In the 21 years since the first Harry Potter book was published, it might seem like the gap between fact and JK Rowling’s generation-defining fiction has narrowed – in all the wrong ways.

Until, that is, this past weekend.

Among the placards that found their way onto social media from the mass March For Our Lives protests one in particular, clutched by a woman in a blue hat in chilly Worcester, Massachusetts, stood out. Its slogan wasn’t the most succinct (just try squeezing it onto a T-shirt in a grabby font), but its message spoke volubly to the moment: ‘When I said I wanted the real world to be more like Harry Potter, I just meant the magic stuff, not the entire plot of book five where the government refuses to do anything about a death threat so the teenagers have to rise up and fight back’.