Halloween is just around the corner, and to celebrate we here at The Blog That Must Not Be Named thought it would be fun to examine the significant role that the night of frights played throughout the Harry Potter series.
Celebrated by both muggles and the wizarding community, Halloween is much more than just a holiday for young Harry Potter. While for many, Halloween is a time for pumpkin carving, dressing-up and trick-or-treating, the night of ghouls, ghosts, vampires and all things spooky plays a significant role in Harry Potter’s life and the series as a whole.
Why is Halloween so important in the Harry Potter series, you ask? Well, it’s actually simpler than you might think. If you look back at the Harry Potter series, especially the first four books, strange and terrifying events seem to find Harry, Ron and Hermione on Halloween. For a start, on Halloween night in 1981, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named arrived in Godric’s Hollow and viciously murdered James and Lily Potter. While this day is celebrated in the Wizarding World as the day Lord Voldemort met his end (at least for a while), it also marked the day Harry Potter lost everything.
Halloween’s significance in Harry’s life doesn’t end there, however, as dark events seem to follow the young wizard like an extremely bad smell. A decade later, on the very same night his parents were murdered, Harry’s Halloween celebrations, which included a grand feast in the great hall, were spoiled when Professor Quirrell (along with Voldemnort) led a gigantic troll into the castle and attempted to steal the Philosopher’s Stone. While fighting off a disgusting troll was certainly a notable and terrifying event for the young wizard, this Halloween is much more memorable for being the night that Hermione Granger became Harry’s friend – creating the iconic golden trio!
Fast-forward to Harry’s second year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and Halloween was still proving to be a troublesome night for the growing wizard. If you thought things couldn’t get worse than the death of Harry’s parents and a giant troll storming the castle, you’d be very wrong! After attending Nearly Headless Nick’s Deathday party, a chilling voice lead Harry, Ron and Hermione to an extremely gruesome scene. Filch’s beloved cat, Mrs. Norris, had been petrified and hung by her tail, while a message written in blood on the wall revealed that the Chamber of Secrets had been opened.
The threat of Sirius Black loomed over Harry and the rest of the Wizarding World for most of his third year at Hogwarts, but Halloween night proved to be one of the scariest! While Harry, Ron, Hermione and the rest of the school were down enjoying the glorious Halloween feast, Sirius Black managed to sneak past Dementors into the heavily guarded castle, where he almost made it into Gryffindor tower! While Black was refused entry to the Gryffindor common room by the Fat Lady, the entire school was put on lock-down while the castle was searched. As it turns out, Black wasn’t trying to hurt Harry or any other Hogwarts student, and simply wanted to get at Ron’s pet rat!
Halloween was mentioned for the last time in the fourth Harry Potter book, and it turned out to be another memorable one for the boy-who-lived! Harry’s attempts to have a more relaxing and quiet year at Hogwarts were ruined when his name rose from the Goblet of Fire, meaning he would be forced to take part in a number of terrifying and life-threatening tasks. It might not be as memorable as a giant troll or a lifeless cat, but it was without a doubt another traumatic moment for the young wizard.
Did you realise how significant Halloween is in the Harry Potter series? Let us know in the comments section below this post or alternatively, you can find The Blog That Must Not Be Named on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter! If you enjoyed this post, you might like our ranking of the ten spookiest moments in the Harry Potter series!
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Wonderful post!😇 Really enjoy your writing👍
Thank you!! It means a lot to know that people are reading and enjoying. Have a magical week!
Thank you! You too! Stay magical and Safe!