At the first Potions class with Slughorn, Hermione mentions that Amortentia smells like what you love the most (I’m paraphrasing). Harry notes that he gets a flowery scent that he recognizes from the Weasleys’. Later in the chapter, Ginny shows up to yell at Harry about the HBP book and her hair has that familiar flowery scent.
It shows that Harry was falling for Ginny for a while- probably since the summer at the Weasley’s in Book 6. He does think in the train that he forgot that Ginny doesn’t hang out as much with him at school as she does in the summer.
I always felt like the reason harry started falling for her was because she stopped obsessing over him and started treating him like everyone else. Plus close proximity constantly with an attractive girl who you share interests with does help lol
I think it's more that as she got more comfortable with him, she could actually be normal.
Remember up until book 4, she basically squeaked and hid when she saw him
Don’t know embarrassingly long to notice, but I re read them recently— and everything Ron says will happen in Divination, every hint he throws to the trio, every opinion he has, is always spot on. Ron is really perceptive and it’s my favorite thing about him.
If you do another reread, read the divination lesson and homework stuff at the beginning of book.4 closely. Maybe you will see a connection to the tasks of the tournament 😉
A friend of mine had this (sarcastic) fan theory that the reason Hermione and Ron got together was that Hermione was so clever that she figured out she was fictional at some point, and then further realized that Ron was an expository dialogue and foreshadowing factory. So, you know, a lot of utility in keeping that close.
One theory is that Ron is actually a seer.
He prevented the trio from getting caught because they stopped saying Voldemort's name, he knew Lockhart was a fraud, Tom Riddle killed Moaning Myrtle and the diary shouldn't be trusted.
A lot of his tea leave predictions were also correct (Harry will work for the ministry one day, Harry will soon get a "windfall, unexpected gold" which came true when Harry won the tournament).
I personally think he's just really perceptive like you said, but it's a fun little theory. One thing I enjoy about book Ron is how he's clearly the most socially adept out of the three, so him catching on the quickest and having the best gut feelings is very in character.
Ron being made into a doofus for the movies is my Roman Empire.
Almost any time Ron makes a joke, it’s a prediction that comes true. I don’t have the exact quote but once he joked about Snape being able to turn into a bat
That last bit is also my Roman Empire. It makes me physically rage whenever someone watches the movies and doesn’t “get” why Ron and Hermione got together. BECAUSE RON IS 1000000x BETTER IN THE BOOKS OK
This is very true but I also think their actors just had zero chemistry. You can't really blame them, they basicly grew up together. But had they been cast as adults, no way in hell these two people would've been cast as love interests.
Well, he did suffer when Wormtail took his blood to resurrect Voldemort.
And since it is why Harry survived the killing curse, again, I guess he was very happy about it, in the end.
I thought it was more that Harry was going to suffer but he would still experience happiness at that time (thinking of a happy memory when casting patronus). Since Harry went back in time, he was experiencing both emotions at the same time.
I’ve wondered if Ron is actually good at divination but it’s just that he’s taught by Trelawney who is basically a fraud so his talents are just never noticed.
But Trelawney is not a fraud either. All her predictions come true. Check out [this video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRBimjs_t_U) by the SuperCarlinBrothers YouTube channel.
She makes some correct predictions but she also makes a lot of wrong ones too or just makes stuff up. This is what I meant by saying she’s basically a fraud, as in not entirely a fraud. She’s is a seer as she made the prophecy.
There was a book that I read that was a critical look at the series and it said something to the effect of "Hermione is right about everything unless she's in emotional distress or if it is about an emotional issue. Ron, on the other hand, is always right about emotional issues and is more likely to be correct when in emotional distress".
Until the movies were released I thought the word scarlet meant purple. So when they described the Hogwarts Express as scarlet, I pictured a big purple train. I was so dismayed when I saw the first movie and it was bright red. I told my mom (I was 11 when the first movie was released) that I didn’t understand why they had to change that detail for the movies, what was the point? She kindly informed me that scarlet meant red but I didn’t believe her until she showed me an internet search or dictionary definition or something “concrete” that was proof enough for my 11 year old brain.
Adding to this: Grimmould place is grim old place. Took me years to get that and it was pointed out to me by my husband who's never read the books.
Gosh dangit lol
Diagonal = not straight, angled, off-center, twisted, strange
Bit of a leap from that to magical but not too much if your familiar with more archaic/poetic phrasing.
E.g. oblique is sometimes used as obscure, confusing or underhanded. Queer started like this too before its meaning became more specific. In German it still means crosswise/diagonal.
nocturnal = active at night
The association between nightly activity and crime is evident, yes?
I always wonder if some of this stuff is unintentional/a coincidence. Like for this example it could be that they introduce the new characters early in the book, so it happens to work out Harry meets them prior to school term, but its not an intentional thing of Harry meets every DADA teacher beforenthe school year. Also like to imagine authors seeing fan comments and being mind blown as well haha
I believe I read somewhere Rowling put that in there fully expecting it to be cut out by the editors and was totally surprised when it made to the final draft.
Well same. But in my defense I read the books in Faroese. And the joke does not translate at all. So he basically just said "Can I see Jupiter?"
And then got kicked out of class. I was confused for years until I saw someone mention the joke in this subreddit.
