Explore every episode of the podcast Harry Potter Theory

This video is one part of a multi-part series. We left part 1 at the conclusion of the battle of the astronomy tower. Except, in this version of events... things went very differently. Dumbledore, alive and well, survived the battle because he never succumbed to temptation and put on the Gaunt Ring.

Dumbledore’s death was one of the most heartbreaking moments in the entire series, a turning point that shattered the illusion of safety Harry had always relied on. But not only that, it represented a distinct shift in innocence in the series- a moment that made it clear that no one, not even the greatest wizard alive, was beyond Voldemort’s reach. It also left things looking pretty bleak for the good guys, with Death Eaters taking over Hogwarts, Voldemort’s power growing, and Harry running out of options.

And while Dumbledore’s death doesn’t actually happen until the Half-Blood Prince, what many fans may not realize is that it was hinted at as early as Prisoner of Azkaban.

Today we’re talking about the Death of Albus Dumbledore—and what might have happened if he’d survived the night atop the Astronomy Tower. This one’s going to be a dooz

Voldemort Would Have Won If He Did This One Thing...

In the past I made a wand documentary that covered all of the wand materials- woods, cores, the lot. I even discussed wand FLEXIBILITY and SIZE, and how those things can be indicative of the type of wizard wielding the wand. But what I strangely never touched on…Was wand CREATION. Or rather, construction.

How are wands actually..Made?

And what makes this question increasingly interesting is just how few wandmakers there are in the Wizarding World. Sure, it’s possible that we only see a handful of wandmakers in the series, but among the ones we do encounter, it almost feels as though they hold a kind of monopoly. And if they’re truly skilled enough to command that level of dominance, then it only makes me even more curious about what exactly it is they’re doing behind the scenes.

Today we’ll be discussing the enigmatic process of WAND making, and (hopefully) unpacking what it is that makes wandmakers like Ollivander so special.

Let’s dive in to it.

It’s that time again. NEWS. Sorry for the voice, I’m sick.

There’s been lots going on in the Wizarding World as of late, and that’s an exciting prospect because for a little while the Harry Potter buzz seemed to have died off a bit. Did it die? Absolutely not. But am I excited that there’s some new LIFE being injected into it across a number of different areas? Absolutely.

From stage plays to Audible releases and new HBO updates, today we’re breaking down five pieces of Harry Potter news that should get you more excited than ever for what’s here—and what’s still coming.

Let’s dive into it.

Welcome to another instalment of Harry Potter Theory. Today, we’ll be taking a look at some of the most well known characters who show up in the Harry Potter series, but whose Hogwarts houses are never identified.

You probably remember Sirius Black’s death in Order of the Phoenix—a tragic moment amidst the Battle of the Department of Mysteries that seemed to instantly shift the entire tone of the story.

But according to J.K. Rowling’s original draft, that wasn’t how Sirius was meant to die at all...

Welcome to Harry Potter Theory. When a young witch or wizard has no understanding of magic, they rely entirely on the way that it’s taught to them. They copy sounds. They mimic gestures, and they perform rituals they barely understand. 

At Hogwarts, students mostly imitate what their professors demonstrate, and long before that, in magical homes, young witches and wizards often pick up bits of magic just by watching their parents.

And by doing these things, they learn the shape of magic, but not the rules beneath it. They don’t know why a wand must move a certain way, or why emotion matters just as much as language. They’re taught how to do magic, but it’s rarely explained why it works.

But here’s the thing about magic: it’s wildly unpredictable. It isn’t patient with mistakes, and it certainly doesn’t forgive misunderstandings. 

Which means that sometimes, when the spell isn’t quite right- it doesn’t just NOT WORK- it actively pushes back.

And when magic pushes back, there are consequences.

Of course, not every spell fits this criteria. Some spells will just fizzle out or do nothing at all. But the focus of today’s video will be on the spells that DO push back- sometimes with DIRE..Even HORRIFIC consequences.

Let’s dive into it.

Hey everyone, welcome to another installment of Harry Potter Theory.

