Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001) - 32 questions

Question: There is a Nicholas Flamel mentioned in "The Da Vinci Code" by Dan Brown. He's on the list of the Grand Masters of the Priory of Sion (he's the 8th one, 1398-1418). I was just wondering if Nicholas Flamel was a real person and, if so, who was he? If he was alive at the end of the 14th century, then, if he were still alive today because of the magic of the Sorceror's Stone, he would be about as old as Hermione says he is.

Answer: Nicholas Flamel was, indeed, a real person, he did indeed research the Philosopher's Stone and his wife (as mentioned in the Potter story) was indeed called Perenelle. He travelled widely in his research, supposedly seeking the understanding of a mysterious book that he had acquired. On his return, he used his unsurpassed knowledge of alchemy to become very wealthy and became known as a philanthropist, donating large sums to hospitals and churches. As an interesting aside, his tomb in Paris is empty. One theory is that it was ransacked by people in search of his alchemical secrets. Of course, if he did manage to create the Philosopher's Stone, and it was widely believed at the time that he had, then there may be a far more interesting reason why his tomb remains unoccupied.

Question: What I don't understand is: Dumbledore has the brilliant idea of using the Mirror of Erised to hide the stone in. Yet the mirror is in some room in the castle, where Harry eventually finds it, and not inside the guarded area, where the stone is hidden, until very much later into the movie. Why is that? Even if it was there to teach Harry its secret, it would mean the stone was less efficiently guarded. Or did Dumbledure just get the idea of using the mirror later into the movie ?

Answer: Presumably, Dumbledore came up with his idea after catching Harry in front of the mirror, after he explained the mirror's "power" to Harry. It is safe to assume that the stone was stored in some other magical manner that was less secure before Dumbledore decided to use the mirror.

Question: When they are getting on to Platform 9 3/4, why don't the Muggles notice them running through a brick wall? And if a Muggle did notice them, could he/she get on to Platform 9 3/4?

Answer: Most likely this is part of the magic of Platform 9 3/4 - provided that they're careful and don't do it blatantly in front of Muggles, the Muggles won't pick up on it. Muggles certainly can get onto the platform - after all, quite a number of students have at least one Muggle parent, who would want to see them off. Whether this would be possible for Muggles in other circumstances is unclear.

Question: Where exactly does it say the school's family motto?

Answer: Hogwarts' motto ('Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus' - 'Never Tickle a Sleeping Dragon') is never overtly stated in either the books or the films. It appears on the title page of all the books however, as part of the school crest.

Question: Why does Harry's scar hurt when he looks at Professor Snape for the first time? Obviously this is to arouse suspicion around the teacher, but later, when it gets revealed that someone else was really the host of You-Know-Who, *that* is when Harry's scar hurts again...although Harry looks at that person numerous times - even talks to them, and nothing happens all those other times. What's up with all this?

Answer: Remember how You-Know-Who is on the back of someone else's head? Well, it is You-Know-Who in the hall who causes Harry's scar to hurt - you can see 'someone else' is facing away from Harry so You-Know-Who would be able to make his scar hurt.

Question: Are the quaffles in Quidditch enchanted? I know it didn't bump around when Harry was being shown how to play. Does it have any magical powers? What if someone drops it to the ground? Does it fly back after someone scores?

Answer: The quaffle is actually the only ball that is not said to have magic powers.

Question: What type of owl is Hedwig?

Answer: Hedwig is a snowy owl.

Question: What kind of dog is Fang?

Answer: According to the books he's a boarhound. http://www.sylvanlaneshoppe.com/movie_49.jpg.

Question: During the scene where the first-years are being sorted into their houses, the sorting hat is set on each students head, except for Malfoy. It is merely held above his head, as it announces his house. Is there a reason for this?

Answer: Malfoy is so cruel that the Sorting Hat can tell he needs to be in Slytherin before reaching his head and having to "think" about it.

Question: On the American DVD where are the deleted scenes on the second disc?

Answer: 1. On the Opening screen on Disc two, select Diagon Alley (Hedwig). 2. Put the selector thingy on Gringotts, then press down selecting the key, click to get to the gringotts area then select the Galleon, Sickle, and Knut and click. 3. Now you should be back at the main page for diagon alley, go to ollivander's and have fun selecting your wand (not sure if its the same for every DVD). 4. Go back to the main screen and select the wand and click, getting to the classrooms. 5. Select Transfiguration (the cat), then hit down to select the owls on the torch, then hit up to select the H on a Shield. Click. 6. At Fluffy, select the Flute and click. 7. At the Keys, select the Silver one in the middle with a bent wing (its the only one that is completely over the door in the background). 8. At the Bottles (which was not in the Movie) select the round one with the yellow liquid. 9. Select the Red stone in the mirror to get to the cut scenes (only seven, but I bet there's more).

Question: When Harry's parents are shown in the mirror, are they supposed to be the age that they were when they died or the age they would be if they were still alive?

Answer: Since the mirror is reflecting Harry's desire, they are probably an idealized (to Harry) image of what they would look like if they were still alive.

Question: Is there a definite answer as to why this is called "Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone" in the US?

Answer: Both the book and the film were retitled because Scholastic, the publishers, were worried that American children wouldn't have heard the legend of the "philosopher's stone", and would think the book was about philosophy. They wanted to rename it to something that made it obvious that it's about magic, so they used "sorceror's".