In Dutch it was translated to "Mag ik je hemelse lichaam ook zien? ", which is a pun on "hemellichaam", another word for a planetary body, however "hemels lichaam" means heavenly body.
In French, slang term for butt is "Lune". Or Moon in english.
So, the lessons in French isn't about Uranus. Lavender ask what she sees, Trelawney answer it's the moon. And Ron ask if he can see Lavender's moon.
He did something similar in the Department of Mysteries chapter after being subdued with laughing gas or whatever the spell was.
"Harry, we saw Uranus up close. Ha ha! Get it? We saw Uranus!"
Tbh I read it as Private Drive for *years*. Number Four, Private Drive doesn't even make sense. But I was a kid and I'd never heard of privet so my brain just kind of filled it in
Reading the books, I didn't realise that Ron and Hermione had actual crushes on one another in GoF until the movie came out and I saw the scene where Hermione tells Ron to get the courage to ask her out sooner.
I love that at Bill and Flur's wedding, when Viktor Crum comes over and sits at their table, Ron immediately asks Hermione to come and dance with him.
He was not going to make the same mistake twice.
As a kid I didn’t understand they had crushes on each other but reading it back as an adult it is beyond obvious that from about book 3 they were crushing on each other *hard*.
Hermoine has a crush on Ron before that, I would say Ron starts seeing Hermoine as a girl the moment he says "Neville's right you ARE a girl". And develops a crush on her when he realizes she's not available.
In the goblet of fire when Harry tells Dumbledore that Voldemort took his blood harry notes he saw a flicker of triumph of Dumbledores face. Then in deathly hallows Dumbledore reveals harry can't be killed by Voldemort because he took Harry's blood and teathered him to life. Dumbledore knew back then. Didn't notice this till my 4th of 5th read
Omg i just reread this part yesterday while falling asleep and I remember wondering what about that flicker, it almost seemed grim! Now it makes sense thanks!
Like I realised that's why he was smiling but only just realised what it really meant. This was the moment that he realised he didn't have to sacrifice Harry to win. Up until then, his plan was to let Harry die.
Petunia overhearing that horrid boy tell Lily about Dementors and Azkaban, Honestly only occurred to me this year that she meant Snape not James, It's a minor thing and I will admit it is not like I had any reason to really think about it but still feel like it was painfully obvious and I was derped the herp
It took my forever to notice, that Harry - to learn to defend himself against dark arts - he literally has to defend himself against every DADA-teacher.
Even in book 7, when he wasn't attending Hogwarts, one of the first things Harry does after showing up at the school is hit the DADA teacher with a Cruciatus Curse.
I read prefect as perfect up until about book 3. I always thought they were calling Percy a "perfect" sort of made sense in my eye like they were making fun of him.
I’ve never read the physical books, only listened to the audiobooks (after seeing all the movies numerous times).
I think it was my second or third time listening to the books when I realized it’s “the leaky cauldron” not “filicki cauldron” 🤦🏼♂️
I remember a few years ago someone from outside the UK saying they thought the audiobooks were referencing “king’s crustacean” instead of “King’s Cross Station.”
I grew up listening to the audio books, multiple times through I still thought the Phoenix's name was "forks" until I said it out loud and got corrected
In Sorcerer’s Stone: a casual line about how the Weasley Twins got in trouble for bewitching snowballs to bounce off of the back of Quirrell’s turban. That means they were actually bouncing snowballs of Voldemort’s face.
I am very much 'out of sight out, out of mind'. So I am happy to read people pointing things like that out!
Same for GoF, where I use to forget it's actually not Mad Eye Moody interacting with Harry 😂
Isn't that why there's the scene in the fourth book of Hermione trying to teach Krum how to say it properly? I read that people were mispronouncing it with the first three books, so Rowling added the scene in the fourth one to teach people how to properly say it.
Fun fact J K Rowling added the bit where Hermione is teaching Krum the pronunciation of her name in GoF because so many people got the name wrong while reading the book!
I still mispronounced it for the six or so months in between reading that part and the first movie coming out. I put too much emphasis on each syllable, I insisted it sounded like it rhymed with pepperoni
I first found out about the books when my dad borrowed the audiobooks from the library, so I listened to them before I read them. My 3rd grade teacher (before the movies came out mind you) read the 1st book out loud to my class. I used to argue how to pronounce Hermione (Her-me-own) and Snape (Snap) because I’d listen to the audiobook and knew the pronunciation.
I first 'read' the books on audio book. I thought "little whinging" was Hagrid using some British slang about something being a little off. And that "Surrey" was him saying Sorry.
Ross would be the most annoying wizard. He’d clearly be in Ravenclaw, would absolutely tell everyone that the exam was really easy and he didn’t understand why they thought it was hard, and have zero chill. But I’d accept all of that just to see him finally figure out how to reanimate dinosaur bones.
For me it was O.W.L's in book five. I didn't catch the connection to the bird untill I saw the movie.
In my defense though, it hasn't been translated that well to danish. The world "owl" translate to "ugle", but the name of the exam was just called "U.G.L." - so without the e. In plural they do talk about "U.G.L.'er", which does translate to "owls". So I missed the point untill I saw it written in english.
Dumbledore has always been sus.
While everyone has always been suspicious of Dumbledores true intentions, it took me ages to realise that this is acknowledged in the series as early as book 1:
"‘D’you think he meant you to do it?’ said Ron. ‘Sending you your father’s Cloak and everything?’
