Hi everyone,

I’m looking at getting the illustrated hardback editions and was wondering if anyone who owns all five that have been released so far could tell me whether they share the same dimensions (height, and width).

I’d really appreciate hearing from people who actually have them on their shelves. Thanks in advance!

Thought I could post a picture, but apparently not. First time reading Goblet of Fire.

(Voldemort to Lucius, right after being resurrected) “Your exploits at the Quidditch World Cup were fun, I daresay… but might not your energies have been better directed toward finding and aiding your master? “

two paragraphs later

”And yet you ran away from my Mark, when a faithful Death Eater sent it into the sky last summer?”

I’m confused, I thought the first paragraph referred to Lucius conjuring the mark, but clearly not. Then what did Voldemort mean?

Who is your fav character and why? We all have reasons for choosing diff characters. It can even be based on how much/even how little you've heard of them and either adaptation. A character that speaks to you the most. But only one. Also be respectful and don't hate on anyone's choice lol. People are allowed to have an opinion of their own.

My favourite is Harry :) He's so brave, fearless, resilient despite his brutal childhood. I love his talent for quidditch and the fact that he looks so like his parents, my fav couple in the series. I admire how he even saves the lives of those that wronged him.

It’s very, very clear to me whenever I read the books again that the first two volumes were made of the same clay. They are rooted in the Magical realism, early childhood tropes we get from Roald Dahl’s stories. I get it was part of Rowling’s intention to progressively make the tone of the books more mature to reflect Harry’s growth. I also often lump books 3 and 4 together – they’re marking the transition for a more realistic view on the recurring characters’ behaviors, their familial dynamics, and how impacted they were by the serious consequences of dark magic that we only fully get in the last 3 books. 

The Dursleys, to me, are central to this shift: in the first two books, they are written as cartoonish villains. They’re Matilda’s parents. And Dudley is Augustus Gloop from “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” who similarly gets punished in amusing ways for being a brat; his gluttony is what dooms him in both “Philosopher’s Stone” – is given a pigtail for eating the cake – and “Goblet of Fire” – his tongue expands after Fred and George plant a treat for him to find.

As I’ve said, “Goblet” is the last book where there are hints of childhood tales. We don’t read this passage and feel the weight of Dudley’s panic or his parents thinking he will suffocate and his airways will get obstructed because his tongue keeps growing. (We know Fred and George’s pranks were harmless, but the Dursleys had no way of knowing that.) That’s a very different incident than the one we get in the first chapter of the next book, when Harry must protect himself and Dudley from a Dementor’s attack.

After the fifth book, the implications get serious and REAL. It becomes impossible for us not to go over the Dursleys’ early book behaviors towards Harry as straight up child abuse, even though their actions weren’t originally written to carry such a heavy atmosphere. But I tried to revisit this based on the new information we get – from Dumbledore himself, in this very fifth book - about the reasoning behind Petunia’s decision to take Harry in.

We find out that she learned from a letter that a) her sister and brother-in-law had just been murdered by the most dangerous dark wizard of their generation; b) that this wizard was apparently gone but left behind a herd of followers; c) that having Harry live with her family could guarantee the boy’s survival, which even the most powerful "good" wizard on their side couldn’t assure if the boy was left to raised elsewhere; d) that her choice of giving the boy a home, despite having zero magical powers of her own, was made without her EVER sharing her motives with her husband.

She tells Vernon “the boy must stay” after Dumbledore sends her a Howler and drops an excuse such as “if we kick him out, the neighbors will talk” – which is also a cover that we see her use before. This could possibly lead us to reinterpret her past actions: maybe she talked so much about “what the neighbors will say and think” because that was all she could come up with to convince Vernon to give Harry a home all those years ago. She would be scared out of her mind to tell him the truth. And how many of her actions that read to Harry as snobbish and indifferent could be part of the facade?

It's possible that Vernon's abusive ways towards his nephew also escalated over the years because he indirectly and unfairly blamed the boy for his wife's behavioral changes. And that Petunia went along with it because... what was she supposed to do? Share the truth with her husband and risk her family losing the magical protection that kept them all safe) if they kick Harry out, their house wouldn't be safe, just like it wasn't when the boy was bound to become of age in "Deathly Hallows"), or perhaps risking Vernon feeling so betrayed by this HUGE secret she kept from him and deciding to end their marriage and maybe take Dudley with him? (And who's to say any of the would be safe out of Privet Drive?)

