Mine definitely is during Prisoner of Azkaban, when Harry is having tea with Professor Lupin in his office, and when Snape enters and gives him the wolfsbane potion (that Harry doesn’t know it’s a wolfsbane potion), and he’s like really worried for his Professor and says “You know, Professor Snape really wanted the Defence Against the Dark Arts job, and I reckon he’d do anything to get the post.” And Lupin is all like “Is that so?” Then gulps the entire thing in front of Harry, I genuinely think he was quite amused by what Harry was implying, but the fact that he gulped it down after a quite concerned Harry went “I think he might be trying to finish you off.” I was like “That’s so cheeky of him!” I think that’s when he became my favourite character. 🤣

like i know the patronous thing and i know jkr really layed it on heavy with hint in the last books, but throughout the series how hinted was their ship? what was the first subtle gotcha momento?

I'm planning on rereading! What should I specifically search for that you can only find by reading the entire series?

For example, how many times does x happen, or when is the first hint we get of x, or proof of a theory.

I just saw the question 'when could you first tell Hermione and Ron liked each other,' and now I'm like I gotta search for those signs when I reread.

Like I swear I’d love to see smth that at least tries to preserve the detail of the books; I find anything that stems from anything else unwatchable. That’s why I’m here haha

I mostly mean lines you might pass over or forget on a subsequent reread, but which strike you in the moment as funny or quirky or lovely. Sort of like little gems of your reading pleasure. And if there’s a particular extra reason why, do share!

I don’t really mean short iconic lines like “Have a biscuit,” wonderful as they are.

One example that recently struck me:
Harry’s description of Percy at the Yule Ball as “wearing brand-new, navy-blue dress robes, and an expression of such smugness that Harry thought it ought to be fined.”

I’ve never given it much thought before this, but I find this line really highlights Percy’s fast transition to his huge ego and ministry-love. Also the subtle character shading about how can now afford nice new dress robes, given his promotion, seems to be a preview to his contempt for Arthur’s supposed lack of ambition and what that means for the family’s continued poverty.

Okay I’ve seen some pretty impressive stuff here but I wanna see how far you can really go with the hp nerdiness. The following are abreviations of things referenced in the canon (people places items spells, basically anything I could think of)
It progresses in difficulty (kinda), and I’ll post answer key once this post is up for enough time for at least some to reply.
Best of luck friends :)
JSP
HWMNBN
ISSTIAUTNG
3UC
Okay and finally there’s no effing way yall get this one, cause it’s too diabolically niche

AD:MoMbRS

55 is ready for you guys, enjoy!

As a reminder what this is and how it works:
Below are 7 sentences from the 7 HP books. I use a random number generator to pick the book and chapter, then hand pick a sentence that I think is decent. Not too long, too short, too obvious ect.  *** There MAY be repeated books in a set, but there will not be repeated chapters in a set. So there COULD be two from The Philosopher’s Stone, but they would be from different chapters! **\*
Scoring your points: It is 2 points for guessing the book, and 1 point for guessing the chapter, for a total of 21 points. It is obviously harder to guess the chapter than the book, but not everyone even cares to remember the chapter titles in the first place, which is totally fair and valid. So chapter titles are just a bonus point.
Below are the sentences and the answers hidden behind spoiler tags! These are fun to make, and I intend to make quite a few more if people keep enjoying them!

1. Uncle Vernon drained his teacup, glanced at his watch, and added, better be off in a minute, Petunia. The Prisoner of Azkaban - Chapter 2: Aunt Marge’s Big Mistake

 2. “I think Hermione does, though, why don’t you try her?” The Philosopher’s Stone - Chapter 8: The Potions Master

1. Harry stuck his head out of the window: Traffic was rumbling along the main road ahead, but their street was empty. The Chamber of Secrets - Chapter 5: The Whomping Willow

2. He was pleased to see that his photographic self was putting up a good fight and refusing to be dragged into view. The Chamber of Secrets - Chapter 7: Mudbloods and Murmurs

 5. I was half asleep when I wrote to you last time. The Goblet of Fire - Chapter 15: Beauxbaton and Durmstrang

 6. “It’ll be Fred and George’s idea of a funny joke, making sure it can’t come off,” said Ginny. The Half-Blood Prince - Chapter 5: An Excess of Phlegm

1. Mind you, she’ll go crazy when she finds out we’ve got exams in three days’ time. The Chamber of Secrets - Chapter 16: The Chamber of Secrets

Maybe this was obvious but it just struck me.

