u/rballmonkey

In GoF Dobby surprised Harry with socks he had knitted himself for Christmas, beaming with his delight in Harry.

Harry made a last-minute scrounge and said “I got you a present too!” Then handed Dobby his oldest most crunk socks that had previously belonged to uncle Vernon. What?!

I mean sure Dobby was pleased, but why couldn’t Harry have given him a nice pair of socks? He’s got the gold.

At least Ron then gave Dobby his hand-knitted maroon sweater.

Edit: it’s not the last minuteness of the gift or the fact that it was socks that I have a problem with… it’s the fact that Harry literally chose the oldest most disgusting pair of socks that he owns to gift Dobby. Why couldn’t he have given dobby at least an average pair of socks?

“If he was not a guest of Fleur’s, I would duel him here and now….” Krum cracked his knuckles menacingly and glowered at Xenophilius.

Harry felt perplexed. It seemed incredibly unlikely that Luna’s father was a supporter of the dark arts.

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12 chapters later? Xenophilius turns Harry over to the death eaters.

I know it’s not because Xenophilius actually supports the death eaters (he’s just desperate to get Luna back). But I love how our brains are being further primed to totally trust Xenophilius, making the betrayal all the more dramatic.

Those one line drops throughout the series that end up being bombs upon re-reading are sooo satisfying.

this universe occurred before much of social media came about, but here are my best guesses on what kind of social media presence the following characters would have. Yes, most characters here would probably choose not to even have a social media presence, but just theoretically.

- The Patil twins: ig, tons of followers
- Hermione: YouTube, long book reviews
- Ron + Harry: never check their medias (but there would be an ig solely devoted to random people spotting/ photographing Harry)
- Luna: tumbler girl
- Rita Skeeter: twitter (perhaps the one character that would really use this)
- Crabb & Goyle: dangerous tik tok challenges that Malfoy sets them up with
- Oliver Wood: Reddit, nuanced Quidditch discussions
Dobby: My Space, all top 8 friends are Harry Potter
- Professor Sprout: Facebook- she doesn’t use it much, just to keep in touch with old friends
- Professor Slughorn: massive LinkedIn
- Marietta: various, make-up tutorials

I always thought that each individual library book (and the Hogwarts library as a whole) should have some sort of magical database search and a Ctrl F spell option.

I realize this feature would undermine the plots of like a 1/3 of the HP books…

But just speaking as regular student in the Harry Potter universe, I would want some kind of magic/ spell that lets me see which books contain the words “ Nicholas Flamel,” or “ breathe/ breathing underwater.” I’d be so frustrated spending days on end pouring through hundreds of books, thousands of pages, just praying I come across the tiny scrap of information I need- I guess I’d learn more, but there’s gotta be a more efficient magical solution when doing library research.

(Yes, often the trio could not ask for help in what what they were researching because they weren’t supposed to be doing so… but I imagine other students needed the library for less sus reasons)

Are often so hilarious…and completely unethical/ inaccurate to what therapists do. I feel torn between how very entertaining the content is…and how such blatant misrepresentations may be giving huge audiences harmful understandings of therapy/ therapists.

Also, who are your favorite terrible/ unethical/ hilarious portrayals of therapists in media? 🥴

We know that both house elves and goblins utilize magic that wizards do not (apparating wherever and metal crafting respectively, to name some examples).

We know that Griphook (and other goblins) are angered by the fact that wizards (a) do not allow non-human species to carry wands, (b) do not share the secrets of crafting/ wielding wands with non-human species…so this implies that other species could perform magic with wands- otherwise there would be no point in guarding the information.

I wonder if other creatures have similar capacity and potential to use wands in the way that wizards do, or if they would have a different experience, even if they had all the same knowledge and training as wizards.

I believe from the moment of defeating Grindelwald, Dumbledore’s wand became the elder wand. But is there any canon answer/ lore about the wand that originally chose Dumbledore? Or any guesses about what you think the length, wood type, and core would be?

