--- description: After a series of Harry Potter sketches done by J.K. Rowling went viral Tuesday, fans noticed a shocking detail about one of the drawings. title: Apparently This Harry Potter Character Almost Had a Very Different Name image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Books](/tag/books/) ## Books Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # J.K. Rowling Just Revealed a Surprising Fact About a _Harry Potter_ Character  by [Megan McCluskey](/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Staff Writer Aug 24, 2016 2:54 PM CUT  by [Megan McCluskey](/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Staff Writer Aug 24, 2016 2:54 PM CUT After a series of [_Harry Potter_ sketches](http://time.com/4463272/jk-rowling-harry-potter-sketches/ "undefined") created by [J.K. Rowling](http://time.com/4432264/jk-rowling-harry-potter-end-series/ "undefined") herself went viral Tuesday after being discovered on [Pottermore](http://time.com/4455746/j-k-rowling-pottermore-new-harry-potter-books/ "undefined"), fans began to notice a surprising detail about one of the drawings. In an illustration featuring the Gryffindor gang during “The Midnight Duel” chapter of _T_ _he Philosopher’s Stone_, there is a fifth character named Gary sneaking around Hogwarts with Harry, Ron, Hermione and Neville. But that’s not all. Rowling later revealed on Twitter that Gary was the original Dean Thomas. “Dean Thomas was called Gary in the first draft of Philosopher’s Stone,” she wrote. “I renamed him after a boy I knew!” > [](https://twitter.com/Clarkey9/status/768136149625888769) > [](https://twitter.com/jk%5Frowling/status/768137347590414336) She also added that she had completely forgotten about this change until she saw the image again. > [](https://twitter.com/jk%5Frowling/status/768137876341137408) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4464244/jk-rowling-harry-potter-dean-thomas-gary/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4464244/jk-rowling-harry-potter-dean-thomas-gary/"},"headline":"J.K. Rowling Just Revealed a Surprising Fact About a Harry Potter Character","datePublished":"2016-08-24T14:54:28.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:35:47.174Z","description":"What next J.K., what next?","url":"https://time.com/4464244/jk-rowling-harry-potter-dean-thomas-gary/","keywords":["Books","Newsfeed","Harry Potter","J.K. Rowling","Pottermore"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Megan McCluskey","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/books/","name":"Books"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4464244/jk-rowling-harry-potter-dean-thomas-gary/","name":"J.K. Rowling Just Revealed a Surprising Fact About a Harry Potter Character"}}]}] ```