Something really interesting about the worldbuilding of Harry Potter that is never outwardly discussed but I find to be extremely likely and often think about is that
Harry and his friends are likely going to see the end of the Wizarding Statute of Secrecy within their lifetimes and honestly, it’s already on its last threads while he’s at school. With everyone so busy with what Voldemort is doing, the entire Wizarding Community fails to see what the Muggles are doing.
It’s the 90′s. Our 1990′s. The internet is starting to grow and comes into nearly every UK and US household. Video cameras are becoming thinner, sleeker, more user friendly, and above all, cheaper. By the time Voldemort is dead, the first camera phone is only three years away from being made.
Yes, these things don’t work in Hogwarts, or likely in the Ministry either, and maybe even the biggest Wizard towns block electronics, too.
But Muggleborns exist. They exist and canonically are able to do uncontrolled magic, with eleven years of life before their questions about how and why are even begun to be answered.
It’s 2015 and there are more than a few eleven year olds who have their own cellphones, which now almost all come standard with cameras. Or they have older brothers and sisters who have them.
YouTube exists in the modern world and anyone with an internet connection can post to it easily.
Even if the Ministry has a new special division to monitor the internet for leaks, they don’t REALLY understand most Muggle technology and this isn’t likely going to be any different. They won’t be able to get every video and picture and post.
It starts with a video of some kid blooming a flower in their hand like little Lily Evans did in front of her sister some forty years ago. People will just think these are pranks, tricks of editing and lighting like that one guy does with his Vines. But then some other kid sees it, and recognizes it as real because they can do this same thing, too, and no one believes them, either.
Muggleborn children start finding each other on the internet long before Hogwarts finds them.
Hogwarts is still, quite literally, in the Dark Ages. They’re too slow. They’re too outdated. They can’t keep up unless they change.
The world is different and a big secret like the Wizarding Statute of Secrecy isn’t going to stay hidden for much longer.
Maybe not even “19 Years Later.”
Reblogging this because it relates to my wizard-internet post. I could totally see this happen.Â
Have you ever thought about how Harry wasted a huge opportunity when he dropped the Resurrection Stone in the Forbidden Forest?
Okay just imagine if he had kept it.
He dies, comes back, defeats Voldemort…
Only now there are over one-hundred people who have died in just The Battle of Hogwarts alone. Not to mention all of those names that were read on the radio throughout the year. (And everyone else who died before then.)
So the Golden Trio gets this idea…
They quickly spread the word and pretty soon, Harry sets up a room in Hogwarts with nothing in it but a desk and a chair. He sits in the chair behind the desk and calls people into the room one at a time.
Harry insists that the Weasleys be the first to enter. And so George walks in, puffy-eyed but smiling, and asks Harry what the big secret is.
Harry then plops an ordinary pebble into George’s hand.
George is very confused until he hears his name being whispered from behind him. George turns and of course there’s Fred. And the two twins are able to properly say goodbye to one another.
Harry then allows the entire Weasley family to come in and they all huddle around Fred’s spirit and are able to say goodbye. And of course Mrs. Weasley drags Harry out from behind the desk and he joins the family hug.
Are you crying yet?
Because I am.
But let’s keep going.
Mrs. Weasley’s hand brushes against the stone and Fabian and Gideon appear to say goodbye to their sister.
After the Weasleys finally leave, Harry brings Dennis in so that he can say goodbye to Colin.
Harry then individually brings in the family member(s) of the unnamed one-hundred students who died during the Battle of Hogwarts.
Harry then brings in Luna so that she can say goodbye to her mother.
He brings in pretty much all of Hogwarts so that they can say goodbye to Cedric.
He brings in Aberforth so that he can say goodbye to Albus and Ariana.
He brings in those who want to say goodbye to Snape.
He brings in Kreacher so that he can say goodbye to Regulus.
He brings in the rest of the house-elves so that they can say goodbye to Dobby.
And when Harry is done letting everyone else say goodbye to their loved ones, he closes his hand around the stone.
The first one to appear is a beautiful white owl who flies over to Harry and allows herself to be affectionately petted.
Then of course the others appear, just as they did in the Forbidden Forest on that fateful night. Harry doesn’t talk to them for too long, he’s grown up a lot since the Mirror of Erised, but he is able to make peace with his loved ones’ sacrifices.
And even then, he still keeps the stone.
He doesn’t use it again. Not personally, anyway. In fact, he stores it in a dusty box on the mantel in his house. He doesn’t use it. But he doesn’t forget it, either. Because he needs it for one last task.
And when the boy with the turquoise hair is old enough to understand, Harry gently sits him down and places a stone in his hand.
congratulations to Minerva McGonagall on her pending retirement today, who is going to look down at her list of first years and see “James Sirius Potter” and just call it a fucking day
I'd Much Rather Have a Dragon 