Harry Potter Facts People Get Wrong: What 100 Questions Show
Harry Potter facts people get wrong, from 5,293 first-try LearnClash answers: 79.5% right, but only 34.4% knew who Hermione is based on.
J.K. Rowling has said Hermione Granger is a caricature of herself at eleven. Asked who inspired Hermione, only 11 of 32 LearnClash players picked Rowling.
Across 100 Harry Potter questions and 5,293 first-try answers in LearnClash duels, players got 79.5% right. The big plot points are safe: who killed Harry’s parents, which school he attends, what a Seeker chases. The misses live in the margins. Rowling’s own life, the rules for ghosts and one piece of Yule Ball small talk sank most players.
Below are the three questions most players missed, the wrong answers that come straight out of the books, and all 100 rows with their sample sizes. Want to test yourself first? Take the Harry Potter duel, then come back and compare.
Three Questions Most Players Missed
Only 3 of the 100 questions had a wrong majority, meaning fewer than half of players got them right. One is about Rowling herself, one about the rules for ghosts and one about a joke Dumbledore makes at a dance.
Who inspired Hermione: 34.4% right (11 of 32). “Her best friend” took 28.1% (9 picks) and “her younger sister” 18.8% (6). The answer is Rowling herself. In a 1999 interview with Nickelodeon Magazine, she called Hermione “a caricature of me”, far cleverer than she ever was. She added that she had been very insecure at eleven and covered it by studying hard. Sound familiar?
Why ghosts stay at Hogwarts: 38.3% right (23 of 60). The top wrong answer, “they died tragically in the castle and are unable to pass on”, took 30.0% (18 picks). The books say the opposite. In Order of the Phoenix, Nearly Headless Nick tells Harry that a wizard can leave an imprint of himself on the earth, and very few choose to. So Hogwarts ghosts are there by choice. The trapped-spirit answer is the one most ghost stories use, and players reached for it.
“I was afraid of death,” Nick tells Harry. “I chose to remain behind.”
What Dumbledore first found in the Room of Requirement: 41.9% right (13 of 31). At the Yule Ball in Goblet of Fire, Dumbledore tells Karkaroff he took a wrong turn on the way to the bathroom. He found a room he had never seen before, full of chamber pots, and when he went back it was gone. “A room of mirrors” took 22.6% (7 picks). It is the Room of Requirement’s first appearance, one book before Dobby gives it a name.
All three rows rest on 31 to 60 answers. A handful of picks either way would move each one by several points, so read them as clear misses, not exact rates.
Half Right: “Always” and a Middle Name
Two more questions landed on exactly 50.0%, and the wrong answers that pulled stayed close to the truth.
| Question | Right answer | Correct | Wrong answer that pulled | n |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| What word does Severus Snape say to show his love for Lily Potter? | Always | 50.0% | Eternally (23.3%), Doe (20.0%) | 30 |
| Who was Harry Potter’s middle name chosen to honor? | His father | 50.0% | His godfather (20.0%) | 40 |
“Doe” is not a random pick. In Deathly Hallows, Snape’s Patronus is a doe, and Wizarding World notes that Lily’s took the same form. The word the question wants, though, is the one Snape gives Dumbledore. “After all this time?” Dumbledore asks. “Always,” says Snape.
Harry’s full name is Harry James Potter, after his father. The godfather answer has a logic too: Harry names his own first son James Sirius, after both men.
Wrong Answers Borrowed From the Books
Read down the wrong-answer column and something stands out, at least to me. Many popular wrong picks are real things from the same seven books, pinned to the wrong question.
