Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

Answer: According to the books he's a boarhound. http://www.sylvanlaneshoppe.com/movie_49.jpg.

Kara

Question: During the scene where the first-years are being sorted into their houses, the sorting hat is set on each students head, except for Malfoy. It is merely held above his head, as it announces his house. Is there a reason for this?

Answer: Malfoy is so strongly Slytherin that the Sorting Hat can tell he needs to be in Slytherin before reaching his head and having to "think" about it.

angi

Question: On the American DVD where are the deleted scenes on the second disc?

Answer: 1. On the Opening screen on Disc two, select Diagon Alley (Hedwig). 2. Put the selector thingy on Gringotts, then press down selecting the key, click to get to the gringotts area then select the Galleon, Sickle, and Knut and click. 3. Now you should be back at the main page for diagon alley, go to ollivander's and have fun selecting your wand (not sure if its the same for every DVD). 4. Go back to the main screen and select the wand and click, getting to the classrooms. 5. Select Transfiguration (the cat), then hit down to select the owls on the torch, then hit up to select the H on a Shield. Click. 6. At Fluffy, select the Flute and click. 7. At the Keys, select the Silver one in the middle with a bent wing (its the only one that is completely over the door in the background). 8. At the Bottles (which was not in the Movie) select the round one with the yellow liquid. 9. Select the Red stone in the mirror to get to the cut scenes (only seven, but I bet there's more).

Grumpy Scot

Answer: The Trace only detects when underage wizards use magic. Still, it wouldn't be difficult for Dumbledore, the most powerful wizard in the world, to find or track them.

LorgSkyegon

The trace can also be used to determine location. In Deathly Hallows there was concern that Voldemort's Death Eaters were able to ambush the Trio by using the trace to find them, but Ron insisted it automatically broke when a wizard turned 17.

raywest

Answer: All underage wizards and witches have a Ministry "trace" on them until they are 17 years old that monitors their activities. Dumbledore would be able to use that to locate Harry and then send Hagrid there.

raywest

Also, Harry was no ordinary wizard child because of his connection to Voldemort. As he did not live in the wizard world while growing up, he was vulnerable to harm from the Dark Lord's follower. Extra protections were put on Harry, and he was watched around the clock. His location would always be known.

raywest

Question: Why is a toad, a cat or an owl a requirement for first year students?

Answer: Witches are said to have familiars. Animals that act as guardians, protectors, and mascots. Merlin, Circe, and Morgan Le Fay all had familiars.

Answer: It was not a requirement. The students were allowed to have a certain type of pet at school if they wished. The choice was an owl, cat, rodent, or a frog/toad. Not every student had one; most were seen without a pet.

raywest

Question: This question pertains to all of the Harry Potter movies: What's to keep even one rogue wizard (from the academies) from taking over the world, ruining economies, or blackmailing individual countries? (Voldemort and his allies seem to concentrate on attacking Potter and Hogwarts, not the world, and anyway, the Ministry doesn't seem to stop him.)

Answer: One rogue wizard would be incapable of such a feat. For one thing, most wizards had little interest in, or understanding of, how the Muggle world worked - including technology, financial systems, military functions, infrastructure, and so on. Destroying the Muggle world would only result in the wizarding world collapsing, so there would be no benefit whatsoever. Even other dark wizards would think this was insane and would likely prevent one crazed wizard from attempting it. Gellert Grindelwald wanted to enslave Muggles in the mid-20th century but was defeated.

raywest

Question: After giving Dudley a pig's tail, Hagrid asks Harry not to tell anyone as he's not allowed to do magic outside of Hogwarts. Why can the other teachers do magic outside of Hogwarts but Hagrid can't?

Answer: As the other answer says Hagrid was expelled from Hogwarts 49 years previously as people thought he was releasing the monster that killed Myrtle. Once expelled his wand was snapped by a Ministry official. Hagrid then, unbeknownst to the Ministry, kept the two parts of the wand and at some point used Spello-tape to rejoin them. He keeps them in his pink umbrella and uses that as a "wand." While he isn't allowed to use magic he was granted a few little bits of magic to find and retrieve Harry to bring him into the wizarding world.

Ssiscool

Answer: Hagrid was expelled from Hogwarts as a boy, and is technically not even supposed to have a wand. He's not a teacher, either (yet).

Brian Katcher

Question: Why didn't Richard Bremmer reprise his role as Voldemort in the subsequent movies?

Answer: You have to understand his role was very small and therefore he was not established as the face of Voldemort yet. So when the time came to cast a Voldemort they didn't immediately think of Bremmer. I think they were looking for a younger actor, to make Voldemort appear more energetic. Fiennes is also more experienced in playing a big role.

lionhead

Question: Is this true that David Thewlis initially wanted to play professor Quirrell in this film before being cast as Lupin in the later movies?

Answer: Thewlis was one of several actors who auditioned for the role of Quirrell, but lost out to Ian Hart. Thewlis, of course, went on to play Professor Remus Lupin.

raywest

Question: Has it ever been explained what would have happened if the Sorting Hat couldn't decide what students should be placed into what house?

