As we all know that wizarding world and muggle world in Harry Potter is separated. If we go by this logic, is the world in moving portraits in wizarding world different?  I mean the portraits have knowledge. People in portraits, though dead have capacity to make decisions. So if compared with real life situation, these photographs are not videos or GIFs programmed to move in a specific loop. The people in portraits can move from one frame to another. Also, the background seems alive in many portraits.  From this I assume, there must be another world separated, where the people in portraits live. Something like we see in Wreck-It Ralph. Outside the frame where people can't see, they must have bedroom, living room or maybe a whole garden.   (P.S.: I'm not speaking about photographs in wizarding world's newspaper or wanted posters. They look like looping GIFs.)
620
I'm not sure whether this happens in the books - it's been a while since I've read them - but in the films at least, there's occasions when subject(s) of a given painting venture outside of its frame. In Prisoner of Azkaban, the Fat Lady goes into another painting after being scared off by Sirius Black. In Order of the Phoenix, Filch 'empties' paintings of their subjects, by shaking the frames hard enough. In Deathly Hallows - Part 2, subjects are seen rushing from painting to painting, seemingly 'getting out of the way' as the preparations take place for what is about to be the Battle of Hogwarts.  But how does this work?  Is there any explanation given by JK Rowling inside the canon, or in interviews on this?  Where did the subjects go during Umbridge's time as Headmistress - where did they 'hang out' during this short-lived exile from Hogwarts? Are they in their own alternate 'world' or 'space' and can travel to any adjacent painting and thus theoretically wherever they want to, within the painting 'world'? To find some other home, if kicked out of their (original) portrait?  Thanks.
25994
During Goblet of Fire, Voldemort lured Harry away from Hogwarts and into a Muggle cemetery. This was done during the Triwizard tournament to make Harry’s death look like an accident.  Harry was supposed to have a Trace on him, so why couldn’t the Ministry tell an underage wizard was performing magic (Expelliarmus) in a Muggle cemetery? Or (as the Trace seems to pick up ANY magic used near a young wizard/witch) magic used by the Death Eaters?
107416
My main question is about the process of doing spells. If it is explained in the books, I am eager to know what consisted spells except words and waving the wand.    In the Harry Potter series, Hogwarts taught magic to wizards. Now except in Potion-making classes, all they learnt were some spells like "lumos", "stupefy" etc. Now we mostly see a dozen spells mainly used by Harry and teams in the whole series in which they wave their wand and say it, may be with a bit of concentration. Except Expecto Patronum, which including a lot of practice to get hold of your happiest memory, and the apparating process, which can be dangerous (actually it was never taught in school and Hermione just seem to know it somehow), none other spells seems to be tough and can be taught maximum in a week. Were there any technicalities to perform each spell, except waving wand and saying it?
52879
In the linked question () it is mentioned that the Ministry doesn't keep track of which children are capable of magic.  If this is the case then how does The Trace get applied to magical children?  I seem to recall that the trace is only active for Hogwarts students but this could be wrong.  If that is the case does the trace even apply for students that are magic but don't go to Hogwarts?    To make it more clear - If the Ministry of Magic doesn't keep track of which children are capable of magic then how can they apply the trace to wizards of a certain age?  If it happens automatically then anytime they use magic there would be a record and thus the Ministry would know which children are capable of magic.
48638
Is there some in-Universe (or somewhat canonical) explanation for why Harry wears glasses - either 100% of the time, or at least, when playing Quiddich?  Surely, given assorted spells, there should be one to repair either the issues with his near-sightedness, or, more likely, to act as lenses (being how magic is used to replace ANY technology, it ought to be able to replace lense-making).   P.S. I seem to recall a spell to make someone see better from afar, but not sure of the details.
31077
We know that the Triwizard cup itself was Summonable. After all, Harry did Summon it in the graveyard.  So why didn't any of the contestants Summon it while in the maze?  Canonical answers, please.
60236
Harry, before the Triwizard Tournament, was able to send owls to Sirius when he was in hiding (not at Grimmauld Place) just by telling them "just find him, will you?", and the owl would come back a few days later with an answer. This doesn't happen with Hedwig only, because, if I recall correctly, he uses school owls as well.  If finding Sirius was as easy as telling an owl "find him", and a 13-year-old wizard could do it, how come the Ministry had no clue as to where he was? They could've sent an owl with a summons and followed it from a distance.  Two theories, neither mentioned in the book, and both a bit unlikely:   He was living as a dog and -hopefully- the Ministry would not be able to recognize him. Unlikely because the owl would have got there anyway, so they would have guessed the dog was Sirius in disguise, not necessarily as an animagus, but maybe he could perform human-animal transfiguration (remember he was brilliant at school).. Kingsley Shacklebolt was already in charge of the hunt and Dumbledore told him Sirius was innocent and all that. Then, Kingsley would have prevented the Ministry from using any method that could've actually worked. Unlikely because they could've used owls before Dumbledore's tip, when Kingsley didn't know Sirius was innocent, and also because Kingsley was quite powerful and had the support of Crouch and others at the Ministry, so if he was in charge, they would probably have succeeded.   Your thoughts?
