The Biggest Plot Holes In Harry Potter (2024)

The Harry Potter universe is a beloved fantasy franchise, with a constantly growing fan base. However, as well put together as the stories were, fans have noticed massive plot holes and inconsistencies from one installment in the series to the next.

Sometimes, the Harry Potter stories added an element that should've been in the Wizarding World from the beginning, or there were obvious solutions to problems that the author must not have considered. While there are bound to be some slight mix-ups in a seven-part series like Harry Potter, some inconsistencies are glaringly obvious.

Updated on June 1, 2024, by Arthur Goyaz: No plot hole has ever stopped fans from enjoying the fascinating world of Harry Potter, but it's also interesting to delve into inconsistencies left behind. This list was updated to add more Harry Potter plot holes.

25 The Inconsistencies of Professor Quirrell Pile Up

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

• After Voldemort is finally defeated in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Harry's scar never hurts again. The pain Harry felt whenever he was in the presence of Voldemort or his power was caused by the part of Voldemort's soul struggling to return to his master's body.

After spending the majority of their first year believing Severus Snape wanted them dead, Harry, Ron, and Hermione discover that it was their Defence Against the Dark Arts professor, Quirinus Quirrell, who was behind the plot to bring Voldemort back. It's difficult to believe a Hogwarts professor would've been so easily swayed by the wizard he is teaching to fight against, especially with Dumbledore's wise judgment overlooking Quirrell's trajectory.

Inquired by fans, J. K. Rowling decided to give some context on Quirrell's background on Pottermore, explaining how his change of sides had to do with a yearning to do something that could truly change the world. However, another major inconsistency surrounds Professor Quirrell in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone: how come Harry's scar didn't hurt when he met Quirrell at Leaky Cauldron? This plot hole makes the explanation for Harry's scar bothering him when he first sees Snape completely meaningless, as it's later revealed that Quirrell was the cause for it to hurt.

24 Hogwarts is Not One of the Safest Places in the World

Every Harry Potter Installment

• In seven Harry Potter books, Hogwarts finds itself under the attack of trolls, a basilisk, werewolves, Death Eaters disguised as professors, evil students, and even Voldemort himself.

There are countless moments in the Harry Potter series in which wizards bring up how Hogwarts is one of the safest places in the world, even when an escalating danger constantly threatens the students' lives. Hogwarts itself is constantly trying to debunk this argument, hosting all sorts of wicked wizards, monsters, and dark forces on its grounds every school year.

While it's true that the Hogwarts students had a staff of powerful wizards and witches to protect them, it's difficult to defend Hogwarts' safety status when the school is located right next to a place known as the Forbidden Forest, hires professors that are secretly werewolves, and lets Death Eaters roam freely in hackneyed disguises.

23 Time-Turners Are Too Much of a Stretch in the Harry Potter Series

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

• Harry Potter's concept of time travel introduces a single timeline that prevents a Time-Turner's holder from stopping things that have already occurred in the past. In that sense, time adapts itself to a pre-determined fate.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban paved the way for the rest of the series and is regarded as a fan favorite. However, it also introduced one of the most problematic devices in the Harry Potter series: the Time-Turner. This magical artifact enables its holder to travel in time, coexisting with past events as they unfold. During her third year at Hogwarts, Hermione is allowed to use a Time-Turner to watch two simultaneous classes, but she later uses it to save Buckbeak and Sirius from their unfair fates.

The sheer existence of a Time-Turner is highly problematic in a fantasy series like Harry Potter. The most obvious plot hole that this artifact brings to the table is: if Time-Turners are so accessible, how come they weren't used to prevent other tragic events? One may argue that Harry Potter's concept of time travel is a self-fulfilling loop, but despite a Time-Turner's limited power, they open the door to all sorts of catastrophic possibilities -- anything within a short window of time can lead to divergent consequences. All Time-Turners were seemingly destroyed in Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix, at least until Harry Potter and the Cursed Child came in to give this plot hole more layers of incoherence.

22 Why Wasn't Avada Kedavra Used More Times?

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part Two

• The Avada Kedavra, or Killing Curse, was officially introduced in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Demonstrated by a fake Mad-Eye Moody in class, the spell was later used by Voldemort to kill Cedric.

Of all the unforgiving spells and charms in the Harry Potter series, the Avada Kedavra spell is the most critical. That's because a simple flick of a wand and two words can cause another wizard's death in the blink of an eye. Voldemort and his Death Eaters used this fatal spell in several instances throughout Harry Potter, but the opposing team refused to resort to this morally wrong, yet extremely helpful spell.

