It’s a question I have given some thought. Let’s go point by point.
1. First of all, the rule of thumb for writing a fantasy is that, “Don’t introduce stuff in the story that creates a shortcut to solving all the problems. The biggest thing that annoys me about Harry Potter is there is a shortcut. Felix Felicis. The luck potion.
With the luck potion, you can succeed in anything. So the question arises, why didn’t Harry fight Lord Voldemort by drinking this potion? Even this happens at the end of Half-Blood Prince when Death Eaters attack Hogwarts, Harry’s friends drink Harry’s Felix Felicis that he got from Slughorn, and it allowed them to dodge the deathly spells.
Another of these shortcuts is the truth potion, Veritaserum. It makes the drinker truthful. The reason it introduces some problems is that why didn’t they apply it to Sirius Black, the man who was in Azkaban for 12 years for a crime he did not commit? Granted there is the antidote to the truth serum, so it is possible that Black could have used it to lie. But I am sure the effect wears off sometimes, surely within 12 years. So, couldn’t Black ask for Veritaserum in that time?
So first act of business, remove these two potions from the storyline.
2. In Quidditch, snitch would have a lesser point, probably 50. Because it makes the chasers quite meaningless. I mean, you can basically play a team of 7 against a seeker, and the chances are the seeker would win anyway. It is just so disproportionate scoring.
3. That goes for the plot holes. Now about the story. It is almost perfect. But one thing I always thought is that the villain is not well-built. Lord Voldemort has a very good back story. But Rowling could surely do some more with his character. In the book, he is just purely evil and wants to kill all the muggles. It could be more nuanced. I would want The Dark Lord to have more lines, more character analysis, and better motivation for him to take over the world.
Rowling does a fantastic job of connecting the dots through the seven books, which is nothing short of extraordinary. Things that are hinted at in the first book are revealed at the last moment, and it goes to show how far from thinking Rowling was.
ALSO READ: The Life and Times of Lord Voldemort – Potter World
But seeing the storyline completely, I would have made the hints more prominent. For example, Snape’s love for Lily, Sirius Black’s involvement in the assassination of the Potter family, the prophecy, and other things, I would have hinted at in the first book. That is not to diminish Rowling’s work in any way. But in hindsight, it could be made better.
Mind you, this is just nitpicking. Harry Potter is the best fiction I have ever read, and probably ever will. But these stuffs would certainly be made the books more foolproof I guess.
P.S.: Someone in the comment mentioned Time Turner. I absolutely forgot about them. It is probably the biggest plot hole. Introduced in the third book, it has the ability to go back to the past and change things. So… you can probably see how that is problematic to the story.
Harry Potter Improvements Conclusion
The main thing for me would be to work out an internally consistent logical system of magic that makes sense. The system in Harry Potter is arbitrary and irrational and often leads to nonsensical results.
A smaller one would be to redesign Quidditch, using decent game principles, and making it a good game that makes sense.