92694
Are there other schools for witches and wizards in the rest of the world? In the books they only speak of 3 schools, but what about Asian or American people?  And even more, were they affected by the events happening in Europe?
65912
I remember in an interview, or during a Q&amp;A, Rowling stating that Wizards live longer than Muggles. This got me thinking about Wizard deaths in general, and then deaths being attributed to illness.  So, I ask, has there ever been a Wizard, that has died from something like cancer? Is there anything, even briefly mentioning a Wizard becoming ill?  And finally, are there any illnesses that are exclusive to Wizards?
24789
Leaving aside ethical and moral considerations, the whole policy of Salazar Slytherin's "we should not teach muggle-born magic-capable children" seems to be completely counter-productive to the whole "Let's not allow Muggles to know about existence of magical world" idea.  To wit, muggle-born wizards are obviously capable of performing magic (there were several examples in the book) even without wands/training, and many of them are powerful enough as far as their magical ability that it's likely to get noticed.   So, short of killing off every child that has latent magical abilities (or at least those with abilities beyond some threshold) or charming them so they are unable to do any magic, wouldn't refusal to teach them all how to PROPERLY use magic and what the rules are merely get a lot more chances for Muggles to see magic being performed which totally goes against the whole "Let's not allow Muggles realize that there are magic users around" that drives a lot of the Wizarding rules?  UPDATE Just to clarify - this question is about the idea of Salazar Slytherin himself and not the modern-day Death Eaters/Voldemort.
93192
The wizards have their own equivalent of some Muggle entertainment/arts:   music - Celestina Warbeck and The Weird Sisters are professional musicians.  books - "The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore", "Armando Dippet: Master or Moron" and "The Tales of Beedle the Bard" are the known examples. fine arts - portraits, paintings and sculptures are all around Hogwarts and The Ministry. Also rich families (like the Blacks) could afford to have personal portraits. sports - Quidditch! radio - Molly Weasley listens to Celestina Warbeck on the radio. newspapers - The Daily Prophet and The Quibbler at least. joke shops - there is at least one in Hogsmeade and the recently opened "Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes".   Are there also any references to plays and movies?
83103
I was always wondering how dialog between two people is filmed. Suppose there are two people talking. The screen is switching between faces of the characters while they talk. How it is done in reality? Are there two cameras filming both faces simultaneously and the actors just talking as usual? Or is the camera filming each actor separately while they say their part of text?
68598
Is there any information in canon (or from JKR) to indicate that Dumbledore knew that three of the Marauders were Animagi?  I can't recall anything, but Harry seems to be firmly convinced that Dumbledore knows "everything that goes on around here," and that assessment seems to be accurate during Harry's years.
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In Order of the Phoenix, Dumbledore tells Harry  'I did,' said Dumbledore. 'On a cold, wet night sixteen years ago, in a room above the bar at the Hog's Head inn. I had gone there to see an applicant for the post of Divination teacher, though it was against my inclination to allow the subject of Divination to continue at all. The applicant, however, was the great-great-granddaughter of a very famous, very gifted Seer and I thought it common politeness to meet her.  Why did Dumbledore want to discontinue Divination? Is it because he didn't much like the branch of magic or didn't believe in it? It does not sound plausible that he would remove a subject from Hogwarts just because of his personal opinions. (Moreover, Divination examinations are taken during the O.W.L.s so I doubt whether Dumbledore would, with his individual decision only, be able to remove it completely from Hogwarts). From Order of the Phoenix we also know that there is whole room dedicated to storing prophecies in the Department of Mysteries, so prophecies and divination are a real thing in the Harry Potter universe, from the point of view of us readers as well as the characters themselves. Then why would Dumbledore want to remove Divination? Another thing to consider is that Professor McGonagall says, in the Prisoner of Azkaban, that true Seers are rare, so it might be that Dumbledore might have found it difficult to get someone competent enough for the job. This does not make much sense either, because if in the Harry Potter universe true Seers are rare, having someone teach the theory behind divination would at least help to keep the field alive. Also, he had trouble finding people for Defense Against the Dark Arts as well, but that does not mean he just gave up on the subject, rather, he made controversial hiring such as Professor Lupin and Moody to keep the classes running smoothly. What exactly was the reason for Dumbledore not wanting to continue Divination at Hogwarts (until he met Professor Trelawney)?
