It’s absolutely bizarre that college and university don’t exist in the Harry Potter universe. In our Muggle world, you need a university degree to work in some bookshops. But apparently, if you’re a wizard, then you can become head of their parliament without having to step into a college. If it is that their superior wizard brains can hold more information and learn faster, then I can honestly say that Voldemort had a point!

But more than that, college and university are important steps in life. You learn who you are, make friends for life and take an important step towards your independent life. Rather than being thrown entirely into the adult world, college lets you build up to that a little bit. Some take advantage of this more than others and no college experience is the same, but that limbo between teenager land and adulthood prepares many for the real world. Then again, who’s to say that hunting down and destroying the Dark Lord isn’t valid real-world experience?

With these fan arts, we can imagine what some of our favorite Harry Potter characters looked like during their college years. During college we experiment with our style and find out new things about ourselves. It’s a shame that the great boy who lived got to miss out on that. Hogwarts may be their home, but it’s still just a school!

20 The Whole Gang

Given that there is only one school in all of Britain for the magical little sprogs, which would explain why parents continue to send their children there despite the many ways they could meet their doom and why they are so reluctant to shut the school down despite a giant poisonous snake lurking the corridors, we can imagine that there wouldn’t be very many Wizarding Universities.

This might not be a great thing for the admissions office, having to decide between thousands and thousands of students with the same O.W.L.s, but great for gangs like this who want to stick with their school friends.

University is really where we make our friends for life. We don’t tend to keep in touch with as many school friends as we do college friends, which is fine. We’re older at college and in a more freeing environment. But after you’ve helped each other defeat the uber-evil Dark Lord, you’d probably stay in touch and stay bonded, making college all the more freeing. So, I hope these guys carrying on with their bonding antics together through college. Although they can’t just rely on heroism to get by; they will actually have to do some work!

Art by LilaBeanz.

19 Ginny’s Major

What I’ve noticed is that Ginny is the one who fans like to experiment most with her style. A lot of her is left to the imagination. We know that she comes from a poor family, so her style can’t be too extravagant. Plus, school uniforms always spoil everything!

But when you get to college you’re more free to dress how you feel, and I like to think Ginny would take advantage of that.

It’s not just about freedom from parents or uniforms, along with having your own money, but people are less judgemental of college students than fully fledged adults. I’m often mistaken for a student purely based on how I dress. What I love most about this look is how 90s it is! Particularly that patterned choker necklace; didn’t everyone have one of those during the nineties? That, combined with the black dress and converse style shoes. The dress also offers a great combination of Muggle and wizarding dress. I swear I knew people who dressed like that in college. The long black dress is reminiscent of the sorts of long robes “wizarding” folk wear, but the shoes and jewelry make it more Muggle-relatable. Maybe it’s an outfit you can wear no matter what the company.

Art by Blackbirdink.

18 Luna’s Home World

Luna just feels like the sort of person who would fit in at college. She’s very relatable. Many of us, including me, were called “crazy” for having different ideas whilst at school and having our own original style. But when you get the university, those very things you were bullied and picked on for become the more fascinating things about you. People become less judgemental of your style and are more open to your ideas. I’m not sure why that is. Maybe it has something to do with people themselves feeling freer and no longer scared that not jumping on the bandwagon is going to get them bullied too.

Either way, Luna has that amazing, artistic style that would help her fit right in at college. People wouldn’t question how she dressed, they’d ask her where she got her stuff! I know I certainly would. This artsy style fits her perfectly, even though she would more likely study journalism or magizoology than art. But her accessories and very cute, particular the button style ones. Maybe she made them herself. At college, the only weird people are those who still think high school conformity is important. Luna would have fit in fine.

Art by Atalienart.

