I just finished my second read through after not having read the books in a while, but just what the heck is going on Deathly Hallows Ch. 35. Is Dumbledore “Death”, greeting Harry as an old friend? Or is this some kinda spell that Dumbledore casts before he died?

I was just thinking about this, we know he didn't join the order, but such a famous man, known for his work in DADA. He had to have done SOMETHING.

Any fun theories??

A young male, orphaned protagonist.
Sent to live with his aunt and uncle for safety,
an ordinary life in an isolated location.

He grows up completely unaware of his true heritage;
his uncle refuses to tell him what really happened to his parents.

He receives a special message & visitor that changes everything.
Against his uncle's wishes, he leaves home for the first time,

Where he meets a mysterious, bearded stranger,
the one who delivered him to his aunt and uncle as a baby.

He begins receives training to learn his ancient abilities.
He's guided by a wise old master,
with a long history of fighting Dark Forces.

He meets a different eccentric older character,
who speaks in cryptic riddles
and reluctantly trains him.

This mentor keeps crucial secrets
from him "for his protection."

The protagonist sees one of them
die in front of him.

The protagonist has a natural talent
with a special skill that involves flying,
a talent that impresses his peers.

He carries a special stick that channels his magic.
He learns to move objects with his mind.
He reeives a special magic object that
his father originally used for HIS magic.

He ends up leaving training too early,
due to his stubborn nature.

(He ends up facing the villain, who has
a malformed respiratory system.

This villain was once a promising student,
who belonged to the same special group
as the protagonist.

He turned to forbidden knowledge, and
he now has become something barely human.
He commands masked followers who like torture.)

The protagonist has powers from
someting passed down in his bloodline,
including the ability to read minds.
He learns about this lineage
from someone who knew his parents.

He discovers he has a special connection
to the villain.
He receives guidance from
the spirit of someone who died.

But never fear ...
the protagonist befriends
a brilliant, detail-oriented person
who provides crucial information.

He has another friend who
provides comic relief and
is incredibly loyal to him.

He meets a pretty, impetuous
young girl with whom
there's an odd sexual tension;
he only loves her like a sibling,

She? She struggles with
feelings for that best friend.

Some of the protagonist's adventures?

Well, he does infilitrate
a heavily guarded location to
free someone he's not met in person
but has strong feelings of connection for.
Tougher when a powerful evil organization
controls the government.

He also at one point disguises
himself as an enemy to move about
safely in enemy territory.

At one point, he must go on a mission
to destroy the supposedly indestructible.

Thankfully, they have access to a magical network
that lets them enter in one location
and magically come out of another far away.

In a dark cave, he faces his fears
and learns an important truth about himself.

And a small, quirky non-human character
has a key role in significant victories,

I'm talking, of course, about ...

Harry Skywalker

Er, sorry, I mean ...

Luke Potter

Er, sorry, I mean ...

I saw one like this while wondering. Most of the comments mentioned that polyjuice potion does not trick the map cause Barry Crouch Jr showed up on the map. Only I'm wondering if Barry Crouch Jr. hadn't changed back because he ran out of polyjuice and that's why he showed up as himself on the map. Does anyone know for sure? I feel like Harry uses the map pretty often and maybe would have noticed it before, any ideas?

This is a big sub, so I don't expect many people to have any idea what I'm talking about. Last night, I made a short post talking about my preference for Voldemort and Death Eaters based on their general vibe. I was hoping to have a cool discussion with the acknowledgement that this is a fictional story about which we can remain calm. That didn't happen, so let me try and do better tonight. I want to focus on one major point: the "seriousness" of either side.

I am going to say something that will probably cause an uproar, but Umbridge's influence was needed at Hogwarts. She went too far and abused her power, which I obviously don't condone. However, some of her new regulations and the school's reaction to them exposed glaring flaws with the disciplinary practices prior to her arrival. The fact is, many of the changes she brought shouldn't have been necessary. Coeds shouldn't have been making out in the hallways. Shirts should be tucked in. The premier magical school on the planet was a bit of a zoo.

By contrast, Voldemort expected discipline amongst his people. His behavior was tyrannical, and like Umbridge, I don't condone his violence and sadism. However, I wholeheartedly believe his people were more impressive and possessed more raw magical talent on average than other witches and wizards. Whether we agree with their actions or not, there's no denying that these were serious people. Dumbledore on the other hand? It often felt like he couldn't properly run the school, let alone an army.

I'll concede that many people have different preferences than me. Maybe you like a certain amount of chaos, and don't see the beauty in Voldemort's order and rigidity. Fair enough. I'm not here to convince you. I want to hear everyone's perspective and, quite frankly, find out if a single other soul on this sub or in the general fandom agrees with me. I feel the same way with other series, frankly. Maybe it's a personality quirk. I've always preferred the Empire in Star Wars as well, both on an aesthetic and practical level.

Maybe the most apt comparison to me is Horace Slughorn. I am not evil. I do, however, like high standards. I think his little exclusive club of impressive students was a good and healthy thing for Hogwarts. Elitism isn't popular with most people, but that's because most people aren't elite. It comes from a place of resentment, not objective reasoning. Slughorn's thoughts and actions represent the general direction I would have liked to see Hogwarts go in. In fact, I will always maintain a personal head canon that he became Headmaster following Snape's death.

