# harry potter stuff that bothers you **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 4, 2014, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-potter-stuff-that-bothers-you/680466 "2014-02-04T00:06:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![filmore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7993a0/32.png) [@filmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmore)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2014, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-potter-stuff-that-bothers-you/680466/141 "2014-02-05T21:19:13Z")
Magically untraceable because of a spell–whatever. But his antics would have been talked about in gossip and in the papers. You wouldn’t need magical abilities to track him. He would be front page on the tabloids with strange tales of owl visits and floating cars and floating balloon people in the front yard. All the crazy stuff which went on at the house would pretty much make it trivial to find him. Do you really think Dudley and his low-life friends would keep Harry’s abilities secret? They despised him. Everyone would know about Harry. If he’s supposed to be magically untraceable, then make his life there completely normal so that it doesn’t attract attention. But when Death Eaters swoop down on the playground and chase Dudley and all his friends, it’s not going to take magic powers to track down Harry. That’s what bothered me about it. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2014, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-potter-stuff-that-bothers-you/680466/142 "2014-02-05T21:34:37Z")
running coach: > [@](#): > > The protection that his mother left in his blood from her death required him to live with family for part of the year. There was also some sort of spell that made him and where he lived “untraceable”. > That’s why the Dursley’s had to leave before he turned 17, that spell would be broken and they would be revealed. You’re conflating two things. The protection of living with his mother’s blood would be broken when he turned 17, that’s why they had to abandon the house beforehand. Aside from that, he was not UN-traceable until 17, he WAS traceable, there is some sort of Ministry-run tracing magic to detect and prosecute underage sorcery, that trace automatically vanishes when the child reaches majority at age 17. That’s why they could not use spells to remove or disguise Harry when they escaped the house before he turned 17. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2014, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-potter-stuff-that-bothers-you/680466/143 "2014-02-05T21:47:52Z")
It also annoyed me that Dumbledore didn’t keep a tighter leash on Mundungous. I know he was a valuable asset, but he should haven’t been given as much responsibility or free reign in the Order. Dude was completely unreliable. Malfoy always threatening to tell his father – when I was in school, any kid who did this would’ve gotten his ass kicked. At the very least, kids would be mocking him and asking him, “Aw, what’s the matter, you gonna go cry to Daddy?” (I would have LOVED for the twins to have said this) I also think Lucius would get sick of hearing about Draco always whining about school and tell him to grow some balls and get over it. I think someone mentioned Cormac being at the Battle of Hogwarts, even though he had been a seventh year the year before – apparently, he [flunked](http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Cormac_McLaggen#Repeat-year_and_Battle_of_Hogwarts) that year and had to repeat it. > [@filmore](#): > > Magically untraceable because of a spell–whatever. But his antics would have been talked about in gossip and in the papers. You wouldn’t need magical abilities to track him. He would be front page on the tabloids with strange tales of owl visits and floating cars and floating balloon people in the front yard. All the crazy stuff which went on at the house would pretty much make it trivial to find him. Do you really think Dudley and his low-life friends would keep Harry’s abilities secret? They despised him. Everyone would know about Harry. > > If he’s supposed to be magically untraceable, then make his life there completely normal so that it doesn’t attract attention. But when Death Eaters swoop down on the playground and chase Dudley and all his friends, it’s not going to take magic powers to track down Harry. That’s what bothered me about it. It wasn’t Death Eaters – it was a Dementor, sent by Umbridge. Umbridge was trying to shut Harry up, and she was the type who believed that “The Ends Justify the Means”. Muggles can’t see Dementors, they can only feel them, but they won’t know what they are. How is that any different from other Muggle born kids? It’s not like other kids don’t perform underage magic! When stuff like that happens, the Ministry comes and performs Memory charms. Also, Dudley’s fucking terrified of Harry and magic, after Hagrid gave him a tail. Not to mention his parents probably bribed him to keep his mouth shut. All of this stuff was explained in the books. (This is actually kind of a fun thread) ---