Many..In fact, most corners of the Harry Potter fandom are wholesome, creative, and endlessly imaginative… …but there’s one corner — a slightly strange, often bewildering corner — that sometimes even longtime fans tiptoe around. It’s a world where canon, logic, ethics and timelines are seemingly out the window. A world where a simple pairing can ignite hundred-page debates and some truly unhinged works of fanfiction.

And at the very center of this storm lies one pairing so infamous, so controversial, so chronically discussed that even mentioning it makes longtime fans flinch.

When Voldemort dies in the films, he disintegrates into thousands of pieces and blows away in the wind. And when he dies in the books, his body falls with a mundane finality—revealing something far more fitting. In the end, there is nothing grand or mythic about his death at all. He simply… dies. 

But in the end, neither depiction of his death answers the real question. His body might fall or crumble, but that tells us nothing about what truly became of him. Not the man, not the flesh… but the part he tried hardest to protect. The part he mutilated in his quest for immortality. His soul.

Today we’re going to be unpacking this further and taking a closer look at what may have happened to the most mutilated soul in wizarding history.

We know Voldemort pursued one of the Deathly Hallows — the Elder Wand — said to be the most powerful wand in all of existence.

And the reasons for that seem fairly self-explanatory. Voldemort craved power, and the wand would have been the perfect tool he needed for domination, supremacy, control.

And from the moment he became aware of the wand’s existence, his pursuit was relentless. To Voldemort, it was the weapon that would finally secure his victory, the final piece needed to end the boy who lived.

But what’s interesting is that he stopped there.

The Elder Wand was just one of the three Deathly Hallows — a triad of objects that, when united, were said to make their possessor the Master of Death.

And if Voldemort feared death more than anyone who ever lived…

If he built his entire life around conquering mortality…

Then why didn’t he go after the other Hallows?

Hey everyone, welcome to another installment of Harry Potter Theory.

It’s been nearly a decade and a half since the Harry Potter film saga came to an end.

And now, for the first time in ages, we’ve got a show on the horizon- set to debut sometime in 2027.

But since the announcement of the show last year, we’ve been through an absolute whirlwind of new information.

And that whirlwind doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon.

From casting updates to production rumors, every tiny development surrounding the show seems to set the fandom alight with speculation. 

And one particular report that came out last week seems to suggest that the show will have something never before seen in a Harry Potter production

There are few witches in the wizarding world who can silence a room quite like Rita Skeeter.

Not with a curse — but with a quill.

With a quick scribble from her Quick-Quotes Quill, reputations trembled. Careers ended. Truth blurred. And somewhere, behind a thick layer of lipstick and lime-green fingernails, Rita Skeeter smiled with satisfaction.

Hermione was certainly never shy in sharing what she thought of her:

“You horrible woman. You don’t care, do you? Anything for a story, and anyone will do, won’t they?”

But before the headlines, before The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore and her smear campaigns against Harry Potter..Who WAS Rita Skeeter?

How did an ambitious Hogwarts student turn into the most reviled journalist of her age?

Today we’ll dive in to all of that (AND MORE) as we look at the Life and Lies of Rita Skeeter.

Welcome to another instalment of Harry Potter Theory. Today, we’ll be discussing a list of EIGHT Major things that magic simply CANNOT do.

Welcome to Harry Potter Theory. Today, we’ll be discussing how ordinary Muggles react when they find out that their child is magical.

The majority of Muggle-born witches and wizards do not discover that they are magical until they are invited to come study magic as a child. In the United Kingdom, this momentous occasion takes place the year of a child’s eleventh birthday by way of mail. Each young witch or wizard receives their letter of acceptance to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry sometime over the summer months before the start of term in the fall. In the case of Muggleborns, Hogwarts dispatches a member of staff to travel to the home of said muggle-born student so that the letter can be properly introduced and explained.

The trembling stutter of a nervous man. A turban concealing a horrifying secret. And behind it all: the face of the Dark Lord himself.

Quirinus Quirrell is often remembered as the timid, stuttering Defence Against the Dark Arts professor from Harry Potter’s first year at Hogwarts. Nervous, soft-spoken, and constantly hiding behind that signature purple turban — he appeared (at least at first) to be one of the least threatening figures Harry could have encountered.