There's an argument to be made that good-hearted wizards would never use Avada Kedavra, but the battle of Hogwarts was a matter of life and death. Many students and older wizards lost members of their families trying to stop Voldemort, and it's difficult to imagine they would decide not to use a spell that kills but, simultaneously, would have saved the lives of many innocent people. Avada Kedavra is a double-edged spell, but it might as well be a double-edged Harry Potter plot hole.

21 How Come Harry Was Never Able to Fix His Eyesight?

Every Harry Potter Installment

See Also

The characters that made us proud at the Battle of Hogwarts | Wizarding WorldTen inspirational moments from the Battle of Hogwarts | Wizarding WorldHarry Potter and the Battle of Hogwarts - Engelstalig Bordspel | Games | bolHarry Potter: Every Battle Of Hogwarts Death (& How They Died)

• One of the most useful charms in Harry Potter is the Mending Charm, which lets wizards repair broken objects with a flick of the wand. A variation of this charm is the Oculus Reparo spell used by Hermione to fix Harry's eyeglasses in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.

In the Wizarding World, people are one spell away from having their bones immediately fixed, or their glasses instantly cleaned up, but for some reason, Harry never managed to fix his terrible eyesight. Both in the books and in the movies, there are moments of genuine tension whenever Harry's glasses fall on the floor and he must fumble around to find them.

Although Harry's glasses are one of his signature marks alongside his scar, it's not just a matter of aesthetics. In battle, losing his glasses can cost Harry his life. There's an argument to be made that wizards are heavily encouraged not to use spells to alter their physical limitations, otherwise they would perform all sorts of plastic surgeries on themselves with their wands. However, since Harry's eyesight poses a genuine threat against him, it's reasonable to think he would've found a way to fix it.

20 Dennis Creevey Goes To Hogsmeade During His Second Year at Hogwarts

Harry Potter and the Order Of The Phoenix

• The brother of Colin Creevey, Dennis Creevey was a young Gryffindor who started attending Hogwarts in 1994. His brother Colin died during the Battle of Hogwarts.

When Harry and his friends decide to create Dumbledore's Army to learn how to defend themselves against Lord Voldemort, they first meet each other in the Hog Head's Inn, during their Hogsmeade weekend. Colin Creevey's younger brother, Dennis Creevey, who at this time was in his second year, attended the meeting.

In Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, it's established that only third-year students are allowed to visit Hogsmeade, so it's unlikely Dennis would have been able to attend the meeting. People speculate that maybe he was allowed to visit accompanied by his older brother, but that would mean that Ron could have visited in the first two years with his siblings.

19 Why Didn't Voldemort Grab The Prophecy Himself?

Harry Potter and the Order Of The Phoenix

• Sybill Trelawney tells Albus Dumbledore a prophecy in 1980 that says that there was a boy, who was going to be born in late July that year, who was going to grow up to defeat Lord Voldemort.

In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Voldemort decides that the key to his evil plans is listening to the complete prophecy about him and Harry, which was stored in the Ministry of Magic. Prophecies can only be grabbed by the people involved, so Voldemort, deciding that he can't take the prophecy himself, manipulates Harry to do it for him.

However, it's hard to understand why Voldemort, one of the most powerful wizards alive, needed such an elaborate plan. All of his Death Eaters were already in the Ministry of Magic when Harry and his friends got there, and there wasn't anyone else around. In fact, Voldemort himself eventually does arrive at the Ministry and fights Albus Dumbledore. Everything seems to point to the fact Voldemort could have easily gotten in, grabbed the prophecy, and left unnoticed.

18 Severus Snape Leaking the Seven Potters' Plan Makes No Sense

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part One

• The Seven Potters' plan involved several members of the Order of the Phoenix drinking Polyjuice Potion to physically transform into Harry and confuse Voldemort and his Death Eaters.

At the end of the Harry Potter series, fans learn that Severus Snape told Voldemort about the Seven Potters plan, so the Dark Lord would trust him. Before dying, Dumbledore gave Snape explicit instructions about his next moves, and one of them was remaining a close ally to Lord Voldemort.

However, if Voldemort knew Snape had publicly murdered Dumbledore, why would he believe that Snape is still close to the Order of the Phoenix? Dumbledore and Snape putting everyone at risk, including Harry, for this stunt makes very little sense. More so if Voldemort probably already fully trusted Snape after he killed the headmaster.

17 Most Dates In The Harry Potter Series Are All Wrong

Every Harry Potter Installment

• Every Hogwarts student is expected to take the Hogwarts Express to Hogwarts on September 1 every year.

As everyone knows, all Hogwarts students are expected to take the Hogwarts Express every year on September 1 to make the trip to the castle. However, Harry and his friends always start classes on a Monday, and it's impossible that every September 2 for six years would be a Monday.

