The 10 Most Disturbingly Adult Plot Elements in the 'Harry Potter' Franchise

SPOILER WARNING FOR FANTASTIC BEASTS: THE CRIMES OF GRINDELWALD. And Harry Potter in general. Though why are you reading this if you've never seen or read Harry Potter before, you big weirdo?

I turned into a 'Potterhead' at the ripe age of 12 when my cousin made me watch the newly released to DVD version of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. At that time, there were only five books and J.K. Rowling wasn't ruining her franchise with a massively disappointing play and ruining her own timeline with questionable Fantastic Beasts films. Didn't you learn anything from George Lucas, Jo? It might be your franchise, but your franchise was practically the whole reading world's childhood.

But headcanon is something that exists and The Cursed Child will never be canonical to my stubborn self and shall remain in the darkness of my sock drawer to think about its sins in unread silence. But this isn't about pointing out plot holes, this is about those dark moments. You know, the really dark moments that linger in the air after finishing a chapter or a film in the franchise. There's such a trope that exists, as acutely defined on TVtropes.org, called Fridge Horror which is "...simply put, when something becomes terrifying after the fact." You'll be doing something in your menial, non-magical existence such as using the bathroom or washing the dishes and then suddenly think, "Holy shit, Voldemort's mom essentially date raped his father with love potion. Voldemort is technically a child born of rape." And then you're suddenly not convinced this was series was solely for children after all.

So, without further ado, let's countdown the 10 most disturbingly adult plot elements in the Harry Potter franchise.

10. Severus Snape, for the most part, was a selfish, irresponsible man and teacher.

Harry naming his son Albus Severus never sat right with me. I would have been fine with Albus Sirious, Albus Rubeus, or hell, even Albus Ronald Potter. Harry found out that Snape was on the side of good all along. Don't get me wrong, I cry every time I see or read the scene where Dumbledore asks, "Lily? After all this time?" and Snape replies, "Always." The problem I have is this: Severus Snape was still a bastard to Harry and repeatedly tried to get him expelled from Hogwarts. He hated Harry because he was James Potter's son, not his own. You think Lily would be accepting of all the bullshit Snape put her son through?! He has a serial killer mindset of Lily, obsessed with the fact that she didn't love him back. By modern social media standards, Severus Snape is a fuckboy carrying a grudge that went way too far.

The above is not the only reason this plot is so disturbing though. Albus Dumbledore allowed Severus Snape to be so abusive toward Harry. Speaking of Albus Dumbledore allowing abuse...

9. There is never a reason to leave a child in an abusive family. No, not even magical reasons.

I refuse to believe that Rubeus Hagrid, Arthur Weasley, Arabella Figg, or any other witches or wizards that have seen the Dursleys treatment of Harry firsthand haven't sent concerns to Albus Dumbledore about the child abuse. Are you telling me that there was literally no other option for Harry's protection other than the blood magic? Not even a nice wizarding foster home secured with a Fidelius Charm? And before you point out that they tried that once and it failed, be reminded that Peter "Wormtail" Pettigrew betrayed the Potters willingly by divulging the secret.

I can remember quite plainly all the Vernon Dursley physically assaulted him. Dragging him up the stairs when he learns through Harry's letter that he isn't supposed to use magic outside of Hogwarts, starving him, and essentially imprisoning him by putting bars on Harry's window. All of the mental and emotional abuse by Aunt Petunia and Dudley. Dudley using Harry as his "favorite punching bag" and the mentions of him beating up ten-year-old children when he was fifteen. Vernon even strangled Harry for having his wand out.

The abuse didn't even end at Number 4, Privet Drive. Dolores Umbridge made students write notes in their own blood, cutting into the back of their hands. Having a Dark Arts teacher who turned out to be an impostor teaching children how Unforgivable Curses work... and in the book, using the Imperius Curse on children. Yet, Albus Dumbledore allows it, even encourages it. Severus Snape is seen actively encouraging his house to be violent, shows undeniable favoritism, and is racist against his own students, namely Hermione for being "Muggle-born." In the fourth book, Hermione is cursed by a wayward spell meant for Harry and her already too-large front teeth start growing uncontrollably. She appeals to Snape for permission to go to the Hospital Wing and he replies, "I see no difference." Grade A teaching.

