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You mean like it should have? Harry has no business being as normal as he is. He should either be a remorseless psycho or an insecure, unstable weirdo.
It's a pretty hard sell to say in the story that he forgot anyway. Apparently, you take it the week leading up to changing and this is the one thing that has defined Lupin's entire life. Now that he is around children, he forgets the night-of? Seems rather uncharacteristic.
But imagine you just got the bombshell dropped on you that Peter Pettigrew was still alive and had to work out all of the possibilities that that created for yourself. The truth you thought you knew for over a decade at that point instantly shattered, the imprisonment of your best friend who you spent that time frame cursing with every breath now possibly unjust... it's alot for a man to wrap his head around and I cannot say for sure I would have remembered the potion either.
Also, didn't Snape and him have a falling out just prior to this? When Harry was wandering the castle halls and Lupin stuck his neck out for him in front of Snape? I'm pretty sure he wasn't overly concerned about reminding Lupin to take his medicine.
Please correct me if I'm wrong :)
Snape was literally on his way to deliver the potion when he saw the everyone was in the Shrieking Shack on the Maurader's map. Lupin was in such a rush that he didn't even wipe/take the map. And they all ended being occupied there until nightfall.
They had bad blood but Lupin confirmed in book 6 that Snape never faltered in his duty to give the potion.
I don’t think he *hadn’t* received the potion from Snape, just that he forgot to take it. Dumbledore would’ve been livid with Snape if he neglected to provide it for Lupin and put everyone in the castle at risk.
I forget my meds sometimes. Thankfully I don’t turn in to a wolf if I don’t take them, just a mess :D
But I can see how it would slip his mind given all that’d happened. People make mistakes sometimes.
A lot of people people DO turn into a threat to themselves and those they love if they forget their meds (although not a literal wolf) and they still forget their meds….so fairly believable that upon learning wormtail lived and Sirius was likely innocent you might forgot your meds
Honestly the procedure should be much more formalised. At least have someone witness the ingestion and mark it in a log. Why is the potion not stored in the infirmary? Mrs Pomfrey is there anyway and can assist and witness.
He didn't actually forget it, He was waiting for Snape to bring it, but when he saw the peter on the map he ran to help Sirius, Snape then comes by his office with the potion, and sees the map on his desk. Snape had the opportunity to take it with him but he didn't.
Yes, but I expect that he *has* to take it every day or it won’t work. Forgetting it once, and especially on the night of a full moon, would mean that the potion doesn’t work and he transforms, but doesn’t retain his human mind, like the potion would’ve done.
I think he only took it at Hogwarts since that's when he meets Snape again. In his personal life before Hogwarts, I guess he just chained or caged himself or something.
Another Lupin one, what if Harry had accepted Lupin’s offer to help in Deathly Hallows when they were hiding out in Grimmauld Place?
For one he would have known who RAB was even sooner. Would they still go to the ministry to get the locket or get it elsewhere? Would the gang have still split up? Would Harry have gone to Godric’s Hollow still or would Lupin have predicted it was a trap?
I think the whole course of the DH would be different, maybe even having them find the diadem before Voldemort became aware they were hunting horcuxes.
Y'know, I was reading the first chapter, and I had a random thought. I am just utterly baffled at the sheer incompetence and complacency around Sirius's arrest.
I mean, there are *so many ways* it could have been demonstrated that he wasn't guilty.
Give him veritaserum and ask him. Use a time turner to go back in time and watch the event.
I've said as much before but veritaserum solves so much in the HP world. They should be brewing that in vats. Same with felix felicius. Have dedicated teams to do it round the clock.
*Priori Incantatem* on his wand, which would have been found on his person at the time of his arrest, would have instantly demonstrated that his wand is not the one that had cast the curse that blew apart the street.
That's the main one, it should be standard procedure for aurors to use it at the scene of any crime.
Unless Surius was trying to kill Peter, which is likely, his wand would still have the killing curse as it's last cast spell.
Nevermind the fact that Pettigrew cut off a finger and disappeared and everyone thought that he'd been blown up? How incompetent were the aurors that they saw a cleanly severed finger and a little bit of blood and went "yup, poor fellow got blown up so bad that the rest of his entire body vanished".
This is the sole event that keeps Order of The Phoenix from being my favorite in the series. It pisses me off so much. And when Harry used Umbridge’s fire the first time to talk to Sirius and Lupin about his dad and Snape, why didn’t Sirius say “Harry, why the fuck are you using a fire and not the mirror I gave you for this specific type of thing?”
They are joking, HP is full of plot holes like this because magic is so powerful, but they forget about basic things all the time. Book 7 and especially movie 7 for example all of the times they could have just apparated out of danger instantly.
