Rereading the books right now and I just noticed a certain detail about how Slughorn and Snape teach potions.

Slughorn tells students to use the recipes from their textbooks but Snape, who knows they often contain errors or that there's a better technique, will write the recipes on the blackboard.

It's a small detail but a pretty good bit of world building.

I recently finished reading the first 3 Harry Potter books in the MinaLima editions and absolutely loved them. I just started *Goblet of Fire*, and while the new illustrated edition is nice, I personally think MinaLima’s illustrations, typography, and interactive elements were so much better.

From what I’ve read, MinaLima actually wanted to continue the series and stated that not being commissioned for book four “was not our desired outcome.” But Scholastic never explained why they decided to go in a different direction.

Does anyone know more about why they weren’t brought back? It’s such a shame to have the collection change artists partway through, especially when MinaLima created something so special.

**Scholastic, I’m begging you to bring MinaLima back for books 5–7!** 😭

"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches … Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies … And the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not … And either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives … The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies…”

In order for Voldemort to mark him as his equal i.e the avada kedavra rebounding and Voldemorts soul latching on to Harry, Lily had to invoke the ancient magic and she could never have done that if Snape hadn't ask to spare her life, and Voldemort asking her to stand aside as a consequence.

She was given the option to stand aside but she still sacrificed herself for Harry.

I don't see Voldemort sparing Neville's mother or father or giving either of them the chance to stand aside, and hence Neville would have just died and Voldemort would never have "marked him as his equal"

Am I missing something?

I would have loved to see the Carrows reaction when they wake up after Voldemort's defeat.

I have the Jim Kay Deluxe Illustrated editions for the red book (chamber of secrets) and the cyan book (Prisoner of Azkaban).

The red one is an unsealed first print new in its cardboard case, verified by checking the number line on the copyright page inside, able to do so since they came unsealed from the release. The Azkaban unit is completely factory sealed inside its original outer protective cardboard wrap.

Since it's sealed, I don't want to break it open to check the number line. I’ve heard only the first printings shipped from the publisher inside this specific cardboard casing. Can anyone here confirm if having this original outer cardboard guarantees it’s a 1st print? Thanks.

Happy Saturday, everyone! Number 52 is really for ya.

As a reminder what this is and how it works:

Below are 7 sentences from the 7 HP books. I use a random number generator to pick the book and chapter, then hand pick a sentence that I think is decent. Not too long, too short, too obvious ect.  *** There MAY be repeated books in a set, but there will not be repeated chapters in a set. So there COULD be two from The Philosopher’s Stone, but they would be from different chapters! **\*
Scoring your points: It is 2 points for guessing the book, and 1 point for guessing the chapter, for a total of 21 points. It is obviously harder to guess the chapter than the book, but not everyone even cares to remember the chapter titles in the first place, which is totally fair and valid. So chapter titles are just a bonus point.

Below are the sentences and the answers hidden behind spoiler tags! These are fun to make, and I intend to make quite a few more if people keep enjoying them!

1. “Don’t cry, Mum,” said Ginny, patting her on the back as Mrs. Weasley sobbed into her shoulder.  The Half-Blood Prince - Chapter 17: A Sluggish Memory
2. They told him they’d have to cut his pocket money if he keeps doing it, so he got really angry and chucked his PlayStation out of the window.  The Goblet of Fire - Chapter 2: The Scar
3. If they pursued their fixed course, there could be no doubt about where they would end up.  The Chamber of Secrets - Chapter 15: Aragog
4. “And who exactly are you?” said Fudge, in a bored and lofty voice. The Order of the Phoenix - Chapter 8: The Hearing
5. He had just held up a hand in front of his face to see whether he could make out his fingers when it happened.  The Deathly Hallows - Chapter 19: The Silver Doe
6. With a bit of luck, Malfoy would be getting his comeuppance in a few hours’ time.  The Chamber of Secrets - Chapter 12:  The Polyjuice Potion
7. “But I s’pose if you were, you wouldn’t be able to walk and talk at the same time . . .”  The Order of the Phoenix - Chapter 1: Dudley Demented

Basically the title. It seems like an entirely different type of magic than we've ever seen, especially as it seems to persist over several decades and even causes deaths and permanent damage. Makes me wonder why other positions or jobs etc weren't similarly cursed - would have saved Voldemort a lot of trouble to curse the Headmaster position as well. Or Minister of Magic.

