The Harry Potter throwback you may have missed in Fantastic Beasts 2

Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts may take place a few decades apart, but there's plenty of magical hidden links between the two.

Ranging from references to Newt in Harry Potter; the introduction of Dumbledore and Nagini in Crimes of Grindelwald; as well as the return of another fan-favourite character. But it turns out that the newest film has a nod to the Boy Who Lived that is so subtle, you may have missed it. According to Radio Times, it takes place when Newt Scamander heads to the British Ministry of Magic to get his travel ban lifted. The building doesn't look too different compared to the Harry Potter movies - which are set some 70-odd years in the future - however, there is one notable difference: inter-office mail is delivered by owls. The system is a callback to the Order of the Phoenix, where Harry discovers the mail system within the Ministry of Magic - which is now a bunch of flying, enchanted purple envelopes. When he asks about it, Arthur Weasley tells him:

“Just interdepartmental memos. We used to use owls, but the mess was unbelievable… droppings all over the desks…”

And, in Crimes of Grindelwald, one of the winged messengers can be seen making a mess on one of the window sills - causing a house elf to come over and clean it up.

• Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald is out in Irish cinemas now.