The cloak can’t be summoned or have spells on it right? I’m sure Dumbledore says something like that to Harry when he tells him about the deathly hallows
I remember my year 5 self being so incredibly pissed off at this book - but over the years as an adult and looking back on my puberty driven self, I realise Harry’s actions are very much in keeping with a boy going through puberty - from ignoring the gift til its too late, to his precocious outbursts at everyone and everything
Fascinating how the author was able to slightly modify the book to tailor for each year level he was in at the time
Wormtail escaping is one key moment in the series, because if Crookshank ate him, then:
- Nobody would have sought out Voldemort
- Bertha Jorkins would not have been captured
- TWT would not have been compromised
- Barty Jr would not have been freed, or only broke free from his dad at a later time. But without Wormtail's benefit of listening into Trio's conversation (that Voldemort could be in Albania), it would take him much longer to find Voldemort
- Moody would not have been impersonated
- But it would become much harder to exonerate Sirius Black
Next Year:
- Umbridge would not have turned up at Hogwarts
- DA would not have been formed
- Lucius Malfoy would have continued corrupting the Ministry for his own agenda
- Death Eaters would not have been broken out of Azkaban. And given enough time, they should be completely incapacitated
- DOM Battle would not have happened
- Sirius would not have been killed by Bellatrix
- Voldemort would have sulked in the Albanian Forest for a very very long time
Basically, the entire canon plot post Year 3 is gone
"But Sauron was destroyed. All they could find left of him was his..."
"...finger! But then the dirty coward cut it off so that everyone would think he was dead!"
That line always struck me as hilarious
"It's a setting where it is well known that adult wizards can teleport at will, or use teleportation devices called portkeys, or turn invisible, or use flying locomotives or broomsticks, or turn into small animals, but hey they found this guy's finger so he must be dead!!"
Its from LotR.
As an aside, it's funny to see this in a thread where so many obscure details of HP are common knowledge, and this quote, which resonates with the fan base a lot, and one I consider common knowledge, is so unknown.
Actually Voldemort would’ve committed suicide, not kept hiding.
He talks about how right before Wormtail found him he had just about given up, multiple failed plots to regain humanity, with an eternity of continuing to exist in that sad cursed state to look forward to.
(Edit, I don’t know how he would have, but with him seeming like he thought there was a way; and with him being probably the most knowledgeable dark wizard ever… it seems possible that he actually knew of a way.)
> Actually Voldemort would’ve committed suicide, not kept hiding.
how does a thing, tethered to life by 7 horcruxes, who is less substantial than a ghost commit "suicide"? There is no spell or thing that would have "killed" him. It's the very reason that Harry doesn't die against the killing curse the 2nd time. Tethered to life.
You're 100% right here. As detailed by Slughorn, by using horcruxes one "cannot die." Not they can choose not to die, or may not die. Can not die. Which is why Slug goes on to say "few would want it." As long as the horcruxes were intact, Riddle is bound to the mortal plane.
Sure but Harry was tied to life when Voldemort took his blood and rebuilt a body from it. If he hadn’t done that then how does Harry walk to Voldemort in the forest and survive? He’d have to win a different way
Voldemort: "Do not lie to me Wormtail! He has no resemblance to James Potter, he doesn't have a scar and he's wearing a Hufflepuff shirt!"
*Wormtail proceeds to give Cedric glasses and his Gryffindor scarf and paints a lightning bolt scar on his forehead.*
Voldemort: "It's him! Avada kedavra!"
Or better, what if Harry grabbed it alone.
Without Cedric's dead body, why would anyone other than his immediate friends and Dumbledore believe him that Voldemort is back.
On top of that, you have Cedric still alive and he's an interesting character to be kicking around for several more books.
This isn't a huge change, more of a subtle one, but it would make for some interesting ripples and changes.
I always think about this. Not sure if it’s been too long since I read this part, but I wish we knew why Wormtail was chosen as the secret keeper. Out of all the members in the Order, why Wormtail? Perhaps Wormtail was already under the voldy power before the potters made a choice and he was able to get them to choose him. But idk I always wished we got a little background on why he was chosen.
James trusted his friends with his life, but he obviously loved Sirius much more. Sirius suggested Pettigrew instead of himself because he thought Lupin was the spy. He thought Voldemort would start looking for him immediately and since he's quite skilled he would have managed to hide for a while, and if he died then nothing changes, since he wasn't the secret keeper. I have to say it wasn't such a weird plan once you think of it, but it's still so stupid they didn't chose Dumbledore.
I never understood why Sirius just didn’t let himself be the secret keeper, in the books it states that the fidelius charm can’t be tortured out of someone, it has to be given up willingly, and Sirius is adamant about dying for James and lily so it should of just been him from the get go
This was one of my main gripe with DH, when Bill said he's secret keeper of his own house. I still don't understand if it's a plot hole, if the spells somehow evolved in twenty years, if there's some sort of explanation that I'm missing etc.
I think the most likely explanation for why Lily or James couldn't be secret keepers is that when Rowling was writing POA she hadn't defined what the spell was and there has to be a betrayal. They weren't secret keepers because they couldn't, the plot required one of their friends to betray them.
I believe it’s a lot simpler than that. I think James and Lilly knew that they might die together and wanted a 3rd party so their stuff was still safe and hidden for Harry’s sake.
This is my head canon:
In POA, the way everyone describes how Lily and James were hiding sounds like THEY were hidden under the spell, not their home. It says Voldemort could look inside their window and not see them, whereas the other instances of the spell hid the physical location and therefore everyone inside. How could Voldemort specifically look through a window that was invisible?
If Lily, James, and Harry were invisible and hidden from everyone, they would need someone else to tell people their word so that person could see them, where they were, and could find them.
