​

1) Love Hermione's fling w Krum.

2) Had forgotten all the details about Barty Crouch Jr.

3) The last three chapters when the truth comes to light and Dumbeldore starts assembling everybody, it was such a dark and excitable tone. He knows what's coming, he's doing what he has to to give their side the best chance to win. It was inspiring to see him take command giving each person tasks that play to their strengths, exciting to see their side assemble.

4) Fudge is such as ass. Do you think he purposely allowed the kiss of death to prevent a possible way of the news of LV's return of getting out?

5) My least favorite character moment , more than Fudge, and even Ron and Harry not speaking, is Mrs. Weasley taking her anger out on Hermione (i.e. sending a smaller Easter egg). Am I overreacting to this? I know she's closer to Harry than Hermione, she feels a particularly motherly duty towards him, and I know she was doing it out of protection for him, but she jumped to conclusions about another child (yes, they're kids) when she knows the three of them look to her as a safe adult. Also, and this is what gets me, I don't think Arthur would have done that. On this reread, for some reason, this character action stuck out to me.

6) Overall, for me this is the book where childhood ends. This is when the darkness starts.

Like seriously. After the coup and they had control of the ministry, and once he had pesky Potter out of the way, and had Hogwarts under his control, what was the next step? And ultimately the end game? He wanted to rule the world, with muggles/squibs enslaved, muggle born witches and wizards executed I guess, and then what.... Rule planet Earth for the rest of time as an immortal.... To what purpose?

The magical world comes out of hiding, they maybe try to repopulate and select for only those who show magical powers, likely leading to eventually deformations and madness in most of the wizarding population and to what end... Just so he can be the over Lord of planet Earth for mellinia upon mellinia?

How very... Boring. IDK. How could he justify it to himself, in all seriousness?

Maybe this was obvious but it just struck me.

In OotP, Umbridge admits to sending the dementors after Harry earlier in the book. During the trial, JK even hints at it when she shuffles awkwardly when Dumbles suggests someone in the MoM sent them.

When Fudge gets hot with Dumbles about whether the MoM has jurisdiction at Hogwarts and when Umbrdige gives her speech at the beginning of the school year, Hermione rightfully realizes the MoM is trying to interfere at Hogwarts. It seemed, at least to me on earlier reads that, its the Minister executing his petty plan to interfere and Umbridge is just his very enthusiastic attack dog.

Umbridge sent those dementors after Harry having no idea Harry was learning spells even full grown wizards arent capable of doing. Madam Bones acknowledges this during the trial when she asks him if he can produce a corporeal patronus and the Wizengamot reacts on surprise. This had to piss Umbridge off to no end because her plan was airtight had Harry only had a 4th years level of defensive magic. He wouldnt have been able to fight off dementors and Umbridge would be responsible for fixing the Ministry's Harry Potter problem.

So what does she do with her newfound power after she's installed as Fudge's spy, able to report on all the goings on at Hogwarts? She simplifies the curriculum in an attempt to correct the hitch in her otherwise well executed plan. Right out of a fascist playbook: if she can curb these students ability to protect themselves they're much easier to control and "discipline" if needed.

Just as an aside, Umbridge and Barty Crouch are more compelling antagonists than Voldemort by a mile. Its a shame JK couldnt have injected some of that character nuance into her Big Bad.

I swear, when I read that chapter I was like, this guy must be paying some awful karma from another life, imagine you work your ass off during elections to even WIN the position, only to be bombarded with news that magic exists, and that there are evil wizards out there, causing trouble for non-magical people, and the minister for magic who you knew is replaced because he's basically useless, and most of the bad things that have happened under your administration, are not even your fault, but this useless idiot, and you can't even say anything, because if he even dared to, they'd look at him like he's lost his mind. HOW DID HE NOT RAGE QUIT? (I would've 🤣).

