Question: Harry sees a dream of attacking Mr. Weasley as a snake, this was real. Harry sees a dream about Voldemort hurting Sirius, this is not real. Can anyone explain this to me?
Question: Why would Harry say Voldemort killed Cedric? Obviously it was Wormtail.
Answer: Peter Pettigrew was believed to be dead by the entire wizarding world. The only witnesses are Lupin (a werewolf), Sirius, who is still on the run, Harry, Ron and Hermione. No one believed him about Voldemort returning, as they thought he was only seeking attention. Its safe to assume everyone would also think the same about Pettigrew being alive.
Question: Why did Harry and Ron get into so much trouble for using the flying car in "Chamber of Secrets", but in this movie/book, the Order of the Phoenix members openly fly on broomsticks?
Answer: Ron and Harry, who were under-aged, took the car without permission, flew it haphazardly, nearly got Harry killed, were seen by Muggles and it was reported in the Muggle news. They also crashed the car into the Whomping Willow, causing much damage and could have injured others at Hogwarts. Their actions also got Mr. Weasley into trouble with the Ministry of Magic, because Mr. Weasley bewitched a muggle object which is illegal by wizards' law. When the Order of the Phoenix is moving Harry to a safe house, it was carefully planned and precautions were taken to avoid being seen, much like how the Knight Bus is always undetectable to Muggles.
They flew next to a ferry which would also be a bad idea.
Even though it's illegal to bewitch a muggle object, several wizards have enchanted cars. The ministry of magic owns several enchanted cars. Think about the Knight bus, not illegal. So Mr. Weasley was not in trouble for that.
Question: Why doesn't Voldemort, Sirius, or anybody else just apparate into the Department of Mysteries, take the prophecy, and apparate out?
Answer: Whether or not one can apparate into the Department of Mysteries is irrelevant in the film, because even if Voldemort were to come face to face with the Prophecy Orb, he still would be unable to summon its Prophecy, for only the subject of the Prophecy is able to acquire it, which in this case is Harry and Voldemort. Voldemort is not ready to let the wizarding world know he is alive yet and waltzing into the Ministry of Magic is too risky. That is why tricking Harry is so critical to Voldemort's plan.
Question: How come at the end, in the department of mysteries, there was blood at the end of Luna's mouth?
Answer: After the kids use the Stupefying Spell in unison on Lucius and the other Death Eaters, a few shots later Lucius apparates and holds out his hand. Three shots later (01:51:00) there's a closeup of Luna as she turns to face the masked Death Eater, then at the start of the next shot Luna is hit in the face and she falls backward onto the floor. It's here we see the bit of blood at the corner of Luna's mouth.
Question: How could Fred and George fly into the Great Hall to set off fireworks when they were in the Great Hall taking their OWLs?
Answer: Fred and George were not in the Great Hall during the O.W.L. exam (specifically the Theory of Charms exam), which is only for 5th years. Fred and George are in their 7th year (they've already sat their own O.W.L.s, 2 years prior). Note at the start of this scene there's a closeup of the board, and it reads, "O.W.L. examinations -Year 5" (time code 01:35:45).
Question: Why do people at first suspect that Harry is lying about Voldemort's return? Didn't they believe that he defeated Voldemort at the end of the first two movies?
Answer: Up until the end of Order of the Phoenix, there was no actual proof that Harry had ever confronted Lord Voldemort. It was only Harry's word and also Dumbledore's. It was only after Fudge and others saw Voldemort at the Ministry of Magic that they were finally convinced. Harry, being a child at the time, had been considered a less than reliable source and was considered by many to be an attention-seeking liar, caught up in his own celebrity as "the boy who lived." Dumbledore had a reputation of being a somewhat-eccentric crackpot who had lost his touch with age. While some found him credible, most simply wanted to believe that Voldemort was dead and would never return. It is typical of how the public reacts to crisis. Until there is definitive and irrefutable proof, they simply will not take a few people's word. Even then, there are still skeptics.
Question: Why is it that Arthur Weasley doesn't die when Nagini bites him, but Severus Snape later dies after being bitten by her?
Answer: Arthur was quickly brought to the hospital after the attack, and it seems like it may have been cut short by Voldemort realizing Harry could sense Nagini and the intervention of the Order. Snape was bitten several times in the face and neck and left to die with no help around. Not only that, but Voldemort magically slits Snape's throat before setting Nagini onto him, which would have sped up his death considerably.
Question: Is there anything that explains what Fudge and Malfoy were doing in the hall before the hearing began?
Answer: According to the book, Malfoy was probably there to put the Imperius curse on Sturgis Podmore (a Ministry worker; part of the Order of the Phoenix; who was under an invisibility cloak), so as to make him get the prophecy out of the Department of Mysteries for him. Not to make himself look suspicious, Malfoy started up a conversation with Fudge regarding Harry's hearing when the latter was on his way to the court. Malfoy's main intention was to carry out the Dark Lord's instructions without arousing suspicion.
