The magical world of Harry Potter ignited the imaginations of an entire generation. It positively swept the globe becoming one of the most popular movie franchises of all time.
However, you don’t make it to 8 films over the course of a decade without a few minor and major slip-ups.
Take a look and check out these 10+ Harry Potter plot holes fans just can’t get over.
1. Why does Albus Dumbledore continue to leave Harry in the care of the Dursleys?
Initially, we’re told that the reason why Dumbledore leaves Harry with his muggle aunt and uncle is that the fame he’d receive in the wizarding world would be too much for a young boy to bear.
Does Dumbledore think Harry would be better off starving and being beaten on a regular basis?
2. Couldn’t Lily and James Potter have been their own Secret Keepers?
Peter Pettigrew betrays Lily and James. As a result, they are killed by Voldemort. So why did they make Pettigrew their Secret Keeper in the first place?
They could have simply been one another’s Secret Keeper and there would’ve been no risk at all of the discovery.
3. How do children in the wizarding world learn to read and write?
We all know that muggle-born children attend school until their eleventh birthday. Then, they go on to Hogwarts to pursue magical studies.
How then do wizarding children come to learn the same skills as their muggle-born peers?
4. How does Snape know what Lily Potter’s dying words were if he wasn’t there?
In the pensive of Snape’s memories, we hear Lily Potter’s final words and watch as she is killed by Voldemort.
Snape didn’t arrive until after she was already dead, so how is it that he is in possession of these memories?
5. What did the crowd do for 2/3 challenges in the Triwizard Tournament?
While the Triwizard Cup certainly does have its fair share of excitement for the contestants, it would have been a total drag for the audience.
One challenge is in a magical maze, while the other takes place at the bottom of the lake. Not exactly my idea of a good time.
6. The Portkey in the graveyard makes absolutely zero sense.
Portkeys only work if the holder arrives at the precise prearranged time. Otherwise, the port key loses all magical charm and reverts back into being an inanimate object.
How then did Cedric and Harry use it to teleport to the graveyard? More specifically, how could Harry have used it to get back to Hogwarts?
7. How did Sirius Black get his wand back?
The fact that he was able to escape the confines of Azkaban is one thing, but how on earth could he have managed to get his original wand?
There’s no way Olivander would have sold him a new one, so logic dictates that Black somehow retrieved it during his escape.
8. Why don’t more wizards use multiple wands?
In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows , we see Harry wield three different wands to perform a triple stupefy charm.
This shouldn’t work, as we’re taught earlier that whenever a witch or wizard uses a wand that is not their own, it tends to backfire.
If this does actually work, then why don’t witches and wizards carry multiple wands?
9. Why didn’t Lord Voldemort make his Deatheaters take an Unbreakable Vow?
As we came to learn in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince , you cannot break an unbreakable oath.
Why wouldn’t an egomaniacal psychopath like Voldemort have made each Deatheater swear such a vow to him?
10. Why doesn’t Lord Voldemort conjure Harry’s glasses right off of his face?
It seems like a bit of a cheat code: Accio glasses!
Maybe this ties into Voldemort’s vanity? Perhaps he wanted to beat Harry ‘fairly’ to prove his magical superiority?
To that point, why does Harry even need to wear glasses?
We know that Madam Pomfrey can regrow entire bones in only a single night.
If that’s possible, how could something as comparatively ‘simple’ like someone being far or nearsighted not be remedied?
11. Just how is Snape helping to guard the Sorcerer’s Stone?
In Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone , Hagrid assures Harry, Ron, and Hermione that Snape couldn’t be trying to steal the stone because he was one of the teachers helping to protect it.
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We see Snape’s potion challenge in the book, but it is totally omitted from the film version.
12. Why didn’t Sirius Black didn’t use polyjuice potion to conceal his identity?
Sirius keeps himself shut up in his big dark house until he practically drives himself mad. He can’t even transfigure himself into Padfoot because the Ministry of Magic knows what the dog looks like.
If three first-year students can make Polyjuice potion, Sirius should have been able to do it easily.
13. Why don’t the Dementors affect Neville like they do Harry?
In Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban , we learn that the reason why Harry is so affected by the Dementors is that he has seen and experienced death like few living people ever have.
However, Neville’s story is almost identical to Harry’s. His parents were tortured by Deatheaters when he was only a baby!
14. How did Fred and George never notice Ron’s strange bed mate?
The Marauder’s Map reveals the location of every single person inside the walls of Hogwarts.
How then did the Weasley twins never once see their brother Ron sleeping with Peter Pettigrew?
