WMG / Harry Potter – Hogwarts Students

Harry moved to Godric's Hollow after the war

Yeah, why not? It's a nice, quiet place for him to have a home of his own, avoid the fame, eventually start a family, and I'm sure he had enough money left to rebuild the old house. And of course, that's without even addressing the emotional attachment.

Harry is killed soon after the epilogue

He has revealed to hundreds, if not thousands, of people that he is master of the Elder Wand. He may be a powerful wizard, but he's not the most powerful.

• Harry put the wand back in Dumbledore's tomb, without telling anyone besides Ron and Hermione, after the battle. Why would someone go through all the trouble to kill him for something he doesn't have?
• Because they BELIEVE he has the Elder Wand.
  • Not only that, but Word of God has said that wands are semi-sentient, explaining how Harry's wand defended him in the '7 Potters' battle at the beginning of the final book. Just because Harry doesn't physically have the wand on him doesn't mean that he is not still the master of the Elder wand; it's the wand's decision. The history of the wand shows that it has to be 'won', but as we see from Snape's death, the common belief seems to be that you must defeat the master of the wand. Voldemort kills Snape because Snape killed Dumbledore, believing that made him the master of the wand, and Voldemort is very likely to be well-versed in this particular legend as he's trying quite hard to get hold of the wand. But Draco disarmed Dumbledore before Snape killed him, so the wand itself recognizes Draco as its master, not Snape, due to the semi-sentient state Rowling has given it and the particular criteria the wand itself uses, which do not seem to line up with the common belief about how the wand is won. It does make sense that power-hungry people who want the wand might believe Harry still has the wand and go after him for it.
  • It also seems that the wand doesn't need to be present for its allegiance to change. Draco becomes the wand's master by disarming Dumbledore from the Elder wand itself, but Harry becomes the master by disarming Draco from his own wand. This means that the wand recognizes the first duel defeat as the moment ownership shifts, regardless of whether it is the wand being used by the current master at the time. Therefore, if Harry is later defeated even though he is not using the wand, the victor will still become the master of the Elder wand. There are probably a lot of methods possible to reunite a wizard with his or her lost wand, as it is the most important tool for a magical person and there have probably been countless retrieval methods developed throughout history. Once a person becomes the master they could probably find the wand. So it would make sense for people to come after or try to kill Harry even though the wand isn't on him.
    • Try to kill the most famous wizard alive, someone even Voldemort failed to kill (permanently) when disarming him would suffice?
• That'd be a tough out, to say the least. Keep in mind, by the epilogue, Harry is head of the Auror's Office. Obviously, he had some connections in the Ministry by that point and the fact that he's got, "Oh, by the way, I killed freaking Voldemort" on his resume didn't hurt him, but let's not kid ourselves. By the time he finally did kill Voldemort, Harry - mostly out of necessity - was a far more skilled duelist than the average 17-year-old. And in the 19 years following, he would have only gotten better with experience. And, of course, that's if you got to him. He would have no doubt been protected in the Ministry and in the field by a squadron of the Ministry's Top Aurors - most to all of whom probably also had some degree of experience in the Second Wizarding War. Then, if you got past the Auror Office's cream of the crop and beat Harry himself, then you'd have to get back out of the Ministry before anyone knows what happened, find some way to get to Hogwarts (which is protected) and to Dumbledore's Tomb (and nobody living but Ron and Hermione knows that the Elder Wand is indeed in the tomb), get back out of Hogwarts. All of that without being killed or disarmed or defeated in a duel at any point, because if you get killed, well, you're dead. If you're disarmed, then you're still alive, but all your previous actions are futile unless you somehow go back and beat the person that beat you. Long story short - pulling all of that off would probably require a Wizard to be just about as powerful as Voldemort, not to mention sneaky and a bit lucky. And even if someone succeeded, they'd have a target on their back like the last person that did it.
  • Not just because of the Elder Wand; even before the many aurors he no doubt befriended in the ensuing years, the array of allies he already had at the end of the war would, to a would-be assassin, seem... daunting, to say the least. Basically, maybe you can kill Harry, but I hope you're prepared to deal with his extremely pissed-off wife...
• IDK, he defeated the most powerful dark wizard of all time in single combat as far as everyone knows. While I'm sure there are many former Voldy supporters who would hate him, they would also fear him. So I doubt if anybody would try a frontal assault on Harry Potter.
  • Not only that, but as far as any other Death Eater knows, the Killing Curse (and not just Voldemort's Killing Curse) simply doesn't work on him. From what a good chunk of the other Death Eaters can tell, they're probably convinced that he can't be killed. And seeing as most of the Death Eaters defaulted to self-preservation (which could be anything from cowardice to just being smart enough to realize that some battles aren't worth getting yourself killed over)... The fact is, partly by Voldemort's own doing (i.e. being a 'boss' that inspires fear and loyalty to his power as opposed to being a 'leader' that could inspire loyalty to him personally a la Harry or Dumbledore) he had a long list of sympathizers (that grew shorter once everyone began to realize what an obvious dick he was) but a very short list of people willing to die for him. In fact, you could argue that the only two Death Eaters that were that fanatical were Bellatrix and Crouch, Jr.
• The fact that he's still alive at the Epilogue probably serves as evidence that nobody got to him. After all, he himself was right there in the field after the war as the new acting Minister of Magic Kingsley Shacklebolt put into action a very aggressive mop-up campaign. And Harry was at the front line of that campaign, so the vast majority of remaining Death Eaters that wanted to take a shot at him wouldn't have had to do a lot of searching.