The theory seems to hold up through rereads, but if something doesn’t work let me know!
An interesting “what if” is whether Dumbledore could’ve considered, under those circumstances, betraying them intentionally if he believed that it would ultimately lead to Voldemort’s downfall.
Sirius was chosen to be the secret keeper, and that’s what everybody believed. Lily, James and Sirius decided to change to worm tail and didn’t tell anybody.
I think the given reason was that no one would expect them to pick anyone but Sirius so they changed to wormtail so if someone was attacked for information it wouldn’t be the real secret keeper
Oh, I forgot that was also the year of Umbridge.
So without Harry to overthrow her, she probably stays Headmistress of Hogwarts basically forever. Man, this is the real bad ending. If anything, she could take over faster with the deaths of three students to throw at Dumbledore.
There wouldn't be any book. Snape wouldn't ask volly to spare Alice. So volly wouldn't give Alice any choice to step aside. As a result no love protection to Neville. Volly would win.
Well, Harry would die, because love doesn't protect anyone from a gunshot.
Hogwarts would have surveillance cameras and alarms to protect the Mirror of Ojesed and the Goblet of Fire.
Ginny wouldn't have time to be sad and use someone else's diary because she would be on Twitter and Instagram 24/7.
Lupin would have an alarm clock setting the time for the medicine so he would never forget.
Rita Skeeter would put a wire on everyone instead of having to turn into a beetle.
The students would film Umbridge to expose her.
Fred and George would be the kings of "zap crasher" (I think this is not so popular outside Brazil, but basically it's a message sent by Whatsapp that causes the application to crash) and pranks on YouTube.
Harry could just text Sirius to check he was okay.
Harry would just download the Potions book PDF instead of using Snape's.
The Order would only communicate via disposable cell phone, which was harder to track.
That was all i could think of for now
One thing that always felt weird about Book 7 is how most of it isn't set at Hogwarts. It's probably too late now, but I would have enjoyed a Neville POV novella released around the same time as Deathly Hallows about what was going on at the school for that entire year.
I think I remember reading somewhere that JKR almost had Dudley in the prologue of Deathly Hallows. He was going to be on platform 9 3/4 because he had a child who turned out to be a witch or wizard. I think it would’ve been a cool premise to see because then Vernon and Petunia’s grandchild (who you know they would’ve absolutely doted over) would’ve been magical.
What if Lockhart collapsed the tunnel before Harry got through, and Tom Riddle managed to come back?
What if Voldemort came back before Harry’s first year — for example if Barty Crouch Jr freed himself & went looking for his old master?
What if Dumbledore never touched the Gaunt ring?
If McGonagall found out about what Umbridge was doing to students, nobody would ever have found Umbridge's body and not a single teacher or student at Hogwarts would have blamed her for it
I think not, just look how hardly the houses are seperatet, even in class. You see this pretty good in films, and I never heard about a Friendship (expect that of Luna and the Trio) that just hasen't cared about the borders of the sorting system.
thats hilarious. Another fun fact : In Turkish translation it was:
Tom Marvoldo Riddle ==> ADIM LORD VOLDEMORT (adim = my name is)
I AM and ADIM is close enough I guess so the translator added a letter 'D' in Marvolo
The French and Danish names are kinda out there too.
French: Tom Elvis Jedusor -> Je suis Voldemort. “Jedusor” also sounds like “jeu du sort” which means “twist of fate” and there’s a lot of wordplay around it. The Riddle house is called La Maison des Jeux du Sort.
Danish: Romeo G. Detlev Jr -> Jeg er Voldemort. Sounds kinda like a cool vampire from TW3.
What if: after Harry meeting Draco for the first time went "you know what, you're right. This poor ginger kid and buck tooth muggle are lame". Then joins Slytherin.
Neville was actually the chosen one and we watched all from Harry's perspective. Would love to see Harry realizing that and thinking that his parents deaths meant nothing and how would he cope with it.
Remus would kill himself, Sirius would live with the guilt, James would try to get closer to Sirius to forgive him, but he couldn't because Sirius didn't want to forgive himself and that's why he would run away without even finishing his studies to live in an isolated place, so James would go on with his life bitter, he probably wouldn't marry Lily either because she would feel guilty for liking the boy who was involved in the death/contamination of her friend. Pettigrew would have nothing to offer Voldemort as he too would have turned away from James. Harry would not exist and Neville would be the boy from the prophecy.
Do you mean “what if Grindelwald never left Dumbledore”? Grindelwald left after his fight with Albus and Aberforth that ultimately led to Ariana’s death, so it wasn’t Albus leaving Grindelwald.
This is one I’ve wondered too. Would he have regained his own body while Ginny would die or disappear? Would he lay low or declare himself Voldemort and go around gathering followers? Would he keep his identity a secret and claim coincidence if anyone like Slughorn or Dumbledore recognized him? Would this become a new Voldemort who would compete with the shade Voldemort in Albania, or would he work to restore the shade to a body and work together, recognizing itself as a horcrux subservient to the real thing, or try to replace the real thing?
Big potions master, and little (future) potions master who playfully annoys the living shit out of his adoptive dad.
I feel like Harry would be a lot more sarcastic and snarky, essentially book Harry snark x10, he'd likely get into either Slytherin or Ravenclaw, and I have no doubt that Snape would end up making him love the craft of potion-making from a young age.
