This is the Beyond Hogwarts Frequently Asked Questions page. If you have a question about something that’s not covered here, please send us an email.
Why is this site called Beyond Hogwarts?
I created DumbledoreIsNot Dead.com the day after the release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, July 16, 2005. The original purpose of the Dumbledore Is Not Dead site was to help fans through the shock and grief over the loss of Dumbledore at the end of the book.
Sometime in 2006 I began to realize that, as Harry Potter fans, no matter how the final Harry Potter book ends, we would be feeling the same amount of loss and grief. Soon, there would be no new Harry Potter books.
This site, BeyondHogwarts.com, was created to prepare us for that day, and take us beyond it. Together on Beyond Hogwarts, now that the last book has been finally read, fans can discuss the Harry Potter septology, and face a world with no new Harry Potter books, and because of Beyond Hogwarts, we won’t be facing it alone.
Now that the last page of the last book is read, there are many aspects of Harry’s story and the Wizarding World that fans will be discussing and debating for years to come. And we’ll all be there together, Beyond Hogwarts.
What happened to DumbledoreIsNotDead.com?
Nothing. It’s still here. All of the articles on the old DumbledoreIsNot Dead site were moved here when Beyond Hogwarts went live. They can be found in the “Dumbledore Is Not Dead” topic under the “Dumbledore Is Not Dead” heading up in the navigation “portkey” on the top of the page.
How do I add a comment?
The form to add a comment is at the bottom of the last page of the comments for that topic. So, to add a comment, use the comment page navigation links and click on the last page number (or the >> symbol for the last page) and then scroll to the bottom of the page.
Better yet, before adding a comment, try to read through all the other pages of comments first. That way, you know you won’t be repeating someone else’s thoughts or ideas.
Why can’t I see my comment?
Because Harry Potter fans of all ages visit this site, all comments are sent to a system moderator before they are made live on the system. Usually comments are made live very soon after they are posted, sometimes within minutes. However, please be aware that even though it’s daytime where you are, all of the moderators might be asleep when you post your comment, so it sometimes may be several hours before you see your comment online.
Very infrequently, sometimes a comment will not be accceptable. In these cases, we try to email you about it to give you the chance to change your comment so that it can go live. But we can’t do that if we don’t have your email address, that’s why it’s important that you include your email address where the comment form asks for it every time you enter a comment on the site. We promise your email address will not be shown anywhere on the site, and it will never be given to anyone or used for any other purpose other than contacting you about a problem with a comment.
For more information about Reader Comments, please see The Beyond Hogwarts Official Comments Policy.
How does Save Last On work?
When you click on the “Save Last On” link in the left-hand column of the comments pages on Beyond Hogwarts, the system will remember the current date and time for you. Next time you visit Beyond Hogwarts, the system will highlight only the comments and articles that have been added since the time you were on last.
To help you jump right to the newest content, new comments and articles are denoted by a small icon. When viewing the comments index or comments pages, pages with new comments are shown in GREEN.
For the Save Last On feature to work, you must have Java Script and Cookies enabled in your web browser.
Please note: The first time you click on the “Save Last On” link, it might not appear that anything changes. However, next time you vist the site, you should see indications of new comments and/or new articles.
What do the grey boxes and the numbers in them mean?
Whenever a book or an interview is quoted in an article on Beyond Hogwarts, the quote is designated by a grey background, like this:
“Such loyalty is admirable, or course,” said Scrimgeour, who seemed to be restraining his irritation with difficulty, “but Dumbledore is gone, Harry. He’s gone.” “He will only be gone from the school when none here are loyal to him,” said Harry, smiling in spite of himself. (HBP pg 648/604)
At the end of every book quote, the title of the book is listed in parenthesis, along with the page numbers of the book where the quote appears, US edition, followed by the UK edition.
Book title abbreviations used in Beyond Hogwarts articles:
- PS/SS – Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone/Sorcerer’s Stone
- CoS – Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
- PoA – Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
- GoF – Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
- OotP – Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
- HBP – Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
- DH – Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
- QttA – Quidditch Through The Ages
- FB – Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them
Why does James come out of the Voldemort’s wand before Lily?
He doesn’t.
