Harry Potter: 10 Storylines That Were Completely Dropped Before The Last Movie/Book
The stories of Harry Potter are vast and labyrinthine, often looping around each other and creating random knots in the most unexpected of places. While the overall narrative charges towards its predefined conclusion, there are a lot of little side arcs that fail to merge back into the central narrative.
In most of these cases, cutting them out was a judicious decision, as some of them clearly have no role to play in the conclusion (and far fewer which might have been of importance if retained, but weren't for whatever reason.) These are ten events/characters/concepts that flared up, burned bright, and were gone long before the climax.
10 Where Is Ludovic Bagman?
In the events preceding the Quidditch World Cup, Ludo Bagman foolishly makes a wager with the Weasley twins, and after losing, gives them a bag of Leprechaun gold and ignores their queries.
He later gets himself in hotter water by gambling against the goblins as to the outcome of the Triwizard Tournament, and is forced to go into hiding. Bagman's actions made him one of the most untrustworthy characters in the story (along the lines of Mundungus Fletcher), but his annoying cheapness was a great addition to the charm of the Wizarding World.
9 What About The Department Of Mysteries?
As its name implies, not much is known about this Ministry department, except that those working here conducted secret experiments that were forbidden from being made public knowledge.
During the famous battle between the DA and the Death Eaters, several chambers were revealed, each of which studied something unique and immeasurable — the mind, the heart, time, death, space, divination, and so on. This little arc rarely returns to the narrative, and when it does, only in passing.
8 Is Unicorn Blood Really Cursed?
Voldemort/Quirrell once murdered a unicorn, an act of such ruthlessness that it is supposed to cast the darkest of jinxes on the perpetrator. To make it worse, the Dark Lord consumes the creature's blood, which forces on him a "half-life, a cursed life," a terrifying turn of phrase that has still not been resolved fully.
Does this mean that Voldemort is cursed more than he already was before (what with all the Horcruxes)? Does the unicorn blood curse pale in comparison to his other evil deeds? In any case, Voldemort's resurrection potion, the one that Wormtail creates in the graveyard, also contains this substance, meaning he really doesn't care as long as he isn't dead.
7 Was Dobby The Only Free House-Elf?
As one of the most popular characters in the franchise, Dobby received considerably more screentime than all the other house-elves. Actually, excluding Kreacher, he's the only one of his kind depicted in the films (Winky and the Hogwarts Kitchens' house-elves are not even mentioned.)
Dobby may have been freed by Lucius Malfoy's brainless actions, but it doesn't make sense that Hermione's S.P.E.W. activism was blankly ignored by everyone else, even Albus Dumbledore, the one person who understands what it means not to have control over one's own life.
6 When Did Dudley Suddenly Begin Liking Harry?
Dudley has been consistently anti-Harry ever since the two were toddlers. Even after his cousin saves him from the "invisible" Dementors, he decides to blame Harry for hurting him (although it could be that the interaction may have made him realize how abusive he had been all his life.)
Still, there is no clarity on this personal growth, so the fact that Dudley is suddenly best mates with Harry at the beginning of The Deathly Hallows is a strange leap to take. Rowling should, perhaps, have taken her time in designing a character arc for him, rather than just dump his drastic development on the readers.
5 Why Can't Voldemort Brew Himself Some Felix Felicis?
The Felix Felicis potion is literally a deus ex machina, at least if used judiciously. In The Half-Blood Prince, Harry is explicitly warned by Slughorn that Liquid Luck is not something to be trifled with, as it has horrific side-effects, as well as convinces the user to take unnecessarily dangerous risks.
With only a few drops, Harry manages to extract the most shameful of Slughorn's memories (the one about Tom Riddle's horcrux question.) Later, Ron, Ginny and Hermione consume the potion and took on the Death Eaters, easily bypassing their attacks without having to do much themselves. Where did Felix suddenly disappear off to, then?
4 How Did Four Teenagers Create The Marauder's Map?
There are very few wizards/witches who have shown as much skill as the four marauders — each of whom were already animagi before they had even graduated from Hogwarts. It is claimed that James Potter, Peter Pettigrew, Remus Lupin, and Sirius Black successfully mapped the entirety of the school and its grounds, subsequently using a "Homonculus Charm" to create the Marauder's Map.
This ability is not easy, as the spell is able to bypass the likes of polyjuice and the Invisibility Cloak, something even the most powerful witches are incapable of doing. More information is required.
3 Where Did The Centaurs Go?
The Forbidden Forest beyond Hogwarts is mysterious, but is mostly just a creepy place filled with ghastly beings (like Ron's spider friends.) The Centaurs that live here have been doing so for a few centuries at least, and there are no details about their origins, which is understandable.
However, their role in the Battle of Hogwarts is pretty much the last time they are historically important, and they basically vanish into obscurity once again (with only Bane returning several years later to advise Harry about his missing boy, Albus).
2 Is There A Limit To The Time-Turners?
First, the Time-Turner possessed by Hermione could not move backwards in time more than five hours, being regulated by an "Hour-Reversal Charm." These were few in number, and all of them were completely wrecked (along with a number of prophecies), during the fight to "save" Sirius from Voldemort's clutches.
In The Cursed Child, "true time-turners" were introduced, which allegedly avoid the previous rule, permitting users to travel back multiple years in one go. Considering that Albus and Scorpius have left their footprints across multiple timelines, how does the fabric of spacetime not instantly combust? Are there infinite versions of Harry Potter now?
1 What Lies Beyond The Veil?
The most interesting feature of the Ministry of Magic, and probably in the entire canon, is the Veil located deep within the bowels of London. Sirius is the only known person to pass through it, and he ends up instantly dead, which suggests that this structure could be a gateway between life and death.
Furthermore, the dilapidated quality of the Veil presumes that the Ministry itself might have been built around it, rather than it being transported to its current location. Why has this never been spoken of again? Well, because it was a convenient plot device aimed at forcing Harry into revenge mode.