| Question | Right answer | Borrowed wrong answer | Where it really belongs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hufflepuff’s object that became a Horcrux | A cup, 54.8% (n=42) | A locket and a diadem, 19.0% each | Slytherin’s locket and Ravenclaw’s diadem, two other Horcruxes |
| Schools in the wizard tournament | Three, 59.5% (n=42) | Four, 16.7% | The four champions of 1994 |
| Neville’s pet Trevor | A toad, 66.0% (n=53) | A rat, 17.0% | Scabbers, Ron’s rat |
| McGonagall’s Animagus form | A tabby cat, 67.7% (n=31) | A ginger cat, 16.1% | Crookshanks, Hermione’s ginger cat |
| Snape’s subject in Harry’s first five years | Potions, 76.1% (n=46) | Defense Against the Dark Arts, 15.2% | What Snape teaches in Harry’s sixth year |
| What wiped Gilderoy Lockhart’s memory | Ron’s broken wand, 77.5% (n=40) | Tom Riddle’s diary, 15.0% | The diary that possessed Ginny in the same book |
| How Ron destroyed the locket | Gryffindor’s sword, 80.0% (n=65) | A basilisk fang, 10.8% | The fang that destroyed the diary and the cup |
Take the tournament. Wizarding World’s own recap calls it a contest of “the three biggest wizarding schools in Europe”, but in 1994 Harry became an unprecedented fourth champion. Players who said four were remembering a true detail of the wrong thing.
This is my reading of the table, not a measured rule. The export does not record where a wrong option comes from, and I have not tested the idea on other topics. It still says something useful to anyone writing a quiz: the hardest wrong answer is a true fact from the next shelf over.
Book, Film and Myth
Some misses trace back to a source outside the page: a film, a myth or a language.
| Question | Right answer | Correct | Most-picked wrong answer | n |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Snake Harry frees at the zoo, first book | Boa constrictor | 58.1% | Burmese python (12.9%) | 31 |
| Mythological model for Fluffy | Cerberus | 53.9% | Hydra (14.5%) | 76 |
| Animal on the Gryffindor crest | Lion | 55.6% | Griffin (24.1%) | 54 |
| What Voldemort means in French | Flight of death | 56.0% | Lord of darkness (24.0%) | 50 |
The zoo snake is a film memory. In Philosopher’s Stone, the snake Harry talks to is a boa constrictor, and the sign says it comes from Brazil. Four players picked Burmese python instead. That is the snake the 2001 film shows, in a scene shot at London Zoo’s Reptile House. The question asked about the book, so the film cost them.
Fluffy is a Greek myth with a pub backstory. Griffin and minotaur took 10.5% each behind hydra. The book drops two hints: Hagrid bought Fluffy from “a Greek chappie” he met in a pub, and the three-headed dog falls asleep to music, as Cerberus did for Orpheus. Wizarding World’s feature on the book’s myths makes the same link. If Cerberus drew a blank, our Greek mythology questions cover the rest of the underworld.
- Gryffindor sounds like griffin. A griffin is half lion, so the mistake has a logic, and phoenix took another 13.0%. Wizarding World’s house file is plain about it: the emblem is a lion, in scarlet and gold.
- Voldemort is French. Vol de mort reads as “flight of death”. “Lord of darkness” describes him, but it translates nothing.
Is Harry Potter Easier Than Other Trivia?
A little, and it hides fewer traps. To compare fairly, use the Harry Potter rows before our canon check, because the other topics have not had one.
| Cut, questions with 30+ answers | Questions | Answers | Correct | Wrong majority |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Harry Potter, before the canon check | 107 | 5,601 | 78.5% | 5 (4.7%) |
| All other LearnClash topics | 1,647 | 84,004 | 77.1% | 135 (8.2%) |
| Harry Potter, this page | 100 | 5,293 | 79.5% | 3 (3.0%) |
A gap of 1.4 points on pooled answers is small. The bigger difference is in the traps: a wrong majority turned up in 4.7% of Harry Potter questions, against 8.2% everywhere else.
The top of the table is the story everyone knows. 21 of the 100 questions scored 90% or better, and one went 49 for 49: the Sorting Hat assigns first-years to their houses. Hogwarts as Harry’s school scored 98.4% (n=61), the Hogwarts Express 97.5% (n=40) and the lightning-bolt scar 97.3% (n=37).
| Same answer, two wordings | Correct | Top wrong pick | n |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who was Harry Potter’s mother who died protecting him from Lord Voldemort? | 95.5% | Narcissa / Petunia (2.3% each) | 44 |
| What is the first name of the sister of Harry Potter’s Muggle aunt? | 64.8% | Violet (12.1%) | 91 |
Both answers are Lily, and the scores sit 30.7 points apart. Why? The second question makes you work out who the aunt is before you can answer. Different players met each question, though, so treat the gap as a hint rather than a pure measure of wording.
