choose Luna. as for Hannah, she appears quite a bit throughout the stories for apparently no reason at all, but since when was Neville ever involved with her?

since when was Neville ever involved? lol

Petunia, i assumed it would be something of the sorts, or some sort of apology for how she treated him over the years. imagine that she had an entire year to mull over what Dumbledore said about not treating him right. then she finds out that Harry has a job to do, and he's probably going to die, and she's tearing herself to bits about it. but at the last moment, she can't bring herself to do it. that's what i thought.

Dumbledore's crooked nose is a symbol of his sexuality - oooo this is so exciting. I can do an English Lit Analysis of Potter now! So many references.

Half moon spectacles - they are not "full spectacles" - symbol of concealment? Deception?

___

You know what this means though? The Christian fundamentalists will go crazy and start burning books.

Like they already weren't burning books? I agree... When I reread the series again, I'm going to be looking for those little hints... I don't think Neville and Hannah have ever been in the same sentence together...

..A lot can happen in 19 years lol.

lol, yeah. Now I really just want to go through the books and look for proof and hints because...that's just what I do. You know Mugglenet will probably be compiling a list pretty soon, too. lol.



~Mel

wow....
i'm with mel i just thought dumbledore was to old for love or he had a secret affair with Rosemerta or McGonagall. but you know now after i've thought about it, it doesn't bother me at all. it's a good twist though.
i would have thought luna and nev. all the way. she was in the series since what the second book? and well i think neville would have fallen for luna because of her uniqueness. thats just me though. they just seemed right for me. unless Hannah was totally different the way jo saw her in her minds eye than how they played her out in the movies. it did show neville dancing with ginny for the yule ball but he could have just asked her to dance. he could have went to the ball with Hannah and they could have switched partners thats why he came up to the dorm so late at night.
hmmmmmmm.....gonna go reread the series now lol.

Gay!?! gay!!?!?

Really! Sometimes I think people go waaaayy too deep into the book.

This isn't from us... THis was said by JKR during a reading

there's no way we could have guessed this from the books James. for a start, nobody even thinks that their favourite character, and idol in some ways, is gay. without the initial idea behind it, you don't find any proof in the read throughs, because you're not looking.

Adam: Half Moon Spectacles - If they were full, he'd be able to see the entirety of the world, but being half, he can only see one side? perhaps thats a little far-fetched, i don't think having full glasses would mean he was bi, lol.

Hannah is used as a filler all the time. it's Hannah who messes up her OWL exam in transfiguration (she turns something into a flamingo and multiplies it.), Hannah was the first one on the sorting hat list (it could have been anyone with a name beginning with A. although there's not many that come before Abbot.)

she's referanced a fair bit in the books, i just can't think of individual things. but yes, theres no clues to her and Nev. but, like Adam said, a lot can happen in 19 years. Draco with a son for instance.

i hope Luna gets someone nice.

the thing is who the person draco married?

the thing between Hannah and nev isn't to far fetched one because like adam and tim said alot could happen in 19 years. but still i like the thought of luna neville. it's like an equal balance. some one super loony (luna) and then the sane one (neville). see equal balance........... mer nevermind.
anywho i guess Hanna was a good choice. for a while there it could have been neville and ginny too.

Ok a few thoughts on the Neville fiasco:

1) I'm surprised that the majority of the topic is taken up by the rather dull, boring Abbot/Longbottom Shipper when we have a bomb-shell to discuss! :)

2) Theres no evidence to suggest Neville and Luna were in love at all. Both of them are odd - you cant base a marriage on that.


Tim - there was a reason she gave him half-moon spectacles, she wouldn't have given them him for no reason at all. I still think they are symbolic in someway. In fact, I don't think he had glasses as a boy (not sure) which implies it was only AFTER Grindelwald he had half moon specs.

Okay okay.. >.< I just got trampled on right there.

Well Nev wasn't exactly odd, he was just... Different :D. Anyways, Luna is obviously going to get Married to me.

She never said who Draco married, though I thing a safe bet would be someone pureblooded... In that case it may be Pansy, as she is the only one we know he had a relationship with.

yeah....but it could have been someone totally off the wall.like with neville. who knows.
as for dumbledores half spectacles it could have been just a prefrence of his taste. you know like people and clothes. it doesn't mean he's gay or seeing things one way.
sorry james luna wouldn't marry you she would probably marry a snorkack or whatever you call them lol but that would be out of the human species and we so don't wanna go there. anywho we still love you!!!!

I think it would be awesome if Luna got married to like...Seamus or someone. Of course, I always joke that Dean and Seamus are the ultimate couple (just look how cute they are when they hold hands in the Hippogriff scene in PoA!) but whatever. lol.




~Mel

I honestly think I had the thought that Grindlewald and Dumbledore were gay while I was reading the book. So it doesn't shock me that much.

Hannah and Neville... I can see it very well. I wouldn't think of it... but when it happens... it sounds right

There was nothing in the text to say that Dumbledore was gay and in love with Grindlewald anymore than there was anything to suggest that Harry was gay and in love with Ron... It was a friendship that was described, not a romance.

