Question: Why does Dumbledore purposely hit Ron's injured leg?
Answer: Ron had previously bragged to Hermione about how bad his leg was injured, and had lied and said his leg might be chopped off. When Dumbledore later hits Ron's leg, he is saying that a child's voice no matter how honest and true. He is giving Ron a little payback for exaggerating.
Highly unlikely Dumbledore knew what Ron told Hermione at the Whomping Willow. Ron's leg was seriously hurt, so he wasn't "bragging" about it, nor did he lie. Ron, who is a bit of a hypochondriac, was simply embellishing to be more dramatic and to gain Hermione's sympathy. Hardly anything Dumbledore would consider worth giving him "payback" by inflicting pain.
Question: When the lady knocks on the door and says "House keeping" which causes some monster wind thing, If you look on the right side of the screen, what's inside the room?
Question: Towards the end of the third film, when Harry and Hermione are successful in saving Sirius Black, why does Dumbledore act like he doesn't know anything when they see him outside the hospital room door?
Answer: He does not want it known that he was the one who planned for Harry and Hermione to rescue Sirius, who is still a wanted felon at this point. It would cause Dumbledore serious legal problems (he would be arrested and sent to Azkaban) if was he suspected of aiding Sirius' escape. That is why he acts like he does not know what happened.
Question: In the first scene, Harry is practising his 'Lumos Maxima' spell under his bedcovers. But in film 5 (and the books, for that matter) it is said that students aren't allowed to perform any magic outside of school. So how was he able to perform this spell without being warned/expelled from Hogwarts?
Answer: It's also shown that the Ministry have some discretion in what's allowable. Given that Harry's using a low-level spell, out of the sight of any muggles (the incidents that get him into trouble in books 3 and 5 both take place with muggles present), in a repeated fashion that would clearly indicate practice, it's reasonable to think that the Ministry would exercise its discretion in this instance and choose not to pursue the matter.
Question: If Sirius Black is innocent, why is he so menacing-looking in his picture on all the Wanted-posters?
Answer: He is angry over his false arrest, being imprisoned without a trial, and he is very concerned about the welfare of his God-son Harry Potter. Also would you want to go to prison and be with the Dementors? I would be yelling my head off as well.
Not to mention; Sirius is lucky he came out with any sanity left, given what dementors do to people. A constant state of sadness is enough to make anyone upset.
Question: What is supposed to happen if you say Voldemort's name? Harry says it throughout the series many times, and nothing happens to him. Why do Arthur Weasley (in this movie) and other people always tell him to stop?
Answer: Actually, nothing happens to anyone who says it. The idea is that Voldemort was so evil that nearly everyone feared saying his name aloud, referring to him only as "You-Know-Who" or "The Dark Lord." Only Harry and Dumbledore freely spoke his name aloud, having no fear of it. However, in HP and the Deathly Hallows, Voldemort, knowing this about Harry, places a jinx on his own name, and anyone saying it will immediately reveal their location. Hermione happened to say "Voldemort" out loud right after she, Harry, and Ron escaped the attack at the wedding and were in the coffee shop. Two Death Eaters appear immediately after she says it, and almost capture the trio.
Answer: Voldemort can find whoever says his name. That's why people don't say his name - purely for the sake of their life.
That is only true after the death eaters take over the ministry.
Question: When Harry and Hermione go back in time to save Buckbeak, they both see Professor Dumbledore turning around and pointing something out to Fudge, Malfoy and the executioner. This was obviously done to distract them so Harry and Hermione could rescue Buckbeak but how could past Dumbledore know that future Harry and Hermione would be there to save his life?
Answer: Dumbledore is an immensely powerful wizard who detected them before he saw them.
Question: Except for Remus Lupin in this movie, it seems as though the Hogwarts teachers do not use the Hogwarts Express. How do they arrive at and leave the school?
Answer: There's a variety of ways that wizards can travel including magical vehicles (like the motorcycle that Hagrid drove), broomsticks, port keys, or riding flying animals (like a hippogriff or the threstrals). They could also use floo powder if their fireplace was connected to the floo network like Umbridge had in her office. The other teachers can certainly travel on the Hogwarts Express, and some probably do but just aren't shown. In the book, "Half-Blood Prince", Professor Slughorn rode the train and some teachers live at the school year round.
Answer: They can apparate whenever they want (as seen in Half Blood Prince).
Some can Apparate, but it's tricky and uncomfortable. In one of the books, Arthur Weasley mentions that many wizards don't like to Apparate. They prefer other ways to travel. Broomsticks, port keys, etc.
Question: Not sure if anybody will have an answer to this, but I would appreciate any good guesses. I read the book and it describes Remus' suitcase as having the name "Professor RJ Lupin" in "peeling" letters, so the letters have been there for a while. Did he teach at Hogwarts in the past, or could there be smaller magical schools in Britain?