Also, I wonder if Dumbledore did not want to keep his original wand because there’s a possibility it performed the curse that killed Arianna 😢

My theory is that Snape that first informed them. Here’s why…

Edit 2: I was reminded of the scene in GoF where Snape showed Fudge his dark mark and explained to Fudge what it was. If even the minister of magic didn’t know, it’s even more likely that Dumbledore’s inner circle knew via Snape
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In GoF Sirius did not know that Voldemort brands his inner circle of Death Eaters with the Dark Mark. We can be sure of this because when Harry is talking to Sirius in the fireplace, he tells Sirius about how Karkaroff “showed Snape something on his arm”, and Sirius was totally perplexed by what this meant (although Sirius knows Karkaroff is a death eater).

Sirius was a solid member of the Order of the Phoenix, up until his undue arrest. You would think that if any single member of the Order of the Phoenix knew about the Dark Mark branding, this info would be widely shared; it’s useful for both distinguishing Death Eaters and understanding how Voldy summons his followers. I’m making a guess here that if Sirius did not know, no one else did. If Dumbledore knew for example why would he keep such information secret? Dumbledore, Sirius and Lupin already suspected there was a spy leaking info to Voldemort…wouldn’t knowing about the Dark Mark brand be pertinent info to share with everyone? Also people were trying to hunt down Death Eaters, and it was hard to know whether somebody was truly a Eeath Eater or just under the imperious curse. I know Voldemort did not brand all of his Death Eaters, but it’s a reasonable thing to check for (I’m unclear about whether DE can conceal it, and if magic can reveal it).

Also, Snape joins Dumbledore’s side right around the time Sirius is arrested, in the aftermath of the Potter’s being murdered. At this point Snape is divulging as much information as he can to Dumbledore about the inner workings of the Dark Lord and his followers.

It makes sense then why Dumbledore knows about the Dark Mark brand in GoF onwards (and certainly in the years before as well), why Sirius did not know about it (he’d been locked in Azkaban before Snape’s knowledge was spread to The Order), and why it’s common knowledge among most the characters as soon as it becomes relevant to the plot.

Edit: yes Snape switched sides just before the Potter’s were murdered, but the question still stands if Snape was the one to reveal the existence of the dark marks.

When Snape is interrogating Harry about “his head” being in Hogsmead, finds the blank maureder’s map, and summons Lupin to assess it.

“You think a joke shop could supply him from such a thing? You don’t think it more likely he got it *directly from the manufacturers*?!”

I guess the insults that the “spare bit of parchment” manifested were similar to those of his old school bullies used to throw at him. He suspected/ put together the Lupin & co had created it. What a walk down memory lane for Snape.

I love how Hermione develops these outlandish seeming theories…then actually ends up being *partly* right, just missing some key info. Examples:

- Developing the theory that the firebolt was sent to Harry by Sirius Black. Correct! It just took the whole plot unfolding to realize that Sirius Black was not Voldemort’s right hand man dead set on murdering Harry, but rather his caring godfather.

- Developing the theory that the author of Harry’s annotated potions book was Eileen Prince. Sorta correct! It was just her son.

No canon answer as far as I know, but it’s gotta be a snake. What are people’s best guesses for…

- Hagrid
- Filch (even though he’s a squib and can’t actually make one)
- Tonks’ original patronus
- Fred & George (can’t remember if it’s spoken to)
- Mrs. Weasley
- Bellatrix
- Draco Malfoy
- Viktor Krum
- Lavender Brown
- any other theories

That make cool art with magic? I know there’s musicians.

**In the following scene, I think Snape secretly had an antidote go to the poison in his pocket, and would not have let Trevor been permanently poisoned (or died!) had Hermione not intervened. But idk, hard to know for sure**

PoA chapter 7:

Snape strode over to Neville who was cowering by his cauldron.