8. Harry had the potential to produce an Obscurial.

One of the more disturbing creatures of the Wizarding World as introduced in the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them film, an Obscurial is a young witch or wizard whose powers are suppressed to the point where they become extremely powerful and dangerous balls of magical energy. The young wizard in question in the film is Creedence, whose foster parent is waging a war against the magical world and trying to "beat the magic" out of him. The abuse takes place off-screen, signified by him taking off his own belt and handing it to her. I was blown away by the subject matter of this film, because it reminds me of real-life examples of fundamentalist parents beating their children for going against their family's religious doctrine.

I also had another troubling realization. If the Dursleys had been proactive and prevented Harry from leaving with Hagrid to the magical world, he could have become an Obscurial. Imagine, a powerhouse like Harry Potter becoming even more unstable and destructive. He was abused just like Creedence, though he was more neglected than anything. Harry was famous though for being the Boy Who Lived, meanwhile Creedence was just another child left behind in a foster home. However, Creedence would be groomed by Grindelwald and go through a confusing bunch of nonsense with whatever the hell the second film was supposed to be. Another Dumbledore relative? I thought Grindelwald was having him on, but the Dumbledore legend about a phoenix's allegiance or whatever seems true. I wonder if the next Fantastic Beasts is somehow going to incorporate the Dumbledore family controversy as explained in the seventh Potter book.

Speaking of which...

(I know, I used that segue already but... shut up.)

7. Ariana Dumbledore was (possibly) raped by the three Muggle boys.

Voldemort's mother wasn't the only one guilty of rape in the franchise. The seventh book explores the Dumbledore family, mainly the events leading up to her tragic death. Aberforth, Albus' estranged brother, takes in the trio as they try to sneak into the Death-Eater-infested Hogwarts castle. He feeds them and tells them the whole sordid tale.

"Professor Dumbledore cared about Harry, very much." said Hermione in a low voice. "Did he, now?" said Aberforth. "Funny thing, how many of the people my brother cared about very much, ended up in a worse state than if he'd left 'em well alone." "What do you mean?" asked Hermione breathlessly. "Never you mind," said Aberforth. "But that's a really serious thing to say!" said Hermione. "Are you--are you talking about your sister?" Aberforth glared at her; his lips moved as if he were chewing the words he was holding back. Then he burst into speech. "When my sister was six years old, she was attacked, set upon, by three Muggle boys. They'd seen her doing magic, spying through the back garden hedge: she was a kid, she couldn't control it, no witch or wizard can at that age. What they saw scared them, I expect. They forced their way through the hedge, and when she couldn't show them the trick, they got a bit carried away trying to stop the little freak doing it." Hermione's eyes were huge in the firelight: Ron looked slightly sick. Aberforth stood up, tall as Albus, and suddenly terrible in his anger and the intensity of his pain. "It destroyed her, what they did: she was never right again. She wouldn't use magic, but she couldn't get rid of it: it turned inwards and drove her mad, it exploded out of her when she couldn't control it, and at times she was strange and dangerous. But mostly she was sweet, and scared, and harmless." - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Chapter Twenty-Eight

After all, what's the worse thing you can do to a child beside killing them? It seems Ariana also exhibit potential signs of becoming an Obscurial, though her pathology is triggered from PTSD more than childhood abuse. The Dumbledore siblings' father would kill the three Muggle boys, landing the family in the hot seat of controversy.

The concept of rape is something rarely explicitly explored in the Harry Potter 'verse; at least, not on the surface. Just to air on the side of caution, the possible rape backstory has not been confirmed by J.K. Rowling, but it hasn't been denied either.

On the topic of rape...

6. Love potion is the wizarding equivalent of Rohypnol.

Something about the Weasley twins selling love potions never sat right with me. They are banned at Hogwarts, but why are such enchantments and potions allowed elsewhere when the Imperius Curse is Unforgivable? In the Half-Blood Prince, the novel, Dumbledore and Harry learn about Voldemort's mother and grandfather. Merope was severely abused by Marvolo and her psychopathic, Parselmouth brother. She was affected like Ariana, her powers suppressed by her trauma, though she attempted to use them when threatened by Marvolo.