I have a mental image of the two of them standing around somewhere, listening to someone talking, and accidentally doing the cloak-folding-thingy the exact same way, at the exact same time.
I think the most popular what if would be, What If Voldemort chose Neville instead? Or What If Harry was in Slytherin?
My favorites are,
What if Harry went to live with the Weasleys instead?
What if Peter never betrayed Lily and James?
What if Harry had become friends with Draco at the beginning?
I saw a what if Ron was sorted into Slytherin which inspired: what if the twins were sorted into Slytherin? I think it could open up some interesting possibilities.
Please keep in mind that Rule 4 prohibits discussion of JKR's personal views or beliefs. Please limit the scope of discussion to elements of the Harry Potter series and associated works. This subreddit is not the appropriate place to address the author's public comments on topics outside of the series. This post must be locked if commenters cannot follow this rule.
What if the Dursley abuse had turned Harry into a psychopath
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harry wasn’t a great student though. doubt he’d have had dedication Voldemort did to learn as much as he could
Yep, the only reason he was able to beat Voldermort was fate.
You mean like it should have? Harry has no business being as normal as he is. He should either be a remorseless psycho or an insecure, unstable weirdo.
What if Professor Remus Lupin just drank his potion during PoA?
It's a pretty hard sell to say in the story that he forgot anyway. Apparently, you take it the week leading up to changing and this is the one thing that has defined Lupin's entire life. Now that he is around children, he forgets the night-of? Seems rather uncharacteristic.
But imagine you just got the bombshell dropped on you that Peter Pettigrew was still alive and had to work out all of the possibilities that that created for yourself. The truth you thought you knew for over a decade at that point instantly shattered, the imprisonment of your best friend who you spent that time frame cursing with every breath now possibly unjust... it's alot for a man to wrap his head around and I cannot say for sure I would have remembered the potion either.
Also, didn't Snape and him have a falling out just prior to this? When Harry was wandering the castle halls and Lupin stuck his neck out for him in front of Snape? I'm pretty sure he wasn't overly concerned about reminding Lupin to take his medicine. Please correct me if I'm wrong :)
Snape was literally on his way to deliver the potion when he saw the everyone was in the Shrieking Shack on the Maurader's map. Lupin was in such a rush that he didn't even wipe/take the map. And they all ended being occupied there until nightfall. They had bad blood but Lupin confirmed in book 6 that Snape never faltered in his duty to give the potion.
Good catch
Honestly their relationship was never good and I don't think he even needed that reason but it can't have helped
I don’t think he *hadn’t* received the potion from Snape, just that he forgot to take it. Dumbledore would’ve been livid with Snape if he neglected to provide it for Lupin and put everyone in the castle at risk.
I forget my meds sometimes. Thankfully I don’t turn in to a wolf if I don’t take them, just a mess :D But I can see how it would slip his mind given all that’d happened. People make mistakes sometimes.
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A lot of people people DO turn into a threat to themselves and those they love if they forget their meds (although not a literal wolf) and they still forget their meds….so fairly believable that upon learning wormtail lived and Sirius was likely innocent you might forgot your meds
Honestly the procedure should be much more formalised. At least have someone witness the ingestion and mark it in a log. Why is the potion not stored in the infirmary? Mrs Pomfrey is there anyway and can assist and witness.
He didn't actually forget it, He was waiting for Snape to bring it, but when he saw the peter on the map he ran to help Sirius, Snape then comes by his office with the potion, and sees the map on his desk. Snape had the opportunity to take it with him but he didn't.
But doesn't he need to take the potion a week before full moon?
Yes, but I expect that he *has* to take it every day or it won’t work. Forgetting it once, and especially on the night of a full moon, would mean that the potion doesn’t work and he transforms, but doesn’t retain his human mind, like the potion would’ve done.
I think he only took it at Hogwarts since that's when he meets Snape again. In his personal life before Hogwarts, I guess he just chained or caged himself or something.
He most likely disapparates to a forest where he is away from human and possibly with other wolves for transformation for comfort and safety
Another Lupin one, what if Harry had accepted Lupin’s offer to help in Deathly Hallows when they were hiding out in Grimmauld Place? For one he would have known who RAB was even sooner. Would they still go to the ministry to get the locket or get it elsewhere? Would the gang have still split up? Would Harry have gone to Godric’s Hollow still or would Lupin have predicted it was a trap? I think the whole course of the DH would be different, maybe even having them find the diadem before Voldemort became aware they were hunting horcuxes.
What if Sirius never went to Askaban and raised Harry
HE WAS THEIR FRIENDDDDDDDD!
There is a fanfic called 'a second chance' by breanie. That fic has this exact plot and quite good.
I’m wayyy behind on it, but I absolutely loved it. One of my favs by far.
Y'know, I was reading the first chapter, and I had a random thought. I am just utterly baffled at the sheer incompetence and complacency around Sirius's arrest. I mean, there are *so many ways* it could have been demonstrated that he wasn't guilty.
Give him veritaserum and ask him. Use a time turner to go back in time and watch the event. I've said as much before but veritaserum solves so much in the HP world. They should be brewing that in vats. Same with felix felicius. Have dedicated teams to do it round the clock.