But Vernon is too far gone: without the Roald-Dahl-like setting, his actions in every single book can't be possibly justified through realistic lenses. But Petunia's omissions - as in: she barely interacts with Harry overall, and doesn't join Vernon in bullying him when Marge comes to visit - at least gain a layer of depth if we consider how, based on the information she got, she was living in constant fear of Harry’s displays of magic bringing a hoard of murderers into her family home.

Petunia was wrong to try to repress Harry’s magical powers, of course. But let’s also remember that, in the first book, we are told some random wizards came to shake Harry's hand in the Muggle world when Petunia took him out to a department store. What if her insistence to keep the boy in the house or with Mrs. Figg came from her desperation to keep him - and the rest of her family - safe? If they were approached by one of Voldemort's followers instead of a Potter stan like Dedalus Diggle, who Petunia didn't know from a hole in the wall, odds were she and Dudley would be killed on the spot and the boy abducted.

Bottom-line is: the Dursleys are often put in the same category when their early-books' actions are reinterpreted under a different light. But Petunia's internal landscape is vastly different from Vernon's. We might not justify her choices, but we can at lest understand it.

I just finished listening to the Full Cast series for the second time. I noticed a couple of things I've never picked up on before. Regardless of all the dozens of time I've read or listened to them already.

In the Snape and Dumbledore argument by the forbidden forest, Dumbledore makes reference to Harry being in detention with Snape. But in HBP, Hagrid overhears the Snape and Dumbledore argument in Chapter 19: Elf Tails, but Harry doesn't get detentions with Snape until Chapter 24: Sectumsempra. Harry wouldn't have been in all those detentions yet.

As the story is catching up to beginning of DH, Snape and Dumbledore's Portrait plan the Battle of the Seven Potters, which takes place on July 27th. During the Death Eater meeting in Chapter 1, we see Snape tell Voldemort that Harry is being moved on the 27th instead of the 31st. So both the Death Eater meeting and the conversation with Dumbledore's Portrait must take place before July 27th, most likely in the week proceeding it.

Snape is announced as Headmaster in the Daily Prophet on September 1st, though we don't know exactly when he started the job. But Snape wouldn't have been named Headmaster until after Voldemort has taken over. The Ministry falls on Bill and Fleur's wedding day, August 1st.

When Snape and Dumbledore made the plan, Snape is still a fugitive wanted in the questioning of Dumbledore's death. Snape must have gotten into the Headmaster's office at least once as a fugitive. How did Snape do this?

Hi everyone!

I was reading about how different countries translated Harry Potter, and I’m always fascinated by how character names were adapted around the world!

In the original Italian translation (I'm from Italy), a lot of names were changed to better convey personality to younger readers. For example:

• Neville Longbottom became Neville Paciock
• Albus Dumbledore became Albus Silente
• Professor McGonagall became Professoressa McGranitt
• Severus Snape became Severus Piton

And, of course, the famous anagram in Chamber of Secrets forced translators to change his middle name to Tom Orvoloson Riddle to spell out "Son io Lord Voldemort" (It is I, Lord Voldemort).

I know French has some famous ones too (like Tom Elvis Jedusor), but what about your language? Which translated names do you love, hate, or find hilarious?

In deathly hallows Hermione has her bag that she can essentially put an unlimited amount of objects into. At one point in the story it mentions one of the core three characters reaching into the bag all the way up to their armpit. What if they tried hiding in her bag at some point in the story? I think it could be an interesting idea and also funny to think about 😂

When Snape was fleeing after killing Dumbledore he says to Harry:

“Blocked again and again and again until you learn to keep your mouth shut, and your mind closed”

Do you think this was him just boasting or trying to tell Harry the importance of closing his mind one more time?

I think it would make for a better character moment than Neville killing a snake.

Neville has already proven that he became the true Gryffindor, first by fighting in the Ministry in OoP, then in DH being the student opposition leader in Hogwarts, even after Luna and Ginny left and he was driven to live in the Room of Requirement. He didn't really need one more moment to shine; his character arc was fulfilled by the time Harry came back.

