Is Harry Potter wearing a magical T-shirt – or did the creators just make a blunder?

As a wizard’s apprentice at Hogwarts, Harry Potter naturally has several special abilities. He can disarm his opponents (Expelliarmus!), float objects and people through the air (Wingardium Leviosa!). And the saying “Lumos!”, which the students of Hogwarts use to lift the tip of their wands, is as commonplace to us Muggles as the flick of a light switch.

But whether there are also magical T-shirts at Hogwarts is something even the die-hard Harry Potter fans who could otherwise recite every magical formula in their sleep can’t answer. This is exactly the question that raises “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” (2007), the film adaptation of the fifth part of Joanne K. Rowling’s success in the fantasy world.

Throughout the movie, Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) in sleeping visions of the so-called Department of Mysteries, a legendary branch of the British Ministry of Magic that most magicians know little more than it exists.

Before falling asleep, Harry wears a light blue short-sleeved T-shirt with a crew neck for visibility. However, when he is awakened by horrifying visions of the evil wizard Voldemort, his outerwear has suddenly changed – now the wizard is dressed in a dark button-up Henley t-shirt!

Here you can understand the mysterious t-shirt magic:

What’s behind the magic of the T-shirt?

Is there a transformation spell on the garment? Hardly likely – it is much more likely that this is a classic connection error. Apparently, the falling asleep and waking scenes were shot separately and no one noticed that Harry was wearing a different T-shirt (not even Daniel Radcliffe himself).

That can just happen on such a large, complex shoot. It’s just a shame that the shirts are not remotely similar in color, clarity and cut – then the alleged magic of the T-shirt would be much less obvious!