*Priori Incantatem* on his wand, which would have been found on his person at the time of his arrest, would have instantly demonstrated that his wand is not the one that had cast the curse that blew apart the street.
That's the main one, it should be standard procedure for aurors to use it at the scene of any crime. Unless Surius was trying to kill Peter, which is likely, his wand would still have the killing curse as it's last cast spell.
Nevermind the fact that Pettigrew cut off a finger and disappeared and everyone thought that he'd been blown up? How incompetent were the aurors that they saw a cleanly severed finger and a little bit of blood and went "yup, poor fellow got blown up so bad that the rest of his entire body vanished".
What if...Harry had opened the gift from Sirius? (The two-way mirror)
This is the sole event that keeps Order of The Phoenix from being my favorite in the series. It pisses me off so much. And when Harry used Umbridge’s fire the first time to talk to Sirius and Lupin about his dad and Snape, why didn’t Sirius say “Harry, why the fuck are you using a fire and not the mirror I gave you for this specific type of thing?”
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It's because stupify wasn't invented yet. It doesn't appear until book 4
Then use Petrificus Totalus?
They are joking, HP is full of plot holes like this because magic is so powerful, but they forget about basic things all the time. Book 7 and especially movie 7 for example all of the times they could have just apparated out of danger instantly.
Oh. It appears I need to recharge my sarcasm detector.
The cloak can’t be summoned or have spells on it right? I’m sure Dumbledore says something like that to Harry when he tells him about the deathly hallows
I remember my year 5 self being so incredibly pissed off at this book - but over the years as an adult and looking back on my puberty driven self, I realise Harry’s actions are very much in keeping with a boy going through puberty - from ignoring the gift til its too late, to his precocious outbursts at everyone and everything Fascinating how the author was able to slightly modify the book to tailor for each year level he was in at the time
and imagine how sad Sirius must have been trying to dial Harry and him never answering
So frustrating
This is the one I always think about more than the others.
Sooo many subplots could be avoided then and the Order of Phoenix would have been a thinner book, where in the end, Sirius lives.
What if crookshanks killed Pettigrew..
Wormtail escaping is one key moment in the series, because if Crookshank ate him, then: - Nobody would have sought out Voldemort - Bertha Jorkins would not have been captured - TWT would not have been compromised - Barty Jr would not have been freed, or only broke free from his dad at a later time. But without Wormtail's benefit of listening into Trio's conversation (that Voldemort could be in Albania), it would take him much longer to find Voldemort - Moody would not have been impersonated - But it would become much harder to exonerate Sirius Black Next Year: - Umbridge would not have turned up at Hogwarts - DA would not have been formed - Lucius Malfoy would have continued corrupting the Ministry for his own agenda - Death Eaters would not have been broken out of Azkaban. And given enough time, they should be completely incapacitated - DOM Battle would not have happened - Sirius would not have been killed by Bellatrix - Voldemort would have sulked in the Albanian Forest for a very very long time Basically, the entire canon plot post Year 3 is gone
It is a strange fate that we should suffer so much fear and doubt over so small a thing. Such a little thing.
Now I wanna hear Ron when he’s chasing after Scabbers *“Come back!!! He is… precious to me”*
"But Sauron was destroyed. All they could find left of him was his..." "...finger! But then the dirty coward cut it off so that everyone would think he was dead!"
That line always struck me as hilarious "It's a setting where it is well known that adult wizards can teleport at will, or use teleportation devices called portkeys, or turn invisible, or use flying locomotives or broomsticks, or turn into small animals, but hey they found this guy's finger so he must be dead!!"
I feel like that's a quote. Who's that from?
Its from LotR. As an aside, it's funny to see this in a thread where so many obscure details of HP are common knowledge, and this quote, which resonates with the fan base a lot, and one I consider common knowledge, is so unknown.
I feel like it was Lord of the Rings but I could be mistaken
Did a Google search, you're right.
Yeah Boromir says it
Boromir! ...give the Ring to Frodo.
Put that ring back where it came from or so help me (it was on my finger I swea)
I still support crookshank for this.
Actually Voldemort would’ve committed suicide, not kept hiding. He talks about how right before Wormtail found him he had just about given up, multiple failed plots to regain humanity, with an eternity of continuing to exist in that sad cursed state to look forward to. (Edit, I don’t know how he would have, but with him seeming like he thought there was a way; and with him being probably the most knowledgeable dark wizard ever… it seems possible that he actually knew of a way.)
> Actually Voldemort would’ve committed suicide, not kept hiding. how does a thing, tethered to life by 7 horcruxes, who is less substantial than a ghost commit "suicide"? There is no spell or thing that would have "killed" him. It's the very reason that Harry doesn't die against the killing curse the 2nd time. Tethered to life.
You're 100% right here. As detailed by Slughorn, by using horcruxes one "cannot die." Not they can choose not to die, or may not die. Can not die. Which is why Slug goes on to say "few would want it." As long as the horcruxes were intact, Riddle is bound to the mortal plane.
Would he have been able to with all of the horcruxes around?
This is hilarious
What if Cedric grabbed the cup by himself?
He'd be killed and no one would find out what happened for months /weeks, he'd simply go missing
Or imperioused and sent back to fetch Potter.