**Author:** ![filmore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7993a0/32.png) [@filmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmore)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2014, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-potter-stuff-that-bothers-you/680466/144 "2014-02-05T22:03:12Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > It wasn’t Death Eaters – it was a Dementor, sent by Umbridge. Umbridge was trying to shut Harry up, and she was the type who believed that “The Ends Justify the Means”. Muggles can’t see Dementors, they can only feel them, but they won’t know what they are. > How is that any different from other Muggle born kids? It’s not like other kids don’t perform underage magic! When stuff like that happens, the Ministry comes and performs Memory charms. Also, Dudley’s fucking terrified of Harry and magic, after Hagrid gave him a tail. Not to mention his parents probably bribed him to keep his mouth shut. > > All of this stuff was explained in the books. Dudley doesn’t seem too terrified of him. He and his friends are harassing him all the time. The Dementors were almost able to take Harry. Just because the writer creates a solution doesn’t mean it’s a good solution. She created the situation where he had to live with the family. If she’s going to do that, then make it logistically consistent. Like, have wizards assigned to live near Harry and give him a pet that’s really a wizard so he’s protected. Don’t just have the boy-savior live in a normal neighborhood when the most evil wizard is looking for him. Maybe that would work before he knew he was a wizard, but afterwards it would have been much too risky. ---
**Author:** ![a35362](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@a35362](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a35362)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2014, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-potter-stuff-that-bothers-you/680466/145 "2014-02-05T22:23:27Z")
Dudley IS afraid of the magic stuff. Remember how the Dursleys’ not knowing that underage wizards are not allowed to do magic helps Harry hold his own when he’s with them? “Jiggery-pokery! Hocus-pocus!” There is a neighbor across the way from Number Four who is a Squib and who keeps an eye on Harry. She’s not much use, however. Remember everybody thinks Voldemort is dead. They’re not sure, but they want to believe he’s dead. So whom would they be protecting Harry from? Muggle tabloids? Harry “exhibits” only a couple of times and generally not in public (okay, there’s the zoo and the incident at school, but people just shrug it off as inexplicable), and the Dursleys certainly aren’t talking. It’s a wonder the neighbors even know that another boy lives at Number Four. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2014, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-potter-stuff-that-bothers-you/680466/146 "2014-02-05T23:50:29Z")
Yeah, this kind of “tabloid stuff” wouldn’t be exclusive to Harry but _any_ Muggle born witch or wizard. Underage magic is pretty common. > [@filmore](#): > > Dudley doesn’t seem too terrified of him. He and his friends are harassing him all the time. > > The Dementors were almost able to take Harry. > > Just because the writer creates a solution doesn’t mean it’s a good solution. She created the situation where he had to live with the family. If she’s going to do that, then make it logistically consistent. Like, have wizards assigned to live near Harry and give him a pet that’s really a wizard so he’s protected. Don’t just have the boy-savior live in a normal neighborhood when the most evil wizard is looking for him. Maybe that would work before he knew he was a wizard, but afterwards it would have been much too risky. I have to ask you – did you read the books, or just see the movies? Because again, most of this was addressed in the books. ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2014, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-potter-stuff-that-bothers-you/680466/147 "2014-02-06T00:06:47Z")
Since we’re discussing the ending, before DH came out I was certain what I knew (approximately) what the ending was going to be, which was building on two things that I felt needed to be built on: (1) the brief and never-mentioned-again scene where the muggle prime minister meets the magic prime minister (2) Voldemort’s hatred and scorn for muggles So what I thought would happen is that Harry and co would square off again Voldemort and co in some dramatic battle or whatever, and over the course of the battle, all the horcruxes would be destroyed, leaving Harry alone standing vs Voldemort. And Voldemort (who does like his monologue-ing) says something like “I may not be immortal anymore, but I’m still 100 times more powerful than you… shall we duel?” and he raises his wand, and KABLOOM his head explodes because he was shot by an SAS sniper from 1000 yards away. And as the smoke clears, the wizards realize that muggles are clearly good for something after all, and Harry and Hermione lead them to a new age of openness and love. No one else seems to think that would have been a good ending, however. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2014, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-potter-stuff-that-bothers-you/680466/148 "2014-02-06T00:10:02Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > **FordPrefect** > As far as money – I don’t think you can conjure up money in the wizarding world. (I think it’s like food). And if you could, it would wreck the economy (Hello, inflation?) > Ah yes, [money](http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Wizarding_Money) is one of Five Principle Exceptions to [Gamp’s Law of Elemental Transfiguration](http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Gamp%27s_Law_of_Elemental_Transfiguration). Okay, so the wizarding world still uses specie, presumably on the gold standard. What keeps the wizarding world’s economy from the series of depressions and panics that was seen, for instance, in the United States until the establishment of the Fed? Gringotts may act as a very large, very secure consumer bank, but there’s no indications of a central bank. There is presumably no fractional reserve banking or bank notes or for that matter the idea of non-cash money. At least there’s no evidence of the idea of a promissory note. There appears to be no elasticity in the money supply. Basically, the entire wizarding economy seems to be completely screwed up. For that matter, is there such a thing as a public corporation? A wizard stock market? Hell, any sort of investment whatsoever? ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2014, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-potter-stuff-that-bothers-you/680466/149 "2014-02-06T00:16:26Z")