The main reason Voldemort cannot love is because he was conceived under the effects of a love potion. Wow, that's fucking horrifying to consider what reproduction in wizarding society is like. How many more psychopaths have been generated by alchemically-addled copulation? That should be enough of a reason to ban love potions entirely.

Even more troublesome, Harry is given a box of spiked treats filled with love potion. And Hermione catches Romilda Vane talking about doing such an act and doesn't report it to a professor. Yes, she tells Harry about it, but isn't a prefect a mere middle man for dealing out punishment? Romilda Vane ordered the love potion and smuggled it in illegally and intended to drug Harry Potter to fall in love with her. If that's not the definition of "fan worship gone WAY too far," I don't know what is.

5. If 'The Crimes of Grindelwald' is to be considered canonical (by some divine miracle), Nagini is a "witch" trapped as a snake, enslaved by Voldemort, and has a piece of his soul trapped within her like a parasite.

Surprisingly, Nagini being more than a snake took a backseat to the casting controversy. A Maledictus is a female human, not necessarily a witch, that can turn into a beast and will eventually be stuck permanently as that animal. The Maledictus curse is genetically passed down from mother to daughter. This should have shocked the Potter world considerably, but certain outspoken individuals were more outraged about the casting choice of a Korean woman playing a subservient role.

Subservient? This is fucking VOLDEMORT we're talking about here. You know, the same douchebag that entranced Ginny Weasley and nearly killed her. The same one who tried to KILL A BABY because a prophecy told him to! The one who commanded Wormtail to execute Cedric Diggory just because he was in the way. Arguably, the only wizard who was ever truly subservient to him was Barty Crouch Jr., whom Voldemort would claim was his "most loyal servant." Fear, terror, and Stockholm Syndrome don't count as a means to attract true loyalty. Just ask Hitler. Yeah, Hitler, enjoying that bullet in the brain, aren't you? Shoulda stuck to painting and scat porn.

4. Barty Crouch Jr.'s backstory is REALLY fucked-up.

Goblet of Fire, the novel, had quite a few plots running at the same time. There was the one with Bertha Jorkins, the elf named Winky caught at the Qudditch World Cup with a wand thought to summon the Dark Mark, and the controversy surrounding Barty Crouch's son's involvement with the Dark Arts. Oh, and the Triwizard Tournament, I guess.

Harry compares Barty Crouch, basically a Ministry of Magic bureaucrat that wavers on the scale of lawful neutral, at least until we learn the truth. His son was supposed to be sent to Azkaban for helping Bellatrix Lestrange torture the Longbottoms, but his mother took Polyjuice Potion to replace him. Barty Crouch hid his wayward son (heh) under an invisibility cloak and made Winky in charge of him. You see, Winky wasn't just punished for having a wand, she was fired because she let Barty Crouch Jr. escape. He was the one that incited the Death Eaters, cast the Dark Mark, and would be instrumental in bringing Voldemort back to power.

Barty Crouch Sr. literally used the Imperius curse on his own son. I mean, he might be a Death Eater, but goddamn. And Barty Crouch Sr. is portrayed as the squarest of the squares. Harry suggests that even Vernon Dursley would respect him because he dressed conservatively in Muggle-style suits rather than the traditional wizard robes and cloaks. Barty Crouch Sr despised the Dark Arts and was a massive proponent of harsh punishment toward Death Eaters and Unforgivable Curses. His relaxed policies in light of his own son's arrest are supposed to paint him as a father who still loves his son, but it really sounds like he was desperate to keep his image "pure." And that's fucked-up. I'm not saying it's all daddy's fault—I mean, he fucking delivered Harry Potter on a platter like Lord Voldemort is Salome with the Seven Veils (that's an amusing image in my head now). Barty Crouch Jr. isn't innocent.

But neither is Barty Crouch Sr.