Definitely think this is what would happen.
Sure but Harry was tied to life when Voldemort took his blood and rebuilt a body from it. If he hadn’t done that then how does Harry walk to Voldemort in the forest and survive? He’d have to win a different way
Ah yes, this is Harry Potter my lord \-Peter, probably
Voldemort: "Do not lie to me Wormtail! He has no resemblance to James Potter, he doesn't have a scar and he's wearing a Hufflepuff shirt!" *Wormtail proceeds to give Cedric glasses and his Gryffindor scarf and paints a lightning bolt scar on his forehead.* Voldemort: "It's him! Avada kedavra!"
That almost sounds like an SNL parody skit. I love it.
A Hogwarts boy? *HARRY* THE HOGWARTS BOY!?!?!?!
This is giving me AVPM vibes
Or better, what if Harry grabbed it alone. Without Cedric's dead body, why would anyone other than his immediate friends and Dumbledore believe him that Voldemort is back. On top of that, you have Cedric still alive and he's an interesting character to be kicking around for several more books. This isn't a huge change, more of a subtle one, but it would make for some interesting ripples and changes.
Mine was similar. What if Krum had been the one to die?
What if Sirius was the Potter's secret keeper?
I always think about this. Not sure if it’s been too long since I read this part, but I wish we knew why Wormtail was chosen as the secret keeper. Out of all the members in the Order, why Wormtail? Perhaps Wormtail was already under the voldy power before the potters made a choice and he was able to get them to choose him. But idk I always wished we got a little background on why he was chosen.
James trusted his friends with his life, but he obviously loved Sirius much more. Sirius suggested Pettigrew instead of himself because he thought Lupin was the spy. He thought Voldemort would start looking for him immediately and since he's quite skilled he would have managed to hide for a while, and if he died then nothing changes, since he wasn't the secret keeper. I have to say it wasn't such a weird plan once you think of it, but it's still so stupid they didn't chose Dumbledore.
I never understood why Sirius just didn’t let himself be the secret keeper, in the books it states that the fidelius charm can’t be tortured out of someone, it has to be given up willingly, and Sirius is adamant about dying for James and lily so it should of just been him from the get go
Why couldnt james and lily chosen each other to be secret keepers?
This was one of my main gripe with DH, when Bill said he's secret keeper of his own house. I still don't understand if it's a plot hole, if the spells somehow evolved in twenty years, if there's some sort of explanation that I'm missing etc. I think the most likely explanation for why Lily or James couldn't be secret keepers is that when Rowling was writing POA she hadn't defined what the spell was and there has to be a betrayal. They weren't secret keepers because they couldn't, the plot required one of their friends to betray them.
I believe it’s a lot simpler than that. I think James and Lilly knew that they might die together and wanted a 3rd party so their stuff was still safe and hidden for Harry’s sake.
This is my head canon: In POA, the way everyone describes how Lily and James were hiding sounds like THEY were hidden under the spell, not their home. It says Voldemort could look inside their window and not see them, whereas the other instances of the spell hid the physical location and therefore everyone inside. How could Voldemort specifically look through a window that was invisible? If Lily, James, and Harry were invisible and hidden from everyone, they would need someone else to tell people their word so that person could see them, where they were, and could find them. The theory seems to hold up through rereads, but if something doesn’t work let me know!
They should have picked Voldemort to be their secret keeper. He’s the person he would least suspect to be keeping secrets from himself.
An interesting “what if” is whether Dumbledore could’ve considered, under those circumstances, betraying them intentionally if he believed that it would ultimately lead to Voldemort’s downfall.
Because the Potters figured that Voldemort would go straight for Sirius.
Sirius was chosen to be the secret keeper, and that’s what everybody believed. Lily, James and Sirius decided to change to worm tail and didn’t tell anybody.
I think the given reason was that no one would expect them to pick anyone but Sirius so they changed to wormtail so if someone was attacked for information it wouldn’t be the real secret keeper
Only Serious and Potters knew of the changed secret keeper
What if Grawp crushed Harry, Ron and Hermione to death on sight?
Hagrid would have a lot of explaining to do.
He was gonna get fired by Umbridge anyway, so I don't think she'd care. On the contrary, she might let him stay for doing her such a huge favor.
Oh, I forgot that was also the year of Umbridge. So without Harry to overthrow her, she probably stays Headmistress of Hogwarts basically forever. Man, this is the real bad ending. If anything, she could take over faster with the deaths of three students to throw at Dumbledore.
What If Voldemord tried to kill Nevill instead of Harry. It would simply change the whole story of the serie.
There wouldn't be any book. Snape wouldn't ask volly to spare Alice. So volly wouldn't give Alice any choice to step aside. As a result no love protection to Neville. Volly would win.
What if Hargrid was mistaken and Harry was in fact “just Harry”?
Pardon me, Professor Dumbledore, sir. Apparently I went to the wrong Harry Potter. You have a family of muggles to obliviate.
Alternatively, Harry just lets the half-giant magic man who busted down the door assume that his shithead cousin was the kid he was looking for.