Question: If Severus Snape could probe Harry's mind during the private lessons in this movie, why didn't he know certain other things about Harry in the previous movies/books - such as the fact that Harry really did *not* steal gillyweed from his stores (for the second Triwizard Tournament task)?
Answer: There are two possible answers to this question. A) Snape was so convinced of Harry's guilt that he felt it would be a waste of time to use Legilimens. B) It takes a lot of energy to properly use Legilimens so Snape decided it was not worth his effort to find out if Harry was telling the truth about trivial happenings around the castle.
Question: Has JK Rowling ever stated what would have happened if Harry had joined Slytherin and/or become a Dark Wizard? Would Voldemort have sought to slay or recruit him? The scene where he's provoking Harry into using the Unforgiveable Curse on Bellatrix got me thinking.
Question: Is it just me or do both of the Patil twins appear to be wearing Griffindor uniforms? one of them (Padma) should be wearing Ravenclaw colours.
Question: This applies to all the movies and books. Why is Dumbledore the only one Voldemort ever feared?
Chosen answer: Because Dumbledore is extremely powerful and utterly unintimidated by Voldemort. Voldemort, while extremely powerful himself, relies on fear to weaken any opposition to him - through fear, he gains a measure of control. Dumbledore, who has no fear of his ex-student, stands as a strong opponent who cannot be weakened through psychological tactic - as such, Voldemort fears him.
Answer: In addition, Dumbledore has a reputation of defeating powerful dark wizards, such as his defeat of Grindelwald, who yielded the elder wand.
Question: Is Evana Lynch British? I know that all the people in the films are supposed to be British, but I don't hear much of an accent at all on Luna.
Answer: She's Irish.
Question: Why does it seem like Filch is on Dolores Umbridge's side?
Answer: He has always been in favour of using much stricter discipline at Hogwarts, even talking warmly about medieval punishing methods. Umbridge introduces and enforces the sort of rigid regime he wants, one where the school will be free of pranks and rule-breaking, something he hates with a passion (since, as caretaker, he often has to clean up the mess afterwards). Hence, he is very much in support of Umbridge.
Question: In the scene just before Sirius Black is killed he says "Good job, James." Is there someone else named James or is he mistakenly calling Harry by his father's name?
Question: How is it possible that Harry has no problems with trusting Alastor Moody in this movie? At the end of the previous movie, he discovered that "Moody" was an evil imposter who conspired against him. He only saw the real Moody briefly when he was trapped inside his trunk and didn't even interact with him. So how come he isn't distrustful/suspicious towards him if he barely knows him?
Answer: How can Harry trust anyone, knowing they could be a Polyjuice imposter? The rest of The Order of the Phoenix trust Moody, and that has to be enough for Harry.
But in the book, he remembers that "Moody" was fake.
And was caught and replaced with the real Moody.
Still, it would have made much more sense if Harry said, "Professor Moody? Is that really you?" and Moody replied, "Yes, it's really me, the real Alastor Moody, not this cheap imposter."
Answer: Agree with the other answer, but would add that any evil wizard attempting to gain proximity to Harry by using Polyjuice potion would be unlikely to impersonate "Mad-Eye" Moody, as the real one would now be closely scrutinized and vetted by the Order.
But there is another issue. Harry acts as if he knew Moody very well, despite never interacting with him before.
As mentioned, Harry was present when the real Moody was rescued at the end of "Goblet of Fire." He likely had interaction with him immediately following that event and then later, even though it's not shown on screen. He also knows Moody by his colourful reputation and that Dumbledore and the Order of the Phoenix fully trust him.
He didn't interact with Moody in the previous movie because Moody was in a bad mental state due to being trapped for a whole year. It took Moody some time to recover from this trauma.
Answer: And why shouldn't Harry trust Moody? He was a loyal member of the Order Of The Phoenix. Barty Crouch Jr., who impersonated Moody, was sent back to Azkaban. And even though Harry hardly knows him, he knows well enough that Moody is there to help him.
Question: What did Tonks trip over when entering the Order of the Phoenix house after liberating Harry from the Dursleys? Why was it necessary to include it in the film?
Chosen answer: Any book-to-film adaptation will require changes, because what works on the page will not always work cinematically, for any number of reasons. Given the length of some books (the Order of the Phoenix clocks in at well over 700 pages), there's no realistic way that everything could possibly be fitted into the length of a movie, and thus it regularly becomes necessary to eject certain subplots entirely, condense certain events, combine characters or whatever else might be necessary to tell the basic story successfully within a two hour timeframe. As a result, many cinematic adaptations can contain significant deviations from the original book, but ultimately tell what amounts to the same core story. This happens with most of the Potter films, particularly those based on the longer books, but ultimately the main storyline remains intact, even if they take a slightly different route along the way.
Tailkinker ★