Well, for all we know, there could have been, since it wasn’t really addressed. ---
**Author:** ![expectopatronum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/expectopatronum/32/173_2.png) [@expectopatronum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/expectopatronum)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2014, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-potter-stuff-that-bothers-you/680466/150 "2014-02-06T00:18:41Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Question – when was Christianity introduced? I don’t recall that. . that’s cause it didn’t happen. > [@Guinastasia](#): > > I think it was because Bulgaria was getting their asses kicked by Ireland. He figured, let’s just end this now before we get further humiliated. that’s exactly why he does it and it says so in the text. the irish chasers were too good and he knew they were never going to catch up, so he ended the game on his own terms. > [@Bozuit](#): > > Harry = the good guy, so he’s amazing at magic, better than Ron at almost everything, rich, brave, clever, a brilliant flier and seeker, etc. Tri-wizard tournament for older students? It’s cool - Harry can beat them all. Hermione is supposed to be a great witch but Harry can normally compete without even trying. not everything comes easily to harry, actually. he and ron are pretty equal when it comes to their grades and being able to learn new spells and such. he does excel at defense against the dark arts and flying, though. as for the triwizard tournament, he was being set up to win it the whole time and being given help with the tasks that gave him an advantage. he wouldn’t have had much of a chance otherwise. > [@Guinastasia](#): > > I think “Fred” would obviously be taken by George. But I think Rowling said Charlie never gets married, plus if they named their daughter after Luna (which I thought was pretty cool, actually), why not name one of them after Neville? Like I said, I know what she was trying to do, but it was really creepy. i’m not following you here- what’s creepy? 😕 i thought of another one: the opening scene of deathly hallows where we meet charity burbage, a hogwarts teacher we have never heard of before. granted, she taught muggle studies, which i think only hermione took in her third year, but that scene would’ve been a lot more effective if we had at least heard of this person before. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2014, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-potter-stuff-that-bothers-you/680466/151 "2014-02-06T01:00:53Z")
My big one was when Hermione thought she revealed Sirius’ house to the Ministry of Magic and so they live a life on the run. Why not make sure? Call for Dobby and ask him if anyone has been in the house. ---
**Author:** ![BobArrgh](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobarrgh/32/2881_2.png) [@BobArrgh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobArrgh)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2014, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-potter-stuff-that-bothers-you/680466/152 "2014-02-06T02:32:45Z")
> [@RobDog](#): > > How pissed off would you be if you’d been gearing up for weeks for the big match, and it’s all over before your arse has barely warmed your seat? > > I suppose you could draw a parallel with boxing where the bout could be over with the first punch, but I can’t think of any team sport where you could miss the whole match while you were struggling to open a particularly recalcitrant bag of sweets. This may be slightly off-topic, but I was about 30 seconds late for the start of the Super Bowl this year, and when I turned the TV on, the Broncos were already 2 points down and never recovered. So yeah, it can happen in team sports. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2014, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-potter-stuff-that-bothers-you/680466/153 "2014-02-06T04:22:48Z")
Creepy for Harry to name his son after Snape. I thought it was messed up. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2014, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-potter-stuff-that-bothers-you/680466/154 "2014-02-06T04:49:11Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Creepy for Harry to name his son after Snape. I thought it was messed up. Snape was the most genuinely heroic character in the whole story, and Harry, having (for what seemed like very good reason) hated Snape for most of his time at Hogwarts, eventually came to know that, and wanted to atone (both for his own hatred, and for the way his father had treated Snape). ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2014, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-potter-stuff-that-bothers-you/680466/155 "2014-02-06T06:14:25Z")
