Harry Potter writer JK Rowling has said there was a 'sexual dimension' to the 'intense' relationship between her fictional wizards Albus Dumbledore and Gellert Grindelwald.

Speaking on a special feature made for Blu-ray release of Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald the author revealed: "Their relationship was incredibly intense. It was passionate, and it was a love relationship.

"But as happens in any relationship, gay or straight or whatever label we want to put on it, one never knows really what the other person is feeling. You can't know, you can believe you know."





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Dumbledore, played by Jude Law in the Fantastic Beasts franchise, and Grindelwald (Johnny Depp) have a long and complicated history, with Rowling once describing their relationship as a 'great tragedy'.

In the feature, titled Distinctly Dumbledore, adds: "So I'm less interested in the sexual side - though I believe there is a sexual dimension to this relationship - than I am in the sense of the emotions they felt for each other, which ultimately is the most fascinating thing about all human relationship."

Director David Yates chips in to say: "This is a story about two men who loved each other, and ultimately have to fight each other. It's a story for the 21st century."

Rowling first told fans Hogwarts' headmaster Dumbledore was gay back in 2007 during a questions and answers session.

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Despite knowing all this, the two wizards haven't shared an on-screen love-scene, so this little tidbit of information is sure to delight fans who love to know everything about the Potter-verse.

Earlier this year, fans were...erm...'treated' to an interesting fact from PotterMore which revealed that back in the early days of Hogwarts didn't have proper plumbing - so students just went where they could.

Hogwarts didn't always have bathrooms. Before adopting Muggle plumbing methods in the eighteenth century, witches and wizards simply relieved themselves wherever they stood, and vanished the evidence. #NationalTriviaDay

- PotterMoreMischievous (@pottermore) January 4, 2019

The fact actually comes from a 2012 post by Rowling herself, in which she wrote: "When first created, the Chamber was accessed through a concealed trapdoor and a series of magical tunnels.

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"However, when Hogwarts' plumbing became more elaborate in the eighteenth century (this was a rare instance of wizards copying Muggles, because hitherto they simply relieved themselves wherever they stood, and vanished the evidence), the entrance to the Chamber was threatened, being located on the site of a proposed bathroom.

"The presence in school at the time of a student called Corvinus Gaunt - direct descendant of Slytherin, and antecedent of Tom Riddle - explains how the simple trapdoor was secretly protected, so that those who knew how could still access the entrance to the Chamber even after newfangled plumbing had been placed on top of it."