Sooo, I have a tendency to obsess and fixate over the characters which are considerably smaller, which in Harry Potter context means Tonks so here I am having a bit of a yap and a rant about the way she was written.

Because the way she was written is genuinely so annoying, because in Half-Blood Prince and Deathly Hallows, her entire character is centred around her relationship with Remus, and the reason it's so annoying is cause the Order of the Phoenix sets her up to be such an interesting character, like all the potential is RIGHT FREAKING THERE! She's a witch with a really cool job and this fun, insanely rare ability to change her appearance. What is not cool about that!?

Also, family dynamics is one of the biggest things in Harry Potter, and Tonks' family is one of the most complex ones in the series. Her mother is a pure-blood witch from the Black family, perhaps the worst blood-supremist family of all blood-supremist families, and she was disowned because of her love for a muggle-born wizard, this of course being Tonks' father.

That could've been such an amazing foundation and premise for her character. We see little snippets of how the Black family acted and raised the children of the family to act, and it's all very posh and old fashioned - Sirius calling Walburga Mother and all Kreacher's stories and things like that. But then with Tonks, we see her call her parents Mum and Dad father than Mother and Father, which is simple but also tells a lot, maybe it's just me but Mother and Father feels like names of authority whereas Mum and Dad is more comforting.

And there's so many other things that could be dived into to make Tonks a more developed character. She's got such a strong sense of self-expression that is so polar opposite to traditional standards and obviously a lot of it comes from her metamorphmagus abilities, but there's likely a good deal of it that also comes with the way she was brought up. Think of it, Andromeda being raised prim and proper and then making sure to raise her daughter to just be whoever she wanted to be. And the way Bellatrix was essentially the Voldemort in Tonks' mind, Bellatrix was actively targeting her all throughout the war - Tonks literally says after the Battle of the Seven Potters that Bellatrix wanted her dead just as much as the Death Eaters wanted Harry dead.

So yeah, Tonks has all the potential in the world to be an incredibly complex character. And it wouldn't be out of place if written in either, she has such a big sister energy to her and with her being an Auror and Harry wanting to become an Auror, these character details could all be naturally embedded in through Tonks giving Harry big sister Auror advice.

But instead, we didn't get any of that. After Order of the Phoenix, every scene she's in or even mentioned in focuses around her either being depressed from Remus rejecting her, or her being in a relationship with Remus. Which by the way, yes they're both consenting adults but I fear that doesn't matter, and Remus is very correct in saying he's far too old to date Tonks. They canonically met when Remus was 35 and Tonks was 22. Human brains aren't fully developed until 25.

Also another thing, Tonks is such a queer coded character. I highly doubt that it was intentional given Jkr's blatant transphobia and all the other questionable morals she has, but Tonks is one of the most queer coded characters to ever exist. She has a gender non-conforming appearance and goes by her surname in preference to her rather feminine first name, and again she's so self-expressionate.

People have been pointing out the underlying queer/trans themes of Tonks since her character was introduced, and with Jkr being so actively transphobic we know Tonks wasn't intentionally written this way, so I do not put it past Jkr to write Tonks' relationship with Remus, coincidentally another queer-coded character, purely to undo the way she'd accidentally written Tonks. Not saying that's 100% what she did, but I'm also not saying there's a 0% chance that's what she did either.

What does everyone else think about her? Am I going crazy with some of these thoughts, or do other people agree that her character had so much more potential than what she was given?