In OotP, Umbridge admits to sending the dementors after Harry earlier in the book. During the trial, JK even hints at it when she shuffles awkwardly when Dumbles suggests someone in the MoM sent them.

When Fudge gets hot with Dumbles about whether the MoM has jurisdiction at Hogwarts and when Umbrdige gives her speech at the beginning of the school year, Hermione rightfully realizes the MoM is trying to interfere at Hogwarts. It seemed, at least to me on earlier reads that, its the Minister executing his petty plan to interfere and Umbridge is just his very enthusiastic attack dog.

Umbridge sent those dementors after Harry having no idea Harry was learning spells even full grown wizards arent capable of doing. Madam Bones acknowledges this during the trial when she asks him if he can produce a corporeal patronus and the Wizengamot reacts on surprise. This had to piss Umbridge off to no end because her plan was airtight had Harry only had a 4th years level of defensive magic. He wouldnt have been able to fight off dementors and Umbridge would be responsible for fixing the Ministry's Harry Potter problem.

So what does she do with her newfound power after she's installed as Fudge's spy, able to report on all the goings on at Hogwarts? She simplifies the curriculum in an attempt to correct the hitch in her otherwise well executed plan. Right out of a fascist playbook: if she can curb these students ability to protect themselves they're much easier to control and "discipline" if needed.

Just as an aside, Umbridge and Barty Crouch are more compelling antagonists than Voldemort by a mile. Its a shame JK couldnt have injected some of that character nuance into her Big Bad.

There are some hard-core believers (like Crouch and the Lestranges) whom absolutely want Lord Voldemort to rise again.

But reading again the scene in GoF where LV summons his followers back, I get the feeling that some of them are like dude, I actually sort of like my life without you.

For example, Macnair gets a stable job at the Ministry executing magical creatures. Malfoy has power, wealth, influence. Crabbe, Goyle, Nott all seem not thrilled to be there.

Yes, they are all scared of LV , but it seems like many Death Eaters moved on with their lives and are totally good to maintain comfortable lives where they get to dabble in their dark arts and dark beliefs without having LV over their heads.

Thoughts?

How old was Dimbledore when he died?

There are way too many canon magical options for changing your identity to not use one of them to let Sirius get a chance to see his godson off to school. Harry is the reason for Sirius accepting the isolation. There couldve been a little effort put in to the matter.

I swear, when I read that chapter I was like, this guy must be paying some awful karma from another life, imagine you work your ass off during elections to even WIN the position, only to be bombarded with news that magic exists, and that there are evil wizards out there, causing trouble for non-magical people, and the minister for magic who you knew is replaced because he's basically useless, and most of the bad things that have happened under your administration, are not even your fault, but this useless idiot, and you can't even say anything, because if he even dared to, they'd look at him like he's lost his mind. HOW DID HE NOT RAGE QUIT? (I would've 🤣).

but honestly… what if draco and hermione actually ended up together?

how would u guys react to this outcome lol

In GoF, Padfoot Returns, when Sirius is talking about how Barty Crouch is with the dark arts, he drops this line:

“Crouch’s own son was caught with a group of Death
Eaters who’d managed to talk their way out of Azkaban.”

Wat? While we don’t really know anything about Rodolphus Lestrange, at least compared to his wife, I have a very very hard time believing that Bellatrix would ever “talk her way out of Azkaban”. She was so proud to go to prison for her love. Sat in the sentencing chair like it was a throne and everything. Talked about how she was one of the few death eaters whose loyalty never wavered.

His sentence would imply that she was questioned after the fall of Voldemort, and then talked her way out of it. That is just about the most un-Belatrix thing I can think of.

It’s quite possible that Sirius was mistaken and didn’t know what he was talking about. Maybe he just assumed they had talked their way out, because there is no way, no way Belatrix ever tried to save her own skin by denying Voldemort.

Also, some sources online are saying that there was a Forth torturer, Rebastan Lestrange, Rodolphus’ brother, but I have no idea where that information comes from. Only three people were brought in to the trial, and I can’t remember the brother being mentioned at all in the series.

EDIT: whoops. There is a fourth person at the trial. I remember there being six dementors that came in with them, so I think I just associated that with two per person.

​

1) Love Hermione's fling w Krum.

2) Had forgotten all the details about Barty Crouch Jr.

