The Harry Potter world may seem like a wondrous place filled with magic, butterbeer and chocolate
frogs.
But there are still some pretty dark and twisted parts to the stories.
The series may have been kid-friendly at first, but it quickly did away with any age constraints
to cast its spell on generations, thanks in part to some surprisingly grown-up elements.
From suggestive names to infuriating character choices, here are some aspects of the Harry
Potter series that take on a whole new meaning for adult audiences.
Negligence or abuse?
Dumbledore does a great job of passing himself off as a kindly, benevolent father figure
to Harry and the rest of the student body.
But if you take a close look at his actual actions, he's a pretty icy person who knowingly
sends children into harm's way for the sake of an obscure prophecy.
And his willingness to throw Harry to the wolves, sometimes literally speaking, is just
part of the series' troubling trend of adults being negligent or even possibly abusive to
these kids.
Hagrid regularly writes out road maps for the main trio to waltz into danger …
"I shouldn't have said that.
I should not have said that."
The faculty is filled with crazy people … And even the parents are pretty lousy.
How else could you explain Hermione's folks, who were muggles, allowing their 11-year-old
to run through a wall and hop on a train they never even saw?
Or how no one bothered to check on baby Harry Potter for a decade after he was dropped off
at the doorstep of an aunt and uncle everyone knew were terrible?
Good adulting, everybody.
The Ministry of What
There are tons of pseudo-political commentaries contained in the Harry Potter series.
Gellert Grindelwald tries to enslave the muggle population by way of a Global Wizarding War
that, not coincidentally, rages on alongside the real-life events of World War II.
Voldemort and his Death Eaters fight for genetic supremacy over half-bloods and muggles like
some of the worst villains in history.
But perhaps the most unsettling aspect of the stories is that the Ministry of Magic
remains in place without any checks or balances and seems to oppress certain classes of wizards.
They have a totalitarian approach to justice, with boundary-free surveillance options at
their disposal and an army of soul-sucking Dementors who inflict cruel punishment on
prisoners.
They're also in charge of all the money and sometimes distribute assets unfairly between
various families.
It just goes to show that even at its best, the wizarding world is never truly free.
Just ask the house elves.
Fat-shaming
It gets laughs out of a lot of readers, but the way J.K.
Rowling writes about Dudley Dursley in the earliest installments of the Harry Potter
series is kind of troubling.
Although she has plenty of faults to choose from while writing about Harry's spoiled cousin,
she pays a lot of attention to the fact that he's portly — or, as she writes it, "the
size of a young killer whale."
Descriptions of Dudley's "piggly little eyes" and his resemblance to a "pig in a wig" read
as especially cruel and unnecessary in retrospect — even if Rowling has insisted she's against
fat-shaming.
Sexual innuendos
The Harry Potter books may be meant for kids, but certain parts belong in the restricted
section.
For example, there's the "engorgio" spell, which seems like a poor choice of name on
Rowling's part and and is probably the only explanation for how Hagrid's father made whoopie
with a giantess.
"I shouldn't have said that.
I should not have said that."
Then there's the fact that these are all teenage students who have had no sex-ed coursework
at all.
Some have traced the timing of Nymphadora Tonks' conception to her parents' teen years.
Rowling herself has said she didn't mean to encourage teen pregnancy in the story, but
thanks to a dirty Easter egg in the Marauder's Map from the Prisoner of Azkaban movie, we
know Hogwarts could get pretty steamy with or without proper education about safe sex.
Wasted gifts
As creative and thorough as Rowling was when creating the Potterverse, there are some aspects
of the stories there become pretty frustrating in hindsight.
Snape has the gift of legilimency, for example, but doesn't bother using it to figure out
Barty Crouch Jr. is drinking polyjuice potion to disguise himself as Mad-Eye Moody in The
Goblet of Fire.
Seems like that might've been important.
And Hermione's time-turner — a literal time-travel device — could've been used for far more
important things than overloading her school schedule and springing an animal from execution.
Harry could've probably used that luck potion he gets in Half-Blood Prince to help him defeat
Voldemort.
And Minerva McGonagall's shape-shifting skills should've given her an upper hand in undermining
Dolores Umbridge, who just so happens to be a sucker for cats.
"And the consequences may be severe."
Instead, all of these elements just come and go as trivial moments of convenience, despite
the fact that there's an all-out war in motion.
And let's not forget how casually Dumbledore gifts Harry one of the three sacred Deathly
Hallows — the Cloak of Invisibility — long before he could come anywhere near appreciating
its true value.
"Whoa!"
"My body's gone!"
Perverted poltergeist
Harry Potter fans might be inclined to feel sorry for Moaning Myrtle, since she's obviously
a sensitive person who didn't deserve to die by the eye of the basilisk at such a young
age.
But that doesn't excuse her posthumous perversions.
In The Goblet of Fire, she has a habit of sneaking in on boys in the bathtub and spying
on them without their permission.
"Hello Harry.
Long time no see.
Oh..."
Stoner house
House Hufflepuff boasted some of the nicest and most serene students of the Hogwarts bunch,
and there may have been a reason for their relaxed attitudes.
Not only does the name of their house sound kind of like it endorses huffing and puffing,
but Hufflepuffs tended to excel at Herbology, loved to laugh, and lived right by the kitchens.
Coincidence?
Weasley weirdos
In The Prisoner of Azkaban, the Dark Lord's sniveling sidekick Peter Pettigrew is eventually
spotted alive and well on the Marauder's Map that Fred and George Weasley have been holding
onto.
That's how he's ultimately discovered to be disguised as Ronald's "pet" rat.
But if he's always visible on the map, and the Weasley twins have full access to it — and,
in theory, would check in on their younger brother once in awhile — they have to know
he has unexpected company in his room each night...and just ignore it.
You don't need magic powers to see that's pretty messed up.
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