Answer: Lupin did not work at other schools as none would have allowed a werewolf to teach children. Only Dumbledore ever offered him a teaching position. Regarding the title "Professor" on his suitcase that had appeared to be there for some time, I believe this is actually a movie mistake. He did not previously have this title for any reason.
Question: When Sirius is a dog dragging Ron down the hole, why didn't the Whomping Willow attack him? And when they're leaving the hole (Sirius, Ron, Hermione, and Harry) the Whomping Willow stays still. Why is that?
Chosen answer: In the books, the Whomping Willow had a knot on its trunk that, when pressed, froze the tree. In the movie, the tree is stilled by using the "Immobilus" spell. When Sirius, in his dog form, pulls Ron into the opening at the base of the Whomping Willow, he does it fast enough that the tree has not responded yet to someone being there. It starts whomping moments later just as Harry and Hermione arrive. Later, when Lupin arrived, he stopped the tree by casting Immobilus. (Harry and Hermione watch him doing this when they go back in time.) The spell was still effect when everyone left the Shrieking Shack.
Question: When the Fat Lady portrait is found shredded (by Sirius) there is a baby crying. In the scene you can see a youngish girl holding a crying baby, off to the left in the screen. Why is there a baby at Hogwarts?
Question: Near the end of the film, from Buckbeak's execution, there are things that relate to Harry and Hermione going back in time, like the stones being thrown through Hagrid's window, and the wolf howl etc. But if they had already gone back in time to do these things, then wouldn't Buckbeak and Sirius have already been saved, meaning that they wouldn't have to go back and do all that in the first place?
Answer: Yes, they had already been saved. But the kids didn't know about either of them. And Dumbledore didn't yet know about Sirius. He did know that Buckbeak had mysteriously vanished, but the fact that these things had already happened didn't mean they didn't have to do them. To the contrary, it formed a bit of a prophecy, telling Dumbledore that they not only had to do it, but that they would succeed, at least in the areas he knew had already happened. When time travel is involved, you are not allowed to assume your job is done just because a task has already been completed. In fact, that it actually locks you into a path that eventually leads to performing that same task.
Question: On the 2nd Disc, there is an interview with director Alfonso Cuaron and J.K. Rowling. In the interview, Rowling states that Cuaron unknowingly put some clues in the movie that foreshadow events that happen in books 6 an 7. I have read books 6 and 7 and I re-watched the movie, but I still have no idea what clues Rowling was referring to. Could someone please fill me in?
Chosen answer: Semi-spoilers, but just a few things that I noticed: Lupin speaking about Lily, saying that she saw the good in anyone, Hermione and Ron's little "moments" which were much more plentiful than in the 3rd book, and Snape protecting Harry from the werewolf when he could have run. I'm sure there might be more, but also keep in mind that between the making of this movie and the release of the final books, JKR did change/edit several things so some "clues" might foreshadow things that never made it into the books.
Question: Does Professor Snape know about Hermione's time-turner necklace? He doesn't seem to care that she suddenly appears in the Defense Against Dark Arts class out of nowhere, especially after class started. (I haven't read the third book yet, so I apologize if this is answered there).
Answer: Snape, and all the Hogwarts instructors know that Hermione is using the time-turner to take extra classes. A time-turner can only be used under very strict conditions and must be approved by the Ministry of Magic. That is why Snape does not punish Hermione for arriving after class has started. If she was merely being late, he would have been angry and deducted house points from Gryffindor.
Answer: Snape cannot possibly know about the time turner. At the end of the third book when Harry and Hermione rescue Sirius, Snape storms in and yells that they had helped Sirius escape, however he can prove nothing. This means that he does not know about the time turner, otherwise he would have brought it up in evidence that the pair must have used it to save Sirius, and furthermore that with the time turner they would be able to be in two places at once, which is the original evidential downfall for him. All of this proves that Snape does not know about the time turner. In response to the piece about the class, it's possible he just didn't notice her popping up out of nowhere.
Question: In the book, Snape and Lupin look at the Marauder's Map to see that Ron, Peter, Hermione, Harry and Sirius are all in the Shrieking Shack. How come Snape and Lupin didn't notice the second/future Harry and Hermione when they were near the whomping willow on the map?
Answer: They didn't notice the second ones because they weren't close enough to the tree when they were focused on that part of the map. There are hundreds of dots moving around the castle and it is possible they were just missed.
Question: Sirius receives a serious wound from Lupin when he's a werewolf. According to legend, if you're bitten by a werewolf, you become one. Why doesn't Sirius? I watched this scene several times, and Padfoot (Sirius) was bit by Lupin.
Answer: In the book Lupin says to Harry, "Werewolf bites are only fatal to humans." Sirius Black does not become infected with lycanthropy because he was in his animagus form of the dog, "the grim", at the time of the bite.
Answer: This didn't happen in the book. It appears to be done purely for comic effect in the movie, showing Dumbledore's eccentric and quirky nature. He's seemingly oblivious to what he's doing and how it affects Ron.
raywest ★