The Full Table, Lowest Score First
Every row is a first-try count from LearnClash duels, sorted from the lowest correct share. Where two or more wrong answers tied for the most picks, all of them are listed.
| # | Question as players saw it | Right answer | Correct | Top wrong pick | n |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Which person was the primary inspiration for the character of Hermione? | J.K. Rowling herself | 34.4% | Her best friend (28.1%) | 32 |
| 2 | Why are ghosts resident at Hogwarts? | They are imprints of former students and staff who chose to haunt the school | 38.3% | They died tragically in the castle and are unable to pass on (30.0%) | 60 |
| 3 | What did Albus Dumbledore first find in the Room of Requirement? | A collection of chamber pots | 41.9% | A room of mirrors (22.6%) | 31 |
| 4 | Who was Harry Potter’s middle name chosen to honor? | His father | 50.0% | His godfather (20.0%) | 40 |
| 5 | What word does Severus Snape say to show his love for Lily Potter? | Always | 50.0% | Eternally (23.3%) | 30 |
| 6 | What mythological creature inspired Fluffy in the first Harry Potter book? | Cerberus | 53.9% | Hydra (14.5%) | 76 |
| 7 | What object once owned by Hufflepuff became a Horcrux? | A cup | 54.8% | A locket / A diadem (19.0% each) | 42 |
| 8 | What animal appears on the Gryffindor house crest? | Lion | 55.6% | Griffin (24.1%) | 54 |
| 9 | What does the name Voldemort translate to in the French language? | Flight of death | 56.0% | Lord of darkness (24.0%) | 50 |
| 10 | In the first book, what type of snake does Harry accidentally release at the zoo? | Boa constrictor | 58.1% | Burmese python (12.9%) | 31 |
| 11 | Severus Snape created which lethal dark spell while studying at Hogwarts? | Sectumsempra | 58.8% | Petrificus Totalus (14.7%) | 34 |
| 12 | How many schools compete in the wizard tournament? | Three | 59.5% | Four (16.7%) | 42 |
| 13 | Why could no teacher keep the Defense Against the Dark Arts job over one year? | Voldemort cursed the position after being rejected | 60.0% | The Ministry of Magic replaced teachers annually / Dumbledore fired anyone who failed the students (13.3% each) | 30 |
| 14 | What theme did the Black family use for naming most of their children? | Stars and constellations | 62.6% | Flowers and plants (11.1%) | 99 |
| 15 | What must a wizard do to their soul to create a Horcrux? | Split it by committing murder | 63.0% | Bind it to a cursed relic / Corrupt it with dark magic (11.1% each) | 54 |
| 16 | Why did two older students give Harry Potter their enchanted parchment? | To help him sneak into Hogsmeade village | 63.6% | To help him locate the Chamber of Secrets (18.2%) | 33 |
| 17 | What is the first name of the sister of Harry Potter’s Muggle aunt? | Lily | 64.8% | Violet (12.1%) | 91 |
| 18 | Why did Draco Malfoy repair the Vanishing Cabinet at Hogwarts? | To smuggle Death Eaters into the protected castle | 66.0% | To create a secret pathway for Voldemort himself (10.6%) | 47 |
| 19 | What kind of pet is Neville Longbottom’s Trevor? | Toad | 66.0% | Rat (17.0%) | 53 |
| 20 | What profession do Hermione Granger’s Muggle parents practice? | Dentists | 66.7% | Lawyers (9.5%) | 42 |
| 21 | What is Professor McGonagall’s Animagus form? | Tabby cat | 67.7% | Ginger cat (16.1%) | 31 |
| 22 | Which Ministry of Magic department does Arthur Weasley head at first? | Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office | 67.7% | Department of Magical Transportation (12.9%) | 31 |
| 23 | Why did Neville Longbottom kill Nagini with Gryffindor’s sword? | To destroy Voldemort’s last Horcrux | 68.1% | To rescue Harry Potter from danger (14.9%) | 47 |