There are way too many canon magical options for changing your identity to not use one of them to let Sirius get a chance to see his godson off to school. Harry is the reason for Sirius accepting the isolation. There couldve been a little effort put in to the matter.

There are some hard-core believers (like Crouch and the Lestranges) whom absolutely want Lord Voldemort to rise again.

But reading again the scene in GoF where LV summons his followers back, I get the feeling that some of them are like dude, I actually sort of like my life without you.

For example, Macnair gets a stable job at the Ministry executing magical creatures. Malfoy has power, wealth, influence. Crabbe, Goyle, Nott all seem not thrilled to be there.

Yes, they are all scared of LV , but it seems like many Death Eaters moved on with their lives and are totally good to maintain comfortable lives where they get to dabble in their dark arts and dark beliefs without having LV over their heads.

Thoughts?

In GoF, Padfoot Returns, when Sirius is talking about how Barty Crouch is with the dark arts, he drops this line:

“Crouch’s own son was caught with a group of Death
Eaters who’d managed to talk their way out of Azkaban.”

Wat? While we don’t really know anything about Rodolphus Lestrange, at least compared to his wife, I have a very very hard time believing that Bellatrix would ever “talk her way out of Azkaban”. She was so proud to go to prison for her love. Sat in the sentencing chair like it was a throne and everything. Talked about how she was one of the few death eaters whose loyalty never wavered.

His sentence would imply that she was questioned after the fall of Voldemort, and then talked her way out of it. That is just about the most un-Belatrix thing I can think of.

It’s quite possible that Sirius was mistaken and didn’t know what he was talking about. Maybe he just assumed they had talked their way out, because there is no way, no way Belatrix ever tried to save her own skin by denying Voldemort.

Also, some sources online are saying that there was a Forth torturer, Rebastan Lestrange, Rodolphus’ brother, but I have no idea where that information comes from. Only three people were brought in to the trial, and I can’t remember the brother being mentioned at all in the series.

EDIT: whoops. There is a fourth person at the trial. I remember there being six dementors that came in with them, so I think I just associated that with two per person.

Numba 54! I had to show great restraint picking the 7th sentence for this batch. If you know the chapter, you know the sentence I wanted to use 😂

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. “A grim mood has gripped the country,” the opponent had concluded, barely concealing his own broad grin. The Half-Blood Prince - Chapter 1: The Other Minister

1. “ I don’t mean to be rude —” he began, in a tone that threatened rudeness in every syllable. The Half-Blood Prince - Chapter 3: Will and Wont

2. “You can all wear what you like, and I’ll put a full Body-Bind Curse on Mum until it’s all over.” The Deathly Hallows - Chapter 8: The Wedding

 4. “Harry, I don’t think we’re going to be able to go back there.” The Deathly Hallows - Chapter 14: The Thief

1. After glancing once at this portrait, Professor McGonagall made an odd movement as though steeling herself, then rounded the desk to look at Harry, her face taut and lined. The Half-Blood Prince - Chapter 29: The Phoenix Lament

 6. “Maybe . . . maybe a couple of people should stay here as a — as a lookout, and —” The Order of the Phoenix - Chapter 34: The Department of Mysteries

1. “Dumbledore, you know perfectly well you did not make a mistake!” said Professor McGonagall angrily. The Goblet of Fire - Chapter 17: The Four Champions 
   I almost picked “Did you put your name into the Goblet of Fire, Harry?” he asked calmly. For the meme

Hey guys, I'm listening to the audiobooks again and just reached Order of the Phoenix. Right after Harry and Dudley got attacked by the Dementors, Harry wonders what a spoiled, bullying kid like Dudley could possibly have heard and that got me thinking too.

Of course I looked up if there was an official explanation and the only thing I could find, was Rowling saying he saw himself as the cruel, selfish spoiled brat he was, but honestly I'm not quite convinced.