Harry avoided being killed for the Elder Wand by playing, and losing, one last game of Quidditch.

Realizing that it's possible to Loophole Abuse one's way around the "your-beat-it-you-bought-it" rule for Elder Wand mastery, Harry reasoned that defeating someone at Quidditch is, like disarming them, a legitimate way to "defeat" the Wand's current master and claim it for one's self. He therefore signed on to play an exhibition round of Quidditch when Hogwarts re-opened next term, waited until the other team was ahead by 160 points, and then caught the Snitch so his team lost. Because he and his team were defeated by the collective actions of all seven of the other team's members, not by a single opponent, the Elder Wand couldn't single out any one of the opposing team as a master, so the chain of claimants to its power was broken forever, making it just an ordinary wand.

• While I find the above WMG kind of silly... in keeping its vein, it is noteworthy that Dumbledore isn't known to have played Quidditch.
  • Not that silly. It would seem that everyone up to and including Voldemort took it for granted that killing its current master was the only way of transferring its rightful ownership. And the sorts of wizards who would kill someone to possess its power aren't likely to also be the sort to do something as frivolous as play Quidditch.

Harry Potter is a figment of Ron Weasley's imagination that Ron convinced certain people was real.

Harry Potter was created by Ron's subconscious as a perfect best friend that complements every trait of Ron. Harry is famous, an only child, rich, powerful, and adventurous; Ron is unpopular, is the sixth child of seven and youngest boy, poor, magically incompetent, and shy. Hermione, Ron's closest friend (other than Harry), was convinced that Harry is real. Harry is now a figment of both imaginations and is affected by this.

In their first year at Hogwarts, Ron and Hermione defeat the dark lord Voldemort. Since they are shy and don't want to jeopardize their families by the reputation of killing Voldy, they claim that it was Harry Potter who did it.

In their second year at Hogwarts, Ron's sister Ginevra is captured by a remnant of Voldemort, who magically wrecks her mind. Hermione stays in the hospital due to unrelated injuries. Ron goes alone to find his sister and helps her defeat Voldy. Sadly, Ginny is delusional and susceptible to suggestions. Because of this, she is convinced that Harry is real right around when Hermione comes back. Ron, Hermione, and Ginny make up a story about how Harry fought Voldy singlehandedly, rescued Ginny, and solved the mystery (which was related to his past). Now Harry has three believers and is affected by all of them.

Next year, Ginny spends most of her time at a hospital because of injuries both physical and mental. By the end of the year, she is healed and perfectly sane except for her belief in Harry Potter, who she has a crush on. During that year, Ron and Hermione are involved with an escaped prisoner called Sirius Black. To cover up the facts, they pretend that Harry fought Sirius not quite singlehandedly, rescued Sirius, and solved the mystery (which was related to his past).

In Hermione and Ron's fourth year at Hogwarts, Ron begins to feel some resentment towards Harry. He realizes that Harry is getting credit for stuff Ron (and Hermione) did. Ron begins to consciously reject Harry; Hermione and Ginny keep the Illusion alive. Hermione, Ginny, and Ron fight Voldy once again, but they fail to prevent the death of Cedric Diggory. The three project their survivor's guilt and sadness onto Harry. Since both Ron and Hermione are sick of Harry by now, they curse him to eternal whining and survivor's guilt. The illusion of Harry is kept alive only by Ginny. Ron and Hermione begin to feel some romantic feeling for each other.

Next year, Hermione, Ginny, and Ron have yet another adventure fighting Voldy and his minions, which they once again credit to Harry because of their failure to prevent the death of Sirius. Hermione and Ron further develop their relationship, and Ginny still has a crush on Harry.

The same scenario is repeated in Hermione and Ron's sixth year — Hermione, Ron, and Ginny, after fighting Voldy's minions, fail to prevent the death of Dumbeldore. Once again, the three project their sadness and survivor's guilt onto Harry as a coping mechanism so that they can have adventures.

In Ron and Hermione's seventh year, a lot of people die. Ron, Hermione, and even Ginny are sick of Harry, so they hallucinate that Voldy killed him. Voldy's death is attributed to Harry. But when Ron brought his memories to J.K. Rowling, for publishing, she demanded that Harry survive. This is the series we now know.

Harry is a seer.

Similarly to the above WMG, Harry sometimes has weird dreams that foreshadow future events. For example, in Prisoner of Azkaban he dreams about having to play a quidditch match against dragons and chasing a Patronus through the forest.

