Have you ever wondered if the Harry Potter series had a different ending? Redditor u/ykickamoocow111 asked, “How could JKR have ended the Harry Potter books that would have most pissed you off?” and the internet had some interesting responses.
Harry Is At His Therapist’s Office
From Redditor u/DukeInterior:
The final scene is Harry… in a therapist’s office, in a psychiatric ward. The therapist tries to convince Harry, yet again, that he needs to face the reality that his parents died in a car crash. That watching it happen and then being raised by his cruel aunt and uncle who locked [him] in a cupboard under the stairs… gave him severe mental illness, delusions of grandeur and hallucinations. That this whole “wizard school” doesn’t exist, and he needs to face the truth.
Harry stands, shouts “Stupefy!” while pointing a pen at the therapist, before grabbing the broom in the corner of the room, leaping out of the window with it between his legs, and plummeting 40 feet to his death.
The Ford Anglia Comes Back
From Redditor u/applejax5309:
Right as Voldemort is about to kill Harry the Ford Anglia comes out of nowhere and runs him over.
From Redditor u/HibernatingHistorian:
Ford Anglia saves the day. Gets official pardon from the Ministry of Magic and no longer has to live on the run. Ford Anglia and Hogwarts Express ride off into the sunset together.
From Redditor u/rhapsody_in_bloo:
“Ford Anglia Potter, you were named after the bravest car I ever knew…”
Voldemort Still Lives… In Harry
From Redditor u/ThatOneGuyJake12:
I have always had this alternative ending I’ve imagined since I was a kid. Like what if Harry fully defeats Voldemort and destroys all the Horcruxes except the one within himself… Voldemort’s soul inside of Harry overtakes Harry’s consciousness and becomes himself in Harry’s body.
From Redditor u/OceanicLemur:
Harry’s goodbye conversation with Ron and Hermione now becomes telling them they have to kill Harry when Voldemort enters his body.
Ron Sacrifices Himself
From Redditor u/chlorinecrown:
Ron dying as the result of a coldly calculated decision to sacrifice himself so Harry can defeat Voldemort would have been a beautiful parallel to the chess game in Book 1.
Back To The Beginning
From Redditor u/mmahv:
Harry waking up in the cupboard.
From Redditor u/Sabrielle24:
What if he woke up in his parents’ home, age 11, in time for the family owl to arrive with his Hogwarts letter.
Dumbledore Does A Reverse Horcrux
From Redditor u/Bingodan22:
Dumbledore coming back to kill Voldemort revealing there are good versions of Horcruxes that you can get with self-sacrifice and then revealing Harry’s parents did the same and came back.
From Redditor u/hypatiaplays:
Dumbledore: “I guess you could say, Harry, that theres a little Voldemort in all of us…
…nah, I’m kidding, just in you, I’ve got my own Horcruxes lol.”
Colin Creevey Made It All Up
From Redditor u/ccaccus:
Harry’s whole story is just a fanfic written by Colin Creevey. In actuality, Harry’s only major issue was having to stay with the Dursleys over the summer, who honestly weren’t as bad as Colin portrayed them. Voldemort actually died when he cast the curse that left Harry alive. Other than that, he was a typical average Hogwarts student. Everything else was a product of Colin’s overactive imagination and obsession with Harry.
Harry Potter But It Ends Like ‘Game of Thrones’
From Redditor u/KVirello:
Harry loses his mind at the last minute and rides on a dragon, destroying Hogwarts and killing indiscriminately.
After dueling Lupin for her love, Voldemort goes to Bellatrix in the Hogwarts basement. He takes her in his arms, says he loves her and that he never really cared about immortality anyway. They are then both killed by the castle collapsing in on them.
McGonagall, the obvious choice for headmaster, decides to instead go on a self-imposed exile to America.
Ron and Hermione go their own separate ways, never to see each other again.
Finally, Dean Thomas is the one who truly saves the day at the end and restores order. Because who has a better story than Dean Thomas?
Evil Harry
From Redditor u/oridol:
If Harry had embraced dark magic and become “evil” so to speak. He spent seven books fighting off the scariest dark wizard of all time just to turn into him.
From Redditor u/lushoxd:
Voldemort: “Harry, I am your father. You have your mother’s eyes.”
Voldemort’s Redemption Arc
From Redditor u/[deleted]:
I guess just anything that would have cheapened the seven-book struggle, like trying to give Voldemort a redemption arc or something like that.
From Redditor u/Vexingwings0052:
Can you imagine they turned Voldemort good at the end and he’s in the 19-years-later bit dropping his kids off at the train.
From Redditor u/babu-you_792:
Just casually waving hello to all the people whose families he’s tortured and killed for years…
The Fall Of The Golden Trio
From Redditor u/tookittothelimit:
At that point Voldemort had Harry defeated, disarmed his wand, with his foot on Harry’s neck.
“All this effort, Harry. All this wasted effort, only to die in the end,” Voldemort cold[l]y stated.
“My effort wasn’t for nothing; I fought for something bigger than myself,” Harry struggled to say, with Voldemort further digging his foot into Harry’s neck.
“Even now with Death inevitable you chose to act heroic. I will enjoy killing you and your friends, Harry. Like your Mudblood mother and no-good father.” Voldemort then forced Ron and Hermione forward to kneel next to Harry.
“Lucius and Bellatrix, my two faithful servants. I award you both in killing these traitors. Lucius, please kill Ron Weasley… Bellatrix, handle the girl.”
“With pleasure, my Lord,” Malfoy coldly uttered.
In unison all three screamed, “AVADA KEDAVRA.”
Motionless, our golden trio ended their fight where it began. With each other.
The Return Of Umbridge
From Redditor u/deleted:
Umbridge being elected as the Minist[er] for Magic because she seems the most capable to deal with the aftermath of the war. Then Harry receives a fine from the Ministry for public disturbance and vandalizing a historical building.
From Redditor u/Gifted_GardenSnail:
Hem hem Mr. Potter has skipped school for an entire year, broken into the Ministry twice, destroyed Ministry property (hundreds of unique prophecies!), impersonated someone, attacked Ministry workers and interfered with their tasks, stolen two items from the now Minister herself, broken into Gringotts, used an Unforgivable on a Gringotts employee, stolen property from someone else’s vault, caused huge damage to the building, set free a dangerous animal, broken into a school, used an Unforgivable on a teacher and murdered a 71-year-old man.
It Just Ends Earlier
From Redditor u/ZGT-17:
Voldemort kills Harry in the forest and the book ends. Just take out King’s Cross and everything after.
From Redditor u/MiaWallace53996:
That would super edgy like leave the ending up to the reader because at that point he would have no Horcuxes left and so could be defeated but we would never find out
Snape Is A Father
From Redditor u/Randroth_Kisaragi:
Imagine this plot twist: Snape is Harry’s father
Harry Forgives Voldemort
From Redditor u/Jwalla83:
Harry realizes that the best way to defeat Voldemort is by showing him, and making him feel, love. And so at the climax of the battle, Harry drops his wand and embraces Voldemort and says, “Tom, I forgive you.” Voldemort falls to his knees suddenly feeling the weight of remorse and regret. His dark magic flies out of him and we’re left with a restored Tom Riddle. To atone for his evil, he becomes headmaster of Hogwarts and works alongside Harry (the minister of magic) to restore balance in the wizarding world.
Hermione And Draco Live Happily Ever After
From Redditor u/ykickamoocow111:
Hermione and Draco realising they are incredibly in love and want to be together forever.