3) The last three chapters when the truth comes to light and Dumbeldore starts assembling everybody, it was such a dark and excitable tone. He knows what's coming, he's doing what he has to to give their side the best chance to win. It was inspiring to see him take command giving each person tasks that play to their strengths, exciting to see their side assemble.

4) Fudge is such as ass. Do you think he purposely allowed the kiss of death to prevent a possible way of the news of LV's return of getting out?

5) My least favorite character moment , more than Fudge, and even Ron and Harry not speaking, is Mrs. Weasley taking her anger out on Hermione (i.e. sending a smaller Easter egg). Am I overreacting to this? I know she's closer to Harry than Hermione, she feels a particularly motherly duty towards him, and I know she was doing it out of protection for him, but she jumped to conclusions about another child (yes, they're kids) when she knows the three of them look to her as a safe adult. Also, and this is what gets me, I don't think Arthur would have done that. On this reread, for some reason, this character action stuck out to me.

6) Overall, for me this is the book where childhood ends. This is when the darkness starts.

I've been trying to express this since I discovered the subreddit. Might as well sum it all up here at last. (Edited for typoes)

What made sure that Voldemort is Dead-Dead this time around, was the assured destruction of all 7 of his horcruxes, and really nothing more.

-- We do not know if him exploding back in 1981 was due to the horcruxes "protecting" him or was it because Lily's Sacrifice amplified the Avada Kadavra into something that includes Explosion too. So we can't say that just because this time there was an intact body left behind, that means he is dead-dead.

-- If our heroes were somehow incorrect about the number of horcruxes he had by the Showdown, or if anyone previous (including Dumbledore himself, prior to getting proof of the Diary Horcrux carcass) actually hit Voldemort with a kill-worthy spell beforehand in general, there is also no telling if he is Guaranteed To Explode (because Horcruxes) or have a body. Homeboy grew a whole flesh body back around nothing, 🤷🏻‍♂️ such is the powah of the dark arts. The body itself proves little to nothing.

Frankly, having a body is good SYMBOLISM for something that the, let's face it, Unwashed Masses who finally grew a spine for the final battle, to see and scream over. Are you really gonna tell me that, had there been eyewitnesses at Godric's Hollow Potter House on Halloween 1981, or if Toddler Harry's memory is pulled out for people to see, that people would SCREAM AND CHEER any less at the sight or Voldemort exploding ("Gone. Reduced to Atoms." as Thanos would say.), and not also feel assured that There Is No Way Anyone Can Survive This? 🙄

Numba 54! I had to show great restraint picking the 7th sentence for this batch. If you know the chapter, you know the sentence I wanted to use 😂

As a reminder what this is and how it works:
Below are 7 sentences from the 7 HP books. I use a random number generator to pick the book and chapter, then hand pick a sentence that I think is decent. Not too long, too short, too obvious ect.  *** There MAY be repeated books in a set, but there will not be repeated chapters in a set. So there COULD be two from The Philosopher’s Stone, but they would be from different chapters! **\*
Scoring your points: It is 2 points for guessing the book, and 1 point for guessing the chapter, for a total of 21 points. It is obviously harder to guess the chapter than the book, but not everyone even cares to remember the chapter titles in the first place, which is totally fair and valid. So chapter titles are just a bonus point.
Below are the sentences and the answers hidden behind spoiler tags! These are fun to make, and I intend to make quite a few more if people keep enjoying them!

 1. “A grim mood has gripped the country,” the opponent had concluded, barely concealing his own broad grin. The Half-Blood Prince - Chapter 1: The Other Minister

1. “ I don’t mean to be rude —” he began, in a tone that threatened rudeness in every syllable. The Half-Blood Prince - Chapter 3: Will and Wont

2. “You can all wear what you like, and I’ll put a full Body-Bind Curse on Mum until it’s all over.” The Deathly Hallows - Chapter 8: The Wedding

 4. “Harry, I don’t think we’re going to be able to go back there.” The Deathly Hallows - Chapter 14: The Thief

1. After glancing once at this portrait, Professor McGonagall made an odd movement as though steeling herself, then rounded the desk to look at Harry, her face taut and lined. The Half-Blood Prince - Chapter 29: The Phoenix Lament

 6. “Maybe . . . maybe a couple of people should stay here as a — as a lookout, and —” The Order of the Phoenix - Chapter 34: The Department of Mysteries

1. “Dumbledore, you know perfectly well you did not make a mistake!” said Professor McGonagall angrily. The Goblet of Fire - Chapter 17: The Four Champions 
   I almost picked “Did you put your name into the Goblet of Fire, Harry?” he asked calmly. For the meme

Hey guys, I'm listening to the audiobooks again and just reached Order of the Phoenix. Right after Harry and Dudley got attacked by the Dementors, Harry wonders what a spoiled, bullying kid like Dudley could possibly have heard and that got me thinking too.

