Things that didn't quite make sense in Harry Potter?

[Moonshroom]

So... I originally saw this as a MEME but it is so much true.

The students who live in Scotland, Ireland and northern England have to painstakingly travel all the way down to London just to take the train that would take them back up to Hogwarts? It is ugly as a sin and super inefficient.

[JHG]

At no point does anyone think a bunch of muggles with rifles and a choppa might be useful. It’s only the biggest wizard war in forever! And it’s not like the Death Eaters would keep the facade as they want to commit genocide on the muggles. So, at the very least the Order of the Phoenix should’ve been recruiting muggles.

[Kyng]

So... I originally saw this as a MEME but it is so much true.

The students who live in Scotland, Ireland and northern England have to painstakingly travel all the way down to London just to take the train that would take them back up to Hogwarts? It is ugly as a sin and super inefficient.

Yeah, definitely .

You'd think that, in the real world, there would be more trains to bring people in from other parts of the country (and perhaps a flying ship or something for all the Irish students). But that one train is big enough to accommodate all Hogwarts students, which suggests that everyone is going from there!

(Maybe it's only wizards from London and the South East who get on at King's Cross, and there are intermediate stops for students in the North and the Midlands? But even then, students in Ireland, Wales, and the South West are a bit screwed )

At no point does anyone think a bunch of muggles with rifles and a choppa might be useful. It’s only the biggest wizard of war in forever! And it’s not like the Death Eaters would keep the facade as they want to commit genocide on the muggles. So, at the very least the Order of the Phoenix should’ve been recruiting muggles.

I'm honestly interested in whether Muggles have co-operated with wizards in any previous battles .

Granted, wizards take their own secrecy very seriously - but Muggles who are related to wizards still know about the Wizarding World's existence, and I expect many of those would be willing to help their magical relatives!

[Moonshroom]

So... I originally saw this as a MEME but it is so much true.

The students who live in Scotland, Ireland and northern England have to painstakingly travel all the way down to London just to take the train that would take them back up to Hogwarts? It is ugly as a sin and super inefficient.

Yeah, definitely .

You'd think that, in the real world, there would be more trains to bring people in from other parts of the country (and perhaps a flying ship or something for all the Irish students). But that one train is big enough to accommodate all Hogwarts students, which suggests that everyone is going from there!

(Maybe it's only wizards from London and the South East who get on at King's Cross, and there are intermediate stops for students in the North and the Midlands? But even then, students in Ireland, Wales, and the South West are a bit screwed )

At no point does anyone think a bunch of muggles with rifles and a choppa might be useful. It’s only the biggest wizard of war in forever! And it’s not like the Death Eaters would keep the facade as they want to commit genocide on the muggles. So, at the very least the Order of the Phoenix should’ve been recruiting muggles.

I'm honestly interested in whether Muggles have co-operated with wizards in any previous battles .

Granted, wizards take their own secrecy very seriously - but Muggles who are related to wizards still know about the Wizarding World's existence, and I expect many of those would be willing to help their magical relatives!

You would think that there would be a spell to get students into the school grounds immediately... they don't even have to make it to the school proper, just the grounds.

Then again... we have to give Rowling credit for her true and unbiased portrayal of London as a massive hurdle that everyone only visits just to get as far away from it as geographically possible XD

[Kyng]

Then again... we have to give Rowling credit for her true and unbiased portrayal of London as a massive hurdle that everyone only visits just to get as far away from it as geographically possible XD

You know, if she wanted to portray a city that people visit for no reason other than to immediately leave it, she should probably have had the Hogwarts Express departing from Birmingham New Street, instead of King's Cross !

[Moonshroom]

Then again... we have to give Rowling credit for her true and unbiased portrayal of London as a massive hurdle that everyone only visits just to get as far away from it as geographically possible XD

You know, if she wanted to portray a city that people visit for no reason other than to immediately leave it, she should probably have had the Hogwarts Express departing from Birmingham New Street, instead of King's Cross !

British inside jokes. My true nemesis XD

So... you can't have your house elf do the laundry or else he might take it as you "presenting clothes" to him and setting him free? It's been bothering me since the movie.

[JHG]

Honesty, screw the Dursleys! Why is it so important Harry be raised by them anyway? You’d think having a stable home life would be a priority for the Boy who Lived. 
Mcgonagall can take it from here:

[Kyng]

Honesty, screw the Dursleys! Why is it so important Harry be raised by them anyway? You’d think having a stable home life would be a priority for the Boy who Lived. 
Mcgonagall can take it from here:

Yeah, does seem like it would've been a much nicer upbringing .

I did search for answers, and one of them was this Quora post, which claims that "Lily Potter gave her life to protect Harry’s. That sacrifice cast a powerful protection which could only be replicated at the Dursley’s because Petunia was the only other blood relative Harry had". However, that still sounds like a contrived ad hoc rationalisation, rather than a well-founded argument - and it just raises even more questions. For example: if the Dursleys' home was the only place where Lily's sacrifice would protect him, then why invite him to Hogwarts at all? Why not just arrange for him to receive private lessons at the Dursleys' home - or even have him living his life away from magic altogether?

It seems that this explanation is trying to have it both ways. Either Hogwarts is safe enough for him (in which case, he could have been adopted by Dumbledore or McGonagall), or it isn't (in which case, he shouldn't have gone to school there).

[Moonshroom]

Ever noticed how it would just take one idiot with a camera at King's Cross Station for the entire cover of Platform 9 ¼ to be blown? Hell, even the station's own security system would spot it immediately.

[Kyng]

Ever noticed how it would just take one idiot with a camera at King's Cross Station for the entire cover of Platform 9 ¼ to be blown? Hell, even the station's own security system would spot it immediately.

Yeah, a lot of things seem like they'd be difficult to keep hidden... you can bet that it wouldn't take long for some explorer to stumble upon Diagon Alley, for instance !

According to Rowling, there are Ministry of Magic employees at the station, ready to modify the memories of any Muggles who notice... but, I imagine quite a lot must, so these people would be kept pretty busy!