Harry Potter is a franchise that enthralled and entertained fans from all over the globe, and for good reason. The well-realized world, a litany of memorable characters that have become permanent figureheads of pop culture, and an amazing writing display by J.K. Rowling – barring the random arbitrary additions she's made to the series – have all contributed to the mythos of Harry Potter becoming perhaps one of the best and most coveted intellectual properties of all time. The franchise is still going so strong even to this day that the Fantastic Beasts movie series has come up in a bid to satiate fans from all across the globe who were positively hankering for more material. While the quality of the movies in this franchise might be up for debate, one thing is painfully clear – Harry Potter was, is, and continues to be a mainstay of pop culture to this very day.

In fact, the series is so popular that fans have formed stories upon stories surrounding the fantastical elements of the series. Everything from the spells, to the characters, to the very nature of the universe itself has been up for conversation to a nigh-silly extent. The reason why we describe it as such is because of the fact that some of the assumptions that fans have made when it comes to the series are completely untrue. It's time to dispell these rumors and make sure that they become a thing of the past itself. Here are 25 things about the Harry Potter franchise that are false but everyone believes anyway.

25 The Incantation Is Important For Casting A Spell

via pottermore.com

The Harry Potter movies might've been important when it came to ensuring that the franchise truly became mainstream, but it accomplished this at a pretty heavy cost.

Namely, some of the mainstay features of the series were compromised.

One such part is the spells itself. The incantation of the spell is incredibly important to facilitate the casting itself, and there are multiple times during the movie series when this is completely ignored, for the most part. This is especially true from the fifth movie onward when spells are spammed to kingdom come without any regard for the universe's rules.

24 Wizard Duels Don't Involve Frequent Beam Clashes

via: comicvine.gamespot.com

Another problem that arose because of the movie stems around the spell system itself –again. For the most part, we understand why these changes needed to be made, since replicating the actions scenes from the books into the movies required some changes to make them visually appealing.

The beam clashes were one such way to accomplish the same.

However, the fact of the matter is that not every spell will lead to a Priori Incantatem when they clash. It's a misconception that has warped the minds of most people who know about Harry Potter – or, at least, they think they know everything about it.

23 Not All Prophecies Are True – Dumbledore Has Stated That Before

via Variety

The prophecy about The Boy Who Lived is one of the hard-and-fast facets of Harry Potter that propelled the notion of the story, for the most part. It turned Harry into a celebrity of sorts and also fuelled Voldemort's ambitions as well.

However, prophecies don't necessarily come true in the Harry Potter universe.

It's a statement that has been echoed by greats like Dumbledore as well, making it kind of befuddling as to why most people believe that all prophecies in this magical universe will ultimately come to pass.

22 Some People Believe That Dumbledore Didn't Care For Harry, Which Is Untrue

via Slashfilm

Speaking of Dumbledore, it's time to clear out another assumption that most people made about him. The manner in which Dumbledore treated Harry might seem like he just used him and didn't really care for him, but that couldn't be further away from the truth.

What people need to keep in mind is that, while Dumbledore did use Harry at certain points during the story, he did it out of necessity, not malice. He truly did care for Harry, helping him grow into a mature person who could lay waste to Voldemort once and for all.

21 Harry Never Freed Nagini From The Zoo In The Philosopher's Stone

via Seventeen

There's a weird fan theory making the rounds that, in the first chapter of Harry's wizarding story, the snake he released from the zoo was actually none other than Nagini itself. However, people with a keen eye for details – or snakes in general – will quickly dispel this notion as false.

The snake released in the first movie is a boa constrictor, which is not even poisonous, to begin with. This is a contradiction in every sense of the word since Nagini's poison is something we are all too familiar with in the Harry Potter universe.

20 You Can't Choose Your Animagus Form

via Fanpop

Being an Animagus is admittedly quite cool, but one needs to realize that there are limits to this power. While it's all well and good to become an animal, the one thing that needs to be clarified is that this choice is not yours – rather, it is thrust upon you.

Sirius and Pettigrew didn't choose to become a mangy dog and a rat respectively – rather, they were stuck with what they got and nothing more. So, don't think that being an Animagus is cool – for all you know, you might turn into a fly that no one could care about.

19 You Can't Be Your Own Secret Keeper

via fanpop.com

The concept of being a Secret Keeper is admittedly something that most Harry Potter fans have forgotten, and for good reason. Let us give you a refresher – by using the Fidelius Charm, a secret can be carved into the very soul of a person. So, the only person who can divulge the secret is the Secret Keeper itself, and no one else – not even the person who's secret is being kept in the first place.

Some Harry Potter fans have ideated the concept of a loophole that will allow the person with the secret to become his or her own Secret Keeper, but this is just not possible.

18 You Don't Get A Hogwarts Letter Right On Your 11th Birthday

Via: Harry Potter Wiki

This one is a common misconception shared by the majority of the Harry Potter fanbase, and for good reason. Most people believe that wizards and witches get their admission letter into Hogwarts on their 11th birthday, but this isn't even remotely the truth.

Instead, what we need to keep in mind is that Harry's birthday just happened to fall around the same time that the letters were being sent out. There's no correlation – just before the wizarding year begins, every person eligible to enroll in the first year will receive this letter regardless of their birthday.

17 Hufflepuff Is Not A Lame House

via Playbuzz

Most people who talk about Hogwarts houses tend to either choose from Gryffindor, Slytherin, or Ravenclaw. Hufflepuff is almost universally ignored and laughed at by the fans of the series for some inane reason.