Of course I looked up if there was an official explanation and the only thing I could find, was Rowling saying he saw himself as the cruel, selfish spoiled brat he was, but honestly I'm not quite convinced.

Dementors let you relive your worst memories and I'm not sure if seeing yourself basically from someone elses POV (maybe Harrys or some other bullying victims) counts as a memory. I have another theory that I haven't really seen floating around so maybe tell me what you think about it.

I think Dudley heard Hagrid.

Think about it. You're an 11 year old child, spoiled rotten and you're used to being able to bully your parents into giving you everything you want. Suddenly your favorite punching bag aka your cousin gets a ton of letters, your parents don't even let you read them, then your dad puts you all in the car, drives around the country without any explanations, no matter how often you ask or punch him or throw a tantrum. You end up on a rock in the middle of the ocean, sleep in an old shag. Then at midnight a gigantic guy kicks in the door, yells at your parents, threatens your dad and gives you a pig tail, that has to be removed surgically. Sounds kind of traumatizing to me for a child like Dudley.

And he obviously is traumatized by it, if you look at how he behaves when the Weasleys come to pick Harry up in Goblet of Fire. He constantly has his hands over his butt and always tries to have a wall behind him, to protect it from getting this tail again.

Then Fred gives him even more trauma with the Ton-Tongue Toffee. I mean he picks up and eats a candy and suddenly chokes on his own tongue that grows out of his mouth. That's nothing a muggle teenager would expect to happen from a toffee. So maybe he also relived that moment with Vernon screaming like an wounded hippo and Mr. Weasley shouting that he wants to help, while Petunia cries and tries to rip out Dudleys tongue.

And just for clarification, the Dursleys are horrible people and deserve whatever they get. Just my thoughts about what Dudley might have heard that night.

What a ride!

I (M38) never finished the books back in the day. In 2005 when the 6th book came I read books 1-6 just because a girl I liked also liked Harry Potter (yes we got together, no we're no longer together, this was in high school lol). Funnily enough I bought the 1st book the same day as the 6th was released.

In 2007 when the 7th book came out I had pretty much forgotten about what happened and wasn't that keen on re reading the previous 6 books.

But after the summer this year 2026 I was like "you know what, I'm gonna finish this", spurred on by the fact that the 6th illustrated edition was about to come out.

So I just did exactly that, I read all the illustrated books 1-5 and then waited in anticpation for the 6th illustrated edition. I then read that in a week and finished the last one (non illustrated) in another week.

Keep in mind that I'm a parent and work a full time job. I have not read this much fiction since I was in high school.

The Deathly Hallows was more than I could have ever expected. I loved the 6th book, but wow did Rowling stick the landing! What an incredible experience!

I seriously think that Harry Potter - at my current age of 38 - is the best damn book series I have ever read, full stop. I feel like this could easily be a thing I'll do now - re read the books every year or something like that. I also got my whole family reading the books lol!

If it wasn't for Voldemort, does anyone think that The Death Eaters would have wasted their time on Harry? I mean obviously Voldemort would have given them other assignments

Like seriously. After the coup and they had control of the ministry, and once he had pesky Potter out of the way, and had Hogwarts under his control, what was the next step? And ultimately the end game? He wanted to rule the world, with muggles/squibs enslaved, muggle born witches and wizards executed I guess, and then what.... Rule planet Earth for the rest of time as an immortal.... To what purpose?

The magical world comes out of hiding, they maybe try to repopulate and select for only those who show magical powers, likely leading to eventually deformations and madness in most of the wizarding population and to what end... Just so he can be the over Lord of planet Earth for mellinia upon mellinia?

How very... Boring. IDK. How could he justify it to himself, in all seriousness?

52 seemed to be particularly difficult, so lets see about today!