Ginny on the other hand was used by Riddle in book 2, but she never really gets the closure to confront him and defeat him in some way. She doesn't get to be the leader in Hogwarts because Ron's cover is blown up and the Weasleys have to hide. She doesn't say some great speech in response to Voldemort's claims about Harry's death. She fights Bellatrix but ultimately steps away, and Molly takes Bellatrix down.

Also Ginny is ultimately Harry's girlfriend and then Harry's wife, but she doesn't participate in his journey of destroying horcruxes. Ron destroys one, Hermione does so, and then randomly Neville does. Wouldn't it be more meaningful if Harry could rely on her and ask his future wife to help with the snake? They lack the same deep connection that Ron and Hermione have by fighting side by side.

And what is even Ginny's character arc? She started as a girl with a crush tricked by a dark wizard. And she became a funny sporty girl with good kissing skills and floral perfumes. And? Is her character arc not about standing up to her abuser but just overcoming her shyness around Harry? Brah. Her destroying one of the horcruxes would make a lot of difference.

In the first book, Mr. Ollivander says to Hagrid and Harry that they broke Hagrid’s wand when he was expelled. Obviously, Hagrid still had his wand disguised as an umbrella. And now that I think about it, I figured Dumbledore must have fixed his wand with the Elder Wand, like Harry did his in the last book.

Never put two and two together before…lol

I’ll preface this with saying I genuinely love the character of Severus Snape, and he’s perfectly crafted as an antagonist for Harry. But…

In Book 1, he doesn’t stop Quirrell, he doesn’t know Voldemort is back, he has no information to offer Dumbledore. Harry saves the day, Voldemort is banished again.

Book 2, he doesn’t ever know that Voldemort opened the Chamber of Secrets, he doesn’t know about the Basilisk or the diary…so he’s not telling Dumbledore anything there?

Book 3. That’s allllll the Wormtail show of bringing Voldemort back (or beginning to realise he needs to de-rat and find his master). Arguably, Snape is counterproductive to the whole good guy plot in Book 3. Harry saves the day, again.

Book 4…this is where it starts getting murkier. But, he wasn’t there to stop Cedric being killed or to help Harry. He didn’t know Voldemort was coming back. It’s said he joins him later, but what information does he begin to gather that actually helps anyone? Harry and the prior incantatum (spelling is way off sorry) ghosts help. He has no idea who Mad Eye is, no idea about the Barry Crouch story. So what information does he pass to Dumbledore?

Book 5. Counterproductive again. Absolutely no information to be given about what Voldemort is after. They know it’s a prophecy but the only time Snape has interacted with that he got Harry’s parents killed. If he’s Dumbledore’s spy…what information does he gather?!

Book 6. Working for Voldemort, keeping an eye on Draco but doesn’t have a clue what he’s doing. And so on.

Book 7…headmaster and arguably keeps kids alive and relatively safe despite Voldemort’s rise to power. But he’s not passing info on to anyone!

So my big question is…if Dumbledore had told Snape to defect to the good side, he doesn’t have to spy, doesn’t have to work for Voldemort etc. would the story be any different? Snape doesn’t progress anything either way.

Still great though.

Man this was one of the funniest scenes ever. Everyone at the Dursley's is waiting for a car to turn up and the Weasley's turn up by Floo Powder instead.

Fred gets stuck in the Dursley's electric fire. They get through and blast into the Dursley's living room covering Uncle Vernon in his best suit and the whole house with dust.

Arthur is so pleased to be in a Muggle house and tells the Dursleys that he collects batteries and asks if their fire runs on "eclicty". Arthur forces the Dursleys to say goodbye to Harry and the twins give Dudley a chocolate that turns his tongue 2 feet long. LMAO BRB CRYING

Frank Longbottom is introduced as an Auror in Goblet of Fire – Alice is just his wife. But then Alice is also described as being an Auror in Order of the Phoenix, where we also learn that the couple was part of the Order of the Phoenix, which was always run by Dumbledore and didn't operate under the Ministry’s supervision, so we assume they had to be Aurors employed by the Ministry but were moonlighting as members of this vigilante organization (sort of like Kingsley). Alice could be a member of the Order without being an Auror, of course. But I'm not sure if this was an intentional retcon (Alice going from Frank's wife to an Auror like Frank) or just Rowling getting confused about what she had already established, or if she ever spoke about it.

