The first Harry Potter
book came out twenty years ago in 1997 and the series has taken over the world since then. It would be difficult to find a millennial that has never read a Harry Potter book or seen a Harry Potter movie. However, it's not that difficult to find someone that has only seen the movies and never read the books. While the movies overall did a good job of adapting the books, there were of course things that were changed or left out. Here are just a few things that movie-only fans might not know about J.K. Rowlings' series.1. Hogwarts has a poltergeist.
Peeves wasn’t in the movies, but he did appear in the PC games.
Peeves is an annoying poltergeist that wreaks havoc upon Hogwarts. He is chaotic and can only be controlled by the Bloody Baron and Dumbledore. However he’s not so bad as he, just like everyone else, dislikes Umbridge. He respects the Weasley twins and salutes them as they leave Hogwarts and follows their request when they tell him to “Give her hell from us.” He even fights in the Battle of Hogwarts.
2. Nearly Headless Nick has a Deathday party.
In the second book, the Golden Trio attend Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington's 500th Deathday party. This party is attended by many ghosts, including the Bloody Baron, Moaning Myrtle, and even Peeves the poltergeist. The party is also attended by the Headless Hunt, who sadly will not let Nick join their group due to his head still being partially attached to his body.
3. Beauxbatons and Durmstrang are not gender-specific schools.
In Goblet of Fire, we are introduced to two other wizarding schools that come to attend the Triwizard Tournament. In the movie, Beauxbatons is presented as an all-girls school and Durmstrang is presented as all-boys. In the books, however, both schools are shown to have boys and girls. Parvati dances with a boy from Beauxbatons at the Yule Ball and Poliakoff whispers to a girl from his school when the Durmstrang students see Harry for the first time. It’s also been confirmed on Pottermore that Durmstrang was founded by a witch named Nerida Vulchanova and Nicolas Flamel attended Beauxbatons.
4. Hermione keeps an animagus in a jar.
Remember Rita Skeeter, the obnoxious journalist from Goblet of Fire? She's an unregistered animagus that can turn into a beetle. That's how she gets all her information. After Skeeter writes a horrible and untruthful story about Hermione, she gets her revenge by capturing her in a jar and blackmailing her, threatening to expose her to the Ministry of Magic if she doesn't cooperate.
Of course, these things are only a small amount of what the movies changed or left out. If you love the movies but haven't read the books, I recommend reading them or listening to the audiobooks as there is so much you are missing out on.