“Everyone gather ‘round,” said Snape, his black eyes glittering, “ and watch what happens to Longbottom’s toad. If he has managed to produce a shrinking solution, it will shrink to a tadpole. If, as I don’t doubt, he has done it wrong his Toad is likely to be poisoned.”

*The Gryffindor’s watched fearfully. The Slytherin’s looked excited. Snape picked up Trevor the toad in his left hand, and dipped a small spoon into Neville’s potion, which was now green. He trickled a few drops down Trevor’s throat. There was a moment of hush, silence in which Trevor gulped. Then there is a small pop, and Trevor the tadpole was wiggling in Snape’s palm.

The Gryffindor’s burst into applause. Snape, looking sour, pulled a small bottle from the pocket of his robe, poured a few drops on top of Trevor, and he’ll be appeared suddenly fully grown.

“Five points from Gryffindor,” set snap, which wiped the smiles from every face. “ I told you not to help him Miss Granger. Class dismissed!”

Does anyone have dietician they’ve seen and would recommend that has STRONG FAMILIARITY with PCOS (now PMOS ofc)? I live in California and could meet with someone via zoom.

What do you think Voldemort ate? Was he a big breakfast guy, or more of a snack thoughout the day kinda person? His go-to vs his favorite meals?

Maybe he was beyond food/ didn’t need to eat…but even someone who’s gone further in immortality than any before him needs enough carbs, protein, nutrients & water.

A detail I can’t remember…

At the end of DH Harry is viewing Snape’s memories and seeing him in Grimmauld place obtaining the photo/ letter written by Lily. But why was he searching all the rooms again?

Feeling kinda touched that Petunia sent Lily a vase for Christmas as recently as when Harry was 1 yo (it’s the vase Harry smashes when he’s zooming around on the toy broomstick Sirius gave him).

Lily calls it a “horrible vase” though I’m assuming the two sisters just had different tastes.

The fact that despite all their years ruptures, Petunia continued to not only stay in touch but send gifts was just…surprisingly tender?

I know Petunia is a terrible and cruel person, but idk it was still a bit sentimental reading the passage.

How closely were other nations’ wizarding governing bodies following and/or intervening in the rise of Voldemort?

It seems like the British Ministry of Magic was solo in “handling” the whole Voldemort + Death Eaters rise to power…at least no international support was explicitly mentioned. Seems like a no-brainer for the Ministry to engage its neighbors (I mean there’s a whole department of international cooperation)… but also Rufus Scrimgeour was locked in his office, trying to open a snitch for 30 days so he wasn’t exactly pursuing the most strategic approach.

In a conversation with Harry, Krum said that Grindelwald was never powerful in [Harry’s] country and thus isn’t as feared… so I assume there are some parallels here with how Voldemort was perceived.

Though given Voldemort’s reputation and given how much the ministry of magic was struggling, I thought there would have been more support sought from neighboring governing bodies. Maybe at least from Albania😅
But also the ministry of magic was down-playing how bad things were, so maybe everybody was too proud to ask for help and the struggle wasn’t obvious to the international community.

At the beginning of the DH, the Dursleys are going into hiding so the death eaters do not murder them, or hold them hostage/ torture them to lure Harry in.

There’s that awkward pause between Vernon and Harry where both are wondering if Harry would attempt to rescue them were the Dursleys held hostage.

(Yes Harry saved Dudley from that dementor, but Harry was already right there on the scene and knew the right spell. I’m talking about would Harry go out of his way into a booby-trapped throng of death eaters, and possibly Voldemort himself if he heard his aunt/ uncle/ cousin were captured.)

Do you think Harry would risk his life to save the Dursleys? Under what circumstances would he try or not try?

Did Firenze take the divination teaching job at Hogwarts just to do Dumbledore a favor? Giving up your entire connection to home, family, community, friends and tribe *forever* is kind of huge sacrifice. I get that Firenze had different ideologies than Bane etc, but still, I would have said “sorry but no thanks Dumbledore, I’d like to see my family and friends in this lifetime.” Was there some deeper reason Firenze agreed to take the job?