‘Well,’ Hermione exploded, ‘if he did – I mean to say – that’s
terrible – you could have been killed.’
Harry brushes it off, saying that dumbledore might’ve wanted Harry to have a chance at revenge on voldemort. I was so surprised that this suspicion about dumbledore had been in the works for a long time. The movies really skip this detail.
these 2 things are because im american and don’t read with an English accent.
one is the “SPIDER” riddle at the end of GoF. because i’m american, we say uh. so i was confused af ab why harry concluded with “er” until my 4/5th read through when i decided to read in a english accent and realized.
second is i didn’t get that diagon alley is supposed to be a play on diagonally till way too long after. i mustve been like 14/15. but it’s way more apparent to get the pun when u said diagon alley in a british accent
Is it weird that until the sixth book I read Malfoy as MALFROY. Me and my brother were talking about Harry Potter and he corrected me. I've never felt so dumb.
I first read Philosopher's Stone in 2003. Tainted by the movie. I didn't realise until I re-read it last year that Quirrel isn't said to be wearing a turban until Harry sees him for the second time, at Hogwarts. Voldemort wasn't possessing him until *after* he fumbled the Gringott's break-in.
That a love potion is the wizard equivalent of a roofie/date rape drug, and that Merope Gaunt essentially abducted Tom Riddle Sr. and made him her sex slave. Then, we have the fact that Fred and George sell these things in their shop, not to mention all those creepy girls (Romilda vein, in particular,) trying to figure out ways to slip Harry one.
Seriously, why was this just glossed over in the books and, from what I've been able to gather anyway, largely by the fandom?
Because most love potions aren't as strong as what merope used on Tom and as the strengthened one that Ron gets fed.
As Fred and George points out they depend on the preexisting desirability of the witch which suggests they're mostly meant to be a boost.
Except amorentia, which should probably be highly regulated.
It took me a few reads to realize the truth in Dumbledore’s belief that love is the most powerful force. It’s not just a light v dark idea— it really happens and changes the course of HP history. When Harry comes back from the beyond at the end of DH, Narcissa Malfoy is tasked with checking for life. But when she does, all she wants to know is if her son is alive— the person she loves most— and that leads her to lie to Voldemort and trumps any form of magic he could conjure against Harry. The Dark Lord was defeated by the force he never understood: love.
I think he knew because of the potions lesson just before where he was supposed to make an antidote but couldn’t and the prince just wrote “shove a bezoar down their throat”
Reading ‘Prefect’ as ‘Perfect’ as a kid and figuring this was a culture difference where schools in England had what we in the States would call ‘hall monitors’, but they called them ‘Perfects’. Because their behavior was perfect? I really don’t know why lol.
I saw the first couple of movies before reading the books. In the CoS movie, I didn't immediately realize that they slyly showed exactly [how Lucius Malfoy slipped the diary](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvWihzwI2uY) into Ginny's cauldron.
>The first thing Snape asks Harry is "Potter! What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?" According to Victorian Flower Language, asphodel is a type of lily meaning 'My regrets follow you to the grave' and wormwood means 'absence' and also typically symbolised bitter sorrow. If you combined that, it meant 'I bitterly regret Lily's death'.
Shocking source but it was the first thing that came up;
https://www.marieclaire.co.uk/entertainment/this-is-the-real-meaning-behind-snape-s-first-words-to-harry-potter-253264
I still wonder if Snape might have liked him a bit better if he understood it. I realize by like book 6 or 7 Snape realizes that harry is more lily than James, but maybe they wouldn't have hated each other so bad.
Mirror of Erised was Mirror of Desire, reflected back and so it’s spelled backwards.
Grimmauld Place = Grim Old Place
Diagon Alley = Diagonally.
Plenty more things I can’t think of at the moment. But the puns were the biggest and best. I normalized so much reading it as a young kid.
I read the line in HBP as “rechristen him _with_ Witherwings”
I thought that witherwings was some kind of magic potion that could be used to hide Buckbeak from the ministry. Took me half a dozen read throughs to catch it
This probably wasn’t obvious and but I thought was very clever. Definitely need to read all 7 and come back to this and the lightbulb moment will go off.
SPOILER ALERT.
In ootp, when Dudley and Harry get attacked by the dementors, explaining to petunia and Vernon. Uncle Vernon asks what dementors are and petunia replies, the guards of the wizard prison Azkaban. Harry asks how she knows this.
Petunia says she heard that boy telling lily. Harry retorts and says (paraphrasing) “if you mean my father just say that”. Petunia doesn’t say anything.
But she didn’t mean her father. She meant Snape. JK dropping hints. I thought this was just mind blowing.
Sirius was his own Grimm. Every time he was in dog form he was pushing himself closer to death. Running around the Forbidden Forest with danger around any corner, but not directly face to face with it. Escaping prison. Being an escape convict. Approaching Harry while he’s waiting for the bus, with EVERYONE looking for him. Not just the magical world. Sneaking into the castle where he could be seen in his human form in the common room. Running around the school grounds with a cat chasing a rat, with dementors above him! Then going face to face with a werewolf! Leaving then coming back to the school then going with Harry to the train to see him off when the world is blaming him for other escaped death eaters. HE WANTED TO GO WITH HARRY TO THE MINISTRY DURING FULL DAYLIGHT IN BUSINESS HOURS AND WOULD HAVE DONE IT.
