Questions I Still Have About Harry Potter
Let’s face it: I’ll probably add an installment on this.
“It matters not what someone is born, but what they grow to be.”
Do you recognize this quote? If you’re a Harry Potter fanatic, you should. It is one of the many pieces of wisdom Albus Dumbledore imparted on us. It has been 20 years since Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone was released and 11 years since the final installment, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, made us all weep as we watched our favorite story come to an end. But even after all this time, I still have some questions. (And, let’s face it, a lot of them are about Snape.)
1. Does Polyjuice Potion change the drinker’s DNA?
This is such a Muggle question, I know. Polyjuice Potion, as we know, can transform an individual into someone else for a set period of time — typically an hour. But Pottermore has caused me to question this potion a bit more. They say it would be “impossible to trust DNA evidence,” but if it only gives someone the appearance of someone else, would their DNA really change? Cause you can change your appearance without changing your DNA. Maybe I need a science lesson — it’s been a while since I’ve seen a Biology course.
2. Did Snape really hate Harry?
No, hear me out here! Perhaps Snape hates Harry because he blames himself for what happened to Lily? We all know Snape was the one who told Voldemort about the prophecy, which led to Voldemort searching for them, which most likely then led to Wormtail’s betrayal. Maybe Snape blames himself for Lily’s death and can’t stand Harry because he is a reminder of that mistake. Or maybe Snape hates Harry because Harry reminds him that he screwed up his friendship with Lily? Snape “accidentally” called Lily Mudblood, which effectively ended their friendship. Maybe seeing Harry reminds him of that? Or maybe Snape just hates Harry because he looks like James. Which is stupid, but whatever.
3. Why can’t Snape get over his hatred of James?
I mean, come on. It’s been (at least) 20 years! Don’t hate a kid — who, by the way, has no clue about his parents — for his father’s stupidity. This determination to hate James Potter’s memory cost a good man — Remus Lupin, who was already an outcast — his job, all because Snape couldn’t stand the idea of working alongside one of the Marauders. You were all young and stupid. And, let’s face it, Snape was into the Dark Arts, so that’s questionable.
4. Why didn’t Snape seeing how Harry had been treated by the Dursley’s change his attitude toward Harry?
When Snape invades Harry’s mind during their Occlumency lessons in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, he sees Harry suffer at the hands of the Durlseys — from Marge’s dog chasing him up a tree to Dudley’s violence. Why didn’t this change his view of Harry? Is he really that desperate to hate James’ memory? Or does it satisfy him to see Harry being mistreated? (That’s even darker than I imagined…)
5. Did Hagrid ever figure out that Voldemort is the boy who got him expelled in Hagrid’s third year?
We find out in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets why Hagrid was expelled: Tom Riddle framed him for opening the Chamber of Secrets. So, by the time Hagrid is (briefly) captured by Voldemort in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, does he realize the snake-like dark lord is the Prefect who framed him when he was 13?
6. How do some of these people become professors?
This is a legitimate — and pedagogical — question! (And I’m not the only one!) I mean, let’s take a look at a few. Gilderoy Lockhart clearly didn’t know a darn thing about Defense Against the Dark Arts. “Alastor Moody” (aka Barty Crouch Jr) made each student try to throw off the Imperius Curse. (Would the real Moody have done this, by the way?) Hagrid isn’t even a qualified wizard!
7. How did Voldemort not know he had turned Harry into a Horcrux?
He had created so many by that point, he knew what it felt like to be ripped apart. How did he not correlate that with what he felt when he tried to kill Harry? Or was it that he had created so many by that point that he didn’t have anything left to feel?
8. How much did Dumbledore know and for how long?
In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Dumbledore tells Harry he suspected Voldemort had created multiple Horcruxes once he examined Riddle’s destroyed diary. But when did he examine it? And how much did he know before then?
9. Why didn’t Dumbledore tell Harry everything earlier?
This is self-explanatory. I can understand not telling an 11 or 12 year old he is going to have to die, but as Dumbledore tutored Harry, he should have been more honest and forthcoming with him.
10. Did Harry really see Dumbledore?
“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean it isn’t real?” If it was happening in his head, how did Harry (and us) get that closure? How would Harry have found out that information about Dumbledore?
These questions and all the others we have about the series may never be answered. And maybe that’s the joy of fiction — we can create our own responses and ideas about the world we so love. I don’t know about you, but I see and think of new things each time I read the series, and I don’t think that will ever end. As our quirky Luna Lovegood says: “The things we lose have a way of coming back to us in the end, if not always in the way we expect.”