30875
Was Harry Potter an innately powerful/skillful Wizard in any way, based on canon?  It seems that whenever Harry Potter performed some unusually potent bit of magic (potent as far as require raw power AND/OR skill), most of the time we find that it wasn’t innately Harry’s skill, but a combination of:   some extraneous magic forces/rules/powers circumstance great reaction time (which is obviously extraordinary from his Quidditch playing; and is likely a larger factor in his dueling than the strength of his magic) general smartness or (the part that Harry’s detractors, including Voldemort missed) Harry’s strength of character/personality   The only two counter-examples I can think of which show him as having extraordinary or at least obviously above average magical abilities are:   His skill at flying brooms - while a part of it is pure physical skill, at least part is magical. His (corporeal) Patronus charm   As far as examples of his unusual feats being due to reasons listed above:   Obviously, surviving Avada Kedavra as an infant - due to Lily’s sacrifice Parselmouth talent - proxied via Voldemort’s piece of soul. Ability to see the Sorcerer’s Stone in the Mirror of Erised - due to purity of his character, nothing magical. Obvious lack of talent at potion making throughout all of the books (sans cheating in HBP) His win over the Basilisk - due to Hermione’s research, character traits, and as a consequence of the last one, getting Fawkes and Gryffindor’s Sword’s help.  Just to be clear, before someone flames me - what he did was obviously super extraordinary, BUT IMHO he would have achieved the same result if he was turned into a Squib for the duration of Chamber of Secrets fight. TriWizard Tournament entry - wasn’t him, it was Barty Crouch TriWizard Tournament second challenge - a combination of character and outside help (someone told him about Gillyweed) TriWizard Tournament third challenge - Mostly, Barty Crouch’s cheating  Note that I’m omitting the first challenge, since that one was the aforementioned Broom flying skills. His survival in the cemetery after Voldemort’s return - again, a combination of superior strength of character and super powerful wandlore magic that had nothing to do with his skill as a Wizard. The whole “last Horcrux” thing when surviving the second Avada Kedavra from Voldemort His ownership of the Elder Wand in the very last duel with Voldemort.   So, to paraphrase my original question, was there any canon/JKR evidence that Harry was anything but a completely average/mediocre wizard in any way, shape, or form if you take into account only his own magical abilities and skills?
113165
Does the canon explicitly address which of the following 3 acts cause a piece of Voldemort's soul to split off and embed into Harry?   Murdering Lily Trying to murder Harry (e.g. would the soul have split even if he didn't get hit by rebound Avada Kedavra?) Getting hit by rebound Avada Kedavra - if he didn't, the soul piece would NOT have split off.   Canon means books, JKR interviews or Pottermore.  I'm very specifically interested in information OTHER than Dumbledore's guess stated in chapter 24 ("The Prince's tale") of Deathly Hallows: ...     “Tell him that on the night Lord Voldemort tried to kill him, when Lily cast her own life between them as a shield, the Killing Curse rebounded upon Lord Voldemort, and a fragment of Voldemort’s soul was blasted apart from the whole, and latched itself onto the only living soul left in that collapsed building. Part of Lord Voldemort lives inside Harry, and it is that which gives him the power of speech with snakes, and a connection with Lord Voldemort’s mind that he has never understood. And while that fragment of soul, unmissed by Voldemort, remains attached to and protected by Harry, Lord Voldemort cannot die.“    ... and Chapter 25, "King's Cross":     “You were the seventh Horcrux, Harry, the Horcrux he never meant to make. He had rendered his soul so unstable that it broke apart when he committed those acts of unspeakable evil, the murder of your parents, the attempted killing of a child. But what escaped from that room was even less than he knew. He left more than his body behind. He left part of himself latched to you, the would-be victim who had survived.”    The reason is that this quote doesn't seem to very clearly point to causality, and also it was just Dumbledore's guess. I'm hoping one of the JKR sourced information sources would clarify this.
73699
This question is related to  and explores an apparent inconsistency, given only the Harry Potter movies as source material.  The Hogwarts Express line seems to have an inconsistent existence between magical (invisible to ordinary humans aka muggles) and non-magical (muggle) realms; platform 9-3/4 is clearly hidden from muggles, but in Chamber of Secrets, when Harry and Ron take the car (in the muggle world) to catch up to the train, they make no explicit crossing into a magical realm, suggesting that the train is traveling the muggle world despite its departure from a magical platform.  In which realm (magical or muggle) does the Hogwarts Express exist? How is this apparent inconsistency resolved?