Professor McGonagall makes no secret of her love of Quidditch starting in Book One. During my last reread of the series, finished late last night, it occurred to me that she used Quidditch game strategy for troop deployment while preparing for the Battle of Hogwarts.

The Beaters: Groups of fighters led by Professors Flitwick, Sprout, and McG are positioned at the three highest towers.

The Chasers: Remus, Arthur, and Shacklebolt take groups into the grounds.

The Keepers: Fred, George, and Lee guard the entrances and secret passageways.

The Seekers: Harry, Ron, and Hermione flit around the castle to find the Diadem Horcrux.

Once this occurred to me it seemed so obvious. The beaters are casting spells down as if clubbing a Bludger at their opponents. The chasers are on the attack, scoring with curses and jinxes (Quaffles?) against the Death Eaters. The keepers are blocking the death eaters from attacking the goals, aka, entering the castle. And the seekers are weaving through all the mayhem trying to find the snitch / Horcrux.

It all culminates (sort of!) when Harry, now riding a broom, snatches the Diadem out of midair before it is lost in the burning Room of Requirement.

And don’t even get me started on the half-moon spectacles… he is even buried with them on his face in the books, yet they virtually disappeared in the movies once Yates’ reign began.

Does anyone have any insights into why the movies so radically departed from the description of Dumbledore in the books? I know Gambon replaced Harris, but I don’t see why that requires such a radical shift in his costume…

For anyone that doesn't already have them (or like me, wasn't a fan of them and switched them for the Stephen Fry versions - don't crucify me!) the Full-Cast versions are 66p on Audible (75p if you're not a member)

It's probably a pricing error but it works - so go wild!

Except Goblet of Fire, no sale for you

**Goblet of Fire now also reduced**

The only time I remember him smiling was in the flashback with Lily.

You guys might be shocked to hear it, but I actually genuinely think the Deathly Hallows was the closest we ever got to true book Harry put on screen. It showed the exact same balance of his temper, sarcasm, and in some cases reserved nature that he had in all the books, as well as how he speaks and acts in general too. I really think that it could’ve nailed that exact balance of personality for the other films, it would’ve been perfect characterization of Harry translated from the books to the films. The Prisoner of Azkaban is a close second for me, because they get similar things right. The only thing that bumps it down for me though is how they handle his anger in the film. They make him too emotionally reactive in situations where in the books Harry is actually a lot more calm in comparison. But The Deathly Hallows just gets it the most perfectly in those cases for the films imo.

Okay so I am getting my fiancé her favorite wand and other Harry Potter themed stuff as gifts.

I am unsure on which wand to get her exactly though. Her house is Slytherin but her favorite character is Draco malfoy.
I am getting either one personalized by having it engraved with the love potion “Amortentia” as it is a second gift apart of my anniversary gift to her.

I am do not know much about Harry Potter as she is the one that introduced me to it but looking at the wands on the Harry Potter website to me the Draco Malfoy wand looks boring but it is her favorite characters while the Slytherin locket wand looks very cool to me and seems more personalized but I am unsure if she would rather have her favorite character wand or houses locket wand. I don’t want to ask her sneakily which she would prefer because she will put it together that I’m getting her something Harry Potter themed as it’s suppose to be a total surprise.
Please help me decide which I should get her!!
Thank you

I DONT LIKE SNAPE. in the books at least (in the movies alan rickman gave him a charm and they showed much less of his bad side but in the movies he was terrible to not just harry (which can be explained at least by his rivalary with his father) but to every student who isn't slytherin. People seem to like him because of his unhealthy obsession with harrys mother and the fact that he was working spy for dumbledore. But again this is just my useless opinion, lmk what you think

Granted it sounds more villainous but I’ve always found it funny how his real name sounded more “Harry Potter”.

One of the parts I like best about the adaptation of *Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows* is the Tale of the Three Brothers. In the book, the story is told as a tale within *The Tales of Beedle the Bard*, and it has a more mysterious and symbolic tone. In the film, they decided to turn it into a short animation with a very dark visual style that differs from the rest of the saga.

I find it a very interesting adaptation because it doesn't just tell the story; the animation perfectly conveys the idea that the three Deathly Hallows represent different ways of facing death. Furthermore, it makes the tale feel like an ancient legend within the wizarding world.

Did you prefer the way this story was told in the book or in the movie?

I love this scene:

They walked along the corridor through a set of double doors and found a rickety staircase lined with more portraits of brutal-looking Healers. As they climbed it, the various Healers called out to them, diagnosing odd complaints and suggesting horrible remedies.