But as we later find out, appearances can be deceiving.

By the time Quirrell stood in front of Harry in the Great Hall, the man he once was had already begun to disappear. His brilliant mind, once shaped by academic curiosity, had been twisted by ambition and fear. And in pursuit of recognition he didn’t believe he could achieve on his own, he turned to the darkest source of power imaginable.

During the 1991–92 school year, Quirrell became one of the most consequential figures in modern wizarding history — not because of who he was, but because of who he allowed himself to serve.

Today, we’re going to explore the full life of Quirinus Quirrell — from his overlooked beginnings as a brilliant Ravenclaw scholar, to the fateful journey that led him into Voldemort’s grasp, and the horrifying transformation that followed.

Let’s dive into it.

Hey everyone, welcome to another installment of Harry Potter Theory.

Today’s topic is pretty simple — the upcoming Harry Potter TV reboot, and every controversy surrounding it.

The show hasn't even aired yet, but between unexpected casting choices, creative reinterpretations, and the ongoing debate over J.K. Rowling’s involvement, the series has already managed to polarize the Harry Potter fandom — especially amid rumors of a gender-swapped Dark Lord and questions about how “faithful” this adaptation will actually be. And this is YEARS before we’ve even seen a single episode.

In total there are 4 controversies I want to touch on, starting with…

Welcome to another installment of Harry Potter Theory.

In today’s video, we’re exploring a theory that challenges one of the series’ core assumptions:

the belief that Albus Dumbledore was the Elder Wand’s rightful owner.

Because according to some fans — and a closer reading of the events themselves —

the wand’s true allegiance may not have been with Dumbledore at all.

If we trace the origins of the most powerful magical artifacts in history — the Deathly Hallows — the trail always leads back to one family: the Peverells.

Three brothers whose story exists somewhere between myth and memory — remembered in children’s tales, but also immortalized in wizarding history.

To begin to unravel their story, we have to separate myth from memory — and uncover the truth buried beneath a thousand years of legend.

And there’s no better place to start than the story every wizard knows by heart — first written down by Beedle the Bard in the fifteenth century: The Tale of the Three Brothers.

Before he was a name whispered in fear — before Nurmengard, before the Elder Wand, before Dumbledore — there was simply a boy. A brilliant, golden-haired boy, born in Eastern Europe in the late nineteenth century — whose name was Gellert Grindelwald.

Little is recorded about Grindelwald’s family or childhood, but what fragments survive describe a wizard of exceptional promise from the very beginning. His ancestry is believed to have been of northern European descent, possibly linked to an old wizarding line with strong magical blood. Whether or not that family shared his views, however, is another question entirely.

From a young age, Grindelwald displayed a kind of brilliance that unsettled those around him. He was curious about everything — but especially the boundaries of magic.

 Most children who show magical ability experiment with simple enchantments or charms.

 Grindelwald experimented with control — the art of bending will, power, and fate to his own design.

Even as a boy, he possessed what Dumbledore would later call “a dangerous gift, the power to make others see what he wanted them to see, to make his lies sound like truth.”

Hey everyone, welcome to another installment of Harry Potter Theory. In today’s video, I’ll be breaking down everything we know so far about the upcoming Harry Potter TV show — from the budget and release date to confirmed casting, behind-the-scenes controversies, and even a few juicy rumours. Some of this was recorded today, while other sections are stitched together from previous videos — including the casting announcements.

Anyway, without further ado, let’s dive into it all, starting with…

In the past, I made a couple of videos covering WHAT HAPPENS to all of the major Harry Potter characters AFTER the books end. In fact, one such video covers the fates of 100 separate characters- exploring what they got up to when Voldemort was defeated and the dust had settled at Hogwarts.

But while making those videos, there were a number of characters I encountered whose fates (in the books, films, or both) were left…Pretty unclear. In some instances Rowling left THREADS of what may or may not have happened to them, but overall- their ultimate destinies remain a mystery. 

Today we’re picking up right where we left off — looking at more familiar faces and uncovering what J.K. Rowling has revealed (or hinted at) about their fates in a post-Voldemort era.

Let’s dive in to it.