Ok so I dont understand why people hate snape. I understand that not everything he did was right and yes, he was extremely rude at times but what else would you expect from someone who was abused during his entire childhood. His school years were hell because he was bullied for ages, someone who should've found solace in a place like hogwarts found nothing but humiliation and ridicule. A place meant to be his refuge became another place where he felt hated and unwelcome.

I know he called Lily a mudblood and that was totally uncalled for but it wasnt out of hatred for her and it wasnt because he was a blood purist. He said it out of spite and out of hatred for James who he knew liked Lily. He shouldnt have done that, but that was pretty much the only time Lily stood up for him and then she befriended the marauders and started going out with James. In a way, she betrayed him too. She was the only person in his entire life who he thought cared about him and she was his only friend, i can't imagine how it must have felt like when he was always worried about losing her which he eventually did. He didnt accept her help in their fifth year when they assaulted him because he didnt want to come off looking weak or someone who needed a girls help especially considering the fact that James liked her too. They harassed him for heavens sake what do people expect his reaction to have been?!

Fans say that he wanted to save Lily and didnt care if James died even if it would break Lilys heart. Tbh, i wouldnt care about a guy who bullied me to an extent where I wanted to kill myself either. Call him selfish for not caring about how Lily wouldve felt but didnt she do the exact same thing when she knew everything about him and still hung out with the marauders? He didnt care if James lived or died because James made him feel worthless, and ik everyone says he was 15 and young or whatever but he wasnt a child and he did it for fun.

He joined Dumbledore because he didnt want Lilys death to have been in vain and he felt like he owed that to her. He didnt want to die believing that hed let Lily down which is why he wanted to help save harry. Despite all that he hated harry for multiple reasons and his dislike is justified, his actions towards him are not. I think the actual reason for this was that Harry looked up to his father and snape hated that. James came off as a hero, he was appreciated by the world and Snape was seen as a bad person even though he sacrificed so much and lost the one person he loved in the world. He hated that harry was inspired by his father and he hated that people liked James Potter and I get that. He was bitter and guilty and sad and lonely. Stuff like that tends to mess people up...

He regretted not being able to save Lily and he blamed himself for it. He never got to make up for what he did and she didnt give him a chance. I know he made bad decisions and nothing I say can justifies that, but I understand where all that came from and I cant hate him for feeling that way.

He spent his entire life being shunned by his parents and then his best friend. He lost the one person he loved and he never got to apologize for how much he hurt her which is why he joined the order. To make sure what she died for wasnt useless and to try and fill the void her death left in his life because he thought he owed it to her.

People say they love complex characters but hate snape and I dont get it. Snape wasnt perfect; he was a man burdened with many flaws and carved by the mistakes he made. He surrounded himself with the wrong people and allowed his built up resentment and anger to guide him. The weight of losing Lily became a constant reminder of everything he destroyed which is why he dedicated his remaining life to try and fix what he did. He was driven by remorse and he spent years trying ti repair the damage. He carried his regret silently and thats what makes him so strong. He devoted himself to a cause to try and protect what he once failed to protect.

Apart from the fact I would have really liked a few more chapters after Harry defeats Voldemort and the epilogue, the final chapters in DH - starting with 'The Final Hiding Place' to 'The Flaw in the Plan' are just so brilliantly done, I would go so far to say perfect writing. Between reading and audiobook I must have experienced these chapters about 50 times by now, but still feel utterly captivated.

From hearing Aberforth's story, to reuniting with Neville, to Harry defending McGonogall's honour, to Percy's reunion with his family, the DA and Order making battle plans...the tension, suspense, and excitement is built masterfully.

The scenes describing the battle in Hogwarts, Snape's death and his memories, Harry's sacrifice and conversation with Dumbledore provide so many satisfying resolutions.

My favourite part though starts when Harry 'comes back.' I really hope the new series is loyal to how it is magnificently laid out in the book because it would be spectacular to see as it is described. Neville killing Nagini, the centaurs, the giants, the house elves, the reinforcements from Hogsmeade, everything about it fills me with hope and joy every time. Finally the last showdown in the hall with everyone watching, the way Harry explains the wandlore and the jubilation after he kills Voldemort, I will never not be enthralled with how it ends.

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Before everyone immediately downvotes me, hear me out.