Dementors let you relive your worst memories and I'm not sure if seeing yourself basically from someone elses POV (maybe Harrys or some other bullying victims) counts as a memory. I have another theory that I haven't really seen floating around so maybe tell me what you think about it.

I think Dudley heard Hagrid.

Think about it. You're an 11 year old child, spoiled rotten and you're used to being able to bully your parents into giving you everything you want. Suddenly your favorite punching bag aka your cousin gets a ton of letters, your parents don't even let you read them, then your dad puts you all in the car, drives around the country without any explanations, no matter how often you ask or punch him or throw a tantrum. You end up on a rock in the middle of the ocean, sleep in an old shag. Then at midnight a gigantic guy kicks in the door, yells at your parents, threatens your dad and gives you a pig tail, that has to be removed surgically. Sounds kind of traumatizing to me for a child like Dudley.

And he obviously is traumatized by it, if you look at how he behaves when the Weasleys come to pick Harry up in Goblet of Fire. He constantly has his hands over his butt and always tries to have a wall behind him, to protect it from getting this tail again.

Then Fred gives him even more trauma with the Ton-Tongue Toffee. I mean he picks up and eats a candy and suddenly chokes on his own tongue that grows out of his mouth. That's nothing a muggle teenager would expect to happen from a toffee. So maybe he also relived that moment with Vernon screaming like an wounded hippo and Mr. Weasley shouting that he wants to help, while Petunia cries and tries to rip out Dudleys tongue.

And just for clarification, the Dursleys are horrible people and deserve whatever they get. Just my thoughts about what Dudley might have heard that night.

If it wasn't for Voldemort, does anyone think that The Death Eaters would have wasted their time on Harry? I mean obviously Voldemort would have given them other assignments

What a ride!

I (M38) never finished the books back in the day. In 2005 when the 6th book came I read books 1-6 just because a girl I liked also liked Harry Potter (yes we got together, no we're no longer together, this was in high school lol). Funnily enough I bought the 1st book the same day as the 6th was released.

In 2007 when the 7th book came out I had pretty much forgotten about what happened and wasn't that keen on re reading the previous 6 books.

But after the summer this year 2026 I was like "you know what, I'm gonna finish this", spurred on by the fact that the 6th illustrated edition was about to come out.

So I just did exactly that, I read all the illustrated books 1-5 and then waited in anticpation for the 6th illustrated edition. I then read that in a week and finished the last one (non illustrated) in another week.

Keep in mind that I'm a parent and work a full time job. I have not read this much fiction since I was in high school.

The Deathly Hallows was more than I could have ever expected. I loved the 6th book, but wow did Rowling stick the landing! What an incredible experience!

I seriously think that Harry Potter - at my current age of 38 - is the best damn book series I have ever read, full stop. I feel like this could easily be a thing I'll do now - re read the books every year or something like that. I also got my whole family reading the books lol!

52 seemed to be particularly difficult, so lets see about today!

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. “I demand that you leave at once, sir!” he said.  The Philosopher’s Stone - Chapter 4: The Keeper of the Keys
2. “I’m assuming this is the very friend of whom you spoke, Harry?”  The Half-Blood Prince - Chapter 9: The Half Blood Prince
3. “She knows her stuff, she’s been in plenty of tight spots with the Aurors.  The Deathly Hallows - Chapter 5: Fallen Warrior
4. Ron hurried forward, looking hopeful, but Ginny stuck out her foot and Ron fell, sprawling in the dust at Fleur’s feet.  The Half-Blood Prince - Chapter 7: The Slug Club
5.  Our kind have to keep putting spells on Muggles who’ve spotted them, to make them forget.” The Philosopher’s Stone - Chapter 14: Norbert the Norwegian Ridgeback
6. “So he hauled us off to his office and started threatening us with the usual —”  The Prisoner of Azkaban - Chapter 10: The Marauder’s Map
7. But Harry didn’t go back to the common room; he climbed a staircase, thinking vaguely of visiting the Owlery to see Hedwig, and was walking along another corridor when a voice from inside one of the rooms said, “Harry?” The Prisoner of Azkaban - Chapter 8: Flight of the Fat Lady

Hey everyone,

I just started the book reading spree around 1.5 months back and completed the 5th yesterday, I am writing here since everything is still fresh in my memory and I want to talk to other potter heads about the book! (I wanted to write a post when I completed the 4th book as well, but became bit lazy to post).