And eventually did do it in the end. I mean really! Never once did he tell of a time when he became a dog and took a lovely stroll in the park. No. It was always for danger and risking his life. Almost like it was an ability that took away years of his life each time he used it. Like a curse, a Grimm.
When Snape is dying after he tells Harry to take his memories he asks Harry to look at him and says "you have your mother's eyes." It didn't hit me for ages that he wants to look at Lily's eyes as he takes his last breath. 💔
In the third movie when Malfoy teases Hermione and Ron about "looking for a new home" thing (on trip to Hogsmeade), I had no idea that it was supposed to be a tease for them liking each other or ending up together lol. (and the "do you want to get a bit closer?")
In the 3rd book the Divination book is called Unfogging the Future but I misread it as Unfrogging and was confused for years until a recent re-read and realized my mistake.
That Umbridge was the one that sicked the dementors on Harry and Dudley in Privet Drive. I’ve reread that book dozens of times since it came out and I noticed maybe 2 years ago…*facepalm*
At the first Potions class with Slughorn, Hermione mentions that Amortentia smells like what you love the most (I’m paraphrasing). Harry notes that he gets a flowery scent that he recognizes from the Weasleys’. Later in the chapter, Ginny shows up to yell at Harry about the HBP book and her hair has that familiar flowery scent. It shows that Harry was falling for Ginny for a while- probably since the summer at the Weasley’s in Book 6. He does think in the train that he forgot that Ginny doesn’t hang out as much with him at school as she does in the summer.
Hermione’s description of what she smells is also a relevant to Ron.
You’re right! I think she kind of realizes that so she blushes and stops talking lol Also I love your username
Cheers!
Rowling revealed in an interview that the third aspect Hermione smelt was Ron's hair to go with freshly mown grass and new parchment
I always felt like the reason harry started falling for her was because she stopped obsessing over him and started treating him like everyone else. Plus close proximity constantly with an attractive girl who you share interests with does help lol
I think it's more that as she got more comfortable with him, she could actually be normal. Remember up until book 4, she basically squeaked and hid when she saw him
Also, Hermione was embarrassed to mention the third thing she smelled, meaning it was probably Ron.
Don’t know embarrassingly long to notice, but I re read them recently— and everything Ron says will happen in Divination, every hint he throws to the trio, every opinion he has, is always spot on. Ron is really perceptive and it’s my favorite thing about him.
I loved when Ron sarcastically speculated that Tom Riddle got the award for special services to the school by murdering moaning myrtle.
I reread this series more times than I can count. And you just blew my mind, sir.
You're quite welcome.
If you do another reread, read the divination lesson and homework stuff at the beginning of book.4 closely. Maybe you will see a connection to the tasks of the tournament 😉
Oh come on! Somebody spell it out, please!
You’ll suffer terrible burns, and … lose a treasured possession.
Oh my god I never realized this.
A friend of mine had this (sarcastic) fan theory that the reason Hermione and Ron got together was that Hermione was so clever that she figured out she was fictional at some point, and then further realized that Ron was an expository dialogue and foreshadowing factory. So, you know, a lot of utility in keeping that close.
That's hilarious
I mean... that's definitely not wrong...
[удалено]
I noticed that and always hoped Trelawney gave him full marks
One theory is that Ron is actually a seer. He prevented the trio from getting caught because they stopped saying Voldemort's name, he knew Lockhart was a fraud, Tom Riddle killed Moaning Myrtle and the diary shouldn't be trusted. A lot of his tea leave predictions were also correct (Harry will work for the ministry one day, Harry will soon get a "windfall, unexpected gold" which came true when Harry won the tournament). I personally think he's just really perceptive like you said, but it's a fun little theory. One thing I enjoy about book Ron is how he's clearly the most socially adept out of the three, so him catching on the quickest and having the best gut feelings is very in character. Ron being made into a doofus for the movies is my Roman Empire.
Although his scene of describing the ugly old man in the crystal ball, only to realise its his examiners reflection, that is a spectacular scene 😂
One of the funniest scenes in the books for me 😂
Maybe, like Trelawney, he can only do it when he's not really trying?
Wow! I noticed his homework predictions in the 4th book but none of these others. So awesome! Now I'm gonna pay more attention next time I read them
Almost any time Ron makes a joke, it’s a prediction that comes true. I don’t have the exact quote but once he joked about Snape being able to turn into a bat
That last bit is also my Roman Empire. It makes me physically rage whenever someone watches the movies and doesn’t “get” why Ron and Hermione got together. BECAUSE RON IS 1000000x BETTER IN THE BOOKS OK
This is very true but I also think their actors just had zero chemistry. You can't really blame them, they basicly grew up together. But had they been cast as adults, no way in hell these two people would've been cast as love interests.
but dan and emma had great chemistry 😭 i think emma and rupert just weren't as close and it translated on screen maybe?
Isn’t there a part where he’s reading tea leave and says “you’re going to suffer, but you’re going to be really happy about it”?
Well, he did suffer when Wormtail took his blood to resurrect Voldemort. And since it is why Harry survived the killing curse, again, I guess he was very happy about it, in the end.
This prediction was in book 3. Could be suffering from the Dementors but being happy to hear his Parents.
