I’ve enjoyed the Harry Potter series for many years. Although I’ve read all the books and seen the movies, I still like learning more about the franchise. In fact, that is pretty much routine for me.
Anyway, along with gaining more knowledge on J.K. Rowling’s fictional world, there comes some shocking facts either revealed at some point or that I didn’t notice until later. So, without further ado, let me begin.
1: The “Missing Day” in The Sorcerer’s Stone
I don’t mean the movie scene, where Hagrid drops off Harry at King’s Cross, apparently the day after his birthday (or if more than a month may have passed and Harry and Hagrid just wore the same clothes again).
In the book (I’m not sure about the film adaptation), it is revealed that Lily and James Potter died on Halloween night, but Hagrid does not deliver Baby Harry to the Dursleys until the evening of November 1st. This is known as the “missing day” or “missing 24 hours.”
I did not notice this until the late 2010s, when someone stated it in a YouTube comment.
Before that, I had thought Hagrid had taken Harry straight to the Dursleys within hours of leaving his parents’ home within the same night (and encountering Sirius Black, whom he had to deny legal custody to for Harry, under Dumbledore’s orders). But when I first read that statement, I was surprised. Hagrid had to watch Baby Harry for a whole day.
Darsh! Hopefully, someone else took care of certain things for the infant.
Anyway, many fans have come up with their own theories on what could have happened during that missing day. I’ve read so many different ideas.
One person guessed that J.K. Rowling might have made a little typo. She could have, but then wouldn’t she have admitted it?
2: The revelation on how wizards used to “go to the bathroom”
After the Harry Potter series concluded, J.K. Rowling revealed more tidbits about her books, including ones that were better left unsaid.
In 2019, she revealed that before muggles invented plumbing, wizards and witches would relieve themselves where they stood and then magically vanish their waste.
Ewww! Gross! Why did we need to know that?
3: When Professor McGonagall made an appearance in Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald years before she should have been born
What’s even more bizarre was that she was already teaching at Hogwarts in the 1910’s and 20’s and looked to be in her late 20’s or early 30’s. But she was not supposed to be born until 1935. She even stated how many years she taught in The Order of the Phoenix, which takes place in the mid-1990’s: 39 years.
So, she most definitely should not have existed in the events of Fantastic Beasts, which is set in the 1920’s.
Some people have assumed that that could have been a different Professor McGonagall. But the script reveals that it’s the same person Harry meets many decades later.
Unless McGonagall has lied about her age this whole time (which is not uncommon for older women), or somehow went back in time and used the time-turner (which has lots of rules, and a big one is how it’s impossible to go back in time more than 5 hours), this should not have occurred.
And no, J.K. Rowling’s excuse for not being strong at math isn’t valid. This isn’t calculous here—it’s grade-school level math.
But Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald did have a lot of plot holes, even with J.K. Rowling involved.
Conclusion
So, there you have it. What details surprised you in the Harry Potter series. Let me know if the comments if you want.