As a reminder what this is and how it works:

Below are 7 sentences from the 7 HP books. I use a random number generator to pick the book and chapter, then hand pick a sentence that I think is decent. Not too long, too short, too obvious ect.  *** There MAY be repeated books in a set, but there will not be repeated chapters in a set. So there COULD be two from The Philosopher’s Stone, but they would be from different chapters! **\*
Scoring your points: It is 2 points for guessing the book, and 1 point for guessing the chapter, for a total of 21 points. It is obviously harder to guess the chapter than the book, but not everyone even cares to remember the chapter titles in the first place, which is totally fair and valid. So chapter titles are just a bonus point.

Below are the sentences and the answers hidden behind spoiler tags! These are fun to make, and I intend to make quite a few more if people keep enjoying them!

1. “I demand that you leave at once, sir!” he said.  The Philosopher’s Stone - Chapter 4: The Keeper of the Keys
2. “I’m assuming this is the very friend of whom you spoke, Harry?”  The Half-Blood Prince - Chapter 9: The Half Blood Prince
3. “She knows her stuff, she’s been in plenty of tight spots with the Aurors.  The Deathly Hallows - Chapter 5: Fallen Warrior
4. Ron hurried forward, looking hopeful, but Ginny stuck out her foot and Ron fell, sprawling in the dust at Fleur’s feet.  The Half-Blood Prince - Chapter 7: The Slug Club
5.  Our kind have to keep putting spells on Muggles who’ve spotted them, to make them forget.” The Philosopher’s Stone - Chapter 14: Norbert the Norwegian Ridgeback
6. “So he hauled us off to his office and started threatening us with the usual —”  The Prisoner of Azkaban - Chapter 10: The Marauder’s Map
7. But Harry didn’t go back to the common room; he climbed a staircase, thinking vaguely of visiting the Owlery to see Hedwig, and was walking along another corridor when a voice from inside one of the rooms said, “Harry?” The Prisoner of Azkaban - Chapter 8: Flight of the Fat Lady

Hey everyone,

I just started the book reading spree around 1.5 months back and completed the 5th yesterday, I am writing here since everything is still fresh in my memory and I want to talk to other potter heads about the book! (I wanted to write a post when I completed the 4th book as well, but became bit lazy to post).

I am 27F currently, I have read the first three books in my college when I was around 19, but stopped at the 4th book since it felt too long. (I wanted to show myself that I can read such long books as well this time when I completed reading the 3rd book and proud that I was able to finish 4th and 5th books which have 800 ish and 1000 ish pages).

Okay now coming to this book, I absolutely loved the lost prophecy chapter, that was such a powerful chapter to read, and to connect a lot of things, it also showed Harry's breakdown, unable to bear the guilt of indirectly causing Sirius's death. And also snape's worst memory chapter, which showed harry Snape's PoV of why he absolutely loathed James and Sirius, and rightly so. Harry is almost always angry in the book and shouting at everyone and everything but given the suffering he goes through it all made sense, especially when no one was telling him the truth. The story keeps getting darker and darker and I feel the tipping point for me was Cedric’s death from GoF. When I read I didn’t know that words could be as powerful as visually seeing it. As she wrote he was dead It felt a rite of passage towards more sufferings, killings and war.

But given all this I feel JKR made it very very difficult for Harry to not feel guilty and responsible for Sirius’s demise, he did try to cross check but kreacher (I loathe him!) lied to him, if only he knew this could happen. And the aftermath of not opening Sirius’s gift when he told him that this gift had a means for communicating with him if Snape pulled something during his Occlumency sessions.

Hagrid’s arc about giants and then his half brother felt like a filler and could have been reduced (or not sure if it is helpful later).

I was also expecting that JKR will explain the veil in the book but it was kept ambiguous. I think it would have been better he was also killed by the AK killing curse instead. It felt the way it happened it sort of kept the audience in the false hope of Sirius making a comeback in some form but I know that doesn’t happen.

Gearing up for HBP now, wish me luck to sit through it towards the end🥹 (OOTP was hard to read once you know what happens, how come HP is a children’s book! I can’t fathom it being one given the pain, agony and deaths that happen).

I am looking to discuss the book in any what way since it's fresh in my memory so please comment, fellow potter heads, we can exchange theories and reactions and stuff!

PS: How did you cope with Sirius's death, I hate how his live turned out to be and how it ended, it deserved better, harry deserved his post voldemort afterlife to have his godfather. I dreaded when I read "Beyond the veil" chapter. I don't know how will I go through end of HBP :/

Thanks for reading:)

I want to see if I know stuff.

( I won't use Chatgpt or anything, just my brain )