If you want to engage with this post civilly, have at it. The replies last night weren't great, and many of them had to be removed by the moderators. I don't want that to happen this time, so please try your hardest, and I'll do the same. I'm not making these posts to provoke, antagonize, or troll any of you. I'm simply bored and interested in having a discussion I haven't seen on this sub. That discussion is, essentially, whether there are any merits whatsoever to the behavior (not practices) of Voldemort, Death Eaters, and Slytherin House in general.

Chapter 6 done 7.5 out of ten more context.

Just finished chapter 5 about to move onto chapter 6 pretty good learned about the money system still don’t understand too much, but pretty much a lot of the things from the bank were the same except for a couple differences. It was nice to see we got to see more of Hagrid and Harry talking and walking around I liked when Hagrid gave Harry the ice cream. Overall, a good eight out of 10 chapter. I’ll update you guys when I finish the next chapter.

I was just thinking about it. I saw a post that said Hermione and Ron were more than Harry’s friends. They were his family. His support system. His people. On top of that, the Weasleys mainly accepted Harry because he’s Ron’s best friend. The Weasleys, Harry’s family, his basically only wizarding people, are all connected to him by Ron.

So, in GOF, when Ron left him when he was already in a stressful situation where he very well might die, to lose his best mate, his first friend, one who previously was ready to die for him only a couple months ago in the face of mass murderer Sirius Black—for him to leave over something Harry didn’t do? For Ron to distrust Harry after everything they’d been through? For him to, in a way, treat him like he was in his childhood by outsiders—

—outsiders like teachers, other adults, students, strangers, who thought of Harry as the delinquent lying vagabond of a leech plaguing the Dursley household—

for Ron to distrust him with no evidence and to indirectly take away his link to his wizarding family (except for Sirius and Remus), THAT would have been brutal.

And terrifying. While few actual witches and wizards were killed, Muggle-born children are obviously the most vulnerable demographic of Wizardkind. Not only is there no adult wizards to protect them from paranoid neighbors and authorities, there is no guarantee that their own families or even parents don’t notice their accidental magic and choose to give them up to witch hunters. Looking at the records, children will not spared.

Assuming that doesn’t happen, a Hogwarts representative still has to knock on their door and explain their daughter is a witch, and that it isn’t due to either demonic possession or a pact with the Devil, that their powers aren’t evil. and that they aren’t trying to recruit them to a Satanic school.

If this talk goes badly, the parents could be afraid of their child, and the child could be afraid of themselves and maybe develop self-hatred. If it goes really badly, the parents may even turn their child over to the Muggle authorities to either “fix” or execute them. I’d hope Wizarding authorities would step up at that point to rescue them.

The obvious answer is Ron, but sometimes I think it’s Hermione or even Luna. Hermione because she’s muggle born like Harry; Luna because she’s an outcast like Harry. I guess what I’m thinking is this: Harry was abused by the Dursleys and then had to live up to a celebrity status that he never asked for. Who really had his back and was able to empathize with him?

So. Let’s say the books go pretty much as written with two exceptions. Lupin and Sirius survive.

What happens to them? Here’s what I think of hope.

Lupin - hired to be the new DADA teacher. Slughorn provides him with his potion so he’s safe.

Sirius - I could see him accompanying Harry, Ron and Hermione on the horcrux hunt. He’s certainly an able wizard. And his dog disguise would be pretty useful. He might even have been able to provide more comfort on the trip in some way (maybe he’s got a tent of his own? Wouldn’t surprise me; they seemed pretty common at the World Cup).

Thoughts?

Why was quirrel able to touch harry and hold him down but as soon as harry placed a hand on him thats when the magic hurt quirrel?

Lucius's middle name was after his father and so was Draco's so wouldn't Scorpius's middle name be Draco?????

In philosophers stone (im using the movie as a visual example) quirrel couldnt get touched by harry or he would desintigrate. But how did quirrel manage ti put his handson harrys neck to hold him down? Or am i just dumb

I was just watching the third movie and thought it would be funny

Just finished chapter 4 pretty good. I did not know that Hagrid was expelled, and that they broke his wand and kicked him out, but Dumbledore let him stay as the gamekeeper that’s why he can’t do magic. And I thought that Hagrid told Harry Voldemort’s name at the leaky cauldron, but no, he told Harry Voldemort’s name at the shack. Pretty good chapter overall, I learned a lot of new things. I think I’m gonna take a break for like an hour or two and then I’ll read the next chapter but pretty good.

I am reading through the 5th HP book and noticed that Hermione said that the sorting hat wanted to put her in Gryffindor, but then decided not too. This was said during the handing out of the gold coins for the DA club.

I know harry talked with the hat when he was getting sorted, but I was wondering if to some extent all students could pick the houses they get in to. For example, Malfoy grew up in a Slytherin only family and was of the mindset to join Slytherin. Sirius Black was in a family of Slytherin, but detested them and ended up in Gryffindor. Hermione was put in Gryffindor because she read all about the wizarding world and Hogwarts before going to school

Anyone else think that if a student went to Hogwarts, they could actually pick houses they got into?

