History Fridge / HarryPotter

* It's mentioned over and over that Harry greatly resembles James. Maybe to remove any suspicion that Snape is Harry's biological father.

* The Killing Curse is this when you consider that wizards aren't any less likely than Muggles to be serial killers or mass murderers. Someone could suddenly die one day, and without witnesses, '''nobody''' knows what happened to them or who killed them, or who the killer could be. The killer could keep ''right on going'' until they got caught, got tired of killing, or died themselves. We've already seen Wizarding law enforcement officials duping Muggles into thinking Muggle victims simply died of gas leaks or heart attacks. This is, of course, assuming that the magic doesn't leave a trace somehow, which would enable wizards to figure out that the victim was in fact murdered, but it still wouldn't leave any clues as to who the killer is. Someone could kill off loads of people just because they can't get caught unless there are witnesses, or other circumstantial clues that would point to a possible suspect. This actually occurred ''in universe'': [[spoiler:Tom Riddle]] murdered his own family, at least one of his customers, and possibly other unknown people before anyone even suspected him of wrongdoing. It’s likely that only [[spoiler:Dumbledore and Harry]] are even aware of his early murders.
* Polyjuice Potion. By drinking it, you will become a perfect copy of the original person, even taking over the eye-sight. It can have some horrible consequences, like somebody else posing as you to commit a crime. But, this also means that your privacy is gone. You want to know what a person looks like naked? Drink his/her potion! Stalkers would love it…

* More sad than scary, but during Harry's trial before the Wizengamot, Mrs. Figg is brought as a witness and describes the effects of the dementor attack, mentioning that they made her remember "dreadful things". One of them was most likely the day she learned that she was a Squib and would never be able to perform magic or attend Hogwarts.

* The unspoken consequence of Harry being a Horcrux: As long as he was orphaned in the same way, it wouldn't matter ''who'' took Harry in. Prolonged exposure would guarantee his caregivers would be abusive in some way.
** That can't be right. Ron and Hermione were in close proximity to him for the majority of seven years and they were fine. Most of their disagreements were understandable. Book 4, Ron was feeling overshadowed and jealous. Book 6, Hermione was jealous and frustrated. Book 7, Ron ''was'' affected by Horcrux exposure, but it wasn't Harry. Of course, this means that everything Vernon and Petunia did, they did of their own accord. No extant influences, no being raised to see it as normal, just hate and spite. And they managed to fool all the neighbors and teachers into overlooking the obvious mistreatment even though they didn't even bother to get Harry clothes that fit. How many people in real life are abused and no one notices?
** Horcruxes do not naturally create an aura of negativity. The locket's effect was quite obviously an enchantment put in by Voldemort and it only affected the ''wearer,'' not the people around the wearer. The diary did not make Ginny moody and aggressive, it only possessed her, and her anxiety that year was from having gaps in her memory when people were being attacked. Any powers or effects the Horcruxes had were implanted by Voldemort himself as a defense mechanism. Harry, being a completely unintentional Horcrux, did not have any special enchantments on him to cause negativity in others. The Dursleys' unpleasant behavior is simply because they are unpleasant people.

* Sirius's incarceration. In the first chapter of the first book, Hagrid says that he got the motorcycle from Sirius. Then in the third book, Dumbledore says that he testified against him to the Minister. The same person who managed to clear Snape of all people of his crimes and let him teach never bothered to at least talk to a guy who actually was part of the first Order of the Phoenix! Why would he do that? Because, as Sirius told Harry, the Potters actually named him Harry's guardian in case of something happening to them. So Dumbledore let an innocent man rot in Azkaban so he could put Harry with the Dursleys. Also, he never bothers with actually clearing the man's name because he would take Harry away from the Dursleys the moment he was cleared of his crimes.
** Saying that Dumbledore intentionally let Sirius get thrown into Azkaban is not true at all. As far as Dumbledore knew at the time, as he was unaware of the switch, Sirius was the Potters' Secret-Keeper, and since Voldemort was able to find them and kill them, Sirius must have told him. In addition, Sirius was incarcerated without a trial, which Dumbledore knew nothing about and surely would have done something if he knew. As for not clearing his name, Dumbledore doesn’t have any evidence from ''[=PoA=]'' and after to prove Sirius was innocent, and the Ministry would rather just leave him a wanted criminal then admit to such a blunder.