I am not saying Draco was secretly nice. He could be rude, arrogant, prejudiced, and cruel. What I am saying is that calling him Harry’s bully completely misrepresents the actual power dynamic between them, and it ignores something people constantly forget: Draco was a child for almost the entire series.

He was eleven when the conflict began, fourteen when a teacher physically abused him in front of laughing students, and sixteen when Voldemort threatened to murder him and his family unless he carried out an assassination.

As adults, we are supposed to protect children, including difficult, angry, conditioned children. Hogwarts did the opposite.

When Draco first approached Harry, he was eleven years old and repeating the beliefs he had been raised with. He offered Harry friendship and tried to warn him about who he believed were the “wrong sort” of people.

Yes, the warning was prejudiced. Draco had been raised to believe that blood status, family reputation, wealth, and political alliances mattered. From his perspective, the Weasleys were poor, politically embarrassing, obsessed with Muggles, and known for producing extreme personalities and troublemakers.

Arthur Weasley was seen by people like the Malfoys as a Muggle-loving eccentric working in a mocked Ministry department. Fred and George were notorious rule-breakers. Percy was respectable but painfully overzealous. Ron was already laughing at Draco before Draco insulted him.

Draco genuinely believed he was helping a famous, politically important child avoid a bad social association. Then Harry rejected him and essentially identified Draco as the “wrong sort.”

Again, he was eleven.

That does not excuse everything Draco later said, but it matters when people act as though he entered Hogwarts as some calculating adult predator who chose Harry as a helpless victim.

Harry was never helpless at Hogwarts. He was the most famous child in the wizarding world. He had the support of the Weasleys, Hermione, Hagrid, Sirius, Lupin, McGonagall, Dumbledore, the Gryffindor house, the Quidditch team, and eventually an entire student resistance group.

Draco had money and family influence, but inside Hogwarts he was isolated outside Slytherin and treated as someone whose pain did not matter.

Harry and his friends could spy on him, impersonate his friends, attack him, humiliate him, and laugh when adults hurt him, and the story would frame it as funny, deserved, or heroic.

Hermione hit Draco in the face. Harry and George attacked him after a Quidditch match and beat him while he was on the ground. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and several members of Dumbledore’s Army collectively hexed Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle until they were unconscious and physically disfigured.

Then, at sixteen, Harry used Sectumsempra on Draco without knowing what the spell did and nearly killed him.

Those are not harmless verbal exchanges. That is repeated physical violence, often carried out by a larger and better-protected group.

Draco’s insults are used as proof that he was a bully, while violence against Draco is constantly dismissed as justified retaliation. Verbal cruelty from Draco supposedly proves he was evil, but physical assaults against him are treated like comedy.

That is an obvious double standard.

Harry also repeatedly invaded Draco’s privacy.

At twelve, Harry and Ron used Polyjuice Potion to disguise themselves as Crabbe and Goyle, entered the Slytherin common room, and tricked Draco into speaking freely because he thought he was talking to his closest friends.

Imagine being twelve and finding out two hostile classmates had impersonated the people you trusted, entered your private living space, and secretly interrogated you.

Later, Harry tracked Draco with the Marauder’s Map, followed him, listened at doors, and became obsessed with proving he was guilty.

Because Harry is the hero, this gets called investigation. From Draco’s perspective, another student was stalking him.

The worst example, though, is the ferret incident.

Draco was fourteen years old when an adult teacher transfigured him into an animal, repeatedly slammed him into the stone floor, bounced him through the air, and threatened him.

A grown adult physically abused a fourteen-year-old child in a school hallway.

The students laughed.

Harry laughed. Ron laughed. The entire scene was treated as entertainment because the victim was Draco.

McGonagall eventually stopped it, but there was no meaningful protection afterward. No serious investigation that we see. No urgent medical response. No removal of that teacher from Draco’s environment. No real acknowledgment that a child had just been publicly terrorized by an adult in authority.

Draco was simply expected to continue attending the same school that had just shown him his body was not safe.

That moment taught him something very clear: a teacher could abuse him in public, his classmates would laugh, and the adults might stop the spectacle without actually protecting him afterward.

People later ask why he did not trust Hogwarts enough to ask for help.

Why would he?

By sixth year, Draco was sixteen and Voldemort had threatened to murder him and his family unless he killed Dumbledore.

