Headscratchers / Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery

• Wait, I thought Flying class was only for first years. Why is it being taken in later years?
  • It is also for later years, if they need it; but Harry proved to be a natural flyer who never needed it again, and most purebloods have presumably used brooms enough at home (as Draco claims to have done) that they no longer need the class past First Year. If she had had an affinity for flying, I wouldn't have been surprised if Hermione had continued Flying throughout her schooling, for example.
  • It also could well be that the policy changed the year Harry arrived. Flying would appear to be a first-term only class for Harry, as it's never brought up again, even for Ron and Hermione.
  • It may simply be Gameplay and Story Segregation, too. The class is not only never mentioned beyond First Year, but never mentioned beyond the single class Harry took. It may well be that Harry's actions that day changed things. Logistially, based on the events of HM, Harry should still have been attending Flying lessons because MC continues to take the class even though they also play for their team. Flying Lessons in the game are treated not only as learning but polishing your skills.

• With how much stuff the player does and gets up to and the fact they befriend both Bill and Charlie and Tonks, why aren’t they ever mentioned to Harry? (I know it’s because they didn’t exist as a character back then but I was wondering if there was a plausible in universe reason.)
  • We don't see every aspect of Harry's life. They didn't even have to tell him, but if they did, it must have been at a time at Grimmauld place Rowling just skips in the book because old Hogwarts stories are irrelevant to the plot.
  • It could also be that they never came up, as when Harry actually meets them, it has been four years for Charlie since he last saw MC and six for Bill, and for Tonks it has been five years. So the topic rarely if ever comes up, considering the lives they all lead.
  • I didn't even know Charlie and Tonks were in the same year before this game. I'm not sure if Tonks ever even mentioned knowing Charlie in the books, and the only interaction she had with Bill I recall is the mistaken Shipper on Deck situation, despite them being canon characters, so it is reasonable for them to not mention other classmates either.

• Why does the game still have the Player Character Made Out to Be a Jerkass to Flikwick for dueling The Bully even when one of the dialogue options could have the Player state they were fighting in self-defense? Or better yet, why does the school still hate the Player, even when there were witnesses who could attest to The Bully starting the fight?
  • Didn't Flitwick point out that the player character was defending themself and others, and Snape brushed it off by pointing out that dueling was against the rules regardless? (Seriously, I don't really remember...) That's hardly making the player character out to be a bad guy, it's just Snape being Snape.
    • But Flickwick, when doing an optional mission (i.e., learning a new spell), talks as though the Player Character DID do something bad and attempts to keep them from partaking in the lesson.
    • Pointing out the fact that you were just defending your friends to Snape makes him even angrier, since defending rule breaking with self righteousness is one of his BerserkButtons. And Flickwick is justified in being angry because you got him involved by convincing him to teach you a dueling spell and then using it illegally, making him an accessory.

• When planning to sneak a clue out of another House's common room, why does the Player Character come up with the harebrained idea to shrink themself? Furthermore, why does the Player Character not come up with a Plan B even after being warned by Professor Flitwick how dangerous it is to shrink themself? It would be less insane to train and send a pet to retrieve the clue, or even simply ask/bribe someone from that house to find it for you.
  • MC is an idiot who likes to do things their own way to make sure they're done right.

• This Troper has consistently won the "perfect takeoff" minigame in the last several dozen Flying Lesson review classes. Why would The Bully repeatedly and relentlessly goad the player character into races that The Bully consistently loses?
  • And why she needs to cheat at everything and steal credit from allegedly less talented people. I would be impressed if she turned out to be actively pretending to be a Lockhart-like character, since she seems to be keeping ideas she should be proud of secret.
    • These are both probably a result of Merula being an Attention Whore who genuinely thinks she's better than everyone else. Despite losing dozens of times, she is convinced she can beat you and the times she failed were just bad luck.
  • Merula is a very prideful person. Abandoning her endeavors to beat the MC at every opportunity would require admitting that she's not as good as them, and her ego can't take that.
• In the Animagus Side-Quest, we're told that Talbott is brewing an Animagus Potion, and that we should ask him to brew a second one for us. Since he's already an Animagus, why was he brewing the potion in the first place?
  • He might be brewing it simply because it comforts him. People do have different ways of dealing with grief and loss, like excessive baking or poetry - Talbott’s method may just be brewing an Animagus potion.
  • IIRC, Penny was already in on the plan to brew the potion and wanted to do so simply as a test of her skills. It may be that he was teaching her how to brew the potion but the rumors warped it somewhat.

• How come there's no mention of Bill being Head Boy in his seventh year/your fifth year? Especially considering that his quest to make prefect was such a big deal (IIRC, his confidence in the matter was shaken after being scolded by McGonagall, and the player character had to reassure him that he'd still probably be made a prefect). You'd think that any Head Boy privileges he may have could be useful to the story.
  • Year Five isn't complete yet, there are still some chapters left. So they might address it in those. Alternatively, Bill doesn't see his new status as Head Boy as beneficial to The Cursed Vault quest, or he feels using that status to do so can revoke his Head Boyship.
  • It gets brought up in the Head Boy/Girl quest in Y6. It definitely would seem to be that Bill neither saw his position as useful and never felt like talking about it much.

• Where in the heck is the player’s dad? He’s mentioned exactly once, when the player mentions “my parents”, but seems to not exist after that. And it’s not as if you have lesbian parents- MC only ever refers to having one mother. You’d think if he died or disappeared or was looking for Jacob it would be mentioned. But he was alive earlier in the game and evidently still with the player’s mum at the time.
  • It is entirely possible that the main character just doesn't feel as close to their father as they do their mother, and so mainly discusses their mum.
    • Not likely, because they mention their mum and ONLY their mum going away for Christmas. Plus, there were several times when “my parents” could replace “my mum” and it wouldn’t change anything. Why wouldn’t the dad go with her to America? Or be mentioned as staying? It’s like he doesn’t exist.
    • Jacob also only specifies their mother when talking.