* [[Fridge/HarryPotterandthePrisonerofAzkaban Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban]]

* Why is it that fifth year prefects get to lead new first years to their dormitories as opposed to the higher ranking sixth year prefects or the Head Boy/Girl? It's because the youngest prefects are the ones who will spend the most time at Hogwarts with that new class of first years. It's worth more in the long run to let first years start building a rapport with them rather than a Head Boy or Head Girl who is going to leave the school entirely in a year's time.

* From a [[CombatPragmatist purely pragmatic perspective]] most forms of serious life-or-death wizard duelling don't make a huge amount of sense when one remembers that Avada Kedavra, [[OneHitKill a curse that instantly kills the opponent with no defense or countermeasure barring a last-second dodge]] (or ancient protective magic from a loved one's sacrifice), exists. In a life-or-death situation any moment you're not using the Killing Curse on your opponent is a moment when your opponent could use the Killing Curse on you. So why isn't wizarding combat considerably more lethal with all participants firing off Killing Curses like pistols in an old-timey Wild West fight? Well, it's established (if not outright stated) that one's ability to perform magic is affected by a combination of factors most prominetly a) a wizard's innate magical potential, b) how developed (well-exercised, if you would) that potential is and c) the emotional and mental state of the wizard at the time of casting (especially relevant for things like Patronuses). In ''Goblet'' Professor Moody (actually Bary Crouch Jr.) outright states that his entire class could hit him with Killing Curses simultaniously and he'd likely receive no more than a nosebleed, while in ''Phoenix'' Harry tries to use the Cruciatus Curse on Bellatrix he only knocks her off her feet becuase, according to her (who has no small amount of experience with the Cruciatus Curse), he didn't have the raw ''want'' to cause her pain. From this we can conclude that casting a curse as powerful as the Killing Curse requires a great and well-honed reserve of magical ability ''and'' a high degree of KillingIntent on the part of the caster. With this in mind, it makes sense why Voldemort is considered so terrifying by the rest of the Wizarding World; He has a vast reserve of magical ability from his ancient bloodline [[HybridPower with enough fresh genetics to really bring out his potential]] and an utterly sociopathic and loveless psychology that makes the will to murder come incredibly easily to him - no wonder he's the magical equivalent of a nuke in a game of rock-paper-scissors. This also explains why so few other wizards use the Killing curse; they simply don't have the raw will to kill.

** Or Hagrid might've been raising kids who'd been infected with lycanthropy and subsequently cast out by their families? Though that's less Fridge Horror and more Fridge Heartwarming.

* Dumbledore asking Harry something personal (whether he and Hermione ...) seems unusual. However, as it later turns out, Dumbledore at this point is in the process of writing his testament, wherein he leaves the Deluminator to Ron, which later leads Ron back to Hermione apparently via their romantic connection. Ron thinks that this was planned by Dumbledore.

* Ginny usually is very supportive of Harry, so it may seem surprising that in ''Half-Blood Prince'' she sides against him when he doesn't want to reveal who the potions book belonged to. In fact, since ''Chamber of Secrets'', Ginny knows better than anyone how dangerous it can be to use a shady book.

* Ginny usually is very supportive of Harry, so it may seem surprising that in ''Half-Blood Prince'' she sides against him when he doesn't want to reveal the owner of the potions book. In fact, since ''Chamber of Secrets'', Ginny knows better than anyone how dangerous it can be to use a shady book.

** According to the official Wizarding World site, while it's ''possible'' for a Muggle to become a werewolf, it's a lot rarer for a Muggle to ''survive'' a werewolf bite than for a wizard.

** At first it seem that Voldemort's line "Stand aside, you foolish girl" and offering to spare Lily's life was unimportant. Then ''Deathly Hallows'' rolls around, and [[spoiler:Snape admits he begged Voldemort for Lily's life]]. [[spoiler:Because of this, he offered to spare Lily if she let him kill Harry, and ''she'' offered herself in his place. When he killed her, he essentially accepted the bargain, and then went back on it, ''which was why the spell backfired.'' Because Snape asked for Lily to live, Harry is the Chosen One! It could never have been anyone else.]] ''That'' is brilliant.