I also agree about how it never mentions where the children learn math and other regular subjects! It makes no sense. They can't just live off of magic in a Muggle world.

And Cho. Is. So. Annoying. What does she even do for the story beside make me cringe?

AlsoI think the characters are all really shallow except for Snape. And Harry is dumb. And Ron isn't even remotely likeable.

AAAAAAAAAAAH.

Thank you for making this thread. 

YES! Harry is so stupid, especially in the fifth book. Like, he hates Snape so much that he refuses to do Occlumensy (even though DUMBLEDORE trusts Snape) and he doesn’t consider that there might be some point to the Occlumensy.

And then he refuses to listen to Hermione’s point about his saving-people-thing and Sirius dies because Harry’s trying to save him! 

Also, why do people not listen to Hermione? She was also the one who pointed out that they should be nicer to Kreacher.

Oh, and also, did no one else think about the mirror that Sirius gave Harry that he could have used instead of Umbridge’s fire?

I honestly just hate book five. :) 

I can answer most of your holes, actually!

What pure-blooded wizarding children do before Hogwarts varies from family to family, but they always get an education of some sort. Richer families may hire a tutor or do some other form of homeschooling so their child is educated in the wizarding world as well as the Muggle one. Other families may just send their kids to Muggle school. Depends on their status and ideals!

The largeness of Hogwarts I've always found odd. There are only around five male Gryffindors in Harry's year, so we can assume there's about 10 students per House, 40 students per year, and 280 students in total. That's far less than my four-year school, which is considered small! The movies also depict a LOT of students, which seems odd because per Rowling's description, there don't seem to be many at all. Not only do the numbers add up that way, but their behaviors are very small-school-esque, where the characters know many side characters by name, even if they're not in their House or year. The size of the castle I'm not bothered by, though. It IS a castle, and there seems to be an abundance of unused classrooms in it, too. Not to mention that it has magical properties that could change the size it really is, and for a school of its unique nature, it may need extra space!

Apparating has to be purposeful. It's magic - it's a spell - just a nonverbal one. You have to consciously want to Apparate in order to be able to.

Harry runs at the divider in book 1 because Molly suggested it, as it's more comfortable for first-timers to do. In later books, when he's more used to the magical barrier, he's comfortable with simply leaning through. Both ways work!

I'm sure there are answers to some of your other questions, too; these are off the top of my head. Google is your friend!

I have my own issues with Harry Potter, but they'll have to wait. 

I really like Harry Potter, but... do wizards know about atoms? Chemistry? Physics? Geometry?

I just really don't buy Snape's redemption? Neville was tossed out of a window by his own uncle, and even then his worst fear is a teacher! Snape belittles a ton of students for no reason. Yes, he was bullied, but he also makes a ton of awful decisions, and is willing to let James and Harry die as long as Lily doesn't... which is pretty bad. And the whole using racial slurs thing.

I also have thoughts on JKR announcing that Dumbledore was gay, which I think is super cool, but the amount of representation vs. praise that has gotten is pretty unequal? It's nothing more than subtext at best in the books and also not very there in the movies about Dumbledore's relationship with Grindelwald. I'm also just kind of... done with some of the things she's tweeted. And I don't think JKR realizes how big America is, either, if there's only one school for all of it. I guess this is more of an author/wizarding universe criticism, but oh well.

I forgot one more thing- they literally can make potions that will force somebody to tell the truth, and the potions never seem to be used in court? Why?!

YES. On all counts.

Oh, and about Dumbledore: I don’t have a problem with him being gay, but I feel like the books are the books, and JKR’s writings don’t really apply to that universe. 

Dumbledore? Gay?

Oh also the whole House thing. Not every Slytherin is bad! Being bad is not part of their definition! JK Rowling shouldn't have made every single person in that house seem evil. It's very unrealistic. 

I really like Harry Potter (I just finally read and watched them) but there are a couple of things—okay, a lot of things, really—that I have problems with. First off, the magic system. It’s not logical or rational at all. There’s never any explanation about how magic works, about why it works the way it does. Why are some people born with magic and others aren’t? What determines whether or not you have magic? And why can’t Muggles use magic anyway? (I have a problem with Muggles vs. Wizards too, but that’s a rant for another time.) Why does saying a combination of Latin words and waving the wand a certain way make things happen? How are spells discovered/made? Also, the fact that there are no consequences or weaknesses of magic make it virtually limitless and therefore somewhat OP. For instance, in The Inheritance Cycle, when one uses magic, it takes the same amount of energy that doing the task manually would take. This creates a lot of boundaries for the magic system, along with other rules and explanations. The Inheritance magic system is just really well written all around, in my opinion. In HP, there seem to be hardly any laws or boundaries, no side effects/consequences, and no good reason for why things are the way they are. It’s not necessarily bad, but it’s something that bugs me. Does this get to anyone else?