The Harry Potter And The Sorcerer's Stone Plot Hole That Still Bothers Fans
The Wizarding World of Harry Potter has spent the last few years getting its cracks puttied in — a metaphor that just keeps on giving when you apply it to that big "this is how wizards used to go to the bathroom" reveal from a couple of years ago — and the results have been mixed. Every answer raises new questions, while leaving age-old mysteries like "what kid wants to eat dirt-flavored jelly beans?" unaddressed.
And it's not just the minutia that could use some attention. There are troll-sized plotlines from the beloved franchise that still have fans scratching their heads nearly a quarter of a century after the first book's debut in June 1997, with new entries popping up with alarming frequency. One particularly problematic point was brought up on Reddit's r/HarryPotter forum recently, and it's tough to ignore.
The scuttlebutt is all about the Philosopher's Stone (aka the Sorcerer's Stone) and the gauntlet of challenges that Albus Dumbledore set up to protect it. To be clear, there were plenty of issues from the get-go. The security system features precisely zero cameras and instead puts all of its chips on the intruder being less good at chess than an academically mediocre 11-year-old. Before that, it features that most impassable of obstacles: a dog with narcolepsy. And, as the aforementioned Reddit post points out, just before that, any would-be thief looking to hit Hogwarts' third floor corridor would have to figure out how to get past — drum roll — a locked door.
In Harry Potter, aloho-less-a is aloho-more-a
Locked doors are good for lots of things in Muggle life. They keep strangers from hanging out in our living rooms while we're getting groceries, and ensure that the terrible secrets of husbands from Lifetime movies stay secret until the second ad break. Magical or not, what they aren't famous for is keeping wizards out of places — least of all at a school where, for whatever reason, they teach kids an unlocking-stuff spell when they're not even old enough to get their driver's licenses.
So, why would Albus Dumbledore, a gentleman with a full century of wizarding under his belt at this point, use a magical lock on the door to a relic of unimaginable power — one that, theoretically, he was supposed to be keeping safe? In a building full of children who are taught how to break and enter in their first semester, wouldn't literally any other security measure be more effective to guard the Philosopher's Stone? Even a four-digit keypad would have done a better job.
The initial Reddit post points out that maybe Dumbledore used a weak lock specifically so that Hagrid, with his limited magical abilities, could get in and take care of Fluffy, the Cerberus-esque three-headed dog that guards the Stone. But if that were the case, wouldn't it be easier to use a much more powerful lock and then give Hagrid a key? Or put some kind of "Hagrid-only" spell on the door? Or utilize a guard monster that doesn't fall asleep any time that a nerd with a recorder slides into the room playing "Hot Cross Buns"? Magic isn't an exact science, and this Harry Potter detail will likely continue bothering fans for years to come.