But kind of the WAY they described the friendship made it sound like a romance. But like Adam said, you wouldn't have ever really given it any serious thought if you didn't know before hand. Or most wouldn't

I agree with Finn, i don't think it was possible to discern the relationship between Dumbledore and Grindlewald. there are only a couple of things that give it away.

1. Dumbledore cared more for Gellert than he did for Ariana, which can be explained as it is in the text, he was frustrated with having to look after his sister when he was so brilliant

2. he defended Gellert against Aberforth just before his sister was killed. i do not believe that Dumbledore would have thrown any curses at Gellert at all. but then again, if someone is in the wrong, you don't defend them, and Aberforth was in the wrong in Dumbledore's eyes.

3. he didn't kill Gellert, merely locked him inside his own prison. this can be explained by saying Dumbledore is too noble to kill anyone, like he didn't try to kill Tom Riddle.

Ahh Spoilers!!! Spooilers!!

*rolls around on the ground screaming*

I think that all HP discussions should be thought of as having spoilers in them... Just about everyone who has wanted to read the book, has.

I really wouldn't of guessed Dumbledore was gay, not from any amount of subtext. I just really didn't think about his sexual preferences at all, if it could be helped...I suppose i always paired him and McGonagall in the same 'I don't want to know' category.

As for Luna and Neville, i read somewhere that JK said she would marry Rolph something or other (Newt's grandson. As in the Newt on the chocolate frog cards.) I still pair them all with who ever i like in fanfiction though, i usually pair Luna with one of the older Weasleys (not Ron) though I'm not sure why. :rolleyes:

Dumbledore makes a very believable gay character, and yes, the way JK described Gellert and his friendship sounded like it was not merely a friendship.



Off topic, the saying in Finn's sig, I thought it was ass, gas, or grass.

If you want to make one that says what you want, go ahead. I prefer cash to gas any day...

can we stick to the topic?


London, how can you possibly say that he's is written as a gay character? and their relationship is barely touched upon really, we're hardly told anything about them.

Dumbledore was written to be really mysterious... There was nothing to suggest that Dumbledore was gay... All that was described was his friendship to Grindlewald, not his love.

I thought he was! lol But I thought half the characters would turn out to be gay. I was actually right about one of them.

Are you kidding?

Dumbledore's relationship with Gellert was described very well, from how they met, to how Aberforth felt about their friendship.

One could easily see Dumbledore being in love with Gellert.

I never said he was writted as a gay character, I said he was written as a believable gay character.

I guess I should have clarified.

It is easy to see Dumbledore as gay.

It is also easy to see him in a relationship with Gellert.

Believe Dumbledore is gay or not, what JK says, goes, considering she is the author.

I said it earlier in the topic. The friendship described between Dumbledore and Grindlewald was not described as a love. Using the same logic, you could have said that Ron and Harry were gay, or Hermione and Ginny were gay... Do you love your friends? I do...

After JKR said it, it was one of those thinks that I thought was interesting. Did anyone know it all along? I doubt it... Character information like this is difficult to infer... It seemed to me that Dumbledore and McGonagall had something going on... She always seemed to know what he was up to...

Ever been in love with your best friend, and acted like everything was okay, even though it wasn't?

I have.


I thought it was easy to see him as a gay character, and remember thinking love and romance when reading about it.

I agree that it makes sense that he is gay, I'm not trying to say that he isn't. I'm just saying that there was nothing in the book as far as evidence that says the Dumbledore was in love with him.

if foresight was as good as hindsight, we'd all be better off a damn sight

of course, Dumbledore can now be seen as gay. it's obvious if you read the books now (maybe not obvious, but it can be inferred), but on the initial read-through i think it impossible to determine such a fact.

describing how Dumbledore and Gellert met and a brothers interpretation does not mean that we are told a lot about it. we do not, for example know much about what the did other than discussing how to take over the world, and fantasising about the Hallows. they could have done lots, we don't know.

we don't know their relationship in the depth that we know others, and i don't believe we could possibly know that Dumbledore was gay. think of it this way, it's a kids book, and you don't think that would be included. tbh, i'm sometimes surprised that JKR wrote in Harry's kiss with Cho/Ginny, although admittedly little detail was put into it. the book is not made for romances, it is made for action.

Hawthorn comment of the day lol.

it's the most true thing the man ever said.

News: On the British interview show "Parkinson" last night Dan Radcliffe was on. He talked about the gay revelation and said that off-set Gambon had been "camping it up". LMAO! He also said Gambon had to talk about knitting patterns with McGonagall on set. He enjoyed it apparently. lol

As we can see.. Micky Gambon is enjoying himself. lol.

Did anyone seen the "Dumledore Gay" skit on Saturday Night Live? Interesting stuff lol.

I love JKR to bits but isn't kind of weird how, after the series is over, she keeps giving us these *shocking* bits of information that were never mentioned in the books? It kind of seems like she's milking it for all it's worth and trying to make sure people don't forget about her or something... I mean, it's not relevant to the plot at all, is it?