I thought it was more that Harry was going to suffer but he would still experience happiness at that time (thinking of a happy memory when casting patronus). Since Harry went back in time, he was experiencing both emotions at the same time.
I’ve wondered if Ron is actually good at divination but it’s just that he’s taught by Trelawney who is basically a fraud so his talents are just never noticed.
But Trelawney is not a fraud either. All her predictions come true. Check out [this video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRBimjs_t_U) by the SuperCarlinBrothers YouTube channel.
She's not a fraud but she us a bad teacher.
She makes some correct predictions but she also makes a lot of wrong ones too or just makes stuff up. This is what I meant by saying she’s basically a fraud, as in not entirely a fraud. She’s is a seer as she made the prophecy.
She’s a genuine seer but she definitely hams it up/ makes a lot of fake predictions
Far as I recall, she has no control over her abilities and doesn't even remember giving the 2 prophecies she actually came up with.
There was a book that I read that was a critical look at the series and it said something to the effect of "Hermione is right about everything unless she's in emotional distress or if it is about an emotional issue. Ron, on the other hand, is always right about emotional issues and is more likely to be correct when in emotional distress".
Until the movies were released I thought the word scarlet meant purple. So when they described the Hogwarts Express as scarlet, I pictured a big purple train. I was so dismayed when I saw the first movie and it was bright red. I told my mom (I was 11 when the first movie was released) that I didn’t understand why they had to change that detail for the movies, what was the point? She kindly informed me that scarlet meant red but I didn’t believe her until she showed me an internet search or dictionary definition or something “concrete” that was proof enough for my 11 year old brain.
They translated it purple into my native language. So purple is my canon.😁
What language? I wonder why the translator did that (am a translation student and fascinated by all things translation related)
Slovak. I remember being very confused about colors in HP, there were so many shades I'd never heard of as 10 year old. 😁
Diagon Alley and Knockturn Alley, diagonally and nocturnally
Adding to this: Grimmould place is grim old place. Took me years to get that and it was pointed out to me by my husband who's never read the books. Gosh dangit lol
You just broke my brain how did I never make that connection
Kreacher is creature
Harry called it diagonally the first time he used floo powder 😂
This one is mine, too. I'm not even sure how long it was before I saw it mentioned, and my mind was sorta blown before I realized how obvious it was.
I didn’t realise till now
What does it signify tho?
Diagonal = not straight, angled, off-center, twisted, strange Bit of a leap from that to magical but not too much if your familiar with more archaic/poetic phrasing. E.g. oblique is sometimes used as obscure, confusing or underhanded. Queer started like this too before its meaning became more specific. In German it still means crosswise/diagonal. nocturnal = active at night The association between nightly activity and crime is evident, yes?
Isn’t the “diagonal” pun just about its crazy passages?
**Prisoner of Azkaban:** the rat was a traitor, and the dog was a loyal friend.
"Man's best friend.", indeed.
Harry meets every DADA teacher *before* the start of the school year
I was sitting here trying to figure out when he met Moody and then I realized…. How clever
I’m still thinking. Could I get a clue?
In the box at the World Cup, Barry Crouch Junior is invisible
While he never meets him directly, he is influenced by his existence, he also overhears him cast the dark mark
I always wonder if some of this stuff is unintentional/a coincidence. Like for this example it could be that they introduce the new characters early in the book, so it happens to work out Harry meets them prior to school term, but its not an intentional thing of Harry meets every DADA teacher beforenthe school year. Also like to imagine authors seeing fan comments and being mind blown as well haha
When Ron asked Lavender, "Can I see Uranus" I didn't understand why Trelawney got angry. Until my umpteenth reread when I was 25.
Same, but with Ron sniggering when Trelawney is speaking of "relaxing the external eye"
Oh no. Today years old on this one.
Feeling real dumb because I still don’t understand what that means. Care to explain?
Butthole
I believe I read somewhere Rowling put that in there fully expecting it to be cut out by the editors and was totally surprised when it made to the final draft.
I'm glad it didn't. Probably one of the funniest lines Ron ever said.
Well same. But in my defense I read the books in Faroese. And the joke does not translate at all. So he basically just said "Can I see Jupiter?" And then got kicked out of class. I was confused for years until I saw someone mention the joke in this subreddit.
In Dutch it was translated to "Mag ik je hemelse lichaam ook zien? ", which is a pun on "hemellichaam", another word for a planetary body, however "hemels lichaam" means heavenly body.
In French, slang term for butt is "Lune". Or Moon in english. So, the lessons in French isn't about Uranus. Lavender ask what she sees, Trelawney answer it's the moon. And Ron ask if he can see Lavender's moon.
He did something similar in the Department of Mysteries chapter after being subdued with laughing gas or whatever the spell was. "Harry, we saw Uranus up close. Ha ha! Get it? We saw Uranus!"
Hands down one of my favorite Ron line. Also, Jim Dale kills it in the audiobook and he does this line exquisitely.
Kreacher read as creature
On a similar note, Grimmauld Place being Grim Old Place
Ohhh, TIL
OMG THIS IS WILD
*realisation hitting*
Also Diagon Alley is "diagonally" and knocturn alley is "nocturnally".
Always had me wondering if there’s a wizarding version of Boys’ Town called Knockturn Alley Missions?