The title of Master of Death is whispered in the wizarding world with awe and fear. It’s said to belong to whoever unites the three Deathly Hallows — the Elder Wand, the Resurrection Stone, and the Cloak of Invisibility — a collection of artifacts so legendary that even the most brilliant witches and wizards have spent lifetimes chasing them. To hold all three is to hold power beyond measure: the unbeatable wand, the ability to summon the dead, and the means to evade death itself. And ever since Death (or perhaps an unknown powerful wizard) created these artifacts..Few have ever come close to possessing all three.

But there is one wizard in particular who WAS close..

Why Didn’t Harry KEEP the Elder Wand? (The Dark Truth) - Harry Potter Theory

Hey everyone, Welcome to another installment of Harry Potter Theory

When Warner Bros. announced that the Harry Potter series would be rebooted as a full HBO production, fans were promised something bold: a faithful adaptation of J.K. Rowling’s seven books. More detail, more nuance, more of the cut material the films couldn’t fit. 

And since it’s announcement, the series has been making headlines on a regular basis, with the latest rumor being the most controversial yet.

And it all began with Daniel Richtman, a well-known Hollywood scooper, who recently reported that HBO’s Harry Potter production is auditioning both men and women for the role of Voldemort.

“They’re auditioning both men and women for Voldemort so it’s possible we could see a female Voldemort in the Harry Potter series!”

You heard that right: Lord Voldemort, the Dark Lord himself, might be played by a woman.

When a new student arrives at Hogwarts for the first time, one of the first things they’ll experience is the Sorting Ceremony- a right of passage in which you are allocated to one of the Four Hogwarts Houses- Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff. 

And on some level, your House is meant to define the type of person that you are.

Gryffindors are brave. Hufflepuffs are loyal. Ravenclaws are smart, and Slytherins are ambitious. 

At least…that’s what everybody says.

But where do these ideas actually come from? And are they really accurate, or are they just oversimplified labels that stuck around because they’re easy to repeat?

Welcome to another instalment of Harry Potter Theory. Today, we’ll be discussing the Deathly Hallows…but not in the way you might think.

Welcome to another installment of Harry Potter Theory. Today, I’ve got something really special for you- a compilation featuring the history behind nearly EVERY SINGLE magical location of significance in the Wizarding World. This video will feature Diagon Alley, Azkaban, Gringotts, the Ministry of Magic, Hogsmeade, the Leaky Cauldron, Godric’s Hollow, every Wizarding School, every Wizarding prison, the Forbidden Forest & MORE. 

I’m heading off on a trip to the Harry Potter motherland this week- EDINBURGH- so I figured this would be the perfect opportunity to take a look back at years of content and put something special together. 

Please note that due to the long time frame over which these videos were produced, there may be some variation in audio levels and a small amount of repeated information (though this should be minimal).

Anyway, without further ado- let’s dive into this comprehensive history of nearly every Wizarding World location.

Today, we’ll be taking a look at the work that Barty Crouch Jr. did in his capacity as Hogwart’s Defense Against the Darks Arts Professor during Harry’s fourth year at school—and whether or not it was actually a better job than the REAL Alastor “Mad-Eye” Moody could have done.

Before we dive in, I will admit that this may not be the…uhh…HOTTEST take. Across the Internet, from reddit to Facebook, fans of the Wizarding World have posted similar questions and had discussions about this very topic. And yet, I still think it worth our time in analyzing…because despite all that we feel we may know of Alastor Moody, the most amount of time spent with this character is in The Goblet of Fire…and, well, for most of that book/movie, it’s not really him that we’re spending time with but a Death Eater in disguise. As a result, fans of the series may FEEL like they know Mad-Eye…but it was actually Barty Crouch Jr. who they got to know.

Welcome to another installment of Harry Potter Theory. Imagine a creature that doesn’t die, no one can kill, and thrives on misery and despair. A creature that can’t be reasoned with, can’t be bribed, and whose presence alone makes human beings relive their worst moments.

Alright, now imagine THOUSANDS of them.

Not a great situation to deal with, right? But unfortunately, this is precisely what the Wizarding World, specifically the MINISTRY OF MAGIC- had to deal with after the fall of Voldemort.