17 High School Sweethearts

One thing that really bugs me about Harry Potter is how pretty much everyone meets their partner at school. Yes, Hogwarts is a huge stage in the lives of witches and wizards, but it’s not the only one! They go to work, which is where fifteen percent of people meet their life partners, they hang out at The Leaky Cauldron where twelve percent of couples meet (in establishments, not specifically that one, and they have friends which is how the majority of people meet their partners). Not to mention the lack of wizarding dating apps, presumably since wizards are afraid of technology. Eight percent of people meet their partner through dating apps, which is more than the six percent who meet at school; and most of those are at college!

The point of the matter is, maybe Ron and Hermione missed out on something by getting together so young. I’m sure their relationship is fine, but if everyone else meets their One in high school, it’s sure to push you. But to focus on the positive, they do look really sweet and comfortable together here, so maybe these guys were one of the six percent. Even if not, the important thing is that they feel comfortable with one another.

Art by Lila Beanz.

16 Wild Weasleys

Fred and George are the two characters that certainly didn’t need college. Despite what Mrs. Weasley says, those two guys were geniuses! They weren’t very good at exams of the academic side of school; not all of us are. Exams aren’t great measures of intelligence, they’re just a measure of how much stuff you can remember. Just because someone can’t do that doesn’t mean they are dumb or that they don’t understand something. These guys knew this. They started a business whilst they were still at school and developed all their products themselves. They didn’t need college for the same reason Bill Gates didn’t; they already knew everything they needed to know.

But that doesn’t mean they wouldn’t be attracted to the parties and mayhem that happens on campus. So, when little sister hits the books, she can expect plenty of loving visits from her fun-loving older brothers. They might not be able to help her study, in fact, she’d probably have to rudely tell them to knock it off every now and then, but they’ll help her arrange some of the greatest parties Wizarding U had ever seen, if their exit from Hogwarts is anything to go by!

Art by Viria 13.

15 Hanging With Evans

I’ll admit that it doesn’t make sense to pick apart Ron and Hermione’s perfectly logical romance when these two still made it. Granted, it’s harder for your marriage to fall apart when you’re being chased by the Dark Lord who defeats you (but for some reason, not your infant son). But after you see a guy going for another boy, and it’s implied that this was a recurring incident, while constantly harassing you to go out with him, there is no way you’re getting with with that guy. It would have made more sense if Lily and James had met at college. James could have left behind his childish antics, or going after other people, and Lily could accept that he had changed having never witnessed it first-hand.

This style is very college centered. Lily’s jacket is really great, giving her this rocker girl style, showing so much of who she could have been, that we’re never really shown in the book. James’s style is a little hipster related, much like that phase a lot of us go through... but it’s also a little modern. Lily’s style could fit her perfectly in the 80s, the time when she would have gone to college.

Art by Dasstark.

14 Another Style Path

This version of Ginny could still equally be Ginny. Less bohemian that the last fan art we saw of her, this is a lot more casual and still just as possible. This could be her on a class heavy day. She’s got a long day ahead of her and a lot of wandering around campus to get to the right room, she’s not going to focus on elaborate hair and makeup just for her studies. It’s more important that she focuses on her studies. Not that I’m trying to knock that; it’s ridiculous that girls are expected to dress up for everything. I witnessed a friend being told by a stranger on campus that she looked “scruffy.”

This style looks like college casual. She would absolutely be on the college Quidditch team and get the team jersey, which she’d wear for the rest of her days. Even during her casual days at college, she shows appreciation for her favorite teams. It’s a small point, and not college related, but I’m glad the artist gave her plenty of freckles. As a fellow ginger, we freckle, and those freckles are beautiful!

Art by Aprikose-Fanart.

13 The Other Marauders

I’ve made fun of James’s behavior already, and while the way Harry witnessed his father treating Snape was no laughing matter, it is a truth that we all do stupid things whilst we are young. One of the purposes of college is to get all of that out of our systems! We drink things, do crazy things that we’ll look back on later and shudder with humiliation, wondering why anyone ever went near us. At the end of the day, we shouldn’t give ourselves such a hard time for mistakes we made when we were young, but James does need therapy and should have been excluded for what he did to Snape!

