Hogwarts might be this magical school that many readers of the Harry Potter series wanted to attend, but it wasn’t always all it is cracked up to be. While going to school to learn magic would be a dream, there were many truly unsafe and ridiculous things that happened in the walls of Hogwarts during Harry’s time there. While a lot of these bad and dangerous things were connected to Voldemort and his attempts to come back, there are many other bad things that happened at Hogwarts outside of him.
Hogwarts in many ways isn’t a school you’d want to attend. And, these 10 worst things that ever happened at Hogwarts, other than Voldermort, show why.
10. THE GENERAL LACK OF RULES FOR HOW PROFESSORS SHOULD TREAT STUDENTS
Hogwarts could be a pretty strict place for students at times. There were many rules in place and students would regularly get detention for breaking the rules. It makes sense that there would be a lot of rules given that magic can be dangerous. However, Hogwarts teachers didn’t seem to have many rules. They could seemingly give detentions for almost anything. Also, showing extreme favoritism for some students while basically bullying others was never an issue.
9. SENDING A GROUP OF ELEVEN YEAR OLDS INTO THE FORBIDDEN FOREST
Speaking of getting in trouble and detentions, the punishments for students were all over the map. While some intentions were what you’d expect like polishing trophies, others were extremely dangerous. Sending Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville, and Draco into the Forbidden Forest as their punishment made no sense. There was only one adult, who wasn’t even allowed to do magic and a dog with them. Plus, they were only eleven years old!
8. THE TREATMENT OF NEVILLE BY PROFESSOR SNAPE
Professor Snape treated students at Hogwarts horribly across the board. He was cruel to Harry and insulted Hermione. He was basically a big jerk to everyone except his favorite Slytherin students.
However, his treatment of Neville is probably the worst. He bullied him so much that Neville’s worst fear was actually Snape. He insulted him, made him feed his potion to his toad, and berated him often. It’s ridiculous he was able to get away with this.
7. HAGRID GETTING EXPELLED
This point is technically connected to Voldemort, but it also speaks to a bigger problem with Hogwarts. When Hagrid was blamed for opening the Chamber of Secrets, he was expelled. This means his wand was broken, and he’s never able to do magic again. It’s pretty ridiculous that a student of junior high or high school age can make a mistake and then lose their ability to practice magic forever. It seems like there should be some other way for expelled students to come back or get another chance. That’s a lot of pressure riding on children as young as eleven years old.
6. HOGWARTS BEING USED TO PROTECT THE SORCERER'S STONE
While the Sorcerer's Stone was being held to protect it from whoever was stealing it, it’s not exactly connected to Voldemort. Dumbledore being willing to house the item at Hogwarts makes absolutely no sense.
First of all, the things guarding the stone were dangerous, and students, as seen by the trio, could accidentally run across this room. Plus, housing such a sought after artifact would just invite dark wizards to come to the school to take it.
5. GIVING A STUDENT A TIME TURNER
This is another aspect of the Harry Potter series that just really makes no sense. Time turners are a dangerous tool that the Ministry of Magic keeps track of as messing with time can have big consequences. While Hermione might be a great student and a good person, entrusting a 13-year-old with such a powerful object makes no sense. The logical thing would have been to make Hermione drop a couple of classes instead of going out of their way to come up with this ridiculous plan. Of course, the time turner was needed as a plot device, but the whole premise is ridiculous.
4. THE HOGWARTS HOUSE SYSTEM
Many fans of the series have pointed out that the Hogwarts House system is pretty strange. First of all, it’s messed up to create a system that encourages the students to dislike three-fourths of the other students. It creates a weird, fractured dynamic with unnecessary rivalry. Plus, one of the houses is basically a house for evil sociopaths. The fact that Slytherin is so well-known for producing dark wizards and witches makes one wonder why it’s allowed to exist.
3. THE FACT THAT HOGWARTS USES SLAVES
The entire existence of house-elves in the Harry Potter universe is really messed up and problematic. It’s really only Hermione that sees how screwed up this is and tries to do something about it. Even Harry and Ron don’t really have a problem with the fact that Hogwarts uses slaves to clean and cook for the students. The whole conception of a race of humanoid creatures that like to be enslaved is a big problem.
2. THE TRIWIZARD TOURNAMENT
The entire Triwizard Tournament in its conception is pretty medieval. The fact that the wizarding world is totally fine with such a barbaric challenge is messed up. This tournament takes teenagers, even though they are technically considered adults in the wizarding world, and has them compete in an extremely dangerous tournament.
Of course, the students can choose whether or not to submit their names, but the fact that people can die in this tournament and it’s seen as just a possible risk is really strange.
1. DOLORES UMBRIDGE
Dolores Umbridge is probably the worst singular thing to happen to Hogwarts outside of things related to Voldemort. Umbridge was a sadistic, cruel person. She treated everyone horribly, and literally physically abused students. She made them carve words into the back of their hand as punishment. She is clearly evil given the fact that she then went on to be part of Voldermort’s Ministry of Magic and was zealous in finding and punishment Muggle-borns.