Harry was secretly working with Quirrell.

The events of the first book are Fake Memories (although very close to the truth). Harry, bearing as he did a little bit of Voldemort's soul, was an evil little bastard, hence why he was locked in a cupboard and abused growing up. Shortly before Hagrid's visit, Quirrell showed up, told him about his link to the Dark Lord, and asked him to be a sleeper agent, to which Harry agreed in exchange for a promise of power. He insisted on being placed anywhere other than Slytherin, and befriended people he knew he could manipulate. Harry and Quirrell each went after the Stone separately as a failsafe (with Harry persuading his friends to help by claiming Snape was after it.) Once they met up at the Mirror, they realized they needed a Memory Gambit in order to get past Dumbledore's spell. Quirrell memory-charmed Harry into thinking that events had occurred as in the book, which allowed Harry to get the Stone. The plan was for Quirrell to undo the charm as soon as he got it, but then Dumbledore showed up. Now, thanks to the charm, Harry was a good guy. The only person who ever knew otherwise was Voldemort, and without Quirrell's wand he couldn't undo the spell. Well, and the Dursleys, but their behavior is completely consistent with Harry being a devil child who once bit off the mailman's ear, and is now unaccountably acting nice.

• There's no reason he'd need to have Quirrell's wand to undo a memory charm, though, and if they'd been working together for a year it's likely that they'd at least notice the love protection on Harry and realise what that would do to their plan and adjust accordingly. It also doesn't explain why everyone else's memories match up with Harry's. Nice idea though...
  • Nobody else's memories would have to be changed to match up with Harry's. From everyone else's perspective, the book version of events would be indistinguishable from what it would look like if Harry had been secretly working with Quirrell, since if he had, he would have done all the same things in order to get to the Stone and be perceived as good.

Harry and Voldemort are related.

Harry's a descendant of Ignotus Peverell. Marvolo Gaunt had the ring, which he claimed was passed down in his family. The ring belonged to the brother of Ignotus (Cadmus Peverell). Ergo, Harry and Voldy share an ancestor.

• ...Yeah? That's how genealogy works. However, see next guess...
  • Well, yeah, I know it's kinda obvious, but since it's never really been mentioned anywhere else, I just assumed that most people didn't make the connection. So here I am, clearing it up.

Harry is descended from Salazar Slytherin.

Salazar was an ancestor of Harry's and Voldemort's common ancestor. James Potter, Tom Riddle, and Harry Potter were the last living descendants of Salazar Slytherin until 1981, which makes Harry's lack of wizarding relatives a plot point for the second book. This is part of why the Sorting Hat was so adamant about Harry going into Slytherin, because it Wouldn't Do to have the Heir of Slytherin (who was only coincidentally a Parselmouth) in Gruffleclaw.

• Well, it is pretty much solid fact now that the last common ancestor of all Europeans lived 1,000-1,500 years ago. So...
  • I think that they had the same ancestor, but it was through the Peverell brothers. I also thought that Godric Griffindor was the descendant of Ignotus Peverell, and James (later Harry) was a descendant of Griffindor; meanwhile, Voldemort is confirmed to be a descendant of Salazar Slytherin, who I think is also a Peverell descendant.
  • Wordof God: Harry could not speak Parseltongue after the Horcrux was removed from him. Therefore, he cannot be a descendant of Slytherin. He is still related to Voldemort through the Peverell family, because the second brother's descendents married into the Slytherin line, and the third brothers descendents married into the Potter family.

Why Harry passes out 12 times every book...

All of his drinks have roofies in 'em. And just his and no one else's.

• They spiked the squirt. Everyone knows that only Harry likes squirt.

Harry eventually becomes Hogwarts' Defense Against the Dark Arts Teacher.

I know that he became an Auror and head of the Auror Department, but afterwards, when there is less of a threat from Dark Wizards, you'd think he'd consider this option. Because of Voldemort's jinx on the job for a few decades, there must still be a shortage of suitable DADA teachers, and, provided the jinx was lifted after Voldemort's demise, he'd be an obvious option. He's very skilled at fighting the Dark Arts as was shown in the books, and he's had experience with teaching defensive spells to students back in Year Five with Dumbledore's Army. You don't get much better than having Harry Freaking Potter as a DADA teacher. Also, Hogwarts is his home, he's said so himself; he'd miss it eventually, and might consider going back there as a teacher once his Auror days are over.

• Jossed. Harry occasionally gave lectures at Hogwarts according to Word of God, but a job in academics "just isn't in him".

Harry did end up getting that tattoo of a Hungarian Horntail on his chest.

And how? Completely unintentionally! Voldemort's first Avada Kedavra to Harry hit him in the forehead and gave him his lightning scar. The second AK, however, which Voldemort cast in the forest, hit Harry in the chest, and in the process carved the macho Hungarian Horntail with his spell.

Harry and Ginny moved to Ottery St. Catchpole to start their family.