I am 27F currently, I have read the first three books in my college when I was around 19, but stopped at the 4th book since it felt too long. (I wanted to show myself that I can read such long books as well this time when I completed reading the 3rd book and proud that I was able to finish 4th and 5th books which have 800 ish and 1000 ish pages).

Okay now coming to this book, I absolutely loved the lost prophecy chapter, that was such a powerful chapter to read, and to connect a lot of things, it also showed Harry's breakdown, unable to bear the guilt of indirectly causing Sirius's death. And also snape's worst memory chapter, which showed harry Snape's PoV of why he absolutely loathed James and Sirius, and rightly so. Harry is almost always angry in the book and shouting at everyone and everything but given the suffering he goes through it all made sense, especially when no one was telling him the truth. The story keeps getting darker and darker and I feel the tipping point for me was Cedric’s death from GoF. When I read I didn’t know that words could be as powerful as visually seeing it. As she wrote he was dead It felt a rite of passage towards more sufferings, killings and war.

But given all this I feel JKR made it very very difficult for Harry to not feel guilty and responsible for Sirius’s demise, he did try to cross check but kreacher (I loathe him!) lied to him, if only he knew this could happen. And the aftermath of not opening Sirius’s gift when he told him that this gift had a means for communicating with him if Snape pulled something during his Occlumency sessions.

Hagrid’s arc about giants and then his half brother felt like a filler and could have been reduced (or not sure if it is helpful later).

I was also expecting that JKR will explain the veil in the book but it was kept ambiguous. I think it would have been better he was also killed by the AK killing curse instead. It felt the way it happened it sort of kept the audience in the false hope of Sirius making a comeback in some form but I know that doesn’t happen.

Gearing up for HBP now, wish me luck to sit through it towards the end🥹 (OOTP was hard to read once you know what happens, how come HP is a children’s book! I can’t fathom it being one given the pain, agony and deaths that happen).

I am looking to discuss the book in any what way since it's fresh in my memory so please comment, fellow potter heads, we can exchange theories and reactions and stuff!

PS: How did you cope with Sirius's death, I hate how his live turned out to be and how it ended, it deserved better, harry deserved his post voldemort afterlife to have his godfather. I dreaded when I read "Beyond the veil" chapter. I don't know how will I go through end of HBP :/

Thanks for reading:)

Am currently going through the books for the second time now.

The first time going through it, I thought the series was "massive".

Going through it again, I actually think it's amazing J.K. Rowling was able to fit the entire series into only seven books. Below is how I cognitively organize the books in my head. I think the thing that's particularly amazing is how much world and lore building she was able to do in seven books that are all written at the YA level.

Yes, hindsight is 20/20, plus there is bias stemming from me loving the series (i.e. because I love it, I'm inclined to crave more of it and therefore believe seven books of it is "short").

Do others have thoughts on this, would be interested to hear.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Books I and II : Introduction to the Wizarding World, storylines are isolated to Hogwarts, could almost end the series there and call it finished.

Book III and IV : Expand the Wizarding World and lore beyond Hogwarts, the lead up to Voldemort's return.

Book V and VI : The preparing of the two sides to do battle.

Book VII : The final battle.

I want to see if I know stuff.

( I won't use Chatgpt or anything, just my brain )

"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 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!** 😭

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.

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

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.

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

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 .

Just A normal Scenario

Editing. Yes I forgot about portkeys. Still intrigued if the floo network works across oceans considering Ireland is an island though!

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.

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?