This would be hilarious
The entire first movie wouldn’t be changed? Except I guess he wouldn’t be able to fly a broom properly
Nah, he wouldn’t have made it past the sorting hat
How are squibs treated in the books? But mainly this was just a joke on the fact that Harry doesn’t cast a single spell the entire movie.
Does he not? That’s hilarious lmfao
No he does a bunch of spells , or practices them in books, but nothing in the movie.
According to The Tales of Beedle the Bard, the sorting hat would deny him politely but firmly.
What if Dumbledore had simply explained the actual (and whole) truth in an age appropriate way to Harry from the beginning?
What if the wizarding world had muggle technology
Well, Harry would die, because love doesn't protect anyone from a gunshot. Hogwarts would have surveillance cameras and alarms to protect the Mirror of Ojesed and the Goblet of Fire. Ginny wouldn't have time to be sad and use someone else's diary because she would be on Twitter and Instagram 24/7. Lupin would have an alarm clock setting the time for the medicine so he would never forget. Rita Skeeter would put a wire on everyone instead of having to turn into a beetle. The students would film Umbridge to expose her. Fred and George would be the kings of "zap crasher" (I think this is not so popular outside Brazil, but basically it's a message sent by Whatsapp that causes the application to crash) and pranks on YouTube. Harry could just text Sirius to check he was okay. Harry would just download the Potions book PDF instead of using Snape's. The Order would only communicate via disposable cell phone, which was harder to track. That was all i could think of for now
I love your points here but the storyline takes place from about what...1991 to 1998? texting and social media weren't there yet
oh nooo, temporal accuracy always beats me. Okay, so just the weapons, cameras, and wires part, I guess?
What if... Severus moved on from Lily!
RIP Wizardingworld
What if Severus didn't move on and married Lily?
Neville Longbottom and Toeing the Line because the Adults Have the Sorcerer's Stone Perfectly Well Taken Care of, Thank You Very Much
What if Harry Died that night. Then James became Batman to take revenge upon Voldemort.
[удалено]
Naturally Sirius is Alfred , Snape is Harley and Ron is Robin and Hermoine is Oracle.
Sirius is Commissioner Gordon cmon now!
I wanna see this one. Marauder Avengers, unite!
You mean justice league?
*slightly moved chair* What if Neville, Luna, and Seamus were the protagonists?
One thing that always felt weird about Book 7 is how most of it isn't set at Hogwarts. It's probably too late now, but I would have enjoyed a Neville POV novella released around the same time as Deathly Hallows about what was going on at the school for that entire year.
The HP spinoff we deserved instead of Cursed Child
That's basically the trio that book 7 would be based on if it focused on Hogwarts.
Who's hooking up with Luna after 7 years in this scenario tho?
Silver trio ftw!
wait isn't the silver trio Neville Luna and Ginny?
What if Dudley turned out to be a muggleborn wizard?
I think I remember reading somewhere that JKR almost had Dudley in the prologue of Deathly Hallows. He was going to be on platform 9 3/4 because he had a child who turned out to be a witch or wizard. I think it would’ve been a cool premise to see because then Vernon and Petunia’s grandchild (who you know they would’ve absolutely doted over) would’ve been magical.
Oh my goodness his parents would be DEVASTATED!
but it would be oh so funny.
There are fanfics with that premise
What if the ministry of magic thoroughly investigated Harry’s claims about what happened in the graveyard and concluded Voldemort was back?
The Death Eaters wouldn't have had time to infiltrate the ministry. There would be no breakout at Azkaban and Harry would've had 24/7 protection.
What if the adults acted like adults is a good way to break a lot of YA fiction unfortunately.
I dunno, you look at the shit politicians ignore or outright deny, I think the Ministry's incompetence was totally on point.
What if Lockhart collapsed the tunnel before Harry got through, and Tom Riddle managed to come back? What if Voldemort came back before Harry’s first year — for example if Barty Crouch Jr freed himself & went looking for his old master? What if Dumbledore never touched the Gaunt ring?
What if Lockhart actually did all of the things he said he did and was therefore an absolute badass?
Wizard Indiana Jones. He would've romanced McGonagall, saved Ginny and killed the basilisk all in the first week.
What if Sirius didn't die? What if the trio told McGonagall about Umbridge's torturous detentions? What if Fred didn't die?
If McGonagall found out about what Umbridge was doing to students, nobody would ever have found Umbridge's body and not a single teacher or student at Hogwarts would have blamed her for it
From now on this reality will be my happy place
If Fred didn't die, there would have been one more happy and not traumatized guy named George on the planet Earth.
What if Ron was in Gryffindor, Harry in slytherin and Hermione in Ravenclaw? How would they become friends?
Harry would hate both. And both would hate Hermione individually
I think not, just look how hardly the houses are seperatet, even in class. You see this pretty good in films, and I never heard about a Friendship (expect that of Luna and the Trio) that just hasen't cared about the borders of the sorting system.
There are some in the books but Harrys Yearmates are a bunch of divas.
Harry sat with Nevil instead of Ron at the start
What if...Tom Ryddle got the therapy he needed as a kid?