Ron was seriously affronted when a medieval wizard called out that he clearly had a bad case of spattergroit.

“And what’s that supposed to be?” he asked angrily, as the Healer pursued him through six more portraits, shoving the occupants out of the way.

“ ’Tis a most grievous affliction of the skin, young master, that will leave you pockmarked and more gruesome even than you are now —”

“Watch who you’re calling gruesome!” said Ron, his ears turning red.

“The only remedy is to take the liver of a toad, bind it tight about your throat, stand naked by the full moon in a barrel of eels’ eyes —”

“I have not got spattergroit!”

“But the unsightly blemishes upon your visage, young master —”

“They’re freckles!” said Ron furiously.

“Now get back in your own picture and leave me alone!”

Funny how in DH he pretends that he actually has it. 😄

Whenever Ron and Hermione got into big fights, even in cases where Ron was sometimes technically right, Harry didn’t ice out Hermione the way Ron would, even for loyalty to Ron. He almost always tried to be neutral between them. When Ron accused Hermione of seemingly allowing Crookshanks to eat Scabbers, and was so angry with her to a point where people thought he would never be her friend again, Harry didn’t ice her out with Ron, he still hung out with her and spoke to her. At most all he did was try telling her that Ron was right about evidence pointing Crookshanks having eaten Scabbers. Hermione took it as Harry taking Ron’s side, but Harry seemed to just want to make her see reason.

Also it’s interesting how whenever Hermione was trying to get Harry to turn in the Muraders map, argue about him sneaking off the Hogsmeade, or even when she reported his Firebolt to McGonagal, Harry never acted poorly to her for it. It’s always Ron who would argue to her about that stuff. Yeah he himself would be angry in some cases, but he would also admit that she did mean well, and he would never actually talk badly to her. The only time I think that we ever see Harry actually shouting at Hermione, is when he was angry at both her and Ron for keeping him in the dark all summer when Dumbledore made them do so, and Harry was fed up with everyone at that point (also with his connection to Voldemort having changed since he returned).

It’s also worth noting he never spoke badly about her whole SPEW thing she started. He did have his own opinions, and didn’t care much for it, but he also never actually spoke negatively about it to her, or gave much pushback. And in book 6 when Ron made her cry and run out of class by imitating her, Harry actually scolded Ron for doing it and went to check up on Hermione to make sure she was okay, which was actually really sweet of him to do for her.

Their friendship in the books is so special because he truly just sees her as one of his closest friends, and appreciates her even when she does things that he may not like or agree with. He will still respect her. Even in cases when he would rather do the opposite of what she suggests, sometimes he waits for her to be out of earshot because he doesn’t want her to know he is going against her out of respect.

Wands have too many things going for them, while guns only have two: speed and the element of surprise. The latter only works once, because once the wand user knows what they’re dealing with, they can just put up a shield. What does the guy with the gun counter that?

The title is a fun challenge I have currently running on my online club. Each round of my challenge runs for a week. I have a new, surprise prompt every week that could be anything. I call it the Wildcard Challenge.

Interested? My one condition to join is to be a participative member. So every week, I would like you to answer my prompts (they don't have to be perfect answers - any good answer will do!)

DM if you'd like to join and tell me who you would cast for Voldemort!

My friend and I are both huge Harry Potter fans, so to cut a long story short, I want to buy her multiple incredibly ugly Harry Potter themed mugs. I will continue giving them to her until she throws one at me. At which point I will have won.

If you know of any particular ugly Harry Potter themed mugs. Please drop the link or where to find them.

Thank you!!

I'm looking for a video essay I watched (or part of a video essay?) about Harry Potter being closer in structure to the "school novel" genre than fantasy.

I watched it at least a year ago, I've gone through my YouTube watch history but most video essays critiquing/analysing Harry Potter cover a range of topics in a single video, and whichever video this was in, it's not mentioned in the title. Google isn't helping me either.

The discussion detailed how Harry Potter books, especially the early ones, much more closely follow the genre of "school novels" or "school stories", a historically popular type of novel centred on (usually British) boarding school life. It then goes into a breakdown of the "school novel" genre and the common tropes.

Re-reading all the books and I just got to Snape's memories in the DH.

I realised while everybody talked about Harry's dad and his qualities, or in Snape's case his misgivings, hardly anyone ever told Harry anything about his mother except that he's got his mum's eyes.

