History Fridge / HarryPotter

* Some have criticised Dumbledore sending Harry to the Dursleys when there may have been alternatives (as an example, at the point he made those arrangements he had no reason to be aware of the fact that Harry's godfather was an apparent traitor and Sirius could have certainly provided a reasonably secure upbringing). However, looking at Dumbledore's own past, his actions can be taken as him essentially seeing similarities between his own past and Harry's familial background that caused him to make various flawed assumptions. Not only could he have assumed that Harry would become arrogant if he grew up aware of his own prestige based on how Dumbledore himself became arrogant due to his reputation at school, but Dumbledore may have assumed that Petunia would get over her own issues with Lily after her death based on how the death of Ariana shocked Dumbledore out of his own issues with his family. By the time Harry started at Hogwarts, Dumbledore would have been aware that at least his assumptions about the Dursleys were flawed, but he by that point he genuinely had no better alternatives that could guarantee Harry's safety without turning him into a different kind of prisoner, as the familial blood wards were still reasonably reliable whereas securing another residence would have drawn too much attention.

** It's also brilliant writing because the books are told from the point of view of Harry, who is eleven years old at the start. At that age, you have a naive view of the world, and don't realize how people aren't defined by what they are, so of course he would all Slytherins as evil. Part of Harry's character arc is understanding, as Sirius puts it, that "the world isn't split into good people and Death Eaters". People are complicated. Thus it's important for Harry to see that Slytherin can produce a good person like Slughorn, or more complex people like Draco and Snape. It's also important for Harry and the reader to see that Gryffindor (which values bravery), can produce a [[DirtyCoward coward]] that Wormtail, that Hufflepuff (which values kindness), can produce a {{Jerkass}} like Zacharias Smith, and that Ravenclaw (which values intellect) can produce a {{Cloudcuckoolander}} like Luna.

** It's also brilliant writing because the books are told from the point of view of Harry, who is eleven years old at the start. At that age, you have a naive view of the world, and don't realize how people aren't defined by what they are, so of course he would all Slytherins as evil. Part of Harry's character arc is understanding, as Sirius puts it, that "the world isn't split into good people and Death Eaters". People are complicated. Thus it's important for Harry to see that Slytherin can produce a good person like Slughorn, or more complex people like Draco and Snape. It's also important for Harry and the reader to see that Gryffindor (which values bravery), can produce a [DirtyCoward coward] that Wormtail, that Hufflepuff (which values kindness), can produce a {{Jerkass}} like Zacharias Smith, and that Ravenclaw (which values intellect) can produce a {{Cloudcuckoolander}} like Luna.

* Has anyone else noticed that some of the most important people in Harry's life are redheads? His mother, his best friend and his family (which includes [[HeroesWantRedheads Harry's future wife]]), and even Dumbledore had auburn hair in his youth.

* [[Fridge/HarryPotterandthePhilosophersStone Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone]]
* [[Fridge/HarryPotterandtheChamberofSecrets Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets]]
* [[Fridge/HarryPotterAndThePrisonerofAzkaban Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban]]
* [[Fridge/HarryPotterandtheGobletofFire Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire]]
* [[Fridge/HarryPotterandtheOrderofthePhoenix Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix]]
* [[Fridge/HarryPotterandtheHalfBloodPrince Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince]]
* [[Fridge/HarryPotterandtheDeathlyHallows Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows]]

* Fairly minor, but in one game there's a mention of one [[https://harrypotter.fandom.com/wiki/Hedley_Fleetwood Hedley Fleetwood]] having a mammoth for a patronus, which as members of the elephant family have tusks. [[StealthPun Now who else]] [[Music/FleetwoodMac share that surname and have an album called]] ''Music/{{Tusk}}''?

* From a [[CombatPragmatist purely pragmatic perspective]] most forms of serious life-or-death wizard duelling don't make a huge amount of sense when one remembers that Avada Kedavra, [[OneHitKill a curse that instantly kills the opponent with no defense or countermeasure barring a last-second dodge]] (or ancient protective magic from a loved one's sacrifice), exists. In a life-or-death situation any moment you're not using the Killing Curse on your opponent is a moment when your opponent could use the Killing Curse on you. So why isn't wizarding combat considerably more lethal with all participants firing off Killing Curses like pistols in an old-timey Wild West fight? Well, it's established (if not outright stated) that one's ability to perform magic is affected by a combination of factors most prominently a) a wizard's innate magical potential, b) how developed (well-exercised, if you would) that potential is and c) the emotional and mental state of the wizard at the time of casting (especially relevant for things like Patronuses). In ''Goblet'' Professor Moody (actually Bary Crouch Jr.) outright states that his entire class could hit him with Killing Curses simultaneously and he'd likely receive no more than a nosebleed, while in ''Phoenix'' Harry tries to use the Cruciatus Curse on Bellatrix he only knocks her off her feet because, according to her (who has no small amount of experience with the Cruciatus Curse), he didn't have the raw ''want'' to cause her pain. From this we can conclude that casting a curse as powerful as the Killing Curse requires a great and well-honed reserve of magical ability ''and'' a high degree of KillingIntent on the part of the caster. With this in mind, it makes sense why Voldemort is considered so terrifying by the rest of the Wizarding World; He has a vast reserve of magical ability from his ancient bloodline [[HybridPower with enough fresh genetics to really bring out his potential]] and an utterly sociopathic and loveless psychology that makes the will to murder come incredibly easily to him - no wonder he's the magical equivalent of a nuke in a game of rock-paper-scissors. This also explains why so few other wizards use the Killing curse; they simply don't have the raw will to kill, [[ThouShaltNotKill least of all Harry Potter.]]

** More like anyone can be a hero under the right circumstances. Harry might have been a mediocre wizard in the end, but he still ended up becoming the only one who could defeat Voldemort [[SelfFulfillingProphecy entirely due to Voldemort's own actions]].

* Polyjuice Potion. By drinking it, you will become a perfect copy of the original person, even taking over the eye-sight. It can have some horrible consequences, like somebody else posing as you to commit a crime. But, this also means that your privacy is gone. You want to know what a person looks like naked? Drink their potion! Stalkers would love it…

** And the one who greeted death like an old friend was the one who had the invisibility cloak, which Harry also has for years.

** What if it was the other way around? What if McGonagall had no desire to force the Slytherin teens to fight their own parents or close relatives but suspected or ''knew'' Voldemort would have no such hesitation the other way around?

** More like anyone can be a hero under the right circumstances. Harry might have been a mediocre wizard in the end, but he still ended up becoming the only one who could defeat Voldemort [[SelfFullingProphecy entirely due to Voldemort's own actions]].