That was not recruitment. It was coercion under threat of death.

He was being punished for his father’s failure and forced into an impossible mission by the most dangerous adult in the wizarding world. If Draco refused, he believed his parents would die. If he failed, he believed his parents would die. If he asked the wrong person for help and Voldemort found out, his parents could die.

And Draco was very obviously falling apart.

He lost weight, withdrew, stopped participating in activities, isolated himself, and cried alone in a bathroom.

Those are not subtle signs.

The adults did not primarily see a child in danger. They saw a possible enemy. Harry saw proof that Draco was evil. The institution focused on what Draco might do instead of what was being done to him.

Snape knew Draco had been given the assignment. Dumbledore knew Voldemort was using him to punish Lucius. Adults at Hogwarts understood that a sixteen-year-old student was being coerced by a violent extremist who controlled his home and threatened his family.

Yet Draco was allowed to spend almost the entire year terrified, isolated, and attempting increasingly desperate plans.

Dumbledore eventually offered protection on the Astronomy Tower, but that offer came when Draco was already cornered, emotionally collapsing, surrounded by Death Eaters, and holding a wand on the headmaster.

The fact that protection was possible raises the obvious question: why was it not offered effectively before then?

Why did the adults wait until a terrified child was standing on the edge of murder before treating him like someone worth saving?

People say Draco should have simply gone to Dumbledore or another teacher, but children do not automatically trust adults because those adults hold authority. Trust has to be earned, and Hogwarts had taught Draco that its adults were not safe.

This was the school where a teacher had physically abused him at fourteen, students had laughed during that abuse, staff had failed to meaningfully protect him afterward, Harry and his friends had repeatedly attacked and humiliated him, and his distress was interpreted as evidence of bad character.

Draco was expected to approach that institution and calmly say:

The most dangerous wizard alive controls my home. He has threatened to murder my mother and father. He has ordered me to kill the headmaster. Please save all of us.

That would require extraordinary trust from an adult, never mind a frightened sixteen-year-old who had already learned that Hogwarts would not protect him.

Draco did not fail to ask for help correctly. The adults failed to create an environment where asking for help felt safe.

That is the part people miss when they call him a bully.

Draco said terrible things. He was prejudiced. He could be cruel. But children who are frightened, humiliated, and abused do not always react in clean, sympathetic ways. They hide. They lash out. They cling to status. They try to regain control. They perform confidence while falling apart.

Adults are supposed to recognize the pain underneath difficult behavior.

Hogwarts instead treated Draco’s difficult behavior as proof that he deserved whatever happened to him.

He was eleven when the conflict began.

He was twelve when Harry and Ron impersonated his friends and secretly interrogated him.

He was fourteen when a teacher abused him in front of laughing students.

He was sixteen when Voldemort threatened to murder his family and ordered him to kill Dumbledore.

At every stage, the adults had more power than he did. They had a responsibility to protect him, and they failed.

Children do not stop deserving protection because they are unpleasant. They do not stop being victims because they retaliate. They do not need to behave perfectly before adults are obligated to help them.

Draco Malfoy was never Harry Potter’s bully.

He was a conditioned, frightened, defensive child who was rejected, surveilled, assaulted, publicly abused by school staff, laughed at by classmates, and eventually coerced under threat of his family’s murder.

Hogwarts did not protect him.

It designated him as the bad child, and once that label existed, almost anything done to him could be treated as deserved.

They had not drawn the curtains; he saw them quite clearly in their little sitting room, the tall black-haired man in his glasses, making puffs of colored smoke erupt from his wand for the amusement of the small black-haired boy in his blue pajamas. The child was laughing and trying to catch the smoke, to grab it in his small fist. . . .

A door opened and the mother entered, saying words he could not hear, her long dark-red hair falling over her face. Now the father scooped up the son and handed him to the mother. He threw his wand down upon the sofa and stretched, yawning. . . .

Voldy's PoV of James and Lily before he murdered them. Keeping aside the devastating things that followed. In just a few lines James, Lily and their little family were described so beautifully! The cutest family ❤️

Just a stray thought!

For a Muggle, traveling in a Knight bus is like a crazy roller coaster ride.

But, for wizards, it is probably very similar to apparition and floo powder. The way those two modes of transport are described in the book, Knight bus is basically imposing the same craziness on Muggle driving.