This isn't the only time the Harry Potter books feature wrong dates. In The Sorcerer's Stone, Harry's birthday supposedly falls on a Tuesday. However, July 31, 1991, fell on a Wednesday. While these little details don't affect the plot, fans find it hilarious that these dates are all over the place.

16 How Did The Azkaban Escapees Get Their Wands Back?

Harry Potter and the Order Of The Phoenix

• Azkaban is the prison for witches and wizards. It is an island in the middle of the North Sea guarded by Dementors.

After Sirius proved that Azkaban wasn't as inescapable as it appeared, a group of Voldemort's most dangerous Death Eaters managed to follow suit in pursuit of their master. When they were finally seen again at the Battle of the Department of Mysteries, all of them had inexplicably managed to secure their old wands back.

When a wizard is sentenced to Azkaban, their wand is either confiscated or destroyed by the Ministry of Magic as they were forbidden within the Wizarding prison. Yet, despite these measures, Sirius and the Death Eaters all recovered their original wands without this becoming a publicized incident.

15 Why Did The Adult Wizards Allow Ron To Use A Broken Wand?

Harry Potter and the Chamber Of Secrets

• Wands are a wizard's most important tool as they allow them to mediate magic. However, some wizards can cast spells without a wand, such as Albus Dumbledore.

When Harry and Ron use the Ford Anglia to fly to Hogwarts, Ron accidentally breaks his wand after crashing against the Whomping Willow. This made for a terrible experience during Ron's school year as he failed every spell that he tried to cast with the wand. What's more, Gilderoy Lockhart tried to obliviate Harry and Ron's memories with Ron's broken wand and ended up causing irreparable brain damage to himself.

Seeing the extent of the damage a broken wand can create in the worst-case scenario, it seems pretty negligent that the Hogwarts staff allowed Ron to use his broken wand for the duration of the school year. Plus, even if he didn't hurt himself, it's more than clear that he didn't learn anything. The broken wand makes sense for the plot, but none at all taking into account that Ron is a 12-year-old attending a school of magic.

14 Why Is The Underage Trace So Inconsistent?

Harry Potter and the Order Of The Phoenix

• Underage wizards and witches are forbidden from using magic outside Hogwarts. This means only wizards 17 years old or older can perform magic outside of school.

From the moment Harry was admitted into Hogwarts, he was warned to never use magic outside the school or in front of Muggles to maintain the Wizarding World's secrecy. To keep youths in line, the Ministry of Magic traces any magic performed around them via a Trace Charm that proved to be highly inconsistent throughout the series.

On some occasions, like when Dobby or Harry performed magic at the Dursleys, the Ministry was immediately notified; in others, like when the Order of the Phoenix used magic in the same location, nothing seemed to happen. In the end, the Trace appeared to be highly inefficient, especially because it couldn't determine who had cast magic in the first place.

13 Why Didn't The Golden Trio Multiply Their Food With Magic During The Horcrux Hunt?

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part One

• Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration states that while food can't be created from thin air, it can be summoned from another location. Food can also be enlarged and multiplied. Also, some consumables like water can be conjured.

The Golden Trio spent most of Deathly Hallows: Part 1 wandering from place to place searching for Voldemort's elusive Horcruxes. They went through various challenges, from finding places to sleep to cutting their own hair, but the most important and demanding one seemed to be obtaining enough sustenance, which caused much strife between them.

According to Hermione, it was impossible to conjure food out of thin air — it could only be summoned, transformed, or multiplied. Harry, Ron, and Hermione could've easily kept multiplying their supply for months without having to starve themselves, but for some reason, the trio never did so during their travels.

12 Why Couldn't Harry See Thestrals All Along?

Harry Potter and the Order Of The Phoenix

• Despite the grim appearance of Thestrals and their relationship with death, these creatures are kind and loyal companions. Harry and his friends receive help from the Thestrals to fly to the Ministry of Magic at the end of the Order of the Phoenix.

Order of the Phoenix introduced Thestrals to the Wizarding World: giant skeletal horses that could only be seen by those who witnessed death. Harry first glimpsed the Thestrals after watching Cedric Diggory die in Goblet of Fire. However, Harry was an infant when he saw his parents die, so it doesn't make sense that he only saw the creatures after Cedric's demise.

Harry's mother died in front of him when he was a baby. Harry should've been able to see the Thestrals when he first arrived at Hogwarts. Additionally, he couldn't see the magical creatures straight after the Triwizard Tournament, despite Cedric's demise. J.K. Rowling tried to explain the plot hole by stating that death had to "sink in" for someone to see the creatures, but many fans felt it was a significant oversight.

