If you are anything like me, you have read each and every Harry Potter book at least three times through (maybe more). And by doing this, you realized some big details were changed throughout the course of the movies. Some things were just left out completely.
Sometimes I wonder why such things were changed/left out in the films, but hey, at least I have these wonderful novels. Here are 32 things insanely different in the books than in the movies you know so well:
1. Ron was a good friend to Harry and not the whiny, jealous Ron in the films.
2. Ron was also a prefect, along with Hermione.
3. The characters of Peeves, Sir Cadogen, and Winky the Elf were not included in the films, even though they played some vital roles in the novels.
4. Neville Longbottom could have been The Chosen One, had Voldemort chosen him after hearing the prophecy.
5. Ginny was actually really cool and totally bad-ass.
6. And her and Harry's relationship wasn't awkward at all.
7. Dumbledore and Grindelwald were actually at one time best friends. Dumbledore was just as power hungry at one point to be the Master of Death and possess the Deathly Hallows.
8. Percy Weasley reunites with his family at the Battle of Hogwarts after leaving them to work for the corrupt Ministry of Magic.
9. The Elder Wand goes by several other names such as the Deathstick or the Wand of Destiny.
10. Lily Evans was older than James Potter.
11. Petunia, jealous of her sister, wrote a letter to Dumbledore begging him to make her a witch like her sister.
12. Dudley is actually concerned with Harry's well-being when the Dursley's leave Privet Drive for the last time. He even asks his mother, "Why isn't he coming with us?"
13. The Bloody Baron, ghost of Slytherin House, actually killed Helena Ravenclaw.
14. Helena Ravenclaw was actually very helpful and kind to Harry when he asked her where the lost diadem was, unlike the screaming one in the film.
15. No, Harry and Voldemort did not fly away together and fight separately from the battle. They fought in front of everybody during the Battle of Hogwarts.
16. Harry explained to Voldemort why the Elder Wand would never work for him in their last battle.
17. Before he rid of the Elder Wand, Harry used it to repair his broken wand.
18. St. Mungo's Hospital is a commonly brought up location in the books.
19. Harry actually sees Neville's parents in their post-tortured state here.
20. Dobby gave Harry the gillyweed during the Tri-Wizard Tournament-- not Neville.
21. The silver hand that Voldemort created for Peter Pettigrew (he sacrificed his original hand to bring Voldemort to human form) turned on him. Voldemort cast a charm on it to suffocate him to death if he tried to act kindly to Harry. It does so when he let's Harry and Ron escape Malfoy Manor.
22. Ron and Hermione have a good connection, and Ron is totally deserving of her.
23. Ron and Hermione do not kiss for the first time in the Chamber of Secrets. They do so, in front of Harry, to which he points out that now is not the time and "there's a war going on." Ron says, "It's now or never isn't it?"
24. Dobby works in the kitchen at Hogwarts.
25. There was a centaur named Firenze who taught at Hogwarts.
26. Hermione started S.P.E.W. The Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare.
27. Hermione was very concerned with the well-being of elves. (Even telling Harry to give Kreacher the fake locket of his previous owner, Regulus, to which he cried.)
28. Voldemort's lineage was left out of the films due to the fact that there was a lot of inbreeding going on. (Gag.)
29. At Fleur and Bill's wedding, Harry actually disguises himself as "Barny Weasley," a cousin of Ron's.
30. Draco was very distraught about Crabbe dying in the Room of Requirement... (btw Crabbe dies in the Room of Requirement.)
31. Minor characters like Dean Thomas, Lavendar Brown and Parvati Patil play bigger roles in the novels than the films.
32. Buckbeak is described as being colorful (having feathers of stormy gray, bronze, pinkish roan, gleaming chestnut and inky black).
There's more where that came from!