| 24 | Whose lost diadem was hidden in the Room of Requirement? | Rowena Ravenclaw | 69.1% | Godric Gryffindor / Salazar Slytherin (13.2% each) | 68 |
| 25 | Who secretly entered Harry Potter’s name into the Goblet of Fire? | Barty Crouch Jr. | 70.0% | Peter Pettigrew / Severus Snape (10.0% each) | 30 |
| 26 | Who is the in-universe author of the textbook ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them’? | Newt Scamander | 71.0% | Quirinus Quirrell (9.7%) | 31 |
| 27 | Who anonymously sent Harry Potter a Firebolt after his broom broke? | Sirius Black | 71.4% | Albus Dumbledore (10.2%) | 49 |
| 28 | What is the highest-value gold coin in the British wizarding currency? | Galleon | 71.4% | Drachma / Sovereign (6.1% each) | 49 |
| 29 | Which werewolf bit young Remus Lupin, turning him into a werewolf? | Fenrir Greyback | 71.9% | Bellatrix Lestrange / Barty Crouch Jr. (6.2% each) | 32 |
| 30 | What is the name of Albus Dumbledore’s loyal, flame-red pet phoenix? | Fawkes | 72.7% | Errol (9.1%) | 33 |
| 31 | Why did Tom Riddle take the name Lord Voldemort? | Hatred of his Muggle father | 73.3% | Expulsion from Hogwarts (13.3%) | 30 |
| 32 | Why was Sirius Black sent to Azkaban prison without a trial? | He was framed for murdering twelve Muggles | 73.3% | He was caught trying to assassinate the Minister (10.0%) | 30 |
| 33 | What is the name of Lord Voldemort’s loyal pet snake? | Nagini | 74.3% | Fang (11.4%) | 35 |
| 34 | How does Harry Potter speak to snakes? | Voldemort’s curse linked them magically | 74.4% | He is a descendant of Slytherin (12.8%) | 39 |
| 35 | Who built the secret chamber beneath Hogwarts? | Salazar Slytherin | 75.0% | Godric Gryffindor (16.1%) | 56 |
| 36 | What is the name of Hagrid’s giant three-headed dog? | Fluffy | 76.0% | Fang (8.0%) | 50 |
| 37 | What subject does Snape teach during Harry’s first five years at Hogwarts? | Potions | 76.1% | Defense Against the Dark Arts (15.2%) | 46 |
| 38 | What is the official name of the Weasley family home? | The Burrow | 76.3% | Shell Cottage / Ottery St Catchpole (6.8% each) | 59 |
| 39 | What guards the door to Gryffindor common room? | Fat Lady | 76.7% | Nearly Headless Nick (10.0%) | 60 |
| 40 | What dark followers wear masks and serve Lord Voldemort? | Death Eaters | 77.5% | Dementors (10.0%) | 80 |
| 41 | What caused Gilderoy Lockhart to permanently lose his memory in the Chamber of Secrets? | He cast a spell with Ron’s broken wand | 77.5% | The diary of Tom Riddle stole his mind (15.0%) | 40 |
| 42 | What are the three illegal dark spells called in wizarding law? | Unforgivable Curses | 77.5% | Forbidden Spells (10.0%) | 40 |
| 43 | Which country’s landscape inspired the setting of Hogwarts school? | Scotland | 78.0% | England (10.2%) | 59 |
| 44 | Why was Neville Longbottom raised by his grandmother instead of his parents? | His parents were tortured into permanent insanity | 78.0% | His parents were killed in the first wizarding war (12.2%) | 41 |
| 45 | Why did James Potter choose the nickname Prongs? | His Animagus form was a stag | 78.4% | He wore glasses (7.8%) | 51 |
| 46 | Why did Hermione Granger modify her parents’ memories in the summer of 1997? | To protect them from being hunted by Death Eaters | 78.8% | To make them forget she was ever a witch (11.5%) | 52 |
| 47 | Why did Ginny Weasley open the Chamber of Secrets? | She was possessed by Riddle’s diary | 79.4% | She was dared by Ron / She wanted to find Voldemort (5.9% each) | 34 |
| 48 | What spell is known as the Killing Curse? | Avada Kedavra | 79.4% | Morsmordre / Crucio (5.9% each) | 34 |
| 49 | How did Ron Weasley destroy the Slytherin locket Horcrux? | With Godric Gryffindor’s sword | 80.0% | With a Basilisk fang (10.8%) | 65 |