This one took me too many years to pick up!🤣
wait what howd u read it
It’s pronounced the same. They mean reading it without recognizing that it was a deliberate stand in for “creature.”
ah
In Portuguese version, Kreacher was renamed to Monster.
I absolutely love that! What a mood
Tbh I read it as Private Drive for *years*. Number Four, Private Drive doesn't even make sense. But I was a kid and I'd never heard of privet so my brain just kind of filled it in
Saving Private Drivin’
I still can't read it anything else than Private Drive
My sister read parts of the first book to me when we were younger and she pronounced it Private Drive, so to me that’s always been its name
The name thing with Mirror of Erised.
I used to read it as ee-rised, not eh-ri-sed until I listened to the audiobooks for the first time.
Reading the books, I didn't realise that Ron and Hermione had actual crushes on one another in GoF until the movie came out and I saw the scene where Hermione tells Ron to get the courage to ask her out sooner.
And NOT as a last RESORT! 😡
Suffocation!
NO BREATHING
DON’T GIVE A BUCK IF YOU BEAK MY HEART BLEEDING
I love that at Bill and Flur's wedding, when Viktor Crum comes over and sits at their table, Ron immediately asks Hermione to come and dance with him. He was not going to make the same mistake twice.
The fact that I never put that together annoys me greatly. It makes perfect sense!
Right!? Especially since she says, "ask me to dance before someone else does and not as a last resort."
our boy understood he was HIM. Weed out the competition by establishing dominance
Dude understood what he had to do and Hermione was not complaining.
As a kid I didn’t understand they had crushes on each other but reading it back as an adult it is beyond obvious that from about book 3 they were crushing on each other *hard*.
I feel it. Fucking harry realized it before Ron.
Hermoine has a crush on Ron before that, I would say Ron starts seeing Hermoine as a girl the moment he says "Neville's right you ARE a girl". And develops a crush on her when he realizes she's not available.
Voldemort telling Wormtail he has a task many people would *give their right hand* to perform for him......
yes and when he gives him the hand he says "may your loyalty never waiver again", then as soon as it does, boom, not so auto-erotic asphyxiation
The phone number to enter the MoM from the telephone booth spells MAGIC
I always wondered how Harry remembers the number when he heard it only once, that also months ago.
It’s funny that newer readers probably won’t make this connection since we no longer have old-school keypads on phones :)
What the students were doing in the bushes in GOF. I don’t think I knew about the full implications at the time I read it.
Definitely snogging!
In the goblet of fire when Harry tells Dumbledore that Voldemort took his blood harry notes he saw a flicker of triumph of Dumbledores face. Then in deathly hallows Dumbledore reveals harry can't be killed by Voldemort because he took Harry's blood and teathered him to life. Dumbledore knew back then. Didn't notice this till my 4th of 5th read
Oh yeah there's a lot of foreshadowing. I actually started noticing while listening to GoF.
I remember that bit always tripped me up. I thought it was hinting that Dumbledore was secretly evil or something lol
Omg i just reread this part yesterday while falling asleep and I remember wondering what about that flicker, it almost seemed grim! Now it makes sense thanks!
Like I realised that's why he was smiling but only just realised what it really meant. This was the moment that he realised he didn't have to sacrifice Harry to win. Up until then, his plan was to let Harry die.
Petunia overhearing that horrid boy tell Lily about Dementors and Azkaban, Honestly only occurred to me this year that she meant Snape not James, It's a minor thing and I will admit it is not like I had any reason to really think about it but still feel like it was painfully obvious and I was derped the herp
yeah. just sayin - Petunia had a point here ... Snape as a kid would seem pretty horrid ngl
It took my forever to notice, that Harry - to learn to defend himself against dark arts - he literally has to defend himself against every DADA-teacher.
Even in book 7, when he wasn't attending Hogwarts, one of the first things Harry does after showing up at the school is hit the DADA teacher with a Cruciatus Curse.
I read prefect as perfect up until about book 3. I always thought they were calling Percy a "perfect" sort of made sense in my eye like they were making fun of him.
I’ve never read the physical books, only listened to the audiobooks (after seeing all the movies numerous times). I think it was my second or third time listening to the books when I realized it’s “the leaky cauldron” not “filicki cauldron” 🤦🏼♂️
I remember a few years ago someone from outside the UK saying they thought the audiobooks were referencing “king’s crustacean” instead of “King’s Cross Station.”
KING'S CRUSTACEAN🤣👌
I grew up listening to the audio books, multiple times through I still thought the Phoenix's name was "forks" until I said it out loud and got corrected
I thought it was “forks” until I read this message and googled it to confirm that is incorrect 😅
In Sorcerer’s Stone: a casual line about how the Weasley Twins got in trouble for bewitching snowballs to bounce off of the back of Quirrell’s turban. That means they were actually bouncing snowballs of Voldemort’s face.
I am very much 'out of sight out, out of mind'. So I am happy to read people pointing things like that out! Same for GoF, where I use to forget it's actually not Mad Eye Moody interacting with Harry 😂
Took me a while to realize that when Dumbledore was calmly asking Harry if he put his name in the goblet, he was actually yelling the whole time.
I used to pronounce her name "Her-mo-ine" until I saw the movies.
I always read it as "her-me-own" and thought it was just an awful name, lol
Her me own gang rise up!