Just A normal Scenario

Obviously the muggle families would take a flight or ferry, but how in the world would magic families get there? Does the floo network go cross-continent? Surely their kids wouldn’t apparate with the parents that young. Justice for the Irish students especially in the 90s.

51 is ready for puzzling! Enjoy!

As a reminder what this is and how it works:
Below are 7 sentences from the 7 HP books. I use a random number generator to pick the book and chapter, then hand pick a sentence that I think is decent. Not too long, too short, too obvious ect.  *** There MAY be repeated books in a set, but there will not be repeated chapters in a set. So there COULD be two from The Philosopher’s Stone, but they would be from different chapters! **\*
Scoring your points: It is 2 points for guessing the book, and 1 point for guessing the chapter, for a total of 21 points. It is obviously harder to guess the chapter than the book, but not everyone even cares to remember the chapter titles in the first place, which is totally fair and valid. So chapter titles are just a bonus point.
Below are the sentences and the answers hidden behind spoiler tags! These are fun to make, and I intend to make quite a few more if people keep enjoying them!

1. And who had the old man been? The Goblet of Fire - Chapter 2: The Scar
2. “I’m grateful . . . it will make everything much easier. . . .” The Prisoner of Azkaban - Chapter 17: Cat, Rat, and Dog

 3. “Fletcher knows how to avoid capture, has many hidey-holes and accomplices.” The Deathly Hallows - Chapter 11: The Bribe

1. It scuttled away at once through the legs of the witches and wizards in front of him. The Deathly Hallows - Chapter 13: The Muggleborne Registration Committee

5, “But this is touching, Severus,” said Dumbledore seriously. The Deathly Hallows - Chapter 33: The Prince’s Tale

 6. “Wow, Hermione!” Harry whispered, unzipping the case to look inside. The Prisoner of Azkaban - Chapter 1: Owl Post

1. “It’s either really valuable or really dangerous,” said Ron. The Philosopher’s Stone - Chapter 10: Halloween

Exactly what the title says. If someone wrote a letter to Alaster Moody while he was being polyjuiced, where would the letter go?

Would the owl deliver it to Barty? Or would it try desperately to deliver it to the trunk? Sure the trunk is in Barty’s office, so he would still get the letter, but where would the owl go?

If it would take it to the trunk, that means that owls are the world's best polyjuice potion detector. You could station someone with an owl at any secure location, say the MoM, ask someone their name, address a one word letter to them, and see if the owl tries to fly elsewhere.

If it wold deliver it to Fake Moody, what does Owl Magic actually detect? Clearly they have some sort of homing magic in order to deliver the message. But if Fake Moody is a valid recipient, then there are two valid recipients at the same time, so which would It chose? They are even in the same building most of the time.

What if the letter was addressed to Barty Crouch Jr.? Would that go to Fake Moody?

I have so many questions lol

Based on the original Harry Potter novels and the officially published Harry Potter magical compendium, we can determine that the first period during which Voldemort stirred up turmoil in the wizarding world was approximately from 1970 to 1981.

On 31 October 1981, he was defeated by Lily's loving sacrifice, ending his first attempt to seize control of the wizarding world.

According to the original work, we know that Voldemort and his Death Eaters, during the First Wizarding War, committed acts of terror such as killing witches and wizards who opposed them, killing members of the Order of the Phoenix, and possibly even attacking Ministry staff who opposed the Death Eaters' actions.

However, in the fifth installment, Order of the Phoenix, Sirius also said that Voldemort's initial disguise deceived many people like his parents, and even his younger brother.

'Were–were your parents Death Eaters as well?'
'No, no, but believe me, they thought Voldemort had the right idea, they were all for the purification of the wizarding race, getting rid of Muggle-borns and having pure-bloods in charge. They weren't alone, either, there were quite a few people, before Voldemort showed his true colours, who thought he had the right idea about things... they got cold feet when they saw what he was prepared to do to get power, though. But I bet my parents thought Regulus was a right little hero for joining up at first.'