• So is it canon that the player character was sorted into Slytherin? Because it's been established that for six years prior to Harry being enrolled in Hogwarts in 1991, Slytherin was the winner of the House Cup, from 1985 to 1990-1991. Yet the PC can choose their house, and easily win the House Cup. Is this a retcon, or what?
  • Gameplay and Story Segregation. The game was made so that a player can succeed at tasks in whatever order in whatever House they want. Which means, in some cases, there are two male Gryffindor Prefects (MC and Charlie) starting the fifth year, and a player in Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, or Ravenclaw can win the House Cup even if, canonically, it was Slytherin that won. So no, it's not a retcon, it's a gameplay mechanic that doesn't actually add to the story, and in some cases outright ignore it.
  • Cutting Off the Branches. Even though there are multiple possible outcomes, it's fine by me as long as the canon outcome is possible.
  • Not with the way MC and Rowan are written. If anything, they're canonically Ravenclaws but they simply don't win the House or Quidditch Tournaments. If they'd made the game to canon specs, and had Slytherin win, people in the other Houses would be pretty upset and complain about it. "What's the point of earning House Points if it's impossible for me to win the House Cup?". Although I agree that Slytherin should have won every year for the sake of canon. They could have just had Slytherin always either slightly ahead or neck and neck with MC's house (so sometimes they'd be in the lead), and there's a discussion by MC and their friends that Snape is the reason for their victory (as is implied in the books) because he will dock points off people for things like running and give Slytherin points at the end of the year, even on the way to the Feast.
• Why can MC date Merula in Y4 and Y5? Especially in Year 4 when she still really hates MC? Why can MC take her out on a date and to the ball when her hatred in Y4 isn't her being a "tsundere", but legitimate? Why would she say yes? Why would she want to in Y5, either, considering she hates MC for being Rakepick's favourite? The only time it makes sense that Merula would want to date MC is starting in Y6, maybe late Y5, when she starts being actually tsundere outside the dating events. Why, realistically, would MC want to date Merula when they're so antagonistic towards each other for the first 5 years at school (outside of dialogue referencing them dating)? Ignoring how players are attracted to her "tsundere" attitude, MC is clearly not outside the events themselves. Maingame and other event dialogue that refers to them dating is unnatural to the flow of other conversations where they're snipping at each other constantly, to the point that any dialogue about MC and Merula dating is OOC for both of them.
  • The Player and Merula's friendship canonically get better in the second half of Y5 when they both get chosen by Rakepick as her apprentices. The First Date sidequest was added when the story was 3/4ths through Year 5 (meaning that some people had their First Date in Y5) and both Valentine events used to trigger in Year 5, but Valentine's Day was shoved back to Y4 when Valentine's Day Ball was added. It's not impossible to think that MC would have dated Merula sometime in Y5 when their friendship also improved in the main story. However, post-Y5 is a bit stranger, especially with their argument at the end of Y5. Having played through the whole game exclusively in a Merula romance, their relationship is referenced in Y6 in small instances, where it seems to imply that they haven't really dated in a while (maybe they're on a 'break'). As no romance events happen in Y6 or Y7 (at the moment anyway) and the romance meter is stuck on 5 (as of writing), it's not far-fetched to think that they put their relationship 'on hold' because of the main plot shenanigans (Merula regressing to her old characterization because of trauma in Y6 and her joining 'R' in Y7). Datamining also reveals exclusive dating only occurs in Y6/Y7, meaning that they could have repaired their relationship by the end of Year 6 (when their friendship was somewhat repaired again) but then stopped again in Y7. Basically, if you look through the lens of them being on an on-and-off-again relationship only through Y5-Y7, it makes a lot more sense.
    • As to why they can date in Y4, well, Y5 is getting kinda bloated with so many Time-Limited Side-Quests, it seems to make sense why they shoved some of the romance to Y4 to make room, even if it makes more sense for all the romance to happen Y5. Romance is a big money-maker for this game (if the ads are anything to go by), which is why they repeated the Valentine's event twice. TL;DR, it's Gameplay and Story Segregation.

• New headstratcher how can we go back to Hogwarts post-graduation but NOT run into the Trio during their 6 years there? It's okay if we run into Draco because we already meet him, or Dobby but not the Trio (not so sure about you know Ginny in 1992-1993, or anything up to the 1997-1998 School Year). And I can't remember if it's in the main storyline of HM in Year 7 or a side quest we meet Neville and his Grandma, so running into him might be okay at Hogwarts from the 1991-1997 school years.

• In the current limited-time side quest "A Letter from Hogwarts" there is a task where the PC double-checks the outgoing Hogwarts letters for the next school year - Harry Potter's first year. The PC apparently handles Harry's Hogwarts Letter and just states something like "THE Harry Potter?". Now, correct me if I'm wrong but that letter was addressed to an eleven-year-old boy who was living in a cupboard. Why did the PC not raise a stink about this?
  • Sequence breaking. The quest moulds itself to the player's current year. If you're still in your sixth year, the PC mentions Cho Chang and Cormac Mc Claggen, who are in the year above Harry. So it wouldn't make sense to have the PC raise a fuss over Harry's living situation during the quest, as the character might not be in the correct year to do so. Besides which, the dialogue that happens during tasks is only snippets of what is actually being said, so we have no clue if the PC had more to say over Harry's letter or not.