What if Harry Potter never got to go to Hogwarts at all?

Obviously a key moment in Harry Potter is Harry himself going to Hogwarts. But what if that never happened and he stayed at Privet Drive?

Harry Potter went to Hogwarts. That much we know because without his magical past, what would be the point of the series, right? That being said, what would it be like if the Dursleys did, in fact, keep him from attending?

Clearly he would still have magical abilities and, if they went him away as they had planned, would he still be able to get his letters from Hogwarts there? He is meant to take on Lord Voldemort so would Dumbledore have made it his duty to get him to Hogwarts no matter the cost?

To be fair, these are all questions we never have to really ask. Harry did go to Hogwarts and he did stop Voldemort. But thinking of our favorite boy struggling through life and not knowing his abilities or worth is heartbreaking.

It is important to note that Hogwarts taught Harry about happiness. For the first time, he could smile and laugh and feel loved. He wasn’t the boy under the stairs there, he was accepted and praised and without Hogwarts, who knows how Harry would have turned up as an adult.

Would he know of his fame and his fortune or would the Durselys have ruined the world by not letting Harry go to Hogwarts? Would he have ever met Sirius Black?

Next: Harry Potter and the Dursleys: What happened after Deathly Hallows?

Luckily for us all, Harry Potter did go to school and he did learn magic. He made his own family and got to find love and happiness. And then his son made him go back in time and watch his parents die so like…maybe his life still isn’t great.