272
As you can see from the Marauder's Map (seen in the end credits of "Prisoner of Azkaban") certain elements of the student body are clearly up to naughtiness.
That being said, the creator of the end-credits is adamant that they're not having sex.
"Maybe it was meant to be Harry, but we've all been kids, we've all
been in school and stuff ... It was just ...
243
The Sorting Hat actually spent a long time deliberating over Hermione. She mentions it when somebody asks her about a particularly complicated piece of magic in Order of the Phoenix:
“How come you’re not in Ravenclaw?” he [Terry Boot] demanded, staring at Hermione with something close to wonder. “With brains like yours?”
“Well, the Sorting Hat did seriously ...
200
He did not trust himself to have more power
As a young man, Dumbledore was tempted by the idea of power over others. It’s how he was drawn in by Grindelwald’s anti-Muggle beliefs (that and his romantic infatuation with Grindelwald, I suppose). As such, he felt it was too dangerous for him to be in a position of responsibility in the magical community:
“...
193
Dates
From alexwlchan's excellent answer here (emphasis mine):
I know that Harry Potter Wikia isn’t usually considered canon, but they have a list of dating contradictions which looks fairly accurate. To me, most of this list can be written off as JK Rowling's dodgy maths, but I thought I'd pick on one example.
For example, in Goblet of Fire, ...
191
Seven is the most powerfully magical number.
“Yes, sir,” said Riddle. “What I don’t understand, though — just out of curiosity — I mean, would one Horcrux be much use? Can you only split your soul once? Wouldn’t it be better, make you stronger, to have your soul in more pieces, I mean, for instance, isn’t seven the most powerfully magical number, wouldn’t ...
187
Long-winded analysis follows arguing the toss, but there is one way in which it is very important.
The fact that Snape was the Half-Blood Prince enables him to identify that Harry cursed Malfoy with Sectumsempra. Hence he asks about Harry's Potions book and bids Harry to bring him his books. This is what causes Harry to hide his copy in the Room of ...
178
Well, as you pointed out, Harry used Snape's old textbook, which had a lot of Snape's 'cheatcodes' inside. What must be remembered is that Snape actually had the original textbook with the faulty recipes. And obviously since his dad was a Muggle, he wasn't raised with much background on Potions. So it wasn't like he took one look at the Potions recipe and ...
175
The reason that the Order did not assist in hunting horcruxes is that the Order did not know anything about it. Dumbledore never told anyone besides Harry, and he gave Harry strict orders to not tell anyone besides Ron and Hermione. At the end of Half-Blood Prince Harry has the following conversation with McGonagall:
After glancing once at this portrait, ...
174
Stuff and nonsense. Why would you need to remark on Hermione's "very brown" skin if that was its normal shade? This is very clearly saying that both Ron and Hermione have been spending more time in the sun than they usually do; in Ron, it comes out as freckles, and in Hermione, it manifests as a tan.
Add in the book covers (by the time the later books, and ...
171
I don't think he chose "Dumbledore" as his password. He was an accomplished double agent, and would have chosen a suitable password that would avoid arousing suspicion from either side.
There are a few potential explanations:
It wasn't the password at all
We know from Order of the Phoenix that the gargoyle controlling access to the Headmaster's ...
170
A logical and acceptable in-universe explanation of why Harry, Hermione and the Order of the Phoenix don’t use Muggle technology, specifically guns and knives, is that they never attempt to kill, but only to incapacitate or capture Death Eaters. Refer to that restaurant scene in Deathly Hallows.
The lowest common denominator of the HP series has been love. ...
169
Using a Boggart against many people is not a good idea:
From the lesson on boggarts:
‘This means,’ said Professor Lupin, ‘that we have a huge advantage over the Boggart before we begin. Have you spotted it, Harry?’
‘Er – because there are so many of us, it won’t know what shape it should be?’
‘Precisely,’ said Professor Lupin. ‘It’s always best to have ...
168
If we're willing to accept going from good to doing bad things as being partially evil, then there's an obvious answer no one's mentioned:
Harry Potter.
Harry does a number of morally questionable things in Deathly Hallows. Many of them can be written off as desperate times calling for desperate measures, such as Imperiusing Gringotts staff. However, he ...
161
It appears to be a two-tier, cantilever sewing box.
Given that Molly is a known knitter, those large orange round things are likely to be balls of orange wool.
157
The way it’s described in the books makes it sound like it was just a question for Ginny to answer:
“Now, what’s the platform number?” said the boys’ mother.
“Nine and three-quarters!” piped a small girl, also red-headed, who was holding her hand. “Mum, can’t I go…”
The boys go straight through the barrier, so they must be standing right next to it. It ...