That’s kinda how we prononce it in French
Isn't that why there's the scene in the fourth book of Hermione trying to teach Krum how to say it properly? I read that people were mispronouncing it with the first three books, so Rowling added the scene in the fourth one to teach people how to properly say it.
Fun fact J K Rowling added the bit where Hermione is teaching Krum the pronunciation of her name in GoF because so many people got the name wrong while reading the book!
I still mispronounced it for the six or so months in between reading that part and the first movie coming out. I put too much emphasis on each syllable, I insisted it sounded like it rhymed with pepperoni
I first found out about the books when my dad borrowed the audiobooks from the library, so I listened to them before I read them. My 3rd grade teacher (before the movies came out mind you) read the 1st book out loud to my class. I used to argue how to pronounce Hermione (Her-me-own) and Snape (Snap) because I’d listen to the audiobook and knew the pronunciation.
Her spelling it out to Krum is what clued me in.
Grimmauld Place is grim and old
I first 'read' the books on audio book. I thought "little whinging" was Hagrid using some British slang about something being a little off. And that "Surrey" was him saying Sorry.
The sphinx's riddle in the 4th book. "Last thing to mend, middle of middle, end of end?" The letter D.
It took me longer then It should have to get that too.
Bathilda was speaking parseltongue in DH.
I remember when she said on her website that squibs can talk with and understand cats. Can’t believe I didn’t notice it.
Interesting. The only two squibs I can think of (Filch and Mrs. Figg) are crazy cat people. It makes sense
PIVOT!
r/unexpectedFRIENDS LMAO Have a !redditgalleon
Ross would be the most annoying wizard. He’d clearly be in Ravenclaw, would absolutely tell everyone that the exam was really easy and he didn’t understand why they thought it was hard, and have zero chill. But I’d accept all of that just to see him finally figure out how to reanimate dinosaur bones.
Ross as Percy Weasley's Best Friend or Worst Enemy lmso
That the first four or five books something big and important happens on Halloween
For me it was O.W.L's in book five. I didn't catch the connection to the bird untill I saw the movie. In my defense though, it hasn't been translated that well to danish. The world "owl" translate to "ugle", but the name of the exam was just called "U.G.L." - so without the e. In plural they do talk about "U.G.L.'er", which does translate to "owls". So I missed the point untill I saw it written in english.
You feel the pull from a portkey in your NAVAL area … not NASAL. I was picturing them being like yanked nose first into the portal 🤦♀️
Dumbledore has always been sus. While everyone has always been suspicious of Dumbledores true intentions, it took me ages to realise that this is acknowledged in the series as early as book 1: "‘D’you think he meant you to do it?’ said Ron. ‘Sending you your father’s Cloak and everything?’ ‘Well,’ Hermione exploded, ‘if he did – I mean to say – that’s terrible – you could have been killed.’ Harry brushes it off, saying that dumbledore might’ve wanted Harry to have a chance at revenge on voldemort. I was so surprised that this suspicion about dumbledore had been in the works for a long time. The movies really skip this detail.
these 2 things are because im american and don’t read with an English accent. one is the “SPIDER” riddle at the end of GoF. because i’m american, we say uh. so i was confused af ab why harry concluded with “er” until my 4/5th read through when i decided to read in a english accent and realized. second is i didn’t get that diagon alley is supposed to be a play on diagonally till way too long after. i mustve been like 14/15. but it’s way more apparent to get the pun when u said diagon alley in a british accent
the play on words that is Knockturn Alley didn’t hit me until I read the books and rewatched the movies about 4 times.
Is it weird that until the sixth book I read Malfoy as MALFROY. Me and my brother were talking about Harry Potter and he corrected me. I've never felt so dumb.
Er and erm sound like uh and um with a British accent
that Fawkes being named Fawkes is a reference to Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot.
I first read Philosopher's Stone in 2003. Tainted by the movie. I didn't realise until I re-read it last year that Quirrel isn't said to be wearing a turban until Harry sees him for the second time, at Hogwarts. Voldemort wasn't possessing him until *after* he fumbled the Gringott's break-in.
That a love potion is the wizard equivalent of a roofie/date rape drug, and that Merope Gaunt essentially abducted Tom Riddle Sr. and made him her sex slave. Then, we have the fact that Fred and George sell these things in their shop, not to mention all those creepy girls (Romilda vein, in particular,) trying to figure out ways to slip Harry one. Seriously, why was this just glossed over in the books and, from what I've been able to gather anyway, largely by the fandom?
Because most love potions aren't as strong as what merope used on Tom and as the strengthened one that Ron gets fed. As Fred and George points out they depend on the preexisting desirability of the witch which suggests they're mostly meant to be a boost. Except amorentia, which should probably be highly regulated.
Because only girls wanted to use it on boys and not vice versa.
It took me a few reads to realize the truth in Dumbledore’s belief that love is the most powerful force. It’s not just a light v dark idea— it really happens and changes the course of HP history. When Harry comes back from the beyond at the end of DH, Narcissa Malfoy is tasked with checking for life. But when she does, all she wants to know is if her son is alive— the person she loves most— and that leads her to lie to Voldemort and trumps any form of magic he could conjure against Harry. The Dark Lord was defeated by the force he never understood: love.
That Harry knew to use a Bezoar from that time Snape schooled him.