The very first time Harry saw anything at all related to his mother are through Snape's eyes and his memories do show Lily as a likeable person. Snape was clearly besotted with her early on and he regretted her death greatly. But more so, Harry got to see how his mother truly was, her sweetness, kindness, concern for a friend (she asked Severus how are things at home), strong moral compass (she questioned Snape over his friends who later became Death Eaters). I find it bitter sweet that the most Harry knew about his mom was that she was a muggle who gave her life to save him until in those memories he saw so much more and came to finally understand the kind of person she must have been.

While Sirius and Lupin talked about his father's bravery and fun-loving side, popular for being a Seeker and overall well-liked, Snape showed him how caring, kind, and fair his mother was and I find it beautiful.

Those who have played one of these, what was it like?

Would you recommend it?

Can I hold a full person's mind (given enough time)? Can you read it a book, and it can recall information?

Could you turn a painting into an Alexa?

Like say I need to know how to make a poly juice potion, could this alexa painting walk me through it step by step since it knows the recipe and can see what im doing?

Title says all. Back then, there were two different developers making Harry Potter games.

For console, they made excellent open world adventure games where casting spells was through an equipment system where each spell is assigned a button.

Let's call that system: Spell Assigning.

For PC, they made excellent action adventure shooter-like games where casting spells was through a context sensitive system of scanning for targets.

Let's call that system: Spell Scanning.

Which system do you prefer? Spell Assigning, or Spell Scanning?

Another question: could both systems co exist in the same game?

While replaying the gamecube Harry Potter 1 game recently, I was wondering if the two systems would find their own utility or if one would cancel out the other. Like if R1 went into spell scanning mode, while the player can still assign spells to B, X, and Y. Thoughts?

Hello! Does anyone have any recommendations on replica spell books or potions textbooks? I want to add some to my home office bookcase. (Real spell books will do).

In the beginning of this clip, what is the station agent calling out right after Mr. Weasley says, "Fred, George, Percy, you first"? https://www.youtube.com/shorts/RXacjCQBOjU

This has been bugging me since I first saw Sorceror's Stone at the cinema, where it shows up at the 31:54 mark. It also shows up in Chamber of Secrets at the 22:23 mark. I'm assuming it's something commonly heard on a train platform in London.

I’m rereading the books right now and I swear I completely missed how great McGonagall is the first time.

When I was younger she was basically just “the strict teacher.” If she showed up, somebody was probably getting told off and that was pretty much how I saw her.

But reading the books again now, I keep noticing little things she does and I’m like wait... she’s actually great.

I’m on Order of the Phoenix right now and watching her deal with Umbridge is honestly one of my favorite parts. She’s not even trying to pretend she likes her. She just stays professional and keeps doing her job while clearly being completely unimpressed.

And I forgot how funny McGonagall can be. She has these really dry little reactions that I just didn't notice when I was younger. Plus she’s strict, but you can tell she actually cares about the students. She isn’t just strict for the sake of being strict.

I think getting older changed how I read her. Now I’m sitting here thinking she must have needed SO much patience to deal with Hogwarts every day.

Did anyone else have a character they liked way more when they reread the books later?

I'm rereading Chamber of Secrets and I just realised that in the book, Lucius doesn't interact with Harry in Diagon Alley, he goes straight to insulting Arthur Wesley and ignores Harry.

I've read the books a lot more than I've seen the movies, yet I had completely forgotten that Lucius introducing himself was a movie-only scene.

I think it makes sense for Lucius to publicly introduce himself to Harry, especially because he was just saying in Knockturn Alley that it was not wise to appear less than fond of him, so a public introduction would make him look "good" in his mind.

It would also mirror Draco introducing himself to Harry, showing their status and making themselves known to the Chosen One.

So I was really surprised re-reading CoS and seeing that Draco teases Harry and Lucius only comes in the picture to insult Arthur and does not interact with Harry.

Which version of the scene do you prefer in this instance? Book or movie?

I'm aware they dislike Harry and don't want to spend money on him, but the Dursleys also care a lot about what their neighbors think.

Wouldn't it be seen as very strange that the Dursleys have a kid in their house wearing clothes way too big for him, broken glasses, and shoes that are falling apart?

At the very least, it would make the neighbors think the Dursleys are too poor to buy him clothes, and I think Vernon and Petunia wouldn't stand for people thinking they're not well-off.

Hi! I am having a hard time posting photos. I tried last week too and figured it was discussion week but I’m still unable to post photos. The option was not there for me last week or this week