Therefore, my understanding is that perhaps for people like Sirius's parents, Voldemort may have initially disguised himself as a politician advocating conservatism and racism.

Only after he had subsequently gathered sufficient strength and support did he begin to gradually reveal his cruel and cold-blooded acts of murder.

Regulus even collected briefings about Voldemort. I think that since these were briefings Regulus could collect, they probably were not negative information such as Voldemort murdering certain people or Voldemort and his Death Eaters causing destruction somewhere.

Beneath this was a collection of yellow newspaper cuttings, all stuck together to make a ragged collage. Hermione crossed the room to examine them.
'They're all about Voldemort,' she said.' Regulus seems to have been a fan for a few years before he joined the Death Eaters...'

Perhaps Voldemort was publicly proclaiming some disgusting blood-purity ideology in the newspapers, and Regulus collected them.

If that is the case, it at least indicates that Voldemort was, for a period of time, able to appear in newspapers in a relatively normal image.

This then raises a question: when exactly did Voldemort and the Death Eaters become the cruel extremist terrorist organization that everyone in our main storyline (after Harry has grown up) refers to as a symbol of murder and a symbol of death?

Regulus joined the Death Eaters at the age of 16, around 1977, and died around 1980.

In 1977, when Regulus joined the Death Eaters, the Death Eaters and Sirius's parents all appeared very proud and pleased.

Therefore, it is reasonable to speculate that perhaps at that time the Death Eaters still maintained a subtle image, one that could at least lead Regulus, who was somewhat simple-minded and held radical ideals, to believe that Voldemort was a leader worthy of reliance.

Therefore, perhaps it was not as many fans speculate—that between 1970 and 1977, while the Marauders' generation was at school, people were continually subjected to open attacks by Death Eaters (meaning that everyone knew perfectly well that some people had been murdered by Death Eaters, rather than the cases being publicly called mysteries).

Perhaps during the earlier period of the pro-era school years, people only heard from newspapers that someone had died, but they did not know who had killed them or how they had died.

Otherwise, it would be difficult to understand why Regulus was subsequently so disappointed, displaying a sense of disillusionment that seemed to say, Voldemort, so this is your true face after all.

If Voldemort had already openly killed people and murdered innocent individuals in the name of the Death Eaters while attending school during the Marauders' era, then Regulus would have had no reason at all to feel shocked by or unable to accept Voldemort's actions.

Therefore, I think it may have been only after Regulus joined the Death Eaters that Voldemort gradually began to reveal his true nature and started openly murdering those who opposed him.

What are your thoughts? You are welcome to share discussion based on the original work.

I keep on wondering if Harry had a last and sensible conversation with Sirius Black in Ch 25 before returning to Hogwarts

When Snape insulted and indirectly taunted Sirius by saying that unlike Sirius the rest of the Order's members were very busy and risking their lives for the betterment

This line stung Sirius like nothing else

But even if Rowling herself had decided to kill Sirius in the OoTP book then the last and sensible conversation between Harry and Sirius should have been allowed

Where Harry Potter will try to explain to Sirius that Sirius' stay at Grimmauld Place on Dumbledore's order is not something to be ashamed of but from most of the Order's POV and they respect him for the same

Also when Harry and the others reached Hogsmeade after the Christmas break Harry should have personally requested Lupin to look after Sirius Black and also try to make Sirius understand further about what Harry meant.

In this way the death of Sirius Black would have felt even more powerful and impactful than the one in the canon

This would have made Dumbledore even more guilt ridden than he originally felt

What do you think about this?

I don't think Harry and Ginny shouldn't have ended up together, yeah it made perfect sense , but I feel like harry should have been single for his entire life . That would have made a better character arc for Harry . He defeated Voldemort and following the same career path as an Auror , he can use it to ward of evil even when it risks his own life and become more of a mythical figure outside England too , that would have been fun to read .

Edit: Sorry, Goblet of Fire (GoF)

Just got through the first task. Lol at Charlie seeing Hagrid eyeing the dragon eggs.