In most editions of the book, that is. In the original, first edition printings of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, there is a mistake. That night in Godric’s Hollow, James died first, and then Lily died protecting Harry from Voldemort. If the ghosts come out of the wand in Priori Incantatem in revese order, then Lily should come out before James. But, the order of the last two ghosts who emerged from Voldemort’s wand was originally reversed:
And now another head was emerging from the tip of Voldemort’s wand … and Harry knew when he saw it who it would be … he knew, as though he had expected it from the moment when Cedric appeared from the wand … knew, because the man appearing was the one he’d thought of more than any tonight …
The smoky shadow of a tall man with untidy hair fell to the ground as Bertha had done, straightened up, and looked at him … and Harry, his arms shaking madly now, looked back into the ghostly face of his father.
“Your mother’s coming …” he said quietly. “She wants to see you … it will be all right … hold on …
And she came … first her head, then her body … a young woman with long hair, the smoky, shadowy form of Lily Potter blossomed at the end of Voldemort’s wand, fell to the ground, and straightened like her husband. She walked close to Harry, looking down at him, and she spoke in the same distant, echoing voice as the others, but quietly, so that Voldemort, his face now livid with fear as his victims prowled around him, could not hear … (GoF First Editions pg 667/579)
According to her official website, J.K. Rowling had originally written that Lily emerged from the wand first. However, her American editor, in the rush to edit the book, incorrectly pointed this out as an error, and Jo “changed it without thinking.” Subsequent editions of the book corrected the mistake, and the text appears correctly, like this:
And now another head was emerging from the tip of Voldemort’s wand … and Harry knew when he saw it who it would be … he knew, as though he had expected it from the moment when Cedric appeared from the wand … knew, because the woman was the one he’d thought of more than any tonight …
The smoky shadow of a tall woman with long hair fell to the ground as Bertha had done, straightened up, and looked at him … and Harry, his arms shaking madly now, looked back into the ghostly face of his mother.
“Your father’s coming …” she said quietly. “Hold on for your father … it will be all right … hold on …
And he came … first his head, then his body … tall and untidy-haired like Harry, the smoky, shadowy form of James Potter blossomed at the end of Voldemort’s wand, fell to the ground, and straightened like his wife. He walked close to Harry, looking down at him, and he spoke in the same distant, echoing voice as the others, but quietly, so that Voldemort, his face now livid with fear as his victims prowled around him, could not hear …(GoF pg 667/579)
It’s not known if this “error” will make first editions of this book more valuable than other first editions in the future, but if you own one of these incorrect versions of the book, you own something special!
Why are the US Editions of the books longer?
They’re not.
While the earlier books differed slightly in particular words that were replaced for American readers (like changing “bin” to “garbage can” and “jumper” to “sweater”) the US Editions of the books have, on the whole, the same amount of text as their British counterparts. So, why do the US books always have more pages?
Very simple. Although the font size and style used in each of the countries is basically the same, the US book page size is different than the UK books.
The US books have a physically bigger page size, and a text-area size of 4 1/4″ by 5 3/4″. The UK books have a physically smaller page size, but they have a smaller margin size than the US pages, and they have a very similar text-area size of 4″ by 5 1/2″.
The big difference between the editions is the lines per page. The US editions have a maximum of 29 lines of text per page. But, a smaller between-line-spacing allows the UK editions to have a maximum of 33 lines per page. Therefore, the UK editions have many more words per page than the US editions.
That’s why the UK editions have less pages overall, because they have more words per page than the US editions.
Why did Voldemort die and Harry Didn’t?
And what was the pitiful dying thing at the train station?
Don’t feel bad you didn’t understand this, lots of people didn’t. It didn’t have anything to do with the Elder Wand or the other hallows. It had to do with horcruxes.
Firstly, remember how a horcrux works. They’re a little bit of your soul trapped inside an object. As long as any bit of your soul resides on earth, you cannot die. Of course, continued living with a partial soul is something no sane person would think is worth it.
Now, this whole chain of events which concludes with the fight between Harry and Voldemort towards the end of Deathly Hallows really starts way back in the first book. Dumbledore tells Harry that his Mother sacrificed himself for him. We later learn that her love protection lives on within him, in his blood. He is protected as long as his mother’s sacrifice lives within him.
Then later, in Goblet of Fire, Voldemort, in his arrogance, makes a terrible (for him!) mistake. When he took Harry’s blood inside his new body, Voldemort extended Harry’s mother’s love into himself. He became, for all intents and purposes, a horcrux for Harry, because even if something happens to Harry, as long as Voldemort’s around, Harry’s protection from his mother lives on.