• Harry obviously inherited 12 Grimmauld Place from Sirius, but he likely wouldn't have wanted to stay and raise a family there, given all the bad memories - to say nothing of the portrait of Walburga Black and the fact that the house itself was creepy and depressing anyway, even before the War. Not to mention that, in Ottery, Harry would have had the room and the funds to build a much nicer house, where he could also be close to his in-laws and bring the children up around wizards instead of in a wizarding house shoehorned into a Muggle neighborhood. Also, the factor of Ginny being a former professional athlete and Harry being, well, Harry, living in London would have gotten them way more attention than either one of them would have wanted. So they moved out to the country. As for Grimmauld Place? Harry would use it as a rest stop of sorts if necessary if his work required him to stay in London for any period of time.

Harry is a ghost

We know that ghosts are ghosts because they were wizards who died and faced a choice to continue into death or stay put, and that those who stayed put always wonder what would have happened if they'd continued on. Well, Harry was hit with a killing curse and entered limbo as represented by King's Cross. Dumbledore invited him onwards, but Harry declined. Harry is now a ghost who can never travel onwards into the veil. His apparently living body can be explained as the result of serving as a Horcrux host. Having someone's soul inside you makes you more lively.

Harry was conceived while under the effects of Polyjuice Poition

No rape just consentual antics between James and Lilly. It would explain why his Polyjuice is abnormal compared to otheres and make a counterpoint to Tom Riddle who was conceived from a love potion

Ron was never fully treated after being bitten by Norbert(a) in first year

• Norberta was venomous, and quite obviously that venom got into Ron's bloodstream. Putting aside the fact that this is essentially magic venom from a fire breathing lizard with venomous fangs, didn't he tell Pomfrey that a dog bit him? In fact, wouldn't a school nurse rely on testimony in order to know what to treat? Got hit by a bludger during Quidditch practice? Check that no bones broke, there's no concussion, fix any bruising and scratches, etc. You wouldn't look for signs of lead poisoning. That might also provide a reason Pomfrey never freaked the fuck out about Harry being abused, neglected at the least, what reason would she have to look for subtle abuse if it's not obvious like she would no doubt expect? (this is assuming a lot of things, just bare with me here). The second part of the theory is that any "left over" venom might react with hormones Ron would produce as he got older, like, say, testosterone during puberty? Severe bouts of jealousy, irrationality, etc.

Ron is a seer.

This is based on 2 things:

• 1: In Deathly Hallows, Ron almost predicts the taboo on saying "Voldemort." The exact words were "It feels like a jinx or something."
• 2: His ability at Chess suggests that he has a well-developed sense of predicting moves.
  • Also, his predictions for Divination in Goblet of Fire (and Prisoner of Azkaban) are extremely accurate. Specifically, he predicted that:
    • Harry would work for the Ministry of Magic. He decides to become an Auror starting in Goblet of Fire.
    • Harry would receive "a windfall, unexpected gold", to which Ron requested Harry lend him some of it. Harry later won a huge amount of gold in the Triwizard Tournament, and he gave it to Ron's brothers.
• He comes from a very old, powerful (the Prewetts) magical (hey, pureblood) family. Prophecy is apparently a genetic trait (as in Sybil being related to great seer Cassandra Trelaney) so it seems to be the sort of thing that would pop up most in families with a long history of magic, rather than muggle borns.
• The movies (and we know JKR does plant clues in them: Hogs' Head goat, anyone?) have this bit of dialouge that seems to point to this theory.
  • Trelawney: Your aura is pulsing! Are you in the beyond? I think you are!
  • Ron: Sure
• In the Chamber of secrets we get this: "Could've been anything," said Ron. "Maybe he [Tom Riddle] got thirty O.W.L.s or saved a teacher from the giant squid. Maybe he murdered Myrtle; that would've done everyone a favor..."
• Okay, so I thought this was interesting enough to google it. The first 3 results were all Slash Fic. Seriously, people?

Ron is severely retarded due to inbreeding

It's pretty much canon that pure-blood wizards are all related, and the probably dumbest main character inRowling's universe happens to be one. Coincidence?

• Ron is sharp as a tack when he applies himself. Almost all of his grades are the same as Harry's and he is the champion chess player in the group.
  • Harry is hardly the sharpest tool in the book. Say Ron's grades match Harry's is hardly praise. Now if they matched Hermione's...
  • Assuming an O to be like an A* and an E an A, Harry's OWL results were pretty good. Two fails (one of which doesn't count and the other in a fairly useless subject) one C/B (again not really counting due to the distraction of Hagrid being attacked) A's in everything else, and an A* in DADA, which it's implied nobody else managed, as even Hermione didn't get one (probably due to no practical lessons and the DA not sticking to the syllabus). Not too shabby.
• Regardless, he's not actually dumb, just lazy and reliant on Hermione for school (which, by the way, Harry also is). You can't be an idiot and be as excellent at chess as he is, and he has more than a few brilliant moments throughout the books as well. Now, Crabbe and Goyle, on the other hand, that you can make an argument for.
• Also, the level of inbreeding seen in most of the wizarding families isn't really any higher than what you'd have seen in the average Muggle village for most of human history, when 95% of the population never traveled more than ten miles from home. Remember that the Blacks erased any branches they didn't approve of from their family tree, so if other self-proclaimed "purebloods" do the same, they've probably got plenty of Muggle ancestry themselves: they just write that part out of the clan history.