------------------------------------------
Five of Charlie's fellow keepers staggered up to the Horntail at that moment, carrying a clutch of huge granite-grey eggs between them in a blanket. They placed them carefully at the Horntail's side. Hagrid let out a moan of longing.

"I've got them counted, Hagrid," said Charlie sternly.

I think after many years I’ve just come across the biggest plot hole / lapse in judgement from Dumbledore’s character.

I just read a thread on Twitter which basically asked why Dumbledore allowed Lockhart to teach DADA if he knew he was a fraud. The replies are overwhelmingly correct…that he knew the position was cursed and used it as a vessel to expose him as a fraud.

That begs the question - why would he let Lupin teach the position the following year? A fellow member of the Order and trusted survivor of the first wizarding war. If he knew the position was cursed, and presumably so did Lupin, why would Dumbledore even let him take the position considering the previous 2 professors were deceased and braindead in St. Mungo’s? It doesn’t make any logistical sense.

Was it just a mutual understanding that it would likely be a one-year long position and both understood the risks? I find that to be a cheap answer if that’s the case, but I can’t come to an answer as to why Dumbledore would willingly allow Remus to take the post.

I can understand it couldnt have been used as actual evidence but the hosptial wing scene after the interrogation is several instances of multiple people trying to convince Fudge of something he didnt see. Dumbledore could have easily taken Fudge up to his office and showed him the memory.

I'm not saying Fudge would have been convinced but the opportunity to show Fudge something as extremely important as that had to have crossed his mind. And considering the pensieve was introduced in this book means it's use was at the whim of JK.

Wouldve been nice to see what possible and/or potential limitations exist for such a novel magical object in a situation where it would have been perfect to use.

Did lily's protection that flowed through Harry's blood mean that he couldn't ever die to the hands of voldemort?

If Voldy put a taboo on his name at the height of his power.

I dont believe its ever stated in the books or even intimated that Voldemort's name itself was dangerous when spoken in his heyday. It seems that everyone was just afraid to say it on the strength of how powerful and dangerous Voldemort and his followers were. No one in the WW except Dumbledore had the courage to say a name. That kind of fear deserves some kind of explanation beyond he killed alot of people. So did Grindewald apparently but people still say his name.

It doesnt seem like JK thought of his name being tabooed in his prime though. If we're to believe there was a taboo, Lupin would have been able to explain it when he vsisited the Trio at #12 in DH. Or at least offered that people who did have the courage to say his name were mysteriously disappeared back in they day. Lupin was just as confused about why they were tracked.

My headcanon is Voldy did taboo his name at the height of his infamy but no one figured it out til he did it after his resurrection. Someone off page put 2 and 2 together and that info trickled down to Ron.

The ominousness of the Dark Mark is discussed in GoF in how terrifying it would be to see it hovering above your house when you came home. But imagine being a proud anti-Voldemort wizard and speaking his name in the privacy of your own home or out with friends and Death Eaters pop up out of nowhere and start torturing everyone within sight? That would start rumors about Voldys name being cursed enough that people would literally shiver when it was spoken years later.

“Not to fifty!”(different fandom)

I've made 50 of these now. 350 sentences over about a month and a half! Still no idea when I will stop, but I'm still enjoying making them!

As a reminder what this is and how it works:
Below are 7 sentences from the 7 HP books. I use a random number generator to pick the book and chapter, then hand pick a sentence that I think is decent. Not too long, too short, too obvious ect.  *** There MAY be repeated books in a set, but there will not be repeated chapters in a set. So there COULD be two from The Philosopher’s Stone, but they would be from different chapters! **\*
Scoring your points: It is 2 points for guessing the book, and 1 point for guessing the chapter, for a total of 21 points. It is obviously harder to guess the chapter than the book, but not everyone even cares to remember the chapter titles in the first place, which is totally fair and valid. So chapter titles are just a bonus point.
Below are the sentences and the answers hidden behind spoiler tags! These are fun to make, and I intend to make quite a few more if people keep enjoying them!

