With the eighth Harry Potter movie coming upon us, there’s been news about theaters showcasing the first seven movies as preparation for the big reveal. I say seven because I consider The Deathly Hallows as one, elongated movie. In this time of celebration and personal joy, I wanted to compile and share eight of my absolute favorite Harry Potter theories (some of which I’ve personally explored) in commemoration for the soon to be eight movies.

1. The infamous trio is in Gryffindor house by choice

I’ve always found it curious that Hermione wasn’t in Ravenclaw despite her never-ending demonstration of unparalleled intellect. But upon further inspection, it isn’t unreasonable to think that Ron could have fit in Hufflepuff and Harry in Slytherin. A theory was devised following the reveal about Harry being placed in Gryffindor ultimately because he chose that house over Slytherin. It’s speculated that the trio represented the other three houses, but ended up in Gryffindor simply because they asked to be, and simply because anyone can choose to be brave.

2. The battle scene in the Deathly Hallows symbolizes all the trials in the books prior to it.

The battle played out as such: The trio is chased by an ogre and attacked by spiders. A werewolf appears followed by dementors, and the Order of the Pheonix arrives on the scene before they come to contact with Snape themselves. Doesn’t all of this sound oddly similar to the issue with ogres in the first book, spiders the in the second, Professor Lupin in the third, dementors in the fourth, meeting the Order in the fifth, and the Half Blood Prince in the sixth?

3. Hufflepuff is the house…of stoners.

Everyone’s always been a bit on the edge when it came to Hufflepuffs. Gryffindor is known for their bravery, Slytherin for their sly nature, and Ravenclaw for their intellect. But what about Hufflepuff? Some evidence points to the fact that they’re the house full of stoners and this is excluding the fact that they all seem disconnected and unreasonably friendly. For one, the head of Hufflepuff is none other than Professor Sprout, the head of Herbology. The founder of Hufflepuff, Helga, took more or less anyone into her house (so long as they knew the spell Incendio to use as a lighter). Even the location of their dorm points towards this theory - they’re the house closest to the kitchen where they can make all the munchies they want. And lastly, their motto resides in their very own house name: HUFFlePUFF.

4. J.K Rowling herself was in the series

There’s a theory that Rita Skeeta, the obnoxiously annoying reporter, is actually J.K. Rowling. We all know that Rita was known for her sketchy way of obtaining information that’s borderline illegal let alone immoral. It was speculated that she was fired following being exposed for some of her writings and banned to the muggle world where she started writing about the tales of a famous young boy in her world under the pseudonym: J.K. Rowling.

5. Ron is none other than a time-traveling Dumbledore

The overall theory is based on the chess game in the first book. In the game, Ron first plays as a knight and later the king. This parallel’s Dumbledore’s role in the larger war that was going on in the wizarding world. He was first a knight but by the end of it all he dies a noble king - just as Ron sacrifices his king’s piece to let Harry check-mate the opposing king. On top of some of their similar preferences such as their delight in Burtie Bott’s Every Flavored Beans, they are described to have similar features at least when we compare Ron to Dumbledore as a youth; he too was tall and thin, and had a long nose and auburn hair.

6. The Tale of the Three Brothers parallels three of our beloved characters.

The Tale of the Peverell brothers and their encounter with death goes like this. There was once three brothers who were traveling together. They came across a river too deep to walk across but too treacherous to swim. They instead casted a spell for a bridge to appear. Death, who felt cheated by the brothers, appeared to them and offered each a gift of their choosing. The eldest brother requested for the most powerful wand in existence, later known to be the Elder Wand. The second brother asked for the ability to revive the deceased, later known to be the Resurrection Stone. The third and youngest brother asked for something that would enable him to continue with his life without Death finding him, and so Death gave him his Invisibility Cloak. These brothers correspond to Voldemort, Severus, and Harry respectively. Voldemort and the eldest Peverell were the ones to die for the sake of power; not to mention Voldemort owned the Elder wand at some point in his life. Snape and the second brother met their end due to a deceased love, and Harry is the one who eventually owns the Invisibility cloak. When Harry is “killed” by Voldemort, he meets Dumbledore and exchanges a heartfelt conversation; just as the youngest brother greeted Death as an old friend.

7. The first to stand at a table of thirteen will die.

In The Prisoner of Azkaban, there is a scene during Christmas time when twelve people later around the dinner table to celebrate. Professor Trelawny comes and Dumbledore stands to draw a chair for her but she falls into a state of panic and explains that she can not, for when thirteen people dine together, the first to rise is the first to die. We all think she’s being her usual strange, psychic self since there are twelve people dining when she arrived, right? But wait. Ron had Scabbers in his pocket and it is revealed later in the novel that Scabbers was actually Peter Pettigrew in disguise. This meant that there wasn’t twelve people at the table upon the professors arrival, there was thirteen; and Dumbledore stood up.

8. The fate of the Weasley twins was already sealed

Fred was doomed the moment George lost his ear. If you think about it, all of the names in the Weasley household (except for Ron) have all been after an Arthurian name or British Royalty, specifically King or Queen. There have been eight “Harry’s” on the throne so it aligns with the fact that Ron, the only family member that isn't named after royalty, is still associated with someone who is. Since the Weasleys more or less name their children after kings and queens, George and Fred are no exception. King George the III was deaf in one ear, a coincident considering our precious George lost only one ear. But the only reason King George became King, was because of the untimely death of…Prince Frederick.

Whether these theories were the result of the fanciful thinking of die hard fans or whether Rita- I mean Rowling scattered easter eggs based on logic and history within her novels is something like these theories: yet to be proven true.