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“Mr and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. They were the last people you'd expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn't hold with such nonsense.”
It was with these lines that the magical universe of Harry Potter opened its doors to us, exactly twenty years ago, on 26 June 1997, when Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone was published for the first time.
Harry Potter had been introduced to the Muggle world. Magic was afoot.
29-year-old Potterhead Juni Bahuguna writes:
I felt the House system catered to stereotypical personalities. Everyone in Gryffindor was honest, brave and loyal. And representing the other side of the coin was Slytherin, while Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff had a few characters here and there to remind us that other houses did exist.
Now many may argue that Snape, who turned out to be the best guy in the end, belonged to Slytherin, which made Harry realise that Slytherins could be good people too. Alright, you may have got me there. But even then, not all of them need have been completely terrible throughout the series.
The hero trio may not have friends from Slytherin, but not even in passing was there a reference to any one of the Slytherins being slightly better than the other. All were horrible vicious people who just represented evil. And since Harry Potter and the gang never bothered to interact with them, guess we’ll never know if there was anyone who could’ve been a good person despite being in the “wrong” house.
Also, it’s strange that Harry never, ever, ever found anyone from Gryffindor who was annoying as hell or even dubious for that matter. It’s pretty hard to believe that there was no one in the house who was snarky, disloyal, or a chicken.
Realistic portrayals of characters would have probably made the series even more exciting.
24-year-old Maanvi writes:
I know this has been said too many times, but Hermione Granger deserves someone better than Ron Weasley.
Ron is a great guy, but his insecurity and maybe gaslighting tendencies will harm Hermione's ambitions in the future. Reading Hermione as someone who's ambitious, smart, intelligent and generally doesn't give a damn was one of the great pleasures of Harry Potter, giving role models to so many young girls, including me.
22-year-old Akriti Paracer says:
I would like to see more gender and race representation in the Potterverse. There is no gay character (Dumbledore was revealed to be one posthumously and after the series ended) in the books. Off the top of my head, I would like to imagine Crabbe and Goyle were gay or that Luna Lovegood was bisexual or bicurious in the least.
If it's the best wizarding school, there have to be more people from across the globe. The Patil sisters, Cho Chang, Angelina Johnson, Lee Jordan, and Dean Thomas exist but they're all supporting characters. All the main characters in the original books are white and I’d change that if I could.
Potterhead Pathikrit Ghosh writes:
If I could change something about the Harry Potter series, I’d change the rules of Quidditch.
(Ghosh has a point. Look at all the effort the Chasers on the team make just to score once. And their reward? A fraction of the points!)
Khemta Jose says:
Make SPEW more prominent... come on, it's slavery. So what if it's of house elves? It's slavery, and Ron is relatively cool with it? I know he comes around, but would you marry someone who took five years to 'come around' on slavery being bad? I wouldn't. And I didn't think Hermione would either.
Potterhead Rōmal Lāisram writes:
The only thing I’d ever change would be to make #Drarry come alive.
I wish we could have seen them get together so Harry Potter would be a perfect example of love conquering all.
Anubhav Mishra writes:
One character I felt for more than Harry Potter was Moaning Myrtle.
You could find a way to pair Neville Longbottom with Hannah Abbot (even though she is irrelevant for most of the series) but no love for Myrtle? That’s discrimination against ghosts!
The entire narrative of the Harry Potter series was ‘love and friendship.’ That’s what Dumbledore kept saying too. Yet, the one character that wanted the love and affection most, Moaning Myrtle, was totally forgotten! Not cool JK, not cool.
Potterhead Sreya Sanyal writes:
One thing I'd change: the constant deification of Albus Dumbledore. He wasn't really a stand up guy, and while he's really wise, he's done some pretty questionable things throughout the series.
Apologies for the Rita Skeeter-esque desire to crucify him, but I don't think he was as great a guy as he’s made out to be. No one ever really questioned him and that irks me.
Potterhead Madhura Athanikar writes:
And why, after 6 years in the best wizarding school, after finally meeting the guy who's made your life hell and is out to kill you, why Expelliarmus, WHY?!
Keith Pinto, 24, has an alternate story arc for Hedwig:
Hedwig’s life should have been handled differently in the series.
Short. Sweet. Fantastical, eh?
And it would have saved us from this heartbreak.
Potterhead Kevin Kenneth Lee, 24, writes:
If it were up to me, I'd much rather have eight seasons of a Harry Potter TV show than 8 half-baked movies. There were enough characters, incidents and relationships to explore over 80 episodes rather than cramming in all that material into 90 minute films.
(Have more to add to this list? Comment and tell us about the one thing you would like to change about the Harry Potter series.)
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