I’m a big fan of a genderswap fan art, and this is amazing. These girls certainly look like the cool kids on campus and are all for having a good time. True they need to spend as much time studying as they do partying, but we need to get that attitude out of our systems at some point. Maybe in an alterative world, these were the ones who created the Marauders Map. Maybe they could make one for college too! I’d have loved to have known all the secret passageways around mine.

Art by Up The Hill Art.

12 Grown-Up Neville

At least in the films, Neville is that sort of kid who changed dramatically after coming of age. Short and chubby when he was younger, he became tall and skinny, leading to plenty of memes. So, for him, college would have been an opportunity to reinvent himself. Perhaps he could have gone to university abroad, this is me again assuming that there is only one university for wizards in Britain, where nobody knew who he was, and he could pretend he had always been this guy. He could build his confidence and leave behind the Neville he was known as formally.

Because it doesn’t matter how bold you are and whether or not you stand up to the Dark Lord. People you go to high school with will always remember you as the guy who fell off his broom in the first flying lesson and the guy who always lost his toad.

The overalls in this go with the that bright, hippyish style some people experiment with at college. I’m imagining Neville covering them in pins or patches to make them his own, helping himself stand out and build up his confidence. I imagine the college experience would have meant a lot to Neville.

Art by Fatima-Fati.

11 More Libraries!

I can talk more about how Neville, Luna, or Ginny would have fit in at college. How they would have been accepted or experimented with who they were. But the one character who you know would have loved college is Hermione Granger! She’s the sort of person who loves to learn and who throws herself fully into everything she does. That’s what’s amazing about her. Why does she go to the library? Because that’s what Hermione does! And where do you find the best libraries? At college! My university had a four-story library, I can only imagine the wizarding university had one twice that size!

Hermione knows that there is always more to learn and more to discover. Without her and her knowledge, Harry wouldn’t have gotten past the first book adventures. Her style here is very bookish, very Hermione but also very grown-up. She’d be the sort of person who rocked up at college all ready to live an independent life. Not concerned with partying or clubbing but living on her own and gaining knowledge. It would also be awesome of her to carry S.P.E.W. into college, since house elves are probably what’s keeping the university clean.

Art by Flame into Being.

10 Cursed College Kids

I’ve heard far more Harry Potter fans than not calling The Cursed Child non-canon than canon. Too many things in it don’t add up or contradict things said in the books. I’m certainly not a fan of the baiting. Rowling can declare characters to be queer, but it doesn’t mean anything when there is an intense lack of LGBT mention in the actual work. Potter’s son falling in love with the son of his enemy would have been a lot more dramatic than the father and son falling out over “Slytherin” house or just hanging out with Scorpius. I love these books, but I admit their faults.

Even so, their dads' rivalry can’t stop these guys growing close and it certainly can’t stop them hanging out at college.

They’re “adults” now and their days can’t stop that! It makes this punk rock, stereotypical rebellious style all the more amazing. Slytherins are constantly told that they’re evil and that they’re going to be bad things, so why don’t they? I can’t help but think most of the evil Slytherin acts are just due to Gryffindor’s bullying them into thinking they can’t do anything but be evil. You do you, boys!

Art by Pink Paladin.

9 Experiments In College

Speaking of baiting…

Okay, so they were just really close friends. Still, maybe the lack of wizarding universities leads to a severe lack of experimentation and a whole load of repression. Maybe that’s why everyone marries someone from school... they’re just too scared to be the one to break the mold. But I’m getting off topic. Very, very off topic.

The intensity of this friendship might have cooled off in college, but it might have lead to a comfortable successful life together.

I’m not trying to dismiss close male friendships, just that a lot of self-discovery happens in college that we're not really mature enough to explore whilst we are in high school. Hogwarts is great, but you’re still only seventeen by the end. Besides, if Sirius had been in college, it might have proved to be a better alibi, what with the many hundreds of eyes on him whilst he is in class and could have prevented him from going to college. Maybe Peter wouldn’t have betrayed Lily and James to Voldemort in the first place because he had an essay due in that week. The possibilities are endless!

