The Harry Potter murders | Ten characters JK should have killed off

So, now we know that JK Rowling was considering giving Ron the chop.

It made me wonder which of her characters I would have liked to have seen her kill off during the series. The Harry Potter books were increasingly awash with the blood of wizards (and elves) we had grown to love. And yet some characters survived I personally would have liked to have seen killed off, either because they deserved it, because they were annoying, or because it would have served the story better.

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Here then, and in no particular order, is a top ten of Potter characters JK should have killed...

1) Dudders. Harry's cousin is a thug with few redeeming qualities. Harry grows up noble in the Dursley household, Dudders grows up horrible. JK gives him some humanity at the end -- he is concerned about what Harry is facing - but it is not enough. JK should have let the Dementors take him in Book Five.

2) Filch. Every hero needs an enemy, every school needs a caretaker. But I wish Filch had retired to a cosy cottage somewhere after Book 3 and JK had come up with a new janitor. A limited, foolish, cowardly man his presence at the end of the sequence is puzzling. Is he Slytherin sympathetic? Is he for the dark side? A defender of Dumbledore's memory? Or is he just a pain?

3) Malfoy snr, the haughty, arrogant Death Eater turned into a snivelling, hapless nonentity by the end of the series, while his wife and son took a more active role in the plot. JK should have put him out of his misery after the fiasco at the Ministry for Magic.

4) Grawp, because I'm with Ron on him. What a monster...

5) Madam Hooch, the Quidditch teacher. I thought the writing was on the wall when Warners dropped Zoe Wannamaker from the films (she only appeared in #1). However, she is a constant in the books while never having a proper story at all. Is she even there at the end? Was she in the sky marshalling an airborne cavalry? I really don't remember.... JK should have had her killed off by Voldemort instead of the 'muggles studies' teacher. No one knew who the muggles studies teacher was, so it was hard to care...

6) Lavender Brown, because she's Lavender Brown...

7) Pansy Parkinson, similar to above, but because she was Pansy Parkinson.

8) Great Aunt Madge. JK's muggles are always far more cartoonish than her wizards. Madge might have been plucked from the pages of a Tom Brown's Schooldays book, or created by Steve Bell. Aunt Petunia only gets saved because there was a story point to her survival...

9) Viktor Krum, not because he is a bad guy, but because, what's the point with him? Step up to the plate, big fella, defend liberty, or die a hero's death. One of the many characters in the books you expect more from, but they fail to deliver...

10) The Whomping willow.... aaach, stupid tree.