| 50 | Who tells Harry Potter ‘You’re a wizard, Harry’? | Hagrid | 80.7% | Dumbledore (10.5%) | 57 |
| 51 | Whose birth name did Lord Voldemort cast aside? | Tom Riddle | 81.0% | Severus Snape (7.1%) | 42 |
| 52 | What transport network does Dumbledore’s knee scar resemble? | London Underground | 81.2% | Berlin U-Bahn (6.2%) | 32 |
| 53 | How does Harry Potter catch the Snitch in Quidditch? | He flies on a broomstick as the Seeker | 81.8% | He enchants the Snitch to fly into his hand (9.1%) | 66 |
| 54 | What platform do students run through to board the Hogwarts Express? | 9¾ | 81.8% | 11¼ (6.8%) | 44 |
| 55 | What is the primary newspaper of the British wizarding world? | The Daily Prophet | 81.9% | The Quibbler (5.6%) | 72 |
| 56 | What creature does the Boggart turn into when facing Ron Weasley? | A giant spider | 82.1% | A banshee (10.3%) | 39 |
| 57 | What is the true identity of Ron Weasley’s rat Scabbers? | Peter Pettigrew | 82.3% | Remus Lupin (8.1%) | 62 |
| 58 | What spell does Harry Potter often use to disarm enemies? | Expelliarmus | 82.4% | Petrificus Totalus (7.8%) | 51 |
| 59 | With whom does Albus Dumbledore leave baby Harry Potter? | Dursleys | 82.4% | Weasleys (7.8%) | 51 |
| 60 | What creature became Voldemort’s final Horcrux before his ultimate downfall? | A snake | 82.4% | A rat / A spider (5.9% each) | 34 |
| 61 | What language is used for most spell incantations? | Latin | 82.4% | Gaelic (6.9%) | 131 |
| 62 | Where does the Sorting Hat usually stay when not in use? | Headmaster’s office | 82.5% | The Great Hall (10.0%) | 40 |
| 63 | What cloaked monsters guard Azkaban and drain happiness? | Dementors | 83.0% | Death Eaters (11.3%) | 53 |
| 64 | Why does Dobby the house-elf visit Harry Potter? | He warns Harry about danger at Hogwarts | 83.9% | He offers to serve as Harry’s personal protector (8.9%) | 56 |
| 65 | What phrase makes Harry Potter’s blank parchment show everyone in Hogwarts? | I solemnly swear that I am up to no good | 84.4% | Guide my footsteps safely through the dark / Reveal your secrets to the true marauders (6.2% each) | 32 |
| 66 | Which Hogwarts house was young Voldemort sorted into as a student? | Slytherin | 84.4% | Gryffindor / Pukwudgie (6.2% each) | 32 |
| 67 | How did Harry Potter unexpectedly catch his very first Golden Snitch? | With his mouth | 85.3% | Inside his sleeve (5.9%) | 34 |
| 68 | What name does Hagrid choose for his pet Norwegian Ridgeback dragon? | Norbert | 85.4% | Flame (6.2%) | 48 |
| 69 | Why did Harry Potter grow up living with the Dursley family? | His parents were killed by Voldemort and they are his relatives | 85.6% | The wizarding world was unsafe so Muggles were chosen (4.3%) | 188 |
| 70 | How does Harry Potter free Dobby the house-elf? | Tricks Lucius Malfoy into giving him a sock | 86.5% | Petitions the Ministry of Magic for his release (5.4%) | 37 |
| 71 | What animal was the Patronus of Harry’s father, James Potter? | A stag | 87.2% | An eagle (7.7%) | 39 |
| 72 | At what train station is the physical Platform 9 3/4 located? | King’s Cross | 87.5% | Paddington (5.4%) | 56 |
| 73 | What does Harry use to kill the basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets? | Sword of Gryffindor | 87.5% | Sword of Dumbledore / Basilisk fang / Sword of Ravenclaw (4.2% each) | 48 |
| 74 | Who turns out to be Harry Potter’s innocent godfather? | Sirius Black | 88.2% | Remus Lupin (5.3%) | 76 |
| 75 | What potion turns you into someone else? | Polyjuice Potion | 88.6% | Veritaserum (6.8%) | 44 |
| 76 | Which duo opened a successful wizarding joke shop? | Fred and George Weasley | 89.1% | Parvati and Padma Patil (6.5%) | 46 |
| 77 | Which item did Harry Potter buy from Ollivander’s in Diagon Alley? | His wand | 89.3% | His owl / His textbooks (3.6% each) | 56 |