Just because this house is welcoming does not, in the slightest, mean that the members of the house don't have any unique skills. I mean, the mere fact that the original champion of Hogwarts who would represent the school at the Triwizard Tournament was Cedric Diggory should be more than enough to indicate as to why this house is so competent.

16 Slytherin Is Not An Evil House

via Factinate

Another common misconception that most people make when it comes to the houses of Hogwarts is that Slytherin is the house where most people with "evil" traits and personalities end up in. While the books and movies might've portrayed Slytherin in a less-than-flattering light, this is not even remotely what Slytherin is all about.

Slytherin is a place where resourceful and cunning people pool together to combine their mettle and form something legendary. This is not "evil" in the slightest – although this statement is quite subjective.

15 The Symbol Of Ravenclaw Is Actually An Eagle

Via: Harry Potter Wiki

Time to move on to the house where intelligent people come together in droves – yes, we're talking about none other than the Ravenclaw house. This time, the misconception isn't about the people of the house, but its logo.

Most people might assume that the bird featured in Ravemnclaw's house logo is a Raven — because connecting the dots is really that easy. However, that is not the case — the symbol of the house is actually an eagle!

And that's not the only problem we need to shed some light on...

14 Ravenclaw Colours Aren't Silver And Blue, But Bronze And Blue

Via: Fanpop

The movies might've done a lot of things faithfully when it came to portraying Harry Potter on the big screen, but the fact of the matter is that there are several inaccuracies as well. We've already discussed some of these before, but there are other things that need to be talked about as well.

Mainly, we need to talk about the fact that the movie portrayed the Ravenclaw house flag with the hues of silver and blue. However, that is not the case – the actual colors of this house are bronze and blue.

There's your TIL for the day.

13 Snape Is Not A Potions "Master"

Via Fangirls Are We

It's understandable as to why most people might think that Snape is a maestro when it comes to whipping up potions – after all, that's how he's introduced to the reader or viewer in the first place! However, the word "master" need not be taken literally in this case.

In this context, "master" is just a fancy way to say "British schoolteacher." So, Snape is not a master in concocting potions – rather, he's just the person who teaches Potions as a subject in Hogwarts, and nothing else.

12 Snakes Can't Wink – They Have No Eyelids

via: collider.com

Remember when we talked about the boa constrictor that Harry freed in the Sorcerer's – or Philosopher's if you read the book outside America – Stone? Well, this snake managed to accomplish something that shouldn't even be remotely possible – he winked at Harry.

It might sound like a cool thing – after all, it's not always that cold-blooded creatures wink at humans – but it's also impossible to pull off as well. We say this because snakes don't have eyelids, which makes the act of winking almost impossible for them.

11 Dungeons Are Actually Warm Since The Deeper You Go, The Hotter It Gets

via harrypotter.fandom.com

Rowling constantly wrote in her books that the dungeons were a dark, bleak, cold, and desolate place. While three of these adjectives might be somewhat befitting, there's one descriptive that most people believe to be the truth, even though it's not.

Yep, you guessed it right – we're talking about the "cold" part, which is objectively false. Dungeons – and basements in general – get warmer the deeper you go inside. While this doesn't mean that these places won't get cold at all, they're not as chilly Rowling has portrayed them to be.

10 J.K. Rowling Wasn't A Poor Single Mother When She Started Writing Harry Potter

Via: cnbc.com

Speaking of Rowling, there's one major aspect about the author of the Harry Potter series that we want to clear up sooner rather than later – in no way, shape, or form was she struggling to make ends meet when she started writing Harry Potter.

While the rags-to-riches story might sound quite appealing, the fact of the matter is that Rowling's story is nowhere near that poetic. Her subsistence on welfare wasn't a necessity – it was a choice that she took while inking what might just be one of the most formative pieces of literature around.

9 Harry's Parents Were Only 21 Years Old When They Passed Away

via sarcasmsociety.com

The movies have portrayed Harry's parents in a somewhat unflattering light when it came to showing their age. One might understandably assume that Harry's parents were in their mid-30s, if not older. However, that isn't even remotely the case.

Rather, Harry's parents were just 21 years old when they met their premature demise at the hands of Lord Voldemort. This fact makes their fate all the more tragic – they could barely enter adulthood together before being put down ruthlessly by the Dark Lord.

8 Durmstrang Wasn't An All-Boys School

The Goblet Of Fire was a darker foray into the Harry Potter universe as the aforementioned Dark Lord made his presence all the more palpable. But we're not here to talk about that – we're here to discuss inaccuracies and discuss inaccuracies we shall.

The school of Durmstrang was portrayed to be full of boys, almost to the point where one might understandably assume that this was an all-boys school. However, that wasn't the case – a statement that we'll repeat in the next entry as well.

7 Beauxbatons Wasn't An All-Girls School

via: chapet.deviantart.com

Similar to how Durmstrang was portrayed as an all-boys school in the movie, it seems that the same thought was put into showing Beauxbatons as a school that was completely populated by girls only. As is the case with the previous portrayal, this is highly inaccurate.

The reason why both schools weren't portrayed as co-ed institutions might be because the filmmakers wanted to keep things simple for the most part. It worked out for the most part... barring the generation of some misconceptions that we hope we've cleared out for the most part.

6 Death Eaters And Aurors Can't Fly

via Orlando Informer

This is another problem that was fabricated in the movies which we'll take care of, don't worry. Basically, during the action-heavy scenes in the Harry Potter movies, we've seen Aurors and Death Eaters fly around all the time as if its the simplest thing in the world for them.

However, the fact of the matter is that flying is impossible for any wizard. The closest they can come to emulating this feat is regularly Apparating in mid-air, and even that has its fair share of risks.