Four Harry Potter Theories That Didn't Pan Out (and One That Did)

Do you remember back when JK Rowling was still releasing Harry Potter books every few years? The theories floating around the pre-social media internet still made their rounds. Plenty came true, but there were a few awesome ones that never panned out (and some weird ones that turned out to be true)

Dumbledore had a horcrux

After his untimely death in Half-Blood Prince, the internet was buzzing with theories about his death. I remember there was a whole website dedicated to proving he wasn’t dead. One that I thought was interesting was the idea that Dumbledore had a horcrux. We knew he’d defeated Grindelwald (and at the time we presumed Grindelwald was dead) so he could have theoretically created a horcrux after that death. The best part was the idea that Fawkes was the horcrux, so he couldn’t be destroyed.

Mrs. Figg is a witch

We knew going into Order of the Phoenix that the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher would be a witch, not wizard. There was speculation that Mrs. Figg (who’d only appeared in Philosopher’s Stone at that point) would be revealed to be a witch and their new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Well, she did come back, but not as a witch. Instead, she became our new favorite squib (though her only competition really was Filch… so yeah).

Harry is the heir of Gryffindor 

Technically this was never disproven, just never relevant enough to address I suppose. Between the Sword of Gryffindor in Chamber of Secrets and the red and gold sparks when Harry got his wand, it was speculated that Harry was the heir of Gryffindor. That would mean the battle between him and Voldemort would have also been the heir of Slytherin against the heir of Gryffindor. In the end, it wasn’t important. *shrug*

Crookshanks is an animagus

Before Order of the Phoenix came out, I remember there being speculation that Crookshanks was an animagus. In fact, I remember reading an Order of the Phoenix fanfiction where Mrs. Figg was Crookshanks and the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. It would have explained how Crookshanks was so clever. Instead, post-Deathly Hallows, it was revealed that Crookshanks was part-Kneazle, which is why he was so intuitive. 

Snape loves Lily

I saw this theory before Deathly Hallows and I thought it was the dumbest thing. After all, Snape had called her a mudblood in Order of the Phoenix. Couldn’t imagine how they’d rationalize him being in love with her if he was that big of a jerk. Well, he was still a big jerk to her, but in the end he did love her… it was an immature, unhealthy love in my opinion. But that’s still a form of love I suppose.

Do you remember any good Harry Potter theories from back in the day? Or any good Harry Potter headcanon now. I’m always up for a good headcanon.