I was working on a post to this thread last night but it disappeared before I could hit post. Anyway… 1. I’m pretty sure George would have named his son Fred. Unless Charlie (?) and Fleur got to it first. There are genealogies available online if someone’s all that interested. I’m not. B. As for a wizard (or a squib) working at the train station, JK blew it on that one. They only needed an agent there 4 days a year; the beginning of the school year, the beginning of Exmas holidays, the end of Exmas holidays, and the end of the school year. Those are the only times I can think of the Hogwart’s Express needing to go to London. III. Christianity in the Wizarding World: Okay, I’m Jewish so my experience with Christmas is that of an outsider looking through the window and \observing\ watching. And I see there are what I think of as 3 sides of how people celebrate it: religious, secular, and seasonal. And the easiest way to show the differences are to talk about the various songs. You can extend it from them. “Jingle Bells”, “Winter Wonderland”, “White Christmas” “Deck the Halls”, etc. are seasonal songs. They’re about snow, being with the family, and reminiscing past times with the family. Then there are the secular Exmas songs. These are mostly about Santa Claus. Then there are the religious ones: “Oh Holy Night”, “Silent Night”, etc., the songs about Baby Jesus being born in a manger, etc. Rowling’s wizards and witches seem to just celebrate the seasonal and secular exmas stuff. A tree, a big meal, and exchanging good wishes and gifts. Even if you’re not Christian, it’s fun and frankly, it’s hard to avoid. As someone may have mentioned up thread, maybe Yeshua Ben Yoseph was a muggle wizard, like Lily and Hermione? 4th. At some point in history, the magic world went underground. There seem to be hidden enclaves of wizardry (think Diagon Alley in London). But I suspect there’s got to be some magicals with knowledge of the muggle world. The half-bloods and muggle born, at least. But most of the adults the trio meet are pure-bloods who probably don’t interact much. Arthur Weasley, for example. He was probably too busy trying to cover up messes to have the time to really study muggle stuff as much as he’d like to. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2014, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-potter-stuff-that-bothers-you/680466/156 "2014-02-06T06:17:47Z")
I think Rowling said that George named one of his kids Fred. I would consider Snape more of an “anti-hero” type. Dude was still a total asshole. Even Rowling has said so. His treatment of Neville, getting Lupin fired, the way he mocked Hermione for being a “know it all” and having big teeth, having no problem lying to the ministry about Black’s guilt, even though it meant he’d get his soul sucked out by the Dementors – I don’t think that makes for a hero. -When Voldemort came to the Potters’ house to kill them that night, why didn’t they apparate out of there? (I believe you can Side-Along Apparate a child) -Did they have counseling? Surely a LOT of those people will end up with PTSD! (Speaking of Arthur Weasley, he’d LOVE the internet!) ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2014, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-potter-stuff-that-bothers-you/680466/157 "2014-02-06T07:09:47Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > My big one was when Hermione thought she revealed Sirius’ house to the Ministry of Magic and so they live a life on the run. Why not make sure? Call for Dobby and ask him if anyone has been in the house. Creecher was Harry’s house elf. And yes, I wondered that too. Particularly since she writes about how Creecher would not be able to eat the meal waiting for them. “Creecher, bring me some french soup and don’t forget the crackers”. Poof, dinner is served with a side dish of information. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2014, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-potter-stuff-that-bothers-you/680466/158 "2014-02-06T07:17:11Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > (Speaking of Arthur Weasley, he’d LOVE the internet!) Are you kidding? He couldn’t understand a 2 prong electrical plug. Do you want to explain to him why you have to flip a USB plug over 2x to get it to fit into it’s jack? Wouldn’t it have been cool if the librarian at Hogwart’s was an orangutan? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2014, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-potter-stuff-that-bothers-you/680466/159 "2014-02-06T07:19:46Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > I think Rowling said that George named one of his kids Fred. > > I would consider Snape more of an “anti-hero” type. Dude was still a total asshole. Even Rowling has said so. His treatment of Neville, getting Lupin fired, the way he mocked Hermione for being a “know it all” and having big teeth, having no problem lying to the ministry about Black’s guilt, even though it meant he’d get his soul sucked out by the Dementors – I don’t think that makes for a hero. Harry new that Snape swore to protect him even though his dad stole his love away from him. I thought it was a fault of Rowling to make him such an asshole. It was over the top and didn’t make sense. Dumbledore’s priority was to protect the children and he would have witch-slapped Snape for most of the nonsense he did. > [@Guinastasia](#): > > -When Voldemort came to the Potters’ house to kill them that night, why didn’t they apparate out of there? (I believe you can Side-Along Apparate a child) another huge plot-hole. Rowland wrote that Harry’s father was caught without a wand so he was toast but she didn’t say that about his mother. Also, there was nothing stopping his mother from killing the current body of Voldermort while he was attacking her husband. He then floats away looking for another body. She really didn’t explain how that process worked. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2014, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-potter-stuff-that-bothers-you/680466/160 "2014-02-06T07:25:14Z")
> [@Ranger\_Jeff](#): > > B. As for a wizard (or a squib) working at the train station, JK blew it on that one. They only needed an agent there 4 days a year; the beginning of the school year, the beginning of Exmas holidays, the end of Exmas holidays, and the end of the school year. Those are the only times I can think of the Hogwart’s Express needing to go to London. 6 days, they could leave for Easter. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-potter-stuff-that-bothers-you/680466.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harry-potter-stuff-that-bothers-you/680466.md?page=9)