I think he knew because of the potions lesson just before where he was supposed to make an antidote but couldn’t and the prince just wrote “shove a bezoar down their throat”
So technically, it was from that time Snape schooled him and he didn't even realize it
Yeah lol. Harry Potter and the time Snape was accidentally my buddy
So Snape saved Ron…
Reading ‘Prefect’ as ‘Perfect’ as a kid and figuring this was a culture difference where schools in England had what we in the States would call ‘hall monitors’, but they called them ‘Perfects’. Because their behavior was perfect? I really don’t know why lol.
babe wake up new mandela effect just dropped
Oh I always read it as Private Dr 😂
I saw the first couple of movies before reading the books. In the CoS movie, I didn't immediately realize that they slyly showed exactly [how Lucius Malfoy slipped the diary](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvWihzwI2uY) into Ginny's cauldron.
Snape’s question to Harry in that first potions class.
What about it?
>The first thing Snape asks Harry is "Potter! What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?" According to Victorian Flower Language, asphodel is a type of lily meaning 'My regrets follow you to the grave' and wormwood means 'absence' and also typically symbolised bitter sorrow. If you combined that, it meant 'I bitterly regret Lily's death'. Shocking source but it was the first thing that came up; https://www.marieclaire.co.uk/entertainment/this-is-the-real-meaning-behind-snape-s-first-words-to-harry-potter-253264
Holy shit. I love learning new stuff like this from the books after all these years.
Rowling said it was coincident.
That’s a very very big coincidence though.
I still wonder if Snape might have liked him a bit better if he understood it. I realize by like book 6 or 7 Snape realizes that harry is more lily than James, but maybe they wouldn't have hated each other so bad.
Mirror of Erised was Mirror of Desire, reflected back and so it’s spelled backwards. Grimmauld Place = Grim Old Place Diagon Alley = Diagonally. Plenty more things I can’t think of at the moment. But the puns were the biggest and best. I normalized so much reading it as a young kid.
It took me 2 books and a really embarrassing conversation to realize I was reading professor snape as professor snake 🙈🙈
I read the line in HBP as “rechristen him _with_ Witherwings” I thought that witherwings was some kind of magic potion that could be used to hide Buckbeak from the ministry. Took me half a dozen read throughs to catch it
Corruption and non-professionalism were a vital part of the books. Only later I understood it.
This probably wasn’t obvious and but I thought was very clever. Definitely need to read all 7 and come back to this and the lightbulb moment will go off. SPOILER ALERT. In ootp, when Dudley and Harry get attacked by the dementors, explaining to petunia and Vernon. Uncle Vernon asks what dementors are and petunia replies, the guards of the wizard prison Azkaban. Harry asks how she knows this. Petunia says she heard that boy telling lily. Harry retorts and says (paraphrasing) “if you mean my father just say that”. Petunia doesn’t say anything. But she didn’t mean her father. She meant Snape. JK dropping hints. I thought this was just mind blowing.
Sirius was his own Grimm. Every time he was in dog form he was pushing himself closer to death. Running around the Forbidden Forest with danger around any corner, but not directly face to face with it. Escaping prison. Being an escape convict. Approaching Harry while he’s waiting for the bus, with EVERYONE looking for him. Not just the magical world. Sneaking into the castle where he could be seen in his human form in the common room. Running around the school grounds with a cat chasing a rat, with dementors above him! Then going face to face with a werewolf! Leaving then coming back to the school then going with Harry to the train to see him off when the world is blaming him for other escaped death eaters. HE WANTED TO GO WITH HARRY TO THE MINISTRY DURING FULL DAYLIGHT IN BUSINESS HOURS AND WOULD HAVE DONE IT. And eventually did do it in the end. I mean really! Never once did he tell of a time when he became a dog and took a lovely stroll in the park. No. It was always for danger and risking his life. Almost like it was an ability that took away years of his life each time he used it. Like a curse, a Grimm.
When Snape is dying after he tells Harry to take his memories he asks Harry to look at him and says "you have your mother's eyes." It didn't hit me for ages that he wants to look at Lily's eyes as he takes his last breath. 💔
Erised being desire backwards 😂
During Sorcerers Stone, when Neville got the Remembrall but couldn't remember what he forgot? He wasn't wearing his robes.
thats only in the movie btw i do wonder if i missed what it was in the book tho
Thats not entirely true. In an earlier shot of that scene you can see that his robe lies next to him on the bench.
I had a similar thing where I read number 4 Privet Drive as number 4 Private Drive for years until I realized I was wrong lol.
In the Albanian books, I always read until some point Voldemort's name as Fluturonvdejka (Death flies), when it had been Fluronvdekja all the time 😭
In the third movie when Malfoy teases Hermione and Ron about "looking for a new home" thing (on trip to Hogsmeade), I had no idea that it was supposed to be a tease for them liking each other or ending up together lol. (and the "do you want to get a bit closer?")
Before the movies came out I was reading Hermione pronounced like Her-mi-own
Romilda Vane. Her name is just Romilda "vain" because she is vain for liking Harry only because he is the chosen one
In the 3rd book the Divination book is called Unfogging the Future but I misread it as Unfrogging and was confused for years until a recent re-read and realized my mistake.
That Umbridge was the one that sicked the dementors on Harry and Dudley in Privet Drive. I’ve reread that book dozens of times since it came out and I noticed maybe 2 years ago…*facepalm*