Last night the latest trailer for the Harry Potter prequel Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them dropped, further introducing us to Newt Scamander, the hero of the film, played by Eddie Redmayne. We immediately honed in on a new bit of information the footage provided about Scamander's apparently delinquent past at Hogwarts. A voiceover declares that Scamander was "kicked out of Hogwarts for endangering human life with a beast," but that Dumbledore "argued strongly against [his] expulsion."
But did Scamander really never graduate from Hogwarts? If so, J.K. Rowling would seem to be contradicting herself.
You see, in 2001 Rowling published Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, the Hogwarts textbook written by Scamander and owned by Harry Potter himself. (The book featured handwritten-type notes from Harry, Ron, and Hermione.) The "About the Author" section reads: "Upon graduation from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Mr. Scamander joined the Ministry of Magic in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures." You can read the full passage from the text over at BuzzFeed.
This has befuddled some eagle-eyed fans on Twitter.
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But wasn't it stated in the book that Newt Scamander graduated from Hogwarts?
— save gansey! (@callasargent) April 11, 2016
Newt Scamander graduated from Hogwarts according to everything in the books. And now this trailer drops and they say he was expelled?!?!?!
— Michael Chrisman (@MChrisman13) April 11, 2016
On Reddit, there was even some speculation as to whether the expulsion mentioned in the trailer was really the end of Newt's time at Hogwarts.
Rowling's ever-active Twitter account would seem to kill that theory. She explained that, at the time, Dumbledore didn't hold much sway when it came to reinstating expelled students at Hogwarts.
Dumbledore was a young teacher at the time Newt was expelled. He wasn't able to revoke expulsions. https://t.co/UskHwSQvtJ
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) April 11, 2016
Perhaps Rowling will further clarify this discrepancy, or perhaps it will remain another one of the Wizarding World's mysteries.
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