I reach the office, take out my notepad to make a list of things to do, and I realise I have forgotten my pen. On numerous occasions, I have forgotten various things at home, at work or during the commute, like an umbrella, my phone and my wallet. I do wish I had a remembrall. But as Neville rightly said, “The only problem is, I can't remember what I've forgotten.” But just imagine how useful it would be if you had access to one, or any of these wonderful gadgets from the world of Harry Potter. How many times have you secretly wished to use the marauder's map or to reach from one place to another using a portkey or a firebolt?
Here are gadgets from Harry's world I wish were real.
Sneakoscope: The sneakoscope is a dark arts detector. It is a small glass spinning top that makes shrill noises when there are untrustworthy people around. It makes its first appearance in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban when Ron gives him a pocket-sized version for his 13th birthday. In the book, the sneakoscope keeps making noise around Ron's rat who is actually Peter Pettigrew. In the seventh book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Hermione gifts one to Harry on his 17th birthday. Just imagine how nice it would be to have a sneakoscope with you! You would know if someone was about to pick your pocket. It would definitely go off, if it detected that you were about to be assaulted. Just think of the number of crimes it could prevent. It would probably go off if there was a suspicious object lying around. Which means, it could even prevent bomb explosions. But we would need to be vary of jumping to conclusions every time the sneakoscope went off.
Deluminator: The deluminator, or put-outer, is a fascinating object, don't you think? The device that looks like a cigarette lighter can be used to put out or turn off lights. This is a great device if you ever wanted to sneak out of the house dead in the night without anyone noticing. This ingenious device belonged to Dumbledore. He used it the first the time he dropped Harry off at the Dursleys when he was only a baby. He also used it when he took Harry to meet Slughorn in the Half Blood Prince. Imagine what fun owning this device would be! Besides sneaking an entrance, you could use it to scare your friends. You probably can use it to find your way back if you got lost while camping.
Revealer: The revealer was used just once, by Hermione in Chamber of Secrets to try and find out what was written in Tom Riddle's diary. But I feel this device would be useful in real life, too. Spies and undercover agents could use it to reveal messages written in invisible ink. Even if the message has faded over years, the revealer could probably make it clearer, thus solving many clues buried in history.
Portkeys: Portkeys would really be a cool invention if it really existed. It would very much be on the lines of teleporting. A portkey is an unsuspecting object that has been activated by the Portus charm. It enables the object to transport one person or a group of people from one place to another. The portkey maybe used for transportation from one place to another or a round trip. It was first introduced in The Goblet of Fire when Mr Weasley leads Harry, Ron and his friends to one in order to reach the destination for the Quidditch World Cup match. At the end of the book, Barty Crouch Jr turns the Triwizard cup into a portkey before placing it into the maze. This transports Cedric and Harry to the graveyard where Cedric is killed and Harry witnesses Voldemort take human form again. This device would help save time, especially in case of emergencies. A new mode of transportation, it would indeed be revolutionary!
Quick quotes quill: Yet another fantastic invention by JKR. The quick quotes quill was used infamously by Rita Skeeter, the reporter at the Daily Prophet, who spread rumours about Harry and Hermione and later about Hermione and Viktor Krum. The quill will be very similar to Siri taking dictation on your iPad. But imagine this—journalists who do not usually roam around with iPads, would find this quill extremely useful, if trained to jot down whatever the interviewee says. But it would be prude to train the quill to note down sentences accurately and not embellish as Skeeter's quill does.
Marauder's map: This probably would be a dangerous invention in the hands of robbers and criminal masterminds, but a fun invention nonetheless. The Marauder's map, is a detailed map of any building, which shows each of its occupants where he or she is. This leaves the mischief-maker free to roam around doing what he or she pleases, avoiding those in authority. The map was introduced to Harry by Fred and George Weasley in the Prisoner of Azkaban. The duo feels that Harry is in need of the map more, as he was feeling gloomy about not being able to visit Hogsmeade. The map gets Harry into trouble with Snape when he sneaks up on Malfoy during a visit to the village and is found with the map later by the Potions Master. Snape is not pleased as the map spews insults at him. However, should one own a map of this sort, it would definitely make school days more fun by being able to avoid the headmaster, certain teachers and prefects.
Weasley family clock: The Weasley family clock is a device that is both loved and hated in the series. This enchanted clock shows locations of all the Weasley family members at all times. The clock hands have names of the family members on them and instead of numbers, there are different locations like home, school, work, travelling, quidditch, lost, hospital and mortal peril. The clock makes its first appearance in book two, The Chamber of Secrets, when the hands with Ron, Fred and George changed from 'travelling' to 'home' after the trio rode their father's enchanted car to rescue Harry from the Dursleys. After that, the clock is mentioned in book six when all the nine hands are pointing towards mortal peril where Mrs Weasley explains that with Voldemort's return, everyone is in grave danger. The Weasley clock would be a useful item to have at home. Except, it does not guarantee privacy for any family member. But again, it would be nice to know if the person in concern was lost or was in danger. But again, this is debatable, as a clock of this nature could leave family members anxious.
Crackers: Crackers or wizarding crackers are much cooler than the usual muggle ones. Given out as party favours after Christmas dinners, these usually contain plastic toys and paper hats. In the wizarding world, however, the crackers go off with a loud bang and cover people surrounding it in a cloud of blue smoke. The hats are not made of paper, but are quite real. Sometimes there are even gifts like live mice and a game of wizards chess. Having fun crackers like these definitely would take the party experience up a notch.
Time turner: The time turner was used in book three, The Prisoner of Azkaban, by Hermione to get to the many classes she was taking that year. Professor McGonagall made requests to the Ministry of Magic to get approval so that Hermione could use one. Harry and Hermione later use it to save Buckbeak and Sirius Black. The time turner is a mighty useful device considering it saved two lives. But, how often would you want to visit the past and alter it? If we did own a time turner, would we really exercise control and use it only for the 'right' reasons? Again, is not the definition of right and wrong subjective? Wouldn't you rather learn from your mistakes in the past and move on rather than try to rectify every wrong you might have done?