Art by Icanhelpyouthere.

8 A College Romance

Okay, so can I pose to you a scenario where Ron, Hermione, and Harry all share a house during college. They get into fights about the cleaning and cooking, then Hermione complains about Ron’s brothers visiting all the time while she is trying to study. It’d be like The Deathly Hallows but with plenty of food and no Horcruxes. Then, after freshman year, Ginny comes to University and Harry suggests she moves in with them (I’ll leave Ron’s reactions up to you). The house remains constantly busy, with all of Harry’s many admirers stopping by constantly for parties, so Harry and Ginny rarely get a moment to themselves.

So sometimes, they slip out together and go for a quiet walk across campus hand in hand. Enjoying a moment of peace together.

There is something very youthful and beautiful about this moment. They look about college age, maybe maturing to their relationship a little more from when they were in school, but also keeping a sense of wonder in them. I know not everyone agrees that these guys should have ended up together, but maybe if we’d seen them interact in a college environment, we would have understood it better. Maybe.

Art by Anxiouspineapples.

7 The Other Weasley

Bill Weasley, Ron’s older brother and eventual husband of Fleur Delacour, is a character more likely to have perused higher education. He moves to Egypt after graduating from Hogwarts where he could have very well undergone further magical training, even though he was working for Gringotts Bank. Perhaps the bank was funding or overseeing his education. When we first meet Bill he is very mature, having settled down with a steady job and begun dating his future wife. This is what gives me a college vibe from this reimagining of him.

It’s very different from the Bill we’ve come to know and love from the books. It’s true we don’t get to see as much of Bill as we do the rest of the Weasley clan, although we know a lot more of him than we do of the second eldest brother Charlie. This style is also very different from the stiff, stereotypical image of a banker than comes to mind. Maybe while studying in Egypt, Bill had his experimental college phase. He grew his hair out whilst his mother couldn’t judge him for it and started living his life. While many of us continue our style after college, maybe Bill decided it wasn’t for him, and became the guy this is introduced to us in the books.

Art by Loonalily.

6 Hip And Slytherin

I’ve done a lot of ranting and whining about the negatives in the Harry Potter universe, so I’ll talk about something I really like this time. I love the way all the villains in Harry Potter are incredibly likable. Maybe not so much Voldemort, but secondary ones like Snape and, most notably Draco Malfoy. Malfoy is the complete example of behaviors being taught rather than being in one’s nature. He starts off as a bit of a brat who bullies Harry but gets roped into this darkness by his family and the pressure they put on him. I also love how he stands up for his house. Pretty much the whole school bullies the Slytherins. If you’re constantly told that you’re evil, you’re probably going to end up evil!

Perhaps if he had the opportunity to go to college, Draco could reinvent himself beyond the stereotypes of Slytherin. If he went to university after the events of the books, he could gain back a few years of youth lost by his controlling family. I love the slight hipster style in this fan art, but also the combination of the school uniform style. Especially the Slytherin scarf! Never forget who you are, Draco!

Art by Dana-Redde.

5 Romione On Campus

I know I criticized this relationship before (although not specifically this one, just the idea that everyone stays with their high school sweetheart). But overall, they were a great match. They get to know each other as friends first, which reveals a lot about how close they are. I’m picturing them right now in some cheesy college romance movie. It’s a summer day and they’re hanging out in the quad, everyone just lounging about in the sun. Laughing, throwing things or reading books. Then Hermione jumps on Ron’s back and makes her carry her across campus. It’s cheesy and super naff, but I love it. (Although I admit the jumpers here don’t really go with the summer theme. Maybe it’s spring.)

You can live in a magical world, but you can still have these small human romantic moments, that have nothing to do with spells or potions or whatever. The comfy clothing here is very every day student and it shows how safe they feel with one another.

You can’t deny their relationship is a little cliché, something that happens more in a fictional world than the real world, but if they had met in college instead of school, their relationship would have had the same end result.

Art by Dasstark.