11 How Did Fred And George Not Spot Peter Pettigrew On The Marauder's Map?

Harry Potter and the Prisoner Of Azkaban

• The Marauders Map was created by James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew during their time at Hogwarts. It was later found by the Weasley twins, who gifted it to Harry.

In Prisoner of Azkaban, Fred and George Weasley gave Harry Potter the Marauder's Map, a magical parchment that tracked every person in Hogwarts. However, the twins had the map for years and failed to notice or care that a man named Peter Pettigrew slept in bed with their brother Ron every night.

The map was added to further the plot, but it opened more plot holes than it closed. While the Marauder's Map helped Harry throughout the school year, it simply doesn't make sense that no one noticed Pettigrew's constant presence in Ron's room until Harry got ahold of the map.

10 Why Were Wands So Cheap When Their Cores Were So Expensive?

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

• Harry's wand was made of holly with a core of phoenix feather, donated by Fawkes.

In the Harry Potter series, wands were a wizard or witch's most important tool, as they channeled an individual's magic and allowed them to cast all sorts of spells. Before entering Hogwarts, British children often visited Diagon Alley to buy their own at the shop run by Mr. Ollivander, who sold the magical sticks for seven Galleons apiece.

Considering that Ollivander used extremely rare or expensive wand cores — unicorn hair, dragon heartstring, and phoenix feather — it appeared that the old wandmaker was selling his craft at a loss. Not only was each strand of unicorn hair worth ten galleons but sourcing dragon heartstrings and phoenix feathers wasn't as feasible.

9 Why Didn't Sirius Use The Polyjuice Potion To Hide?

Harry Potter and the Prisoner Of Azkaban

• While the Polyjuice Potion is truly difficult to concoct, Hermione Granger brewed it two times in the Harry Potter series. Once, when she was in her second year at Hogwarts, and later on, when she was 17 years old and on the run.

After Sirius Black escaped Azkaban, he hid at his childhood home and couldn't leave for fear of being seen. When he did go outside, he turned into his Animagus, a large black dog. However, many fans felt there was a much simpler solution to the issue: Polyjuice Potion, which physically turns the user into someone else.

This idea has some holes in it since boomslang skin isn't a household item in the Wizarding world. However, if Sirius purchased the potion on the black market, he could've easily used the potion to transform into another Order member, or even a random person, to go into public occasionally. Instead, he went in his Animagus form and was immediately spotted by the Malfoys, leading to his capture and eventual death.

8 Why Did The Professors Send Slytherin Students To Their Rooms?

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

• In The Chamber of Secrets, Harry and Ron visit the Slytherin Common Room, which is located near the Hogwarts dungeons.

During their first year, Professor Quirrell screamed that there was a troll in the dungeons. To keep students calm, the professors sent the children to their rooms to keep them away from danger. However, that presented a major Harry Potter plot hole: the Slytherin students lived in the dungeon.

Hogwarts and its faculty had their faults, but intentionally leading a group of children into a dangerous troll's path makes no sense. Either the professors were too panicked to think straight, or Rowling forgot that she placed the troll and the Slytherins' quarters in the same location.

7 Why Didn't The Ministry Use Its Truth Serum?

Harry Potter and the Order Of The Phoenix

• Severus Snape used Veritaserum on Barty Crouch Jr. to force him to confess the truth. Dolores Umbridge tried to use Veritaserum on Harry, but Snape gave her a fake potion.

Veritaserum was one of the Wizarding World's most powerful potions, forcing its imbiber to tell the truth. If the Ministry of Magic had taken advantage of this tool, they could've solved issues more efficiently. For example, the truth serum could have been used after the first Wizarding War when known Death Eaters went on trial. Some escaped imprisonment by saying they were under the Imperius Curse, and others, like Sirius Black, were wrongfully imprisoned.

The Ministry could've quickly sorted out who was innocent or guilty if they had used Veritaserum. It was an extreme situation that called for drastic measures. This problem even materialized in Harry's underage magic trial. If they had given him some Veritaserum, they would've seen that he was protecting Dudley from Dementors, not committing a crime.

6 Why Didn't Harry Turn Into A Muggle Or Another Wizard?

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1

• Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody died during the Battle of the Seven Potters at the hands of Lord Voldemort.

In Deathly Hallows: Part 1, as Voldemort and his followers grew stronger, the Order devised a plan to relocate Harry to a safe house. Six wizards used Polyjuice Potion and disguised themselves as Harry, traveling in different directions to throw off the Death Eaters. However, there were much easier routes they could've taken to avoid the bad guys.

Harry could've taken Polyjuice Potion to disguise himself as a Muggle, then used Muggle transportation to get to a safe location. The entire Order could’ve disguised themselves as random people alongside him, and no one would've known. Instead, they picked a convoluted plan that led to Moody and Hedwig's deaths.