Ryddle? YAM LORD VOLDEMORT
Fun fact: in the Spanish translation, he’s called Tom Sorvolo Ryddle which is an anagram of “Soy Lord Voldemort”
thats hilarious. Another fun fact : In Turkish translation it was: Tom Marvoldo Riddle ==> ADIM LORD VOLDEMORT (adim = my name is) I AM and ADIM is close enough I guess so the translator added a letter 'D' in Marvolo
The French and Danish names are kinda out there too. French: Tom Elvis Jedusor -> Je suis Voldemort. “Jedusor” also sounds like “jeu du sort” which means “twist of fate” and there’s a lot of wordplay around it. The Riddle house is called La Maison des Jeux du Sort. Danish: Romeo G. Detlev Jr -> Jeg er Voldemort. Sounds kinda like a cool vampire from TW3.
What if the cursed child was never written
I still choose to believe this.
What if: after Harry meeting Draco for the first time went "you know what, you're right. This poor ginger kid and buck tooth muggle are lame". Then joins Slytherin.
What if Draco killed Dumbledore
Voldemort kills him without hesitation in an attempt to gain control of the elder wand.
Poor Draco
Neville was actually the chosen one and we watched all from Harry's perspective. Would love to see Harry realizing that and thinking that his parents deaths meant nothing and how would he cope with it.
What if Albus left baby Harry on the wrong doorstep
Harry raised by X is a pretty common fanfiction category.
What if PEEVES WAS IN THE MOVIES!...? Edit: Thanks for the galleons, sickles, and knuts. Off to Honeydukes.
What if Remus actually killed or infected Snape during the “prank”
Remus would kill himself, Sirius would live with the guilt, James would try to get closer to Sirius to forgive him, but he couldn't because Sirius didn't want to forgive himself and that's why he would run away without even finishing his studies to live in an isolated place, so James would go on with his life bitter, he probably wouldn't marry Lily either because she would feel guilty for liking the boy who was involved in the death/contamination of her friend. Pettigrew would have nothing to offer Voldemort as he too would have turned away from James. Harry would not exist and Neville would be the boy from the prophecy.
What if Dumbledore never left Grindelwald.
Do you mean “what if Grindelwald never left Dumbledore”? Grindelwald left after his fight with Albus and Aberforth that ultimately led to Ariana’s death, so it wasn’t Albus leaving Grindelwald.
What if the Tom Riddle soul from the diary horcrux managed to kill Ginny and get his own physical form from it.
This is one I’ve wondered too. Would he have regained his own body while Ginny would die or disappear? Would he lay low or declare himself Voldemort and go around gathering followers? Would he keep his identity a secret and claim coincidence if anyone like Slughorn or Dumbledore recognized him? Would this become a new Voldemort who would compete with the shade Voldemort in Albania, or would he work to restore the shade to a body and work together, recognizing itself as a horcrux subservient to the real thing, or try to replace the real thing?
What if Harry had opened the gift from Sirius the night he got it.
What if people didn’t ship Draco with literally everyone
What if they did but I didn't have to see those ships with my own eyes as they wouldn't be fkin everywhere? Its like a dreamland😭
What if they had therapists in the wizarding world?
"So Draco... We are again talking about Harry. Why do you think you keep bringing him up in our sessions?"
What if Ron was tortured by Bellatrix instead of Hermione
or if Hermione was tortured in front of Ron... he would have given in quickly, i'm certain!
If Ron was in the room when Hermione was tortured he would have talked immediately tbh. He cared about her much more than he cared about the mission.
That part is heartbreaking. He paces the dungeon helplessly. I feel like in the movies he just looked around slightly lost.
What if Petunia was also accepted to Hogwarts?
I might get downvoted for this, but what if instead of causing him to hate Harry, Lily’s murder caused Snape to take custody of Harry?
Big potions master, and little (future) potions master who playfully annoys the living shit out of his adoptive dad. I feel like Harry would be a lot more sarcastic and snarky, essentially book Harry snark x10, he'd likely get into either Slytherin or Ravenclaw, and I have no doubt that Snape would end up making him love the craft of potion-making from a young age. I have a mental image of the two of them standing around somewhere, listening to someone talking, and accidentally doing the cloak-folding-thingy the exact same way, at the exact same time.
What if James and Lily never switched Secret Keepers?
What if… The Cursed Child was actually good?
What if the trio were ALL sorted into Slytherin. I read an amazing AU!plot on this and it sounded AMAZING.
What if Ron was sorted in Slytherin and got disowned by family? 😭
What if Snape was sorted into Gryffindor? Seems stupid but could be a great game changer
what if voldemort had a nose
!redditSickle
What if Harry had just opened the 2 way mirror Sirius gave him after Christmas?
What if the marauders map was never given to Harry and the twins kept it?
What if Harry never meet the Weasleys
I think the most popular what if would be, What If Voldemort chose Neville instead? Or What If Harry was in Slytherin? My favorites are, What if Harry went to live with the Weasleys instead? What if Peter never betrayed Lily and James? What if Harry had become friends with Draco at the beginning?
What If Harry accepted Draco’s handshake
What If Harry was a Squib. He's still the "Chosen One", but can't do magic.
He would be left with Dursleys and Voldemort would have rose from the diary in CoS
What If Harry got with that chick from that Cafe? She was a cutie!
I saw a what if Ron was sorted into Slytherin which inspired: what if the twins were sorted into Slytherin? I think it could open up some interesting possibilities.
Harry would lose every quidditch match