Ron is immune to the Killing Curse.

In the seventh chapter of the second book, Malfoy calls Hermione a Mudblood for the first time, and Ron tries to cast a spell at him. This spell is described as a jet of green light. Avada Kedavra is also described as green light. Therefore, Ron obviously tried to murder Malfoy (who was very lucky that Ron tried to do it with a broken wand). When it rebounded on Ron, it merely caused him to vomit slugs. Thus, Ron bears inherent magical protection from the Killing Curse (and possibly other curses as well), turning it into something much more harmless when used on him.

• ...spells aside from Adava Kedavra can be green, y'know.
• Hey, it's a WMG; just go with it!
  • That doesn't protect it from being outright stupid.
• So, a twelve-year-old wizard with no apparent interest in the Dark Arts and no special talent for duelling managed to cast a silenced Killing Curse? It's a damn shame he never got a chance to duel Voldy.
• Two problems with the theory: there's a specific name for the slug-vomiting curse in question, it's called Slugulus Eructo. Second, in the movie, Ron even says outright "eat slugs!"

Ron has dyslexia.

He's not dumb, but he's also not the best at schoolwork and studying. If he has dyslexia and struggles with reading, it might discourage him from applying himself at school, especially if it's undiagnosed. Many people with learning disabilities have self-esteem issues like Ron.

Of all her children, Mrs. Weasley sees herself in Ron the most.

She really wanted a daughter, and Ron often feels like The Un-Favourite. However, she and Ginny don't have that much in common. In some ways, Ron takes after his mother more than his siblings do. Both love their loved ones unconditionally and will do anything for them, but sometimes, their tempers, attitudes, and occasional obliviousness get in the way. After the war, Ron follows in her footsteps by focusing on supporting/raising his family. And since we don't know much about Mrs. Weasley's childhood, there could be more parallels than we know of.

Ron is expected to care for his parents in their old age.

The older boys are overachievers whose careers will take them away from the family, the twins are too difficult to control, and Ginny is the youngest and the daughter Mrs. Weasley always wanted, so Mrs. Weasley would never burden her. That leaves Ron, The Everyman with no predetermined role in the family other than to take what he gets. While he feels like "just another Weasley", his mother may not even see the need for him to grow beyond that because of this.

The real reason Hermione was given the time turner.

Hermione says that Professor McGonagall wrote to the ministry requesting a time turner for her so that she can take more classes. But is that really a good enough reason to give a 14-year-old girl (an exceptionally bright and responsible one, but still) a time machine? The real reason she was given it was for the one scene in which we see it being used: the one at the end of the book where Harry and Hermione use it to save themselves and Sirius. McGonagall kept the time-turner after Hermione turned it back in, and some time after the events of the fourth book (likely after the events of the seventh) she traveled back to summer of 1993 and told herself (and likely Dumbledore) that in order for Harry Potter to survive the end of the year, he has to have access to a time turner. She doesn't tell her past self anything else because no one really knows what happens if you alter the timeline, and for all they know it could be more dangerous than Voldemort. They obtain a time turner from the Department of Mysteries and give it to Hermione, who of the trio has the most believable excuse for being given one.

• And is, of course, far more level-headed and responsible than either of her friends.
• She'd also missed a substantial part of the previous term because of basilisk-paralysis, so needed a way to catch up on her missed classroom-hours.

Neville took the herbology professor job because he had a kid

• Word of God says that Neville was an auror for awhile before he became a herbology teacher. Although he was shown to be good at both, it seems like a strange jump in careers. However, if he found out his wife was pregnant, he might not have wanted to be in such a dangerous field, not because he was worried for his own safety, but because he didn't want his kids to grow up without a father, the way he had to.

Neville was placed under a memory charm when he young.

Perhaps the reason Neville was so clumsy was because someone tried to make him forget something when he was a baby. Perhaps he had witnessed his parents being tortured, and then someone (like his Granny) placed a memory charm on him so he would forget about it. We have seen Gilderoy Lockhart having his memory modified, and he is clumsy and forgetful much like Neville was portrayed. Maybe something happened to him in Book 7 so that he recovered and became competent. Remember how his remembrall from Book 1 always glowed, trying to tell him he had forgotten something? (Though apparently severe magic damage like this is usually untreatable.)