150
Living with his blood family gives Harry magical protection.
"While you can still call home the place where your mother's blood dwells, there you cannot be touched or harmed by Voldemort. He shed her blood, but it lives on in you and her sister. Her blood became your refuge. You need return there only once a year, but as long as you can still call it home,...
146
Those that don't know him from school call him Hagrid because he tells them to.
‘Call me Hagrid,’ he said, ‘everyone does. An’ like I told yeh, I’m
Keeper of Keys at Hogwarts – yeh’ll know all about Hogwarts, o’
course.’
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
Presumably those that do know him from school call him Hagrid because it's quite common at ...
144
Although not exactly evidence, Rowling has done occasional sketches of her characters, all of which portray Hermione as having light skin:
In 1999, she did a sketch of her main characters, but I don't know the story behind it:
She released a sketch of a scene from Philosopher's Stone on her website in 2004 (archived by the HP Lexicon):
The fifth character,...
140
Magic, in the wizarding world, is certainly powerful. To us, coming from the outside, it might seem like it can do anything. But it can't, due to various rules and stipulations we only know in part. To us, they may seem arbitrary - reversing time, yes, but reversing death, no? - but the differences are probably clearer on the inside.
Consider our own ...
answered Apr 23 '17 at 16:22
Avner Shahar-Kashtan
28.5k6 gold badges113 silver badges124 bronze badges
135
Dumbledore encouraged people to call him Voldemort, rather than You-Know-Who, because there was a lot of fear not just of Voldemort, but merely saying his name. If Dumbledore can remove that then when Voldemort returned - as Dumbledore suspected he would - there would hopefully be a lot more people willing to stand against him.
“Sir?” said Harry. “I’ve been ...
135
It's difficult to say without Rowling herself weighing in, but it's not all that hard to come up with this kind of anagram from just about any villainous name you like. Note that not only is she adding "I am" to make it come out nicer, but she's also using the totally made-up middle name "Marvolo."
For example, if she'd decided to write about the ...
133
Yes
Agatha Chubb was a wizarding archeologist. Not to be confused with Agatha Timms, noted eel farm owner and non-professional gambler.
Albert Runcorne was a Ministry of Magic employee. Not to be confused with Albert Boot, The former Minster of Magic (1747-1752).
Arthur A. Levine was a noted publisher of books (including 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find ...
133
Speculation:
He's using it as further evidence that Snape had turned against Voldemort and had been playing him the entire time.
He's calling out to Voldemort that not only was his attack on Harry and his family part of his original undoing - but it will ultimately serve to be part of his final undoing and Snape will have had a hand in that, all because ...
133
It will be difficult to provide a definitive "canon reason", however, there are canon hints that can be used.
The first representative of Professional Quidditch that Harry meets, Ludo Bagman, is not impressive. A has-been star, his personal comportment is off-putting. He offers to help Harry cheat, presumably to help Ludo cover his own bookie debts, and ...
131
The books mainly focus on Harry, Ron, and Hermione (with occasional dalliances towards other students, primarily when they interact with the main trio). They don't really pair up much with anyone in the series. Hermione's daliance with Victor Krum isn't implied to be sexual, just romantic, and takes place largely off-screen. Harry doesn't pursue anything ...
131
Hagrid is virtually the only occupant of a 'middle ground' in the Hogwarts hierarchy.
The two principal 'classes' (for want of a better word) at Hogwarts are the pupils and the staff. Within the classes everyone calls each other by their first names - Harry calls Ron 'Ron', and Dumbledore calls Snape 'Severus'. But pupils call staff by their last names, and ...
130
In Harry Potter and Deathly Hallows, Chapter 15, The Goblin's Revenge, when Ted Tonks asks Griphook why was he on the run, Griphook answers:
"What about you, Griphook?"
"Similar reasons," said the higher-voiced goblin. "Gringotts is no longer under sole control of my race. I recognize no master."
According to this paragraph I assume that the Goblins of ...
129
The Sword of Gryffindor entry on Pottermore explicitly answers this question:
The question of why a wizard would need a sword, though often asked,
is easily answered. In the days before the International Statute of
Secrecy, when wizards mingled freely with Muggles, they would use
swords to defend themselves just as often as wands. Indeed, it was
...
128
She doesn't know that it happened, but she can make an educated guess
The implication is that McGonagall (correctly) assumed that Harry hadn't actually understood the subtext of Umbridge's speech, and is regurgitating an analysis given to him by somebody else. Since Hermione is one of his best friends, as well as the sort of person who would have understood ...
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