Happy Boxing Day, Potterheads! It's days like today that really make me think about how Dudley Dursley is doing as an adult. Of course, I know Dudley Dursley isn't a real person, but there are thousands of kids just like him all over the world who are all grown up now. Kids who cried if they got 36 presents for Christmas instead of 37 are walking the earth as we speak. I like to believe that Dudley ended up as a better person than when we first met him in Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone .…

Bri-ish

I am a theme park fan, and no theme park is superior to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. It's a very simple formula, really. Millions of people worldwide want to walk around and exist at Hogwarts, Hogsmede, and Diagon Alley, and Universal Studios decided to facilitate that experience. Unfortunately, most of us won't actually get to go to magical boarding schools , so these theme parks are as good as it gets. I haven't been to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter yet but based on the vlogs I'…

Is Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone a Christmas movie? Scholars remain divided, but it's a well know fact among Potterheads that the Harry Potter movies are often a favorite to watch during the holidays. The scene with Ron and Harry celebrating Christmas together is too pure for words, and who among us hasn't wished we could spend the holiday within the walls of Hogwarts? I feel like every Harry Potter film gives me different seasonal vibes. Obviously, Sorcerers Stone and Chamber of Secrets…

I'm sure everybody, no matter what Hogwarts house they're in, wishes they could spend their hours of study and leisure in the Gryffindor Common Room . None of the other common rooms could compare to where Harry, Ron, and Hermione spend their Hogwarts days between classes. The Slytherin Common room would feel like you're surrounded by concrete, with the AC always turned up way too high. There's probably a lot of fluorescent lighting that would do a number on the complexion. The Hufflepuff common…

The future of Harry Potter movies is unclear, as the Wizarding World's biggest spinoff series has been nixed. This week, it was reported that the rest of the Fantastic Beasts series is being quietly canceled due to the lackluster financial performance of the last film and Ezra Miller and J.K. Rowling's respective scandals. In all honesty, I'm not that mad about this. Fantastic Beasts was a weird series, and I somehow got through it without caring about a single one of the characters. I feel lik…

Something I don't think we talk about enough is just how rad of a guy Daniel Radcliffe truly is. Here is a dude who is proud of his past work shaping millions of people's childhoods through the Harry Potter movies. He's never embarrassed to talk about his role as the most famous fictional wizard during interviews. At the same time, he has been able to move on from the franchise and star in a slew of really cool and weird movies. He has done action movies, a romantic comedy, and a movie where he…

This has been a rough week for Harry Potter fans, to say the least. Our beloved Robbie Coltrane, the man who brought Hagrid to life as only he could, died this past Friday. It is always sad to see one of the great actors that shaped Harry Potter pass on. Far too many cast members of the Harry Potter movies have gone far too soon in the 21 years since the first film came out. It was always surprising to fans that out of all of Harry's father figures, Hagrid was one of the ones to survive the ser…

One of the best things about the Harry Potter books is you can imagine yourself living in them. You might think that many children's series provide escapism and character identification. While that's true, the Wizarding World allows you to imagine yourself as just a regular person within the world. You don't need to be a heroic and brave Gryffindor to want to go to Hogwarts. Even though I'm not likely to be leading any revolutions, I still would like to attend that school. Many of Potterhead's…

If you ask any Harry Potter fan what they think of Severus Snape , chances are you will get a strong opinion. However, get 100 Potterheads in a room, and there's a chance none of them will share the exact same take on Snape. Over the years, fan opinions have slowly but surely turned against Snape. While some still view him as a hero, it's a lot more common for people to see him as no more than a common villain who was needlessly cruel to an abused child because he still has a crush on his dead…

I know it has been said hundreds of thousands of times by Harry Potter fans everywhere, but the Mauraders deserved better. Imagine being Lupin and watching your entire friend group die before they reach 40, only to die before you turn 40. One of his friends was killed by Voldemort, one was falsely imprisoned and villainized by the media, and the other turned over to the side of the Death Eaters. The trauma, drama, and absolute conflama of the Maurader's lives can sometimes be too much for me to…

There's something about Dolores Umbridge , Harry's Defense Against The Dark Arts professor from his 5th year, that continues grinding readers' gears years after reading Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix for the first time . Many Potterheads even cite her as their most hated villain, superseding the series' ultimate villain, Voldemort . Why is that? I believe it's because Voldemort represents a type of evil that is terrifying but not relatable: I'm guessing you didn't have many red-eyed…

Being sorted into your Harry Potter house is one of the most important moments of a young Potterhead's life. There are so many ways to do it. If you're one of the lucky ones, you can do it in person, like my friend who was sorted into Hufflepuff at a bookstore the night of the Deathly Hallows book release. Imagine how much fun it is to have a real sorting hat plopped on your head as an eight-year-old? Lucky dog. If you were sorted in the pre-Pottermore era, you likely had to fill out a question…

And as characters like Elmo, Miss Piggy, and Winnie the Pooh—it's just really gone off the avada ke-rails…

Apparently, there are death eaters everywhere! TikTokers can't see a wand-shaped thing and not use it to “AVADA KEDAVRA” someone!