10 Essential Scenes In Harry Potter That Were Absent In The Movies

The Harry Potter movies have been key in the creation of memories for kids, teenagers, and adults everywhere. Some hardcore fans, however, have found many instances where the filmmakers have completely ignored essential plot twists and scenes present in the books, which are key for the development of the story, and even some smaller instances, where beloved characters have been cut out of the films entirely. Here are 10 things that occurred in the books that didn’t make it to the movies.

1.    Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare (S.P.E.W)

Hermione Granger, the brightest witch of her age, decided to lead a revolution against the cruelty towards house-elves and goblins, by founding S.P.E.W, the Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare, first seen in The Goblet of Fire. The iconic scene in which Hermione orients Harry and Ron about the goals and recruitment processes of her new society, as well as the existence of the entire society itself was skimped out on in the movies. Hermione’s excitement towards the welfare of the wizarding world, as well as her empathy for magical creatures, is nowhere depicted in any of the films. We believe S.P.E.W should have at least been mentioned somewhere in any of the films,if only to highlight her passion for the well being of her community.

2.    Peeves the Poltergeist

One of the most loved characters in the Harry Potter universe is Peeves the Poltergeist. Best known for providing comic relief in intense scenes, playing pranks on students and teachers alike, as well as continuously annoying the Hogwarts caretaker, Filch, many Potter fans were rather disappointed to see the absence of the ghoul in the films.

3.    Bat-bogey Hex

In the books, Ginny Weasley, resident badass, used the bat-bogey hex rather frequently on bullies and enemies alike. It was rather disappointing to see its absence in the movies, as well as Ginny’s loser-like portrayal. The hex was rather exclusive to her, and to many Potterheads, Ginny is still associated with it, for using it to get out of Umbridge’s office in The Order of the Phoenix. We would have loved to see a visual structure to the hex, just to put an image to the name.

4.    Sir Cadogan

In The Prisoner of Azkaban, the Fat lady, portrait guardian of Gryffindor tower, fell victim to an attack by the notorious mass murderer, Sirius Black. In order to give her time to heal, Dumbledore replaced her portrait with that of a rather eccentric knight, Sir Cadogan, at the entrance of Gryffindor tower. Harry, Ron, and Hermione’s adventures with the funny little man, although brief, were very entertaining. Cutting him out of the movie was rather unfortunate, and had he been there, comic relief would have been immense, much needed given the storyline of the movie.

5.    Weasley is our King

Along with cutting out a vast majority of Quidditch matches, the moviemakers also cut out Malfoy’s infamous Weasley is Our King rhyme from The order of the Phoenix, which was meant to poke fun at Ron for being a keeper who couldn’t defend his goalpost. A lot of fans voiced their opinions on this, and said they would have loved to hear a tune to the rhyme, and that it was a shame that the jests were left out of the films altogether.

6.    Deathday Party

Nearly Headless Nick held a Deathday Party in the book Chamber of Secrets, which was a turning point for Harry in his investigation to see what Draco was up to. Nick and Harry’s relationship was also highlighted here, where the readers find out the Harry does care deeply for the ghost, and does not just put up with his rantings as an obligation. In the movies, however, Nick is just a secondary character, with little, almost no significance to the plot, and had the party been featured in the film, Nick’s character may have been highlighted for the kind soul (pun intended) that he was.

7.    Hermione and Ron as Prefects

The fact that both Hermione, the smart and bookish witch, and Ron, the slow slacker, became prefects for their year in The Order of the Phoenix, and The Half-Blood Prince is a pivotal for the story, as it highlights Harry’s disappointment and his cluelessness without Ron and Hermione, and also that Ron is not an entirely useless character, but has some charisma and ability. In the movies, however, it seems Percy Weasley remains prefect for as long as we can see, and Ron remains the useless tag-along of the Golden Trio.

8.    Squibs

Non-magical members of the wizarding community are known as squibs. There is no mention of them in the films, even though Hogwarts’ caretaker, Filch, is one. There is also no explanation behind why Filch is a wandless wizard, leaving movie-only fans wondering whether he was actually a muggle, or just a wizard without a wand.

9.    Professor Binns

The old, sorry, dead History of Magic Professor, Professor Binns was again, one of the few characters who was left out of the franchise. In the books, the phantom professor provided all the information about the Chamber of Secrets to his class. Binns’ classes were known to be boring and monotonous but gave readers a lot of insight into Harry’s thought process. Scrapping him from the movies was a rather unfortunate move.

10. Co-ed Beaubaxtons and Durmstrang

The two schools which visited Hogwarts for the Triwizard tournament were, in the book The Goblet of Fire, both co-ed, that is, had both male and female students as well as a whole lot of diversity. In the movies, however, the French wizarding school, Beaubaxtons, was an all-girls school, with lovely young ladies as their students, Their theme of femininity and grace did not sit too well with those who had read the books. Durmstrang, on the other hand, was an all-boys school, with big, bulky, masculine Bulgarian men as their students. Where the sexism and stereotypes came in, we don’t know, but we would have loved to see more diversity and gender equality among the two.

Although the movies did have a few mistakes, they are still very well loved, and continue to be watched by Potter fans of all ages. The filmmakers did their best to create a magical experience for their audiences, and they did succeed, with a couple of minor setbacks, but nevertheless, the Harry Potter movies will continue to be loved for years to come.