But at the same time, don’t forget, we’ve also learned that Harry was also a horcrux for Voldemort, made one inadvertantly the night Voldemort tried to kill Harry with the Avada Kedavra when he was a baby. When the AK backfired, a piece of Voldemort’s already badly damaged soul attached itself to Harry. That’s why Harry survived the AK, when no one else has done so, before or since.
So, they’re horcruxes for each other, neither can kill the other.
Also, remember Harry has destroyed all of Voldemort’s intentional horcruxes but one, the one inside the snake Nagini.
OK, so, now, here is the progression of what happens the night of the final battle between Harry and Voldemort:
1. There is horcrux for Voldemort inside Harry. Voldemort cannot die as long as Harry is alive. Harry knows this, and that’s why he sacrifices himself to be killed by Voldemort, so that, if someone does in Nagini, Voldemort will no longer be immortal.
2. Harry allows himself to be ” killed” by Voldemort.
3. But a horcrux for Harry is living on in Voldemort, so Harry does not die. He goes and visits with the image of Dumbledore instead.
4. But the horcux for Voldemort living inside Harry is now dead. Voldemort has killed this when he ” kills” Harry. This is the disgusting pitiful thing dying in the scene with Dumbledore and Harry in what appears to be a train station. Harry is not dead, realizes his work is not finished, and goes back to earth.
5. Neville Longbottom, in a rush of Gryffindor bravery that we always knew he had, kills Nagini with the Sword of Gryffindor. With all of his horcruxes gone, including the unintentional one inside Harry, Voldemort is now mortal.
6. So, now, in their final battle, since Voldemort is now mortal, Harry can kill Voldemort, which he does.
We argued for years about the true meaning of “One cannot live while the other survives.” Turns out, JK meant it literally. Both had to die for Harry to live and the world to be free.
How did Neville get Gryffindor’s sword?
Right before he cuts off Nagini’s head, how did Neville get Gryffindor’s sword, if Griphook had it last?
As Harry is laying on the ground with everybody thinking he is dead, Neville steps up to challenge Voldemort. Voldemort causes the Hogwarts sorting hat to fly out of the castle and into his hands. Explaining that it won’t be needed anymore, he forces the hat onto Neville’s head and causes it burst into flames. And then all hell breaks loose as the good guys attack.
With this, Neville springs into action:
In one swift, fluid motion, Neville broke free of the Body-Bind Curse upon him; the flaming hat fell off him and he drew from its depths something silver, with a glittering, rubied handle — (DH pg 733/587)
So, finally showing the bravery of a true Gryffindor, Neville pulled the sword out of the hat, exactly as Harry did in the Chamber of Secrets.
But how did the sorting hat get the sword when Griphook had it last? The book does not say, but now that we’ve seen the hat do it twice, (Harry in the Chamber of Secrets and now Neville in Deathly Hallows), we have to assume that the hat has the magical ability to conjure up Gryffindor’s sword from wherever it is, whenever a true Gryffindor shows the courage required and has a need for it.
Why is Teddy going to Hogwarts when he is 19?
He’s not.
If the Epilogue happens 19 years after the story, why is Teddy Lupin seen on Platform 9 3/4? He would have been born shortly after Book 7 starts, which means he would have been 19 years old at this time, two tears older than the most senior Hogwarts students.
The answer to this is simple. Teddy was not on Platform 9 3/4 that day to actually get on the train to Hogwarts. James says:
“Our Teddy! Teddy Lupin! Snogging our Victoire! Our cousin! And I asked what he was doing –” “You interrupted them?” said Ginny. “Your are so like Ron –” “– and he said he’d come to see her off!” (DH pg 756/605)
And although it doesn’t say it, we can also pretty easily guess from the clues about their cousin and her French name, but J.K. has confirmed, that Victoire is Bill and Fluer’s daughter.
Who did magic later in life?
Nobody.
In an interview many years ago, J.K. gave away the very intriguing clue that in a future book, someone would do magic later in life who had not done magic before. Since none of the previous books had anyone matching this description, most fans assumed this mystery would be answered in Book 7.
However, it was not. J.K. has admitted in recent interviews that she planned to have a character like this in the books eventually, but it turned out she could never work it into the story properly.