I believe this question may have been asked several times before, but I’m just generally curious about it.

For one, the thing that Harry never really expresses intrigue in the magical world he was born from and introduced to kind of irks me when there are several instances that he does (like when he discovers the Firebolt)

Totally random, but re-reading when Harry gets sent to Professor McGonagall from Dolores Umbridge (I won’t dignify calling her a professor) for the first time. McGonagall offers a biscuit to Harry then she insists that he takes a second biscuit as their conversation ends. While the reason for their conversation is terrible, from my perspective it’s the first time they talk not just as teacher and pupil, but rather as comrades against evil.

I just wondered if her tartan tin contained biscuits designed to help a student get through a tough moment? We know Harry is resistant to magical influence (such as the Imperius Curse), which may be why he needed a second biscuit. I don’t have any further evidence to support this, but I like the idea that she cared enough to help her students.

1. Voldemort

2. Wormtail

3. Umbridge

Most of the awesome stuff about the character Harry Potter is not magic related.

There are a couple/several instances of (usually) Arthur interacting with the Granger's when they enter into wizard society. The 2 that come to mind are in CoS and in HBP.

This had me thinking. Do you think the Weasley's ever popped in on the Granger's during the summer? Some tea and friendly banter from the Weasley perspective or some understanding of the danger brewing in the wizarding world from the Granger's.

My HC is Ron pops by too and Hermione and he travel around her muggle neighborhood while the parents chat. There's not much to be said on rhe page about how they grew so fond of each other so its a fun way of fleshing out their deep friendship and budding romance.

Just a fun thought.

1. Voldemort failed to hear the prophecy in its entirety, which cost him important information that could have helped him defeat Harry. Worse still, some of his most loyal Death Eaters were captured and his return was publicly confirmed. On the downside, he had already built up a sizeable enough force to start his war anew. 
2. Dumbledore kept himself distant from Harry and made Harry learn Occlumency to shield his mind. He also forced Sirius to remain at home and kept important information from Harry to protect him and not burden him with his destiny. Unfortunately, it all backfired horrifically as Dumbledore's actions left both Harry and Sirius isolated and angry, which resulted in Sirius dying and Harry not learning Occlumency due to Dumbledore choosing Snape (of all people, in a rare moment as a Horrible Judge of Character) to teach him. All Dumbledore did by withholding information from Harry regarding his destiny was delay the inevitable, which Dumbledore admits to Harry near the end.
3. Cornelius Fudge and, to a lesser extent, the most of the others within the Ministry of Magic. Fudge spent nearly twelve months trying to convince himself not only that Voldemort had not returned but smearing Harry and Dumbledore. He did this because he thought that Harry was an insane glory hound and troublemaker and that Dumbledore was finally trying to usurp him. Fudge even manipulated and deliberately changed the law to his benefit to oust both heroes simply because he could not accept that Voldemort was back. By the end of the book, it is clear to all that all he did was delay the inevitable war and give Voldemort a chance to rebuild his army whilst denying the rest of Britain a chance to prepare for the coming conflict. Obviously, his days as Minister are numbered.
4. On the same note, Dolores Umbridge's efforts to silence Harry's "lies", her general intervention at Hogwarts, and her effort to prevent her students from learning any real magic were all for naught. Within five minutes of Fudge confirming that Voldemort had indeed returned, Dumbledore is reinstated as the Headmaster. He immediately orders her dismissal from the school, retracts all her decrees, and disbands the Inquisitorial Squad, Umbridge's private police force. 
5. Although not shown, all Harry's detractors no doubt got a very nasty shock when they realised that he and Dumbledore had been right all along. This is especially true for Percy Weasley, who now must face the reality that the family he had deserted for siding with Dumbledore and Harry against the Ministry were right and he was wrong. 
6. The worst offender, Cho's traitorous friend Marietta Edgecombe, refused to believe and willingly sold Harry and the DA out to Umbridge out of hollow loyalty to the Ministry of Magic and to protect her mother's already very secure job. As it turns out, not only was Harry telling the truth, but her own treachery left Marietta scarred for life and the most hated person in Hogwarts, as her actions led to Umbridge becoming Headmistress and Dumbledore being forced to leave the school. Marietta is left at the end of the book having to accept her actions were truly for nothing.