• A fanfic series touches on this. In that 'verse Neville was partially memory charmed, having seen his parents being tortured as above, by Lockhart before Mad-Eye Moody stopped him from turning toddler Neville into a vegetable. In his 5th year Neville starts dosing himself with a memory enhancing potion and takes a level in badass, even defeating Harry in a duel. If only Canon Neville had the same potion, he might not have had to wait until the last book to do.....anything.
  • His grandmother probably put the charm on him because infant Neville had been around when his parents were tortured (Bellatrix probably just ran out of time to kill or hurt him). In her own shock and horror, his grandmother overdid the charm, which would help explain her pressure on him to do well - she always felt guilty about having accidentally harmed him after what happened to his parents, and wanted to see him get over the damage already.
  • Most likely Jossed. Nothing was ever mentioned of it in later books. Besides, wouldn't the attack have happened at a point when Neville was too young to remember?
  • Not necessarily. Harry has brief flashbacks and vague memories of what happened to his parents (green light, laughter, voices, etc), Neville and Harry are the same age, and according to this troper's memory Bellatrix's attack on Neville's parents came after Voldemort's fall. Therefore Neville may well have some memories of the incident. And as Harry is negatively affected by his memories, especially when Dementors are around, and Neville doesn't seem to experience the same effects, the theory still holds water.

Neville witnessed his parents being tortured.

• At least, this troper was under the impression that Frank and Alice were at their home when Crouch and Co. showed up. The reason Neville himself was not tortured was either because there was no point in torturing a young child, or Wouldn't Hurt a Child (back then, anyway, though Death Eaters are known for wiping out families with young children), or Neville was well-hidden. Something about his reaction to the spiders being tortured by Crouch!Moody (book and movie) just makes me wonder... that would be quite traumatizing to a 5 year old (how old Neville was when his parents were tortured, or maybe I need to read Goblet of Fire again...) and would explain why he never, ever actually says this (the scene in OotP does not count as mentioning it, as Harry and Co. run into him) until the sixth or seventh book when Harry already knows.
  • I get the impression the attack on the Longbottoms happened just a few weeks or so after Voldemort's fall, which would make Neville a baby, but I can't think of anywhere this is stated affirmatively in the books.
    • The time is never stated, but Barty Crouch Jr. is described as 'in his late teens'. Presuming that he would have to be of age to join the Death Eaters in the first place (Otherwise The Trace would be recording everything the Death Eaters did), and that no one would be stupid enough to join the Death Eaters after Voldemort was killed, it can't be that long. If we read 'late teens' as 19, and assume he joined right when he came of age, that's less than three years.
  • We know that Harry remembers his parents being killed, even if those memories are only brought out by Dementors. Who's to say the same thing didn't happen to Neville? Even if the memories are unconscious, he was fifteen months old by then, not an infant. No wonder the poor kid was so affected by the Cruciatus!

Ginny's cessation of her Quidditch career has nothing to do with Career Versus Family.

Word of God confirms that Ginny played Quidditch for the Holyhead Harpies from her graduation from Hogwarts (probably captained the team in 1998-1999 and was picked up right out of school like Oliver Wood was) until she found out that she was pregnant with James Sirius. At the same time, Harry Potter is an Auror, probably in command of his own squad and tasked with the job of mopping up remnant pockets and/or splinter groups of the Death Eaters - something which happens often after a war and can often be as dangerous as the war itself. Either way, as an Auror, Harry likely spent long periods of time away from home, which would presumably be true as well for Ginny if she was playing in Quidditch matches all over England. So when she found out she was pregnant with James Sirius, she had to take a year or two off from Quidditch anyway and probably realized that both she and Harry couldn't be away from home for long periods of time if J.S. was to grow up in a stable home environment. So she did what many retired athletes do and became the magical equivalent of a sportswriter.

Luna has Schizotypal personality disorder.

To quote Wikipedia:Schizotypal personality disorder is a personality disorder characterized by a need for social isolation, anxiety in social situations, odd behavior and thinking, and often unconventional beliefs. People with this disorder feel extreme discomfort with maintaining close relationships with people, and therefore they often do not. People who have this disorder may display peculiar manners of talking and dressing and often have difficulty in forming relationships. In some cases, they may react oddly in conversations, not respond or talk to themselves. They frequently misinterpret situations as being strange or having unusual meaning for them; paranormal and superstitious beliefs are not uncommon.

The possible traits of this are:Inappropriate or constricted affect - the individual appears cold and aloof; (Not really, although she does seem unconcerned about danger during actual battles.)Behavior or appearance that is odd, eccentric or peculiar; (Yes.)Poor rapport with others and a tendency to withdraw socially; (Very yes.)Odd beliefs or magical thinking, influencing behavior and inconsistent with subcultural norms; (Yup.)Suspiciousness or paranoid ideas; (Oh yes.)Obsessive ruminations without inner resistance, often with dysmorphophobic, sexual or aggressive contents; (?!)Unusual perceptual experiences including somatosensory (bodily) or other illusions, depersonalization or derealization; (Not that we know of, although her strange dancing might be a sign of somatosensory issues.)Vague, circumstantial, metaphorical, over-elaborate or stereotyped thinking, manifested by odd speech or in other ways, without gross incoherence; (Oh yes. Not just in her weird metaphors to things that don't exist, but she seems completely unable to actually mention thestrals by name when trying to convince people they can ride them.)Occasional transient quasi-psychotic episodes with intense illusions, auditory or other hallucinations and delusion-like ideas, usually occurring without external provocation. (Perhaps she actually does see wrackspurts, sometimes?)