3. The anti-magic propagandist in the first 'Fantastic Beasts' film is literally an off-shoot of the Salem Witch Trials.

Nope, not an homage. There's a group in New York during Newt Scamander's time that are obsessed with getting rid of witches. Like, "burn at the stake" kind of nonsense. There's a scene of a kid playing hopscotch and singing a sinister child song about all the methods to kill witches. Mary Lou Barebone takes to the streets to teach her diatribe, with pamphlets and a banner that looks very... Nazi-esque. If that's not enough, one of her foster children is a wizard, but can't express his magic due to her indoctrination and ignorant mishandling of the situation. She beats him with a belt for the slightest misstep, such as being out after curfew and possessing a wand.

Tensions with the Magical Congress and "no-mag" state government are fraught because of the anti-magic sentiment and a great magical force that keeps destroying buildings. When the great force claims the life of a politician, the magical world is threatened with exposure. It becomes paramount to find the culprit of the great magical force. Ironic, isn't it, that the same group that seeks to stamp out witches would be the same to release an Obscurial onto New York.

Also, consider if you will the real-life comparison of Creedence's condition. You know, abuse in a young person's life leading to an explosion of inner power? Repression that brings about destruction? Like... damn.

2. Dementors are creatures that cause cruel and unusual punishment. And the Ministry of Magic employed them.

Harry Potter's greatest fear at one point was Dementors, creatures that feast on unhappy memories and cause immense sadness and desperation. J.K. Rowling herself said that they were inspired by her experiences with depression. And yet having these creatures patrol Hogwarts, near children, seemed like a good idea to the ministry. A Dementor would be the main reason Barty Crouch Jr.'s testimony of Lord Voldemort's return was never heard by Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic. The deluded old moron took a Dementor into the castle (which is a BIG no-no under Albus Dumbledore's headship) to interrogate Barty Crouch Jr and the Dementor performed the Dementor's Kiss upon him before they could listen to his testimony.

I doubt even Newt Scamander would want to deal with these creatures. Maybe there are much more abominations of nature and Dark Magic under the surface. Inferi are discussed in the Half-Blood Prince, which is literally necromancy--enchanting corpses to come back to life. Ghouls are nuisances that are hard to get rid of, seeing as the Weasleys still haven't been able to rid of theirs (although, it was useful when they dressed it like it was Ron suffering from an ailment as an excuse for why he wasn't attending Hogwarts in his seventh year.)

What would be an apt comparison for a government to employ literal soul-sucking entities that spread depression and discord?

*canned laughter*

1. Slytherin, a Hogwarts House that prides itself on ambition and pureblood-supremacy, still exists.

You'd think after the Wizarding War in which pureblood-supremacists and Death Eaters succeeded in a coup d'etat over the Ministry of Magic which prosecuted anyone who is suspected of being less than pureblood, any post-war societies that promoted such ideals would be illegal. And yet, Slytherin House, the very founder of which thought non-purebloods should be banished from studying magic, is still a part of Hogwarts. You can argue that "not all Slytherins were evil" all you want, it doesn't change the fact that Salazar Slytherin made a chamber for a bigass snake in order to murder "Mudbloods."

Slytherin has been an evil house from the beginning. The evil didn't start with Lord Voldemort, it was just exacerbated. Rumors abound that Hufflepuff is the house for the "leftovers" that weren't picked for the other three houses, but consider that maybe Slytherin took in the bad seeds, rather the students knew it or not. Many of them tend to be ambitious, to a fault, like Horace Slughorn who "collects" the famous students and values his reputation more than the future of wizarding kind. After all, Harry had to take lucky potion in order to get him to divulge the true Voldemort memory that reveals his use of Horcruxes!

Some Slytherin students also seem to be from affluent families, namely the Blacks (except for Sirius), Lestranges, and Malfoys. They were greedy, pretentious, racist, and willing to do the most deceitful deeds to gain power. They also tend to take in the vengeful and sadistic, like Severus Snape and Lord Voldemort himself. So, maybe the rumors aren't wrong. Perhaps, like the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts was cursed, Slytherin has been cursed to produce evil. After all, Lord Voldemort saw not good and evil, but only "power and those too weak to seek it."

However, as he would learn, love is the most powerful force of all, whether he could feel it or not.