[Commonmind]

As is the case with other authors who've given similar interviews, JK would, of course, not divulge whether or not she had plans to bring back an important character, especially when it would be critical to the plot. Plenty of other writers have said something along the same lines, and had been lying through their teeth. Think what you would do in her position. If you said "I can't talk about that, I don't want to give anything away," it would be just as good as telling your readership that you may have plans to bring back that important character; there would be too much room for speculation.

The only choice the author has is to deny it vehemently; that's the only way the truth of what the author intends to happen to be a complete surprise to the reader. Now, I'm not saying that she is lying, but there is the faint possibility.

As for Voldermort, I'm not completely convinced he would need to kill Harry himself to appease his inner ego. Voldermort has shown himself to be cunning and calculating, far beyond most psychopathic murderers. Of course he does have a measure of reckless abandon, but where Harry's concerned I believe he would be quite fine with another murdering him, so long as he was dead. He probably believes (or at least would let the public believe) that if he's more powerful than his Death Lord underlings, and one of them was to dispose of Harry, it would mean that he could have easily done so himself (although he's already failed on several occasions).

Let's face it, Voldermort has already shown that he wouldn't be terribly disturbed if someone else did the deed for him. Quirrel, though possessed by Voldermort, was not Voldermort himself. The Tom Riddle from Chamber of Secrets would have allowed the Basilisk to kill Harry, and as Tom himself said, he is Voldermort, past, present and future.

I believe his sentiment in Goblet of Fire, that he should be the one to kill Harry, and for the Death Eaters not to interfere, was merely a matter of circumstance and ignorance. Voldermort would have been elated by his return, emboldened by it, and thought himself capable of destroying Harry then and there. He was ignorant of Harry's power and skill, and suffered a loss. In the order of the Phoenix Harry is attacked by Death Eaters in the Ministry, who attempt to kill Harry. Now, if Voldermort set up this situation for Harry, to retrieve the prophecy as well as possibly dispose of him, would he not have made it quite clear to his cronies that he did not want Harry harmed? I would think the Dark Lord is intelligent enough not to have made that large oversight.

So, can we really believe that Voldermort thinks he should be the one to kill Harry personally? Or are we only basing that assumption on the two instances (in Goblet of Fire, and through Snape's pleading at the end of HBP) where Voldermort eluded to wanting to kill Harry himself, one of which was not made by Voldermort personally. All in all, I think there is more evidence to suggest that he would rather see Harry dead, no matter the circumstances.