Any ‘Harry Potter’ fan knows that author JK Rowling is not above adding small (and, quite often, unnecessary) details and tidbits to the series’ back story, even 12 years on from the publication of the last novel.
However, a rather grim fact about the early days of Hogwarts has left fans has now been revealed, leaving fans reeling.
A post by Pottermore, the digital publishing site founded and owned by JK Rowling, in honour of National Trivia Day revealed: “Hogwarts didn’t always have bathrooms.
“Before adopting Muggle plumbing methods in the eighteenth century, witches and wizards simply relieved themselves wherever they stood, and vanished the evidence.”
A second post one hour later added that when plumbing did eventually come to Hogwarts – which we’re sure was a huge relief for both the professors and students – it almost led to the discovery of the Chamber Of Secrets, which was accessed by Harry in a disused bathroom in the second book.
Many fans immediately saw some flaws with this plan, though…
What’s more, though, is the fact that this fact was first documented as far back as 2016 (in JK Rowling’s ’Hogwarts: An Incomplete and Unreliable Guide’), but it’s a piece of wizard history the folks at Pottermore are so proud of, they feel it bears repeating.
And yeah, it’s definitely something we could have gone the rest of our lives without knowing.
JK Rowling’s most recent large-scale contribution to what has become known as the ‘Wizarding World Of Harry Potter’ was the screenplay for the second ‘Fantastic Beasts’ film, ‘The Crimes Of Grindelwald’.
The film wound up being controversial both for its casting of Johnny Depp in the title role, but also for its failure to explicitly reference Dumbledore’s sexuality, one of the details JK Rowling has added to the character’s history since the book series came to an end.
However, the film was a relative commercial success, just making the list of top 10 highest-grossing films of 2018.