In the past, I made a couple of videos covering WHAT HAPPENS to all of the major Harry Potter characters AFTER the books end. In fact, one such video covers the fates of 100 separate characters- exploring what they got up to when Voldemort was defeated and the dust had settled at Hogwarts.

But while making those videos, there were a number of characters I encountered whose fates (in the books, films, or both) were left…Pretty unclear. In some instances Rowling left THREADS of what may or may not have happened to them, but overall- their ultimate destinies remain a mystery. 

Did Lavender Brown actually die during the Battle of Hogwarts? Did Marietta Edgecombe ever get rid of those awful pimples left by Hermione’s jinx? And was Dolores Umbridge ever properly punished for her crimes?

Today we’ll be looking at 5 of these characters whose stories were left unfinished — the witches and wizards whose ultimate fates J.K. Rowling never revealed. If you want MORE of these taking a look at even MORE characters, then leave a comment down below.

Welcome to Harry Potter Theory. Another week, and another exciting batch of Harry Potter news- especially for those of us keeping a close eye on the upcoming HBO reboot. Today we’ll be breaking down some major updates — including the return of an iconic cast member from the original films, a wave of new casting announcements covering both staff and students, and even some chatter about yet ANOTHER potential Harry Potter series on the horizon (I know, it sounds too good to be true..But is it?).

Before we dive in, don’t forget to subscribe to the channel if you want to stay up to date on all things Harry Potter — as I’ll be covering every new update as soon as it drops.

Anyway, I won’t dawdle any longer…let’s dive in.

Hey everyone,

Welcome to another installment of Harry Potter Theory. Over the years I’ve done a few videos taking a look at major differences between the book and film versions of different characters, but the focal point in the past has always been more of a “spot the difference” angle. 

This time, the angle is different, and this video will serve as the first in a series of videos examining adaptation injustices: not just what was altered, but who got shortchanged and how those choices warped the character that we grew to love on the page. 

Today, I’m making the case that the films failed Ron Weasley—consistently sanding off his courage, wit, and heart until only a comic outline remained. Basically, Ron got nerfed.

Welcome to another installment of Harry Potter Theory. It’s been an exciting week for Harry Potter-in particular the upcoming show, with a wave of new updates hitting the internet. In today’s video, we’ll be breaking it all down — from comments by Chris Columbus, director of the original film series, to intriguing remarks from the show’s producer Mark Mylod, plus a first look at the newly-cast Weasley family, and even some fresh set leaks from the past 48 hours.

Albus Percival Wulfric BRIAN Dumbledore is perhaps the greatest Wizard in history. This much is the truth, and it’s also something that even a stubborn dark wizard like Voldemort would have to admit (although perhaps not openly).

Far from a one trick pony, by the time Dumbledore reached the tender age of 115 he had mastered nearly every branch of magic—from charms and transfiguration to potions, alchemy, and beyond.

And this mastery wasn’t just theoretical—it was proven time and time again in the real world. In 1945 he famously defeated Gellert Grindelwald, ending one of the darkest chapters in wizarding history and claiming the Elder Wand in the process. And many decades later, Dumbledore duelled the next big dark Wizard with ease- effortlessly standing toe to toe with Voldemort in the MInistry atrium in 1996. 

But Dumbledore’s brilliance extended far beyond combat—he was a skilled Legilimens and Occlumens, capable of reading and shielding minds; a master of wandless and nonverbal casting, performing feats most wizards wouldn’t dare attempt; and a gifted inventor, credited with magical creations like the Deluminator. He even collaborated with Nicolas Flamel, gaining insights into the mysteries of alchemy. Time and again, Dumbledore demonstrated that his power wasn’t rooted in a single specialty but in a boundless command of magic itself.

Which begs the question: how did he become such a beacon of knowledge and power? And even more specifically- who taught the man that knew everything?

