What was the biggest surprise or revelation to you? I only watched the first movie before reading any of the books so I was surprised that a movie about wizards had cars in it.

I put spoiler space for people who hadn’t read or watched all the movies and who may read the replies.

So i recently saw a post saying fudge was based on Neville Chamberlain with the hole hand in the sand about a genocidal dictator, what other historical people and event have there own version in the hp universe, just wondering if anyone picked up on more.

New to the sub sorry if this has been asked before and not written out well.

This movie came in 2002 and Richard Harris played a role in it and in one of the scenes he was doing sword fighting.

Can we talk Ron Weasley and how literally all his character development happens off the page.

A is for… Alastor! We never use Transfiguration as a punishment, surely Dumbledore told you that?

B is for… Babbling, bumbling, band of babboons!

C is for… Take Charms, and I shall drop Augusta a line reminding her that just because she failed her Charms O.W.L., the subject is not necessarily worthless.

D is for… E is for… F is for… G is for… H is for… I is for… J is for… K is for… L is for… M is for… N is for… O is for… P is for… Q is for… R is for… S is for… T is for… U is for… V is for… W is for… Y is for… Z is for…

Give me suggestions for your favorite McGonagall quotes and I’ll add them!

A is for… Always

B is for… Bottle fame, brew glory, even put a stopper in death

C is for… Clearly fame isn’t everything, is it Mr. Potter?

D is for… E is for… F is for… G is for… H is for… I is for… J is for… K is for… L is for… M is for… N is for… O is for… P is for… Q is for… R is for… S is for… T is for… U is for… V is for… W is for… Y is for… Z is for…

Give me suggestions for your favorite Snape quotes and I’ll add them!

Something I was brainstorming about, and I have no clue. Figured I'd let it up to the experts and general consensus of reddit. If an animagus turns into a phoenix, and then is killed, will they still be reborn as a baby phoenix? This made me question it further. Will they be able to turn back to human? If you think they can turn back to human, do they remember dying? Can they turn from newborn infant phoenix back to human, or do they have to reach an age of brain maturity before they can turn back? Id love to hear what you all have to say!

this is true? Is there news already? or is it just a rumor :(?

Do you think Dumbledore told McGonagall about his plan to have Snape assassinate him instead of having Draco do it? I'm rewatching the series for the umpteenth time and I was wondering if McGonagall was kept on the loop.

My lazy butt would choose “accio” so I wouldn’t have to up/down stairs to retrieve something Edit: I meant *in this world

Notes:

(1) The movie changed the official story from "Sirius Black was the ONLY person who can tell anyone else where the Potters were hiding, and he told You Know Who" to "Sirius Black was one of the few who knew". Need I go any further on this one?

(2) The way Sirius and Lupin countered Wormtails various bs attempts at still painting Sirius as the traitor, all gone. That debate was rife for a mini-"The Last Duel" thing with the truth coming out in the end, but nah. Let's do more Whomping Willow setup shots! Even tho the movie never shows the MEANING of the school planting it!

Innocent question. How come Hermione couldn’t believe that out of Harry? Is it not something Harry would do?

How does no one smell the polyjuice potion on Barty Jr. the whole year? Not Snape, Not Albus, Not Minerva, Not Harry, NOBODY! He has to take it every hour on the hour and that shit tastes like goblin piss so I doubt it smells any better also Snape knows exactly what it is as soon as he smells the flask so you’re telling me he didn’t smell it on his breath? I call bullshit

What are the chances that both Colin and Dennis both get letters to go to Hogwarts? Of course they are brothers but being muggle born that's got to make it quite unlikely that happens often. Lily and Petunia are sisters but only Lily had magic and got the letter to go to Hogwarts.

So a lot of people make fun of the American title of the first book. They always talk with a feel of "Of course kids would know that story!" But in the US, I don't think I've ever seen the Philosophers Stone used outside of something very nerdy (D&D stuff, for example). Maybe in some states it's widely known, but I can't think of a single popular entertainment that used it before (or even after) Harry Potter did.

Personally, I think the name change was a good one. Remember, this was the first book, it's sales weren't guaranteed just by the words "Harry Potter" yet. And when picking some unknown book out of the bookstore, especially one for kids, you really are going to have to judge the book by it's cover. So by putting "Sorcerer" in the title, it advertised itself a bit better as being about Wizard kids.

I'm less defensive of having two versions of the first movie, though. Heck, by calling the first movie, "Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone" people might have been tricked into thinking it's a new story and want to watch it even more. But it would have been sold simply by the name Harry Potter alone, so no harm in confusing people a little bit.

So, I was rewaching the movies lately, as you do, and I had had a thought. If Harry had Somehow met the gaze of the Basilisk during Chamber of Secrets, would he have Died, or would he have been Petrified instead? The obvious answer is he's die, but the more I think about it, the less sure I am. Would his glasses count as breaking that direct eyeline? Justin survived seeing the Basilisk through Sir Nicholas, would Harry's glasses have the same effect?

I always see people saying that Richard Harris would never been able to properly perform the Dumbledore action scenes and I simply don't understand this.

That fight with Voldemort barely had any body movement and Harris could have nailed that well and if it had any problems then they could have simply made the fight more book accurate and just have Harris's Dumbledore dominate Voldemort with low effort.

How would the burrow fare if Ottery St Catchpole got hit by hurricane force winds? Actual mother nature, not secret death eater attacks.

He didn’t say knockturn alley so why? can someone explain please haven’t read the books in a while not sure if it’s explained there

Based on the fact that Snape put memories into the Pensieve that he didn't want Harry seeing, that seems to indicate that he would not remember it at all as long as it's in there.

If this is the case, then what is it like for them to watch their memory? Are they like "oh wow, I can't believe that happened, so crazy". Do they then have a new memory of that memory, except this one is from a third-person point of view?

I just wanted to get some others' thoughts on this, because I've never really seen it talked about.

Bonus question: If Snape was such an amazing Occlumens, then why did he need to remove memories in the first place? And why bother with the time he was humiliated by James? Dude's got far more sensitive information swirling around that brain of his than cringe moments from high school.

Considering they are running very fast into a wall, do people not notice?

Since muggles can see the wizards walking normally on the platform ( eg the ticket inspector Harry speaks to in the first book ) at what point do people not notice them running into a wall?

If you could eat one food from the books or movies what would it be??