| 78 | What caused Harry Potter to accidentally inflate his Aunt Marge like a balloon? | She insulted Harry’s deceased parents | 89.5% | She gave Dudley all of Harry’s birthday presents (5.3%) | 38 |
| 79 | How did Harry Potter survive Voldemort’s Killing Curse as a baby? | His mother’s sacrificial love protected him | 89.6% | A blood protection charm from his aunt (4.2%) | 48 |
| 80 | What plant screams when pulled from the soil in Herbology class? | Mandrake | 90.5% | Fluxweed / Mimbulus (3.2% each) | 63 |
| 81 | Why is Harry Potter called the Boy Who Lived? | He survived an attack by Voldemort | 90.5% | He survived Quirrell’s curse / He survived a Dementor attack on the Hogwarts Express (2.5% each) | 201 |
| 82 | What is the model of Harry Potter’s very first broomstick? | Nimbus 2000 | 90.6% | Cleansweep Eleven (6.2%) | 32 |
| 83 | What flying sport do students play at Hogwarts? | Quidditch | 91.1% | Stichstock (3.4%) | 203 |
| 84 | Why did Lord Voldemort create dark magical objects known as Horcruxes? | To achieve total immortality | 91.4% | To break the ancient protection spells / To open the secret Chamber of Secrets / To summon an army of Dementors (2.9% each) | 35 |
| 85 | How did infant Harry Potter receive the lightning bolt scar on his forehead? | A rebounded Killing Curse | 92.1% | A cursed mirror splinter / A rampaging dragon strike / A high-altitude broomstick fall (2.6% each) | 38 |
| 86 | Which ghost haunts the second-floor girls’ bathroom at Hogwarts? | Moaning Myrtle | 92.2% | The Grey Lady (3.1%) | 64 |
| 87 | Which professor teaches Potions class and dislikes Harry Potter? | Severus Snape | 92.3% | Remus Lupin (3.8%) | 52 |
| 88 | What position does Harry play on the Gryffindor team? | Seeker | 93.0% | Keeper / Sweeper / Chaser (2.3% each) | 43 |
| 89 | Which actor portrayed Harry Potter in all eight Warner Bros. films? | Daniel Radcliffe | 93.3% | Robert Pattinson (6.7%) | 30 |
| 90 | What job does Albus Dumbledore have at Hogwarts School? | Headmaster | 94.1% | Deputy Headmaster / Transfiguration Professor (2.9% each) | 34 |
| 91 | Who is the evil wizard who killed Harry’s parents? | Voldemort | 94.8% | Grindelwald / Snape / Pettigrew (1.7% each) | 116 |
| 92 | What magical garment does Harry Potter use to move around Hogwarts unseen? | Invisibility Cloak | 95.2% | Disillusionment Cloak (2.4%) | 84 |
| 93 | Which heirloom cloak was passed down to Harry Potter from his father James? | Invisibility Cloak | 95.2% | Shield Cloak / Shadow Mantle (2.4% each) | 42 |
| 94 | Who was Harry Potter’s mother who died protecting him from Lord Voldemort? | Lily | 95.5% | Narcissa / Petunia (2.3% each) | 44 |
| 95 | Which Slytherin student was Harry’s main rival at Hogwarts? | Draco Malfoy | 95.5% | Gregory Goyle (3.0%) | 67 |
| 96 | To win 150 points and end a Quidditch match, what ball must Seekers catch? | Golden Snitch | 97.0% | Firebolt (3.0%) | 33 |
| 97 | What shape is the scar on Harry Potter’s forehead? | Lightning bolt | 97.3% | Crescent moon (2.7%) | 37 |
| 98 | What is the name of the train that takes Harry Potter to school? | Hogwarts Express | 97.5% | King’s Cross Express (2.5%) | 40 |
| 99 | What school does Harry Potter attend? | Hogwarts | 98.4% | Beauxbatons (1.6%) | 61 |
| 100 | At Hogwarts, who or what assigns first-year students to their houses? | Sorting Hat | 100.0% | None picked | 49 |
Where These Numbers Come From
The counter behind these numbers moves once per player and question: the first time that player meets the question in a duel. Timeouts, joker-assisted answers and answers from the browser round stay out, and Solo mode never feeds it. I ran the export read-only against production on 7 October 2026.