Let’s dive in to it

Hey everyone, Welcome to another installment of Harry Potter Theory. Today, we’re diving into part 2 of the moments in the Harry Potter universe that everyone remembers… but remembers wrong- a major contributor to this being the FILMS. In adapting the books to the big screen, the filmmakers took plenty of creative liberties...Personalities were altered, entirely new scenes were invented, character roles were switched and whole sections of the books were simply cut

And over time, some of these changes have blurred the lines between book and film so much that, for many fans, they’ve fused into a single version of the story.

One of the strangest things about Lavender Brown’s character is that she was portrayed by not one, not two, but three different actresses over the course of the films — changing between Chamber of Secrets, Prisoner of Azkaban, and finally Half-Blood Prince. But what’s the reason behind all of this? Why was she played by 3 different people?

By the time we’ve finished Prisoner of Azkaban we’re meant to believe that Sirius Black was INNOCENT of the crimes for which he was accused.

For those who might be a little fuzzy on the details, Sirius wasn’t just some random fugitive — he was Harry’s godfather, a loyal member of the Order of the Phoenix, and once the closest friend of Harry’s father, James Potter. 

And as we get closer to the end of the book/film, it’s finally revealed to Harry that the true traitor was Peter Pettigrew, not Sirius.

It was Pettigrew who had betrayed James and Lily to Voldemort.

It was Pettigrew who had faked his own death.

And it was Pettigrew who had framed Sirius for the murder of twelve Muggles in broad daylight.

Before we as readers — or Harry — learned the truth, the version of Sirius we were given was that of a dangerous, half-mad fugitive: the first wizard to ever escape from Azkaban, a man believed to have murdered thirteen people with a single curse, and someone whose very name could strike fear into the Wizarding population.

And after these initial revelations of Sirius’ innocence come to light, Harry’s relationship with Sirius blossoms almost overnight — I’d argue, a little too quickly. In a matter of pages, Sirius goes from “the man who betrayed my parents” to “the godfather I never had,” with Harry seemingly almost immediately ready to drop the Dursleys behind and go and live with him (although we know, he couldn’t do that).

But here’s my question: if Sirius was truly innocent, why didn’t he act like it? Why did so many of his choices — from the moment of his arrest to his escape and eventual return — seem to confirm the image of a dangerous, unstable man?

Welcome to Harry Potter Theory. Today we’re going to be taking a look at some unpublished content from Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone- scribblings and drafts taken straight from JK Rowling’s notes that never saw the light of day.

If we consider the darkest wizards in history, two names rise above the rest: Gellert Grindelwald and Lord Voldemort. And depending on the time period, both of these dark wizards brought the wizarding world to its knees at one point or another—Grindelwald through manipulation and ideology, Voldemort through fear and destruction. Both men were brilliant, ruthless, and obsessed with power, and while both of their tyrannical regimes eventually fell at the hands of the good guys, I do often wonder what could have happened if they had teamed up. 

I mean..Voldemort AND Grindelwald..Together? That’s probably an unstoppable duo, even for team Dumbledore.

Hey everyone, Welcome to another installment of Harry Potter Theory. Today I’ve got a compilation for you guys where I’ll discuss 30 facts about Harry Potter that even some of the biggest Harry Potter fans might not know. Today you can test your Harry Potter knowledge and see what kind of score you get.

As this is a compilation please be aware of some inconsistent numbering and varied audio levels.

Let’s get in to it.

We all love Hagrid, right? Well today we’re going to be exploring 5 of the best Hagrid theories circulating the internet, so sit back, relax and enjoy.

LEAKED IMAGES from HBO’s Harry Potter Show & What They REVEAL

In the Wizarding World, spells can be cast in many different ways.

With wands. Without wands. Verbally. Nonverbally. 

We also know that things like wand loyalty can affect how well a witch or wizard is able to channel his or her magic. 

And depending on which combination of these things a wizard uses- nonverbal with a wand, verbal without a wand, verbal with a wand etc. I imagine that we’re going to see some pretty varied results.

So my question today is: Does speaking the spell out loud actually make it stronger? And while we’re at it, I’ll also be diving into whether magic performed with a wand is inherently more powerful than wandless casting.

Let’s dive in to it.

