While many fans of the Harry Potter series might wish they could go to school at Hogwarts, there are many things about the school that aren’t so great. While learning how to do magic and taking classes like charms and potions might be amazing, Hogwarts itself isn’t always a very safe place to go to school.
There are a lot of ways the school doesn’t make sense, and the safety of the students doesn’t always seem to be a top priority. There were multiple times while Harry was at school that Hogwarts should have been shut down but wasn’t. Here are the ten times Hogwarts should have shut down but didn’t.
THE FIRST TIME THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS WAS OPENED
The first time the Chamber of Secrets was opened was when Voldemort was at school. He opened the Chamber and set the basilisk on Muggle-born students and then blamed everything on Hagrid. The school should have shut down when the attacks kept going on, but it definitely should have been shut down after Moaning Myrtle died.
The death of a student and the fact that other students were petrified is a good reason to shut the school down for a while.
AFTER SIRIUS BLACK BROKE IN
While there were a few times in Hogwart’s history when the school should have been shut down, most of these instances occurred during the time Harry was at school. Harry’s presence at Hogwarts definitely attracted the evil plans of Voldemort as he tried to come back to power.
However, when Sirius Black broke in it was more of a misunderstanding than anything else. But, the fact that a student seemed to be attacked by a convicted killer is a good reason to shut the school down for a little while at least until Black was caught.
WHEN UMBRIDGE USED PHYSICAL PUNISHMENTS
While Voldemort was often one of the worst things to happen to Hogwarts, Umbridge was almost as bad. She might not have been in league with Voldemort at the time, but she was truly vile. She used physical torture as punishment during detentions by making students carve words into the back of their hands over and over.
This is a completely wild thing to happen, and the school should have been shut down once this started happening.
AFTER VOLDEMORT BROKE INTO THE SCHOOL USING QUIRRELL
During Harry Potter’s time at Hogwarts, there were multiple times when Voldemort and his plans to come back to power put Harry and all the other students at risk. This started early on in Harry’s first year. It was pretty ridiculous that Dumbledore housed the Sorcerer’s Stone at Hogwarts in the first place.
But, after Quirrell, who had Voldemort on the back of his head, tried to kill Harry to get the stone, there should have at least been some sort of inquiry. Instead, things just went right back to normal.
WHEN CEDRIC DIGGORY DIED AT THE END OF THE TRIWIZARD TOURNAMENT
This is one of the most horrifying things that happened to a Hogwarts student during Harry’s time at the school. While Cedric didn’t actually die at the school, he did die under mysterious circumstances that were connected to a school event.
The Triwizard Tournament was so dangerous anyway that it shouldn’t have been reinstated. After Cedric died, some serious consideration about the school and its safety measures should have happened.
AFTER SNAPE KILLED DUMBLEDORE
Considering the fact that Hogwarts is basically just a middle and high school, it’s wild how many murders happen there. One of the many murders that happened at Hogwarts was when Dumbledore was killed by Snape.
Of course, he didn’t actually murder him in cold blood, but it sure seemed that way. Having a professor kill a headmaster is definitely a big enough deal to shut down a school for a time in our world, but this didn’t happen at Hogwarts.
WHEN VOLDEMORT CAME BACK TO POWER
After Voldemort came back to power at the end of The Goblet of Fire, it would have been wise to just shut Hogwarts down. Of course, the Ministry didn’t actually want to admit he was back, but after it was confirmed, Hogwarts should have been shut down for a time.
While lots of people insisted that being around Dumbledore was the safest place to be, clearly this isn’t actually true as so many bad things happened at the school.
ALL THE TIMES THERE WAS A HORRIBLE DEFENSE AGAINST THE DARK ARTS TEACHER
So many of the Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers posed a safety risk to the students. First, there was Quirrell, and then there was Moody who was actually a Death Eater impersonating the Auror.
Next, there was Umbridge. Considering how many professors were horrible to the students, it would have been a good idea to shut the school down and rethink it.
AFTER THE BATTLE OF HOGWARTS
One of the most tragic things that ever happened at Hogwarts was the Battle of Hogwarts. This battle ended the lives of multiple people, including one who was a student at the time. The fact that the school ever reopened after this doesn’t make a lot of sense.
It’s basically the source of a lot of trauma for many of the students and their families, so it would make more sense to move the wizarding school to some other location.
AFTER THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS WAS OPENED THE SECOND TIME
Considering the fact that the first time the Chamber of Secrets was opened that a student died, you would think it reopening a second time would be good enough reason to close the school right away.
Given that Hagrid and others were alive and a part of what happened, it’s not like it was that long ago. The school should have been closed once the first attack happened and not reopened again until the monster had been identified and stopped.