From the full corpus to this page, step by step:
- 92,599 question documents scanned across 1,770 public topics, a complete pass.
- Four Harry Potter topics kept: Harry Potter (franchise), Harry Potter Plot (franchise), Albus Dumbledore (wizard) and Hermione Granger (character).
- 256 of their questions had at least 10 answers (8,396 answers, 73.8% correct).
- 107 questions had at least 30 answers (5,601 answers, 78.5% correct). A question needs 30 answers before it gets a row of its own here. Only two topics reach that bar: Harry Potter (franchise) with 105 questions and Albus Dumbledore (wizard) with 2. One more question was set aside because its counts could not be tied to its current wording.
- 100 questions passed a canon check (5,293 answers, 79.5% correct). I checked each right answer against the books, Wizarding World and Rowling’s interviews. Seven questions went back for a rewrite instead: four rest on a real-world inspiration story I could not confirm in the books or in Rowling’s own words, or one that belongs to the films; one names a single “most valued” trait the books do not give; two offer a wrong option that is also true somewhere in the books. Those seven held 308 answers at 60.7% correct.
Each time a question appears, it shows the right answer plus three wrong ones drawn from a pool of five or seven, so a given wrong option is on screen only some of the time. Against a pure guessing model, the ghost row’s top wrong answer clears a strict bar (p = 0.002) and the Hermione row’s clears the nominal 0.05 bar. That is a diagnostic, not proof of a belief.
What these numbers are not:
- Not a count of people. They are answer events, and one account can appear in many rows.
- Not a survey of fans. Both players in a duel answer every round, whoever picked its topic, so the answers include people who did not choose Harry Potter.
- Not one language. Answers pool every app language, while the questions are shown here in English.
- Not a census. LearnClash is a 13-plus app, and its players chose to be there. At 30 to 60 answers, a gap under about 15 points between two rows is inside sampling error.
- Not dated. The counters are cumulative, so this is a snapshot of everything recorded up to the export.
The wider misconception index and its data page come from the same kind of export, and science facts adults get wrong cuts another domain the same way.
Got One Wrong?
If you host a quiz, the table above shows which Harry Potter questions split a room and which ones almost nobody misses. For questions written to read aloud, our Harry Potter trivia list has 37 more, with the decoys explained.
Miss one in a duel and it comes round again: LearnClash brings a missed question back about a week later. Take the Harry Potter duel and see which side of 79.5% you land on, or browse more topics in our trivia questions hub.
Frequently asked questions
Which Harry Potter facts do people get wrong most often?
In the LearnClash export of 2026-10-07, three of 100 Harry Potter questions had a wrong majority: who inspired Hermione (34.4% right, n=32), why ghosts stay at Hogwarts (38.3%, n=60) and what Dumbledore first found in the Room of Requirement (41.9%, n=31). The most-picked wrong answers were 'her best friend', 'unable to pass on' and 'a room of mirrors'.
Is Hermione based on J.K. Rowling?
Yes, by Rowling's own account. She told Nickelodeon Magazine in 1999 that Hermione is 'a caricature of me', an exaggerated version of herself at eleven. Only 34.4% of LearnClash players (11 of 32) picked Rowling; 28.1% said 'her best friend'.
Is the zoo snake in Harry Potter a boa constrictor or a python?
In the book it is a boa constrictor, and the sign on its tank says it comes from Brazil. The 2001 film shows a Burmese python instead. Asked about the book, 58.1% of 31 LearnClash players chose boa constrictor and 12.9% chose Burmese python.
Who answered these questions?
People playing LearnClash, a quiz duel app for ages 13 and up, on their first encounter with each question. Both players in a duel answer every round, whoever picked its topic, so not everyone chose Harry Potter. The counts are answer events, not people, and they describe this app's players, not the public.