Today we’re discussing Harry Potter, Lord Voldemort, and the final installment of the Deathly Hallows. In my one of my previous videos, I discussed WHY Harry’s Expelliarmus beat Voldemort’s Avada Kedavra during both the battle in the graveyard as well as during the battle of Hogwarts. But one question that I noticed lingering in the comments was - why did Harry never feel pain from Voldemort’s Cruciatus Curse? Why was Harry also able to resist..CRUCIO? An unforgivable curse.

It looks like finally..After a decade and a half, the Wizarding World is finally back in action. Because as of now, the reboot is underway with filming at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden in the U.K. — the same location where much of the original film franchise was brought to life.

While Voldemort, ethics aside, had one of the greatest minds the Wizarding World had ever seen…He also had many flaws. He was arrogant, shortsighted, and unreasonably obsessed with the pursuit of immortality. 

But one thing he WASN’T was someone who would shy away from MURDERING those who got in his way.

He murdered Burbage mid-meal, order the murder of Cedric Diggory for standing in the wrong place at the wrong time, and ordered countless other deaths without hesitation. 

And even when his closest followers failed him-even slightly, he was quick to dispose of them..And simply move on. Just look at what happened to Wormtail, strangled by his own silver hand for showing a moment of mercy. Or Severus Snape, killed not for betrayal, but simply because Voldemort believed it would grant him mastery of the Elder Wand.

But with all of this in mind, there’s one person Voldemort left alive that I still can’t make sense of: Horace Slughorn.

Today we’re going to be discussing WHY Voldemort, more trigger-happy than perhaps ANYONE ELSE, made the unusual decision to leave Slughorn alive. Was it calculated? Merciful? Or something else entirely.

Jason Isaacs was the perfect Lucius Malfoy. And as both a man and an actor, he’s been a fantastic ambassador for the Harry Potter legacy.

But on this occasion…He’s wrong.

The Harry Potter story...Continued.

This video is an unofficial fan project created for entertainment purposes only. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or approved by J.K. Rowling, Warner Bros., or any official Harry Potter rights holders.

The story featured in this video was generated using AI and is intended as speculative, fan-made fiction that builds upon the world established in the original Harry Potter books.

All names, characters, and settings from the Harry Potter series remain the intellectual property of their respective copyright holders.

This content is transformative in nature and is protected under fair use.

Last week I posted a video where I used AI to attempt to continue writing the Harry Potter story IMMEDIATELY after the fall of Voldemort.

And the response was overwhelming to say the least.

In fact, I got over 650 comments asking me to keep going, so today I’m going to deliver. 

Using my parameters, AI actually did a pretty good job at getting the story going again, and I know from the comments that a lot of you feel the same way.

In order to keep all of this in the same video, I’m going to be reposting the first couple of sections from the last video, so if you’ve seen that already then you can skip ahead to the TIMESTAMP on screen. And if you’re curious about all of the parameters that I set, then check out the previous video ‘I Asked AI to Continue the Harry Potter Story (What Happens AFTER Deathly Hallows’.

Anyway, let’s dive in to it.

If you’re a true Harry Potter fan, then I suspect that you, like me, had an impending sense of dread as you neared the final pages of the final book. After it all, it was the end of an era- and as far as I could tell at the time, there wasn’t much new Harry Potter content on the horizon (besides a few movies, of course). 

These books were released over a 10 year period spanning my entire adolescence, and needless to say- they were pretty important to me. 

Every release felt like a cultural event, and every chapter felt like stepping back into a world that- at times- felt more real than reality itself.

So when I turned that final page of Deathly Hallows, I couldn’t help but feel… hollow.

Not because the ending was bad — far from it. But because I wasn’t ready to leave.

And sure, over the years we got more content — the Fantastic Beasts films, the Cursed Child play, and various other things — but none of it quite scratched that same itch. None of it picked up where Deathly Hallows left off in a way that felt fully satisfying.

But what if there was ANOTHER book? A book that gave us REAL clarity on the aftermath of Voldemort’s downfall. A story that didn’t skip ahead nineteen years to a peaceful train station, but instead started in the rubble of Hogwarts — when the war was over. A story that could replace the words ‘All was well’ — not to placate us, but to finally show us what came next.

That’s the story I want to explore.