“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.
As part of our celebrations of two decades of Pottermania, we asked fans – “If you could, what’s the one thing you’d change about the Harry Potter series?” Here are some of the responses we got.
“Make Slytherin Friendly Again”
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.
What if Dean Thomas was actually a snitch, what if Neville Longbottom had anger issues, what if Padma Patil was indifferent to the whole cause of Dumbledore’s Army?
“Hermione, You Deserve Better”
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.
Watching her settle for Ron, who rather than nurturing and being proud of her, seemed to come across as belligerent, seemed like a way of being reminded that smart girls can’t be attractive in the traditional sense.
“Potterverse Not Diverse Enough”
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.
There is also little race representation. Most characters are white and British.
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.
“Change the Rules of Quidditch”
Potterhead Pathikrit Ghosh writes:
If I could change something about the Harry Potter series, I’d change the rules of Quidditch.
Doesn’t valuing the golden snitch at 150 points make the rest of the game sort of pointless? Come on, that’s not a fair sport.
(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!)
“Make SPEW More Prominent”
Khemta Jose says:
The Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare (SPEW) deserves a more prominent presence in the Harry Potter series.
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.
“We Want #Drarry”
Potterhead Rōmal Lāisram writes:
The only thing I’d ever change would be to make #Drarry come alive.
Draco and Harry belong with each other. We would have loved them to discover a fascinating obsession with each other.
I wish we could have seen them get together so Harry Potter would be a perfect example of love conquering all.
“Moaning Myrtle Should Meet Her Match”
Anubhav Mishra writes:
One character I felt for more than Harry Potter was Moaning Myrtle.
At the end, all of them – Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny and even Draco Malfoy – get to ride off into the sunset but Myrtle is completely forgotten! What’s up with that, JK?
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.
Well, so many eligible bachelors died in the Battle of Hogwarts. If one of them plans to stay at Hogwarts, maybe, in a future spin-off, we can see Myrtle with him (or her)?”
“Why Deify Dumbledore?”
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.
He got to stage his own death, left a young boy to go through a dangerous ordeal on his own, put several people in danger, and never really received any form of punishment for it.
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.
“Craving a Fitting Finale”
Potterhead Madhura Athanikar writes:
Why, after 7 years of a good build-up was the duel between Harry and Voldemort one spell long? Molly Weasley versus Bellatrix seemed better.
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?!
“Hedwig’s Courier Service”
Keith Pinto, 24, has an alternate story arc for Hedwig:
Hedwig’s life should have been handled differently in the series.
Hedwig dodges the curse that was coming at her, flies off and starts a couriering startup with Pigwidgeon. He later hunts and eats Nagini for breakfast.
Short. Sweet. Fantastical, eh?
And it would have saved us from this heartbreak.
“A TV Show Instead of Movies”
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.
The Harry Potter series could have been what the Game of Thrones series is today, and at least twice as popular.
(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.)
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)