4 Teddy Grows Up

This artwork is an aged up, college age, version of Lupin and Tonks' orphaned son, Teddy, with Bill and Fleur’s daughter Victoire Weasley. A member of Hufflepuff house (excellent work there, Teddy), Teddy started Hogwarts in 2009, meaning he would have graduated around 2016, so would still be at college or university now, if wizards had such a crazy thing as higher education.

We don’t know a lot about Teddy or Victoire, given how they were introduced right at the end of the series. Nevertheless, that hasn’t stopped fans from creating their own lives and paths for Teddy and making him one of their favourite characters.

Being a Metamorphmagus like his mother, he could change his hair colour freely, which if I were a wizard is something I’d want!

I love that the style of these guys now, is a style popular among students nowadays. Even with Teddy’s hair changing advantage, many students can dye their hair whatever colour they want, with their own income and away from the nosey eyes of their parents. That alongside Teddy’s stretcher piercings. I don’t know what the Hogwarts teachers would have thought of those! Victoire’s freckles are super cute; she may be part veela, but she’s still a Weasley!

Art by Lilabeanz.

3 Studying Newts

“Newt Scamander” is one of those names that makes me roll my eyes back into my skull. Yes, it’s short for Newton, but it’s still a very over the top name. Surely if your name was “Newt Scamander” you’d rebel and become anything by a zoologist.

Even so, this is one of those images that proves how much of an Eddie Redmayne character he is. Maybe it’s something about his mannerisms or his nature, but they compliment each other very well.

As much as I criticise the nature of the sorting hat, that it forces impressionable eleven-year-olds into personality traits that they will be judged for the rest of their school lives and how it literally drives families apart, I love the idea that the Hogwarts Alumni stay loyal to their houses. Friends would probably still hang out at Wizarding Uni, even though finding new people is one of the greatest parts of college. But keeping their old school jumpers, wearing the casually and modifying them to match their own styles, is a very sweet idea, very well executed by young adult Newt here. I hope they could let the idea of houses go in college and bond all round, but Hufflepuffs forever!

Art by Atalienart.

2 The Next Generation

Sharing a pose that I’ve seen their parents put into several times when researching this list, here are the children of the sidekick heroes, Hugo and Rose Granger-Weasley at college age. My first thought is that Hugo isn’t nearly ginger enough here, although maybe it’s the bowler had shading that lovely ginger hair.

I don’t like the idea that kids are supposed to take after their parents, but there is so much to love when it comes to Ron and Hermione, that you hope their parents passed something along to them. Their bravery, but also the spirit that both of their parents had, and certainly Hermione’s intelligence. At college, these guys could ace all their exams and have the craziest parties! There is also a great mixture of both parent’s physical appearances here. Rose seems to have inherited both Hermione’s bushy hair and Ron’s ginger-awesomeness, presumably making her the prime candidate for Disney’s live-action remake of Brave!

Like the Teddy and Victoire fanart, I love that this style matches that of modern-day college students, although these guys won’t be in college for a few years yet. Not to worry though, cheesy slogan shirts and bowler hats will always be relevant!

Art by NinnyTreetops.

1 Friends Forever

A weird thing is that after the age of around thirteen I completely forgot about Harry’s scar. I know it plays a role in all books, especially when he begins to see things through Voldemort’s eyes, but it just feels so much more symbolic when he’s younger. Mind you, us lowly Muggles have mastered the technology of laser correction and can remove our scars. We don’t seem so silly now, do we, Harry? (And while I’m at it, we also have laser eye surgery!)

But I digress. This looks like a very sweet college moment, perhaps all getting ready to go out after a hard day of classes.

I love the variety of styles here. We all like to think we stick with our original clicks, but most people tend to have a variety of friends. We bond easier with those who have the same fashion and music tastes, but we stay bonded only with those who are important to us. Friendship is one of the main themes of Harry Potter, and it’s something that is done tremendously well through these three. They laugh together, they fight and they make up again. It’s realistic and it’s beautiful, whether they’re in school or college!