1. “Fighting them is like fighting a many-headed monster, which, each time a neck is severed, sprouts a head even fiercer and cleverer than before.” The Half-Blood Prince - Chapter 9: The Half Blood Prince

2. “Wanted ter make a clean job of it, I suppose, or maybe he just liked killin’ by then.” The Philosopher’s Stone - Chapter 4: The Keeper of Keys

3. “When did you do all this?” Harry asked as Ron stripped off his robes. The Deathly Hallows - Chapter 9: A Place to Hide

4. He reached out a hand and felt the air behind him.  The Philosopher’s Stone - Chapter 12: The Mirror of Erised

5. “Do we — er — have to join you to get across?”The Philosopher’s Stone - Chapter 16: Through the Trapdoor

 6. “I wouldn’t bet on that,” Harry murmured, watching Snape baring his teeth. The Chamber of Secrets - Chapter 11: The Dueling Club

1. “Got Potter’s best interests at heart, have you?” The Goblet of Fire - Chapter 25: The Egg and the Eye

So I’m currently re-reading (well listening as I’m a truck driver) the books. It amazes me how many missed opportunities there were for different things to happen in the books. What would you add or change to the books? I have a few and I’m sure some won’t be liked by some but here they are?

(((SPOILERS AHEAD OBVIOUSLY)))

. It was obvious from the 2nd book that Harry and Ginny would ultimately end up together. I actually much prefer Cho Chang as a partner for Harry. I really liked their dynamic together and also always thought that Ginny should have ended up with Neville. To me that just makes sense.

. When Fred died, not only would it have been far more impactful to have it be a death caused by someone, in my opinion Bellatrix, that would have given Molly even more reason to kill her but he wouldn’t have just been seen as death fodder, he died from an explosion, not a curse directed at him. I also think a prime opportunity was missed not having Fred come back as a ghost. Imagine Fred annoying the students of Hogwarts like Peeves or even helping to run the shop with George. I always imagined Fred’s ghost coming through the floor just after Molly kills Bellatrix being a Smartarse. “Geez Mum, you wouldn’t even let George and I duel”

. I always also wanted to see Snape and Sirius put their differences aside in Order of the Phoenix. Don’t ask me why, I just think seeing them as friends, although not close friends would have been nice. They both died hating the other. I think a conversation in the book being overheard by Harry along the lines of Sirius - “look Severus, this isn’t going to work if we can’t be on the same page, we both want to come out of this on top, we need to stop this hatred, I played a horrible trick on you when we were younger, I was out of line and for that I’m sorry”

These are just a few of things I would change or add in my perfect Harry Potter rule. What would you do?

When I first read the Harry Potter series (books 1–7), I always thought Dumbledore was the good guy. Everyone praised him as the greatest headmaster Hogwarts had ever had. He seemed to do everything he could to protect Harry and teach him the right things.

Meanwhile, Snape seemed like a spy whom almost everyone hated (except Voldemort and Dumbledore). He also seemed heavily biased toward Slytherin and always picked on Gryffindor students.

However, when I reread the books, I started to see Dumbledore differently. He was always working for what he called “the greater good,” but he also used both Snape and Harry as pieces in his plans. He put them in dangerous situations and sometimes didn't even explain why they had to do those things—or only told them a tiny part of the truth.

As for Snape, his love for Lily was so strong that he was willing to work for both sides and put himself in dangerous situations. I also think Dumbledore took advantage of Snape's feelings for Lily to get him to do what he wanted.

So, in the end, who was actually the good guy? And who was the better person: Snape or Dumbledore?

I know they can wash sheets and towels and stuff, but what about clothes? Do these rich families who consider manual labor beneath them wash their own clothes? Or is there some exception in the house-elf magic that says they can wash clothes without being freed? I remember Ron saying his mom wanted a house-elf to do the ironing, so how would they iron clothes?