Attention we are not here to complain. At the limit to chouiner a little ok. We know that to make an adaptation, you have to sacrifice certain passages from the books. But there were certain scenes from the Harry Potter books that we had read, imagined in our heads, and were really waiting to see adapted to the screen. Some were important, too. In short, we may love the Harry Potter films, they are not perfect, and this is what we would have liked to see there. It can always be used in case someone decides to make the series…
1. Memories of the Gaunt House
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This is one of the biggest regrets on the part of Potter fans: why in the sixth film, the Half-Blood Prince, we decided not to show more the origins of Voldemort? As a reminder, Dumbledore normally shows Harry (thanks to the Pensieve) the house of Voldemort’s grandfather, Elvis Marvolo Gaunt. We also see Morfin Gaunt, Voldy’s slightly stupid and mean uncle, and especially Merope, his mother, who bewitched a muggle she was in love with to give him a child. In short, these memories are essential to better understand the psychology of the great villain of the saga. Removing them was a bit of a waste.
2. Visiting Ste Mongoose Hospital for Magical Diseases and Wounds
In the fifth film, theOrder of the Phoenix, Arthur Weasley is injured by the serpent Nagini and spends a short stay in the wizarding hospital, Ste Mongoose. Like in the book. Except that in the book, the little family, accompanied by Harry and Hermione, comes to visit him. There, Ron and his two friends will come across Gilderoy Lockhart, not at all recovered from his accident at the end of The Chamber of Secrets, and especially on Neville, come to visit his parents. It’s one of the most moving moments in the books, because we see that Neville is very attached to his parents who have become a shadow of themselves after being tortured by Bellatrix Lestrange. When Neville’s mother hands him a wrapper of goodies (the Bullard tmtc Balloongums) and his grandmother tells him to throw it in the trash, Harry’s friend puts the paper in his pocket to keep this memory of his mother: it’s beautiful and sad to cry about. It would have made a great scene for the movie.
3. Harry and Cho Chang’s Rotten Hogsmeade Date
In Volume 5, Harry finally catches Cho Chang, who the year before was dating Cedric Diggory, now deceased (well done Harry, you patiently waited your turn). In short, on Valentine’s Day, the young couple goes to Hogsmeade to spend a day together. It was without counting on Hermione who had asked Harry to join her later at the Three Broomsticks bar to do an interview with Rita Skeeter which would be published by The Quibbler. But let’s not get too sidetracked: what we would have liked to see was the very far-fetched rendezvous between the two “lovers” in Madame Pieddodu’s tea room. Between Cho throwing a fit of jealousy at Harry because he talked about Hermione, Cho starting to cry talking about Diggory, and the other couples kissing around, it’s a scene that deserved to be be known to everyone.
4. The real first kiss between Ron and Hermione
Before talking about the kiss itself, we must talk about SALE, the association for the defense of house-elves created by Hermione during her fourth year of school. It had been a subject of mockery from Ron since its inception. Like most wizards, he didn’t place much importance on elves. But, in volume 7, just before the battle of Hogwarts, Ron proposes to evacuate the elves from Hogwarts to protect them. That’s when Hermione throws herself on him to kiss him, until Harry interrupts them to tell them they have a fight to fight. A scene worthy of the best romantic comedies of the wizarding world.
5. Hogwarts Kitchens
Several times, Harry, Ron and Hermione go to the kitchens of Hogwarts, to talk to Dobby or Winky (she is also badly ignored by the films). And, if we would have liked to see the elf of Barty Croupton, we would have especially wanted to know what the kitchens of the school would have looked like with their army of elves who prepare incredible quantities of food for the wizards. Just to see, what.
6. The other mysteries of the Department of Mysteries
The Department of Mysteries is a place full of strange things that we discover in part in volume 5. We do not even see half of them in the film, which is content to show us the room of prophecies and the room of the death (with its arcade re-leases). In the book, the heroes also come across aggressive masterminds who will attack Ron. And what we would have liked to see above all is the time room, filled with time turners, in which one of the Death Eaters is having a bad time seeing his head age and then rejuvenate continuously. In short, it’s too complicated to explain, and then it’s magic, don’t try. Nevertheless, we would have liked to see it on the screen.
7. Dumbledore’s Funeral
At the end of Half-Blood Prince, Dumbledore dies under Snape’s wand. It was a plan, but at the time we were shocked. A few days later, we were treated to his funeral, a nice moment with lots of cool guests, like the water beings, the centaurs, Madame Maxime, the bassist of the group the Bizarr’ Sisters, or even the seller of treats from the Hogwarts Express. It seemed to be fine.
8. The Quidditch World Cup Match
So that was one of our biggest frustrations when the fourth film hit theaters. We are made to stir up the sauce by showing us the stadium for the World Cup final and then… THEY ARE GIVING US AN ELLIPSE. While we all wanted to see the Irish and the Bulgarians play the game. It was a huge scam.
9. Harry breaking everything in Dumbledore’s office
At the end of theOrder of the Phoenix, Harry Potter resents Dumbledore for not telling him what he knows for the whole year and for ignoring him. He is also slightly disturbed because Voldemort comes to say hello to him in his mind and his godfather Sirius is dead. In short, Harry is very pissed and he starts blowing up a lot of instruments present in his director’s office. During this time, Dumbledore does not even flinch, he keeps his calm even if in his head he is probably thinking: “ah the dirty bastard he did not respect my Texas Instrument calculator”. This scene was strong in emotion and deserved an adaptation.
10. The interview between Tom Riddle and Hepzibah Smith
In the list of memories of the Pensieve in Volume 6 that are missing in the movies, there is this one. The one where the future Voldemort, who works for Barjow and Berk, meets Hepzibah Smith, a big witch from a good family who has in her possession the cup of Helga Hufflepuff and the medallion of Salazar Slytherin. In this memory, Harry sees how much Riddle is attracted to these objects, a more than important detail in the hunt for horcruxes. He will even end up killing the bourgeoise and accusing the house-elf of the latter. He was not very nice this Riddle anyway.
11. (Bonus) And then we would also have liked to see all this:
Ginny who is normally much more badass. Luna who had pasted pictures of her friends in her room and it was so cute. Peeves who is dumb but funny. The Muggle Prime Minister who meets Fudge and then Scrimgeour. Harry vacationing in Diagon Alley at the start of Book 3. The little Cupids sending messages of love on Valentine’s Day in Book 2. Explanations about the creators of the Marauder’s Map. Charlie Weasley who is totally absent in the movies. And many more details here and there.