It is worth mentioning that 'early separation' and 'parenting styles' including 'neglect' are suspected as factors in this. Like, uh, her dead mother and weird father.

Cho Chang's parents are from Hong Kong and emigrated to the British Isles (possibly Scotland) at some point during Cho's early childhood.

It would certainly be a very good explanation for a girl of obvious Asian descent to be attending a wizarding school in Britain. Also, one of the probable linguistic origins for Chang's name is Cantonese, which is the official dialect of Chinese spoken in Hong Kong. And, since the series takes place in the 1990s, Hong Kong would have still been under British control. As for why they moved, it's not hard to imagine that there wouldn't be a particularly large wizarding network in Hong Kong - or at least not a Wizarding School that had English as a first language. So, when they realized that Cho was a witch, they may have wanted to be able to bring her up around other wizards and witches. One or both of her parents probably would have found jobs, then, on the strength of a chance encounter with Dolores Umbridge, which would explain why they would be reluctant to get on her bad side. In the books, it's probable that Cho grew up in or near Tutshill, given her support of the local Quidditch Team (which would seem very random were she not from there). In the films, on the other hand, she has a very obvious Scottish accent. Make of that what you will.

• Rowling is actually from Tutshill. I don't really see how this would be a "wild" mass guess, though, most Asians in Northern Europe are immigrants.
• There are lots of Chinese living in Britain, many come from Hong Kong region. This is more like a regular guess than a wild guess except for your insistence that Cho was born in China and her family moved to Scotland when she was age 3. I see no problem with Cho being born in Scotland because her family moved here before she was born,

Percy Weasley "chose" his house, just like Harry did. Or, alternatively, the Sorting Hat chose one for him for his own long-term benefit.

• Percy would have obviously come into Hogwarts on the very tail end of Bill and/or Charlie's time there. And, obviously, given the fact that both of his parents and older brothers (whom Percy probably looked up to as a young boy) were in Gryffindor, he probably felt a bit of direct or indirect pressure to become a Gryffindor as well. However, most of the second half of the series displays that he probably should have been put in another house. More than likely, Percy Weasley should have been in Slytherin. He was very ambitious and, on top of that, the Weasleys are a pure-blood family (it says nowhere that being a pureblood supremacist is a trait associated with Slytherin - simply being pure-blooded in and of itself. The Weasleys may not have acted like most pure-blood families, but they were pure-blood.) And the Sorting Hat probably reasoned that Percy would have been a good fit for Slytherin. From there, one of two things happened.
  • 1: 11-year-old Percy started muttering, "Not Slytherin, anything but Slytherin" or something to that effect, and the hat decided to put him in with his family in Gryffindor.
  • 2: The hat recognized that the Slytherin influence might cause his ambition to grow out of control and separate him even further from his essentially good-hearted parents and siblings, and thus put him in Gryffindor anyway, knowing he could "climb the ladder" as a Gryffindor without being tainted by Slytherin's potential negative influence.
  • 3: The Hat could have looked into Percy's head, seen that Sorting the kid into Slytherin was not going to go over well with his family, and Sorted him into Gryffindor instead.

Scorpius Malfoy, much to the shock of the Potter/Weasley children, is sorted into Gryffindor.

• Why not? Word of God says that Draco raised Scorpius to be a better person than he had been in his younger years. And presumably, part of that involved telling Scorpius about some of, if not all of, the mistakes he (Draco) had made during his school years. He probably got a bit of this (although probably not as much) from his grandparents as well. In the end, he might have wound up with the same bad taste in his mouth about Slytherin that a lot of the main characters had in their first year at Hogwarts.

Albus Severus does not get his wish. He is put in Slytherin by the Sorting Hat, who has no choice...

