JK Rowling: "I Couldn't Kill Arthur Weasley"  7/30/07

The father of boy wizard Harry Potter's best pal Ron Weasley is the only character in the book series who won a reprieve from author J.K. Rowling.

The best-selling writer admits all the characters who die in the seven book series passed when they were supposed to - but she had a change of heart about Arthur Weasley.

Rowling planned to kill Weasley Sr off in her fifth book, but the character made it to the end.

She reveals, "He was the person who got the reprieve because I had to keep him alive, partly because I couldn't bear to kill him."