Answer: If the Sorting Hat experienced a "Hatstall" where, after a certain amount of time passes, it was unable to decide where to place a student based on their being suited to more than one House, then the student's personal preference would be considered. There were a handful of "hatstalls" over the centuries, but the Sorting Hat eventually placed the students.

raywest

Where are you getting this?

Brian Katcher

From the Harry Potter "Wizarding World" web site. The supplemental material was written by J.K. Rowling and originally published on "Pottermore." According to Rowling, Minerva McGonagall was a Hatstall student. The Sorting Hat had difficulty placing her between either Gryffindor or Ravenclaw, finally settling on Gryffindor.

raywest

The term Hatstall was created by JK Rowling. It can be found here: https://www.wizardingworld.com/writing-by-jk-rowling/hatstall.

Super Grover

Question: When Professor McGonagall acquires a Nimbus 2000 for Harry, that's pretty much the state-of-the-art broom, and very expensive (given no-one else has apparently got one, and only the wealthy Malfoys can afford the next-gen 2001's in the second film). It seems unlikely for a teacher, or a school, to buy an untried first year a state-of-the-art broom when the school is generally muddling along with old cast-offs that he could have used. Who paid for Harry's Nimbus 2000?

Answer: Prof. McGonagall personally bought the Nimbus 2000 as an anonymous gift for Harry, though he knew it was from her. The Nimbus 2000 may have been too pricey for Hogwarts to buy for all four Quidditch teams, but it was not beyond what most wizard families could afford for their own children. Lucius Malfoy was rich and could afford to buy the entire Slytherin Quidditch team the more expensive brooms, which he provided as a bribe for Draco being made the new Seeker. Up until then, all teams used school brooms, though some individual players may have had their own. It's unclear what the rules are about what brooms can or cannot be used.

raywest

Question: When Gryffindor wins the house cup Hermione has a bandage on her hand. Why did she need it? If it's about the Devil's Snare thing she would have been rubbing it a lot longer.

THE GAMER NEXT DOOR

Answer: It's there to help her wounds from the whole ordeal. You say she would have rubbed her hand for longer but not really. In the heat of the moment she's probably running on adrenaline and just blocks the pain out.

Ssiscool

Answer: When she falls through the devil's snare, there is a considerable drop so she could have landed awkwardly. She also has hold of a vine when she falls through so may have caught her hand that way.

Ssiscool

Question: If Harry's relatives hate him, then why are they against him going to Hogwarts to study magic? Why wouldn't they be excited to be rid of him most of the time?

Rob245

Answer: Because they know of his wizard heritage and they hate it. They think he and his parents were freaks.

lionhead

Good answer, but I'd add they also knew it was something Harry would very much want, and they would always deny him simply to be as mean-spirited as possible.

raywest

Not to mention one of Vernon and Petunia's overriding motivations is to appear normal to their neighbors, and the more magic Harry knows, the less likely they are to achieve that. It could presumably also be dangerous for them, as future books/movies confirm.

1. They were constantly being barraged with letters from Hogwarts in an increasingly disruptive manner. Eventually, this would be noticed as something weird by their neighbors, which is something they REALLY don't want: anyone to know about Petunia's magical relations. 2. They were flat out threatened by Hagrid and terrified on both him and Dumbledore Better to let him go there then have to spend their entire lives on the run without it even working.

LorgSkyegon

They were against it long before the barrage of letters or Hagrid showing up. They knew about the school, Petunia's sister went there and she told Vernon. They don't want to seem weird to the neighbors in general, they aren't afraid people around them will think they have a wizard in their family because nobody believes in wizards.

lionhead

Question: During flight class, when we see Hermione's broom rolling just above the ground, there is something black in front of the broom. I don't mean Hermione's sleeve. What is it?

Answer: It is Harry's shoe. He is standing right beside Hermione.

Answer: I don't think you mean this but you can see the shoe of the person standing next to her. If you mean on the bottom side of the screen then you can see Hermione (or whoever is standing there) kick the broom to make it move I think. But it's not causing all the movement of the broom though, but there is definite contact with a foot. You can't see the top of the broom (I'd say that's the front BTW).

lionhead

The shoe is what I meant thanks. Whose shoe is it?

It's Harry's shoe.

raywest

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone mistake picture

Continuity mistake: At the snake exhibit, while Harry speaks with the Python the snake's body lies curled over a long wood log and a large rock. In the shot from outside the Python's exhibit, after the glass pane disappears Dudley falls over the rail and the snake is gone, not positioned differently or blocked from view, but altogether gone. In the next overhead shot inside the Python's exhibit, while Dudley falls the snake is back lying on the log and rock, in the very same position as in the previous shots. (00:07:10)

Super Grover

More mistakes in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

Dumbledore: It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to your enemies, but a great deal more to stand up to your friends.

More quotes from Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

Trivia: When Neville receives a Remembrall from his grandmother, it glows red to inform him that he forgot something. Neville says that he can't remember what he forgot. If you look closely, Neville is one of very few students not wearing his robe. He most likely forgot to put his robe on.

More trivia for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

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