• ...because, in the years since the war, Slytherin House has been teetering on the brink of nonexistence. The war brought its reputation down to an all-time low and people began to wonder if the house itself was cursed. Long story short, the hat HAS to put some kids in Slytherin because hardly anyone wants to go willingly.
• The Albus Severus will be in Slytherin theory never made sense to me because Albus is resistant to the idea of being in Slytherin. He is worried that he will be arbitarily placed in Slytherin because his elder brother is trying to scare him. From what we see, it doesn't seem as though he has much Slytherin in him, personality-wise.
  • Why do people insist that Slytherin is a bad House? There are people who fit there NATURALLY. It wouldn't become non-existent because nobody wants to go there because of it's reputation, it would continue to have the same amount of kids, because there ARE people who have Slytherin qualities. Slytherin isn't evil, and there actually are people who would still want to go there. Your theory makes absolutely no sense. There are people who belong there, it wouldn't become extinct just because there are no more Death Eaters. The hat is very forceful, and if it thinks you belong there, well, tough luck. Neville was begging to be a Hufflepuff, but was Gryffindor because that's the House he fits. In fact your theory actually contradicts itself. If the hat will force Albus, it can force other people. Ergo, Slytherin would never be "teetering on the brink of nonexistence". The hat won't just stick people where they don't belong. Harry could have gone anywhere, and the hat debated on Slytherin because Harry does have it's ambition, and, more importantly, part of Voldemort's SLYTHERIN soul in him. Harry as a person never shows much in the way of Slytherin qualities. It put him in Gryffindor because it knows Harry is a true Gryffindor. The Hat doesn't put people wherever just because the House is lacking. Albus would go wherever he belonged, just like everyone else.
    • OP here. That's exactly my point. Slytherin =/= evil, but in-universe, it wouldn't be so far-fetched for it to have a reputation as such after so many Death Eaters went through it. This was certainly the case in the first book, with sweeping generalizations such as "There isn't a witch or wizard who went bad who wasn't in Slytherin" - which was, of course, disproven by the appearance of Peter Pettigrew (who was sorted into Gryffindor.) Of course Slytherin House wasn't evil by default, but its reputation in the Wizarding World would have to take a hit considering that most of the top Death Eaters and Voldemort himself came from Slytherin House. And in the Wizarding World, many more of people's superstitions (like the suggestion that someone had cursed the D.A.D.A. Professor position at Hogwarts) turn out to be true. And as for suddenly forcing students to enter certain houses, there are some hints toward the hat being somewhat sentient...
  • Alternatively, Albus is automatically sorted into Slytherin for having the ambition to make a name for himself that doesn't automatically make everyone think 'Harry Potter'.
    • Just Harry Potter? That might be understating things a bit. Try Harry Potter, Severus Snape (who was probably Vindicated by History), AND Albus freaking Dumbledore.
    • He wasn't. [1] says that even though Harry tried to clear Snape's name, everyone remembers him as the asshole who killed Dumbledore.
    • 'Snape's name everyone remembers him as the asshole who killed Dumbledore' where did you hear that? his portrait was placed with the Headmasters in Hogwarts. Source please.

The reason Luna has Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny! tendencies is because she actually has ADHD.

In the Muggle world, she'd probably be diagnosed. This explains why she's so easily distracted when she's meant to be doing other things (like commentate a Quidditch match).

• I myself assumed this to be the case. She definitely seems like someone with diagnosable attention difficulties. She's also absent-minded enough that people steal her stuff and hide it from her.
• I always assumed she had Aspergers and ADD. Then again, it might be because I have those disorders, and I'm quite Luna-like.

Fred and George are Fabian and Gideon reincarnated

Shortly after Fabian and Gideon were killed in battle, Molly found out that she was pregnant. Before they were truly inhabiting their new bodies, their souls inspired her to sorta, kinda, partially name the babies after them, by giving them the same initials. Many a fan has postulated that Fabian and Gideon were spiritual predecessors to Fred and George (i.e. massive pranksters during their Hogwarts years), this is just taking it a step further.

The Weasley kids are what Tom Riddle would have been had his mother lived.

JK Rowling said it was because Tom was consived under a Love Potion made him a sociopath and Mrs. Weasley says in book 3 she doesed Mr. Weasly so he would love her asuming she never stoped it would explain a lot including why the twins never see a problem with selling love potions to kids.

• ...what. Mrs. Weasley never says that she gave her husband a Love Potion in book 3, it's mentioned that she, Hermione, and Ginny are giggling over some story about a Love Potion she apparently made as a young girl and it's never brought up again. And how on earth does the twins' selling Love Potions go back to their mother having dosed their father with one? By your logic, if all the Weasley children were conceived by a long-going Love Potion, then they're all as sociopathic as Voldemort.

The Trio and Neville are younger counterparts of the Marauders.

• Harry would be James, Ron would be Sirius, Hermione would be Lupin and Neville would be Peter. This emphasizes how choices are important because Neville was loyal to his friends and did not become like Peter.

Dean's real greatest fear.

When Dean sees a Boggart, it turns into a severed hand. But his greatest fear isn't the hand itself. It's losing his own hands. He's an artist, and if his hands were cut off, he couldn't draw anymore. That's what the hand represents.

Seamus could have been in Hufflepuff.

It took almost a minute to sort Seamus, so the Sorting Hat probably considered putting him in a different house. He doesn't seem much like a Slytherin or a Ravenclaw, but he is loyal enough to be a Hufflepuff. The tension between him and Harry in the fifth book mainly stems from conflicting loyalties that he's forced to choose between.

Parvati is The Un-Favourite.

It seems like every family in the series with more than one kid has some form of Parental Favoritism. Padma is much smarter and more studious than Parvati, being in a prefect in Ravenclaw. If their mother is an Education Mama, she would probably favor Padma over Parvati.

Why Hannah Abbott became the Leaky Cauldron's landlady.

As a prefect, Hannah's grades were probably good enough for a lot of careers (and Word of God says she goes into medicine several years later), but she went to work at the Leaky Cauldron for a good reason. After the war, with so many losses and so much pain, she wanted a quiet life, so she took a job where all she has to worry about is satisfying her patrons.