After she shook the entire Harry Potter fans community by revealing that Albus Dumbledore, the Hogwarts headmaster, was gay, British author J.K. Rowling said she was surprised by the reaction her announcement caused.

The news about Dumbledore’s sexuality sparked no less than 3,000 comments on Leaky Cauldron, a Harry Potter fansite, forcing Rowling to admit her astonishment.

"It has certainly never been news to me that a brave and brilliant man could love other men," Rowling said continuing to defend her character saying: "He is my character. He is what he is and I have the right to say what I say about him."

She knew "early on" that Dumbledore was gay, "probably before the first book was published," Rowling told reporters before reading to fans at the International Festival of Authors. She spent seven years writing before the first installment in the series went to print in 1997.

"The characters came more and more into focus as I worked and I can't honestly say there was a moment when I decided that," she said. "It's just something I knew or came to know."

While many readers and fans considered the writer’s remark unnecessary since a character’s sexuality doesn’t change the storyline in any way, some were thrilled by the new light cast upon Dumbledore, a very respectable and powerful wizard. Those unpleased by the news complained of the lack of hints concerning Dumbledore’s intimate life, yet Rowling said she didn’t want to spell it out for her readers.

And in case you were wondering why Rowling disclosed such a fact now, after all seven books were published and the story finished, Rowling simply said: "Because I was asked a direct question at Carnegie Hall."

"I answered honestly. I suppose the other half of the answer is that Dumbledore's ill-fated infatuation was a key part of the plot of Book 7," she explained, adding that breaking the news was quite freeing for her as well since she often "felt like a salmon swimming upstream" while writing the books.

"There were so many theories and people wanted so much information in advance of the stories that I, just to keep my sanity and keep my eye on my own plot, did not give masses away ahead of time because I needed to remain focused," she said, adding that the passages about him will mean different things to different readers.

"I think a child will see a friendship and I think a sensitive adult may well understand that it was an infatuation," she was quoted by the Associated Press as saying.