Harry Potter and the Gaping Plot Holes Quiz

Answer: Fred and George Weasley

The name Peter Pettigrew likely wouldn't have seemed odd to the famous duo if they didn't know the story of Sirius Black. However, it should have seemed odd that someone named Peter Pettigrew was spending so much time with their brother Ron, especially when they were familiar with Ron's closest friends.

This plot hole gets more complicated when you factor in that Scabbers was originally Percy's rat. Since Fred and George acquired the map in their first year at Hogwarts, they should have noticed that Peter was spending a lot of time with Percy before he suddenly started spending a lot of time with Ron.

Answer: Dobby

There are a couple other problems with how the Trace operates in the books. For example, it wasn't alerted when Hagrid fetched Harry in "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone", or in "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" when Dumbledore conjured a chair in the Dursley's living room.

However, the general plot hole is that it can be set off even if the underage wizard is not the one using the magic. J.K. Rowling tries to remedy this by mentioning later in the series that the Trace often goes off in wizarding families and the Ministry merely relies on the parents to enforce discipline.

However, if this is the case, it leads to the even worse assumption that the Trace only targets children with no magical relatives.

Answer: Conjuring food

Food is one of the exceptions to Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration, meaning that it cannot be conjured out of nothing. However, there are multiple other ways to get food, as shown by the answers above. Additionally, animals are not exceptions to the law, so it is possible to conjure a creature such as a bird and kill it for meat. If anything, they could have used magic to hunt or fish.

Answer: Peter Pettigrew

James and Lily died because they put their trust in the wrong friend. However, they could have put their trust in themselves. Bill Weasley was his own Secret Keeper for Shell Cottage, and Arthur Weasley was his own Secret Keeper for Aunt Muriel's house.

It was clearly possible for one of them to hide the secret within themselves, so it doesn't make sense for them to choose an outside source.

Answer: Fenrir Greyback

When Harry uses three wands at once, it casts a spell with thrice the power and knocks Greyback straight off his feet. Despite this, the technique is never mentioned before or after this incident. It didn't take Harry any more effort than casting a normal spell, so it seems strange that he never practiced it before or taught it to Dumbledore's Army.

It seems doubly strange that no one else used it, especially in magical fights such as the Battle of Hogwarts.

Answer: Unbreakable Vow

An Unbreakable Vow is, as one might deduce, unbreakable. Once again, however, we only see this technique being used once in the series. While it is understandable that the average witch or wizard wouldn't want to make a promise that could kill them later, Lord Voldemort could have made the Death Eaters vow to serve him and/or never betray him. Considering his nature, it is unlikely that he chose not to do so just because he trusted his followers. And Voldemort wasn't the only character who could have benefited from this magic - James and Lily could have had Peter make an Unbreakable Vow that he would never reveal their house's location.

Answer: Find a medallion in a cave of Inferi

The first event of the Triwizard Tournament was a dashing spectacle where Harry Potter, Viktor Krum, Cedric Diggory, and Fleur Delacour all had to individually fight a dragon for a golden egg. However, the next task took place underwater, and the final task took place within a giant maze. Since neither task could be seen by spectators, it must have been rather boring to sit there watching a lake or a giant hedge for hours.

It's possible that the viewers had some magical way of seeing the action, but if so it is never mentioned in the books or movies.

Answer: Ollivanders

While the cost of other wand cores including dragon heartstring and phoenix feather are unknown, Ollivander describes them all as costly and rare materials. However, if unicorn hair costs ten galleons and the wand only sells for seven, Ollivanders is losing at least three galleons per wand.

It's possible one hair can make multiple wands or the wandmaker gets some kind of deal for buying in bulk, but that still doesn't factor in the cost of wand wood and regular business expenses. And considering that most wizards and witches use the same wand their entire life, he doesn't have a big client base, especially since poorer wizarding families don't even buy new wands and instead use hand-me-downs.

Answer: Cedric Diggory

There are a couple problems with Portkeys. When Harry goes to an official Quidditch match, he and his friends must touch a Portkey at a specific time in order to 'catch' it. However, when he and Cedric encounter a Portkey in the Triwizard Tournament, it reacts to their touch rather than going off at a specific time.

In fact, time doesn't seem to be a factor at all since it just waits around until Harry is able to reuse it to get back to Hogwarts. It's possible that a Portkey can be made in more than one way, though it still doesn't answer the question of why Barty Crouch Jr. (disguised as Mad-Eye Moody) didn't just give Harry a Portkey and save all the trouble of the maze.

Answer: History

A couple of core subjects are halfway represented in electives. For example, no Hogwarts graduate is going to know calculus or probably even basic algebra, but they might know the magical properties of numbers due to the elective Arithmancy. Students won't know any foreign language spoken today, but some might be well versed in Ancient Runes. Subjects such as Astronomy, Herbology, and Potions might be considered science classes, but it still doesn't solve the problem of fine arts.

While we know based on the movies that there is a Hogwarts choir, we see no evidence in the books or movies of any kind of art, band, or drama classes.