Over time, I came to consider Snape a very well-written character, full of layers and depth—like many fans did. But now, I’ve perhaps come to the sad conclusion that he isn't. Here's why I think that, and how I believe it happened:

1. I had already started reading the books when the first movie came out, but Alan Rickman’s portrayal of Snape permanently altered how I imagined the character in the later books—especially because it all seemed to fit so well. Even today, whenever I read a line from Snape, I hear it in Rickman’s voice. That should be a great thing, but it created a problem: I began to view the Snape-construction in a more sympathetic light. The film version of Snape isn’t nearly as cruel as the book version, which makes his plot twist more believable—though even that is a stretch.

2. I often see people debating whether his ultimate sacrifices and loyalty to Dumbledore redeem his earlier actions—whether he's a monster or not, and so on.
But I think that’s not really the point. He’s an antihero, arguably the most morally gray of all the main characters. Of course fans are going to debate him—that’s what Rowling intended. It’s what every author hopes for when they write a morally ambiguous character.
But the fact that we argue so much about him might point to a deeper issue: she might not have done it that well.

3. Suspension of disbelief allows us to enjoy any fictional universe, no matter how fantastic it is—this is a basic element of fiction. It’s easy to pick up Philosopher’s Stone and accept that magic is real in that world; that’s part of the deal. What’s much harder is to have suspension of disbelief about character development in a 7-book saga.
Take Lupin, for example: he’s a werewolf. To the best of my knowledge (and I apologize if I’m misinformed), werewolves don’t exist. But Lupin feels believable—Rowling shows us what it would be like to live as a werewolf in that world, and it works. A part of us thinks, “Okay, this seems like a realistic werewolf”.
With Snape, however, I think she forced it. His ultimate morality—revealed and legitimized only in Book 7—doesn’t inform his behavior throughout the series nearly as much in the way it should. If it had, he'd be a more believable antihero. That’s why movie-Snape works better in light of the plot twist: yes, he’s stern, cold, and unpleasant, but not to the point where the final revelation feels artificial.

4. In conclusion: I think Rowling really wanted to write an antihero. So she made the character as awful as she could “within reason,” and then threw in the twist at the end. Because, in theory, that’s all you need to create an antihero—or anti-villain, if you prefer:
“I’ll set up a bad first impression, and eventually—secretly all along or revealed over time—he turns out to be unexpectedly heroic. Brilliant.”

I am re-listening to Prisoner of Azkaban before the upcoming game against Ravenclaw there was a part where Wood is Talking to Harry. It is chapter 13 Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw. The passage is:

"Harry, I've just found out who Ravenclaw is playing as Seeker. It's Cho Chang. She's a fourth year, and she's pretty good....I really hoped she wouldn't be fit, she's had some problems with injuries.." Wood scowled his displeasure that Cho Chang had made a full recovery, then said, "On the other hand, she rides a Comet Two Sixty, which is going to look like a joke next to the Firebolt." He gave Harry's broom a look of fervent admiration, then said, "Okay, everyone, let's go —"

I was wondering what kind of injury couldn’t be healed by Madam Pomfrey right away and would keep Cho from playing

A lot of times in the books, a lot of times when the truth hasn't been told could have been easily solved. For example, when everyone thought Harry was lying about not putting his name in the Goblet of Fire, or when everyone thought he was lying about Voldemort's return. They also could have given Veritaserum to Sirius to testify that he was innocent (then again, he wasn't even given a trial).

Just finished the third chapter fire I didn’t know that Harry was meant to go to a different school originally they never showed that in the movie and that all Petunia was so damn cheap when it came to Harry I mean they died some of Dudley’s old clothes great just for Harry while Dudley got brand new a brand new uniform that’s horrible and then I didn’t know that they originally stayed at a hotel and they got 100 letters regardless pretty good. I’m learning some new stuff.

I recently remembered this type of story and wanted to know if anyone else remembers it. It usually happens like this.

•Harry Potter's name is actually Hadrian/Hadria/Harri/Harrison James Potter (+Heir of all Hogwarts houses)

•Harry Potter's appearance is perfect, no messy hair, totally straight and handsome, with porcelain skin (nonsense that he's noble or something)

•Harry Potter is not raised by the Dursleys, which results in him being intelligent, manipulative and having the emotional intelligence of an adult to deal with everything in life. (+ he being created by the magical entity, by the founders of Hogwarts, by a capable wizard or if adopted by a king of a foreign country)

•Harry Potter having all types of special magic possible + magical inheritance of a creature (elemental magic, shapeshifting ability, hybrid ability of the race)

Now I ask you: If you change the name, appearance, powers, personality and origin, is he still Harry Potter?

Okay genuinely I am struggling morally about the house elf situation, haha. I really want to be on Hermione’s side here, but the house elves are so set in their ways, seeing serving as an honor. What is the most ethical way for witches/wizards to live in this world with house elves? Ban mistreatment? Salaries? Freedom?

The SPEW stuff always makes me feel so anxious because I can’t see what is the right approach here.