History Headscratchers / HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallowsUnsortedExamples

*** Third, James and Lily had been only active participants of the war for two years.

** The latter, of course. Or rather, as in most other cases, I am honestly curious if there was some legitimate in-universe reason for them to act this way, that I don't see, other than every last character simply being a brain-dead idiot for the sake of the plot. Because, unlike some... [[{{Literature/Twilight}} other]] works of fiction, there's surprisingly little aknowledgement of the fact, which makes me wonder.

* Somewhat ironically there is a what the hell hero moment in the book, but it's Harry staunchly refusing to do anything beyond disarming, while Lupin criticizes him for not taking the kiddies gloves off. And then in the second half of the book hes mind raping and torturing people with no outward character development or reflection. He doesn't even go away from the Lupin conversation thinking Lupinhas a point. People aren't wrong to find it odd as the narrative is crossing lines even in the same book without acknowledgement. when this troper first read it he thought it was an intentional escalation to Avada Kedavra, but they never even consider using that on a horcrux. Torture and subverting free will are okay though.

** The ideal solution would have been to have one of the Potters be the Secret Keeper for the Longbottoms and one of the Longbottoms be the Secret Keeper for the Potters. Or they could have just used Dumbledore... canonically, [[IdiotPlot he volunteered for the job and James & Lily turned him down]].

** Plus, imagine being an adult having to read adjust to the Muggle world after essentially becoming more Wizard than Muggle. Especially since you would have, at best, a fourth grade Muggle education.

** It would have been the best for Ariana, perhaps, but not the best for Alberforth. Parents have a (moral at least) responsibility to give their charges the best possible chances in life (though the end results depends on the child of course). To me, Alberforth not being given the chance of a proper and complete education just because Albus could not calm his sister down would be a massive failure on albus' part, both as a parent and as a brother. It is even worse if you remember that Alberforth was just a kid at this point, and thus not necessarily mature enough to undertand the complete consequences of dropping out. Albus did what was expected of him, the correct and moral choice, and it is mentionned that he did it well enough until Grindelwald came. He was just too selfish and immature to uphold his responsibilities after that, but then again, Albus was barely an adult at this point, it is nothing surprising that he failed, though the consequences were disastrous. He was smart and brillant sure, but still young and unwise at this point.

* Forgive me for seeming callous, but I have little sympathy for Harry in the chapter "The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore" and his BrokenPedestal about Dumbledore. Why should he believe anything Rita Skeeter and Auntie Muriel say or take it with a grain of salt? On the one hand Auntie Muriel is established to speak rudely about everyone she meets, while on the other, Rita has written libel about Harry in the past and practically ruined his life for two years by saying he was some AttentionWhore, setting the Order of the Phoenix back a long way by being unable to do anything against Voldemort because Rita laid the groundwork for the smear campaign led by Fudge. But no, Harry believes everything Rita says and wastes time angsting about Dumbledore being friendly with Grindelwald when it's irrelevant to finding the Horcruxes.

* Forgive me for seeming callous, but I have little sympathy for Harry in the chapter "The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore" and his BrokenPedestal about Dumbledore. Why should he believe anything Rita Skeeter and Auntie Muriel say or take it with a grain of salt? On the one hand Auntie Muriel is established to speak rudely about everyone she meets, while on the other, Rita has written libel about Harry in the past and practically ruined his life for two years by saying he was some AttentionWhore, setting the Order of the Phoenix back a long way by being unable to do anything against Voldemort because Rita laid the groundwork for the smear campaign led by Fudge.

*** She DID mention it, right at the start "several substances can't destroy Horcrux, but all of them are too dangerous to carry around". Then she used Basilisk venom as the example because it's the thing they're the most familiar with, and maybe least dangerous (there is one way to counter it - Phoenix tears).