raywest

Question: Hermione was the one who said that when a werewolf transforms he'd kill his best friend if he saw him, so why did she think she could talk to Lupin after he transformed?

Answer: Hermione was quoting what she knew from reading in text books. Now she was in a precarious real-life situation and she's going to try anything to survive. At first, Lupin (as a werewolf) seems passive and non-dangerous, prompting her to see if she can communicate with him. She quickly realises she's wrong.

raywest

I wonder why Lupin can't recognize Hermione while in his werewolf form, but he used to spend time with James, Peter, and Sirius, in their Animagus forms? So he was capable of recognizing friends.

All 3 friends of Remus managed to calm down werewolf Lupin as animagi after a while. But only Sirius wasn't enough apparently, plus it had been decades since they did that.

lionhead

Totally agree with Lionhead, but would emphasize that Lupin had no control whatsoever over his mind, did not know who he was, nor did he recognize anyone when he transformed into a werewolf. He simply related to James, Sirius, and Pettigrew in their Animagus forms as being other animals who could moderate his behaviour and kept him far away from humans.

raywest

Question: How come Ron needed a walking stick when he was out of the hospital wing at the end if Madam Pomfrey can mend bones in a heartbeat?

Answer: Madam Pomfrey may be able to mend bones, but that doesn't mean there isn't some residual healing and treatment needed for a full recovery. The fact that there is a school infirmary and also St. Mungo's Hospital shows that witches and wizards are not always instantly healed. From a filmmaking perspective, Ron using a cane reminds the audience his injuries were serious, so it's partly for dramatic effect.

raywest

Yes, it's like Harry needing to wear glasses. Wizards have many abilities that Muggles do not, but they are not all-powerful.

Another example from the book, after George lost his ear during the attack on Harry, it could never be fully healed because it was injured with dark magic.

raywest

Question: Why does Dumbledore purposely hit Ron's injured leg?

Answer: This didn't happen in the book. It appears to be done purely for comic effect in the movie, showing Dumbledore's eccentric and quirky nature. He's seemingly oblivious to what he's doing and how it affects Ron.

raywest

Answer: Ron had previously bragged to Hermione about how bad his leg was injured, and had lied and said his leg might be chopped off. When Dumbledore later hits Ron's leg, he is saying that a child's voice no matter how honest and true. He is giving Ron a little payback for exaggerating.

Highly unlikely Dumbledore knew what Ron told Hermione at the Whomping Willow. Ron's leg was seriously hurt, so he wasn't "bragging" about it, nor did he lie. Ron, who is a bit of a hypochondriac, was simply embellishing to be more dramatic and to gain Hermione's sympathy. Hardly anything Dumbledore would consider worth giving him "payback" by inflicting pain.

raywest

Answer: McKellen said he turned it down for two reasons: first, he had already played a famous wizard (Gandalf) and didn't want to do it again; and second, he didn't want to take over a role from Richard Harris after Harris had called him a "dreadful actor."

To clarify, Harris never said that McKellen was "dreadful." He was quoted in an article as describing McKellen as a, "technically brilliant, but passionless" actor. He was also including Kenneth Branagh and Derek Jacobi in that assessment and referred to them all as "nice actors" who were "careful." It was just his opinion about an acting style different from his own, which was more emotive.

raywest

Question: When they go back in time, you can see Hermione was tended to first in the hospital wing, but why did Hermione need to be tended to?

Answer: It was probably to check that she was all right before tending to Ron. She had been slung around quite a bit by the Whomping Willow before being tossed into the tunnel. She likely had some cuts and scrapes. She is wearing a bandage on her hand.

raywest

Should they not have tended to Ron first though? His injury was more severe.

From what I can see through the jumbled, flashing images, it looks like Hermione is in the infirmary before Ron. He is probably being assisted off-screen, then later is transferred to the bed, where we see him with his bandaged leg. Also, as he could not walk, transporting him from the Whomping Willow back to the castle would take longer. Hermione probably went on ahead and was seen first. There may also be a different treatment room he was first taken to.

raywest

Answer: From all the activity she was doing, such as being flung around by the Whomping Willow, crawling through the tunnel, being in the Shrieking Shack, running away from Lupin (when he's in his werewolf form) and so on.

raywest

But where was it first seen?

It doesn't really need to be seen for it to happen. If it was gained from being hit over by the willow then they're not going to show a close up of the dirt transferring on to her clothes.

Ssiscool

It's first really noticeable when they're inside the Shrieking Shack. Before then it was too dark to be seen.

raywest

Question: Is it possible to tell what Hermione was doing to Ron in the background when Harry and Sirius are talking after they get out of the whomping willow? I thought she was untying his shoelaces but his laces are still tied so what was she doing?

THE GAMER NEXT DOOR

Chosen answer: She was tending to the bite wound on Ron's leg.

Casual Person

How? She didn't make any difference?

How do you know she didn't make any difference. Hermione was inspecting Ron's leg to see how badly injured it was and then could have performed a spell that would temporarily treat the wound until they got him to the infirmary for more extensive care. In HP and the Half-Blood Prince, Luna Lovegood repaired Harry's broken nose by casting a spell.

raywest

Because we just see her looking at it and if she treated it while Sirius and Harry are talking and I missed it, All the blood is still there on the leg.

As you mentioned, you don't see everything she's doing. She could have cast a spell to numb the pain or slow the bleeding, etc. The blood would still be there. She may merely be looking at the wound to see "if" she can do anything before getting him to the infirmary. There's just no way of knowing exactly what she did, but she certainly would not have just ignored it. Anyone in that position would check the wound to see how severe it was and whether they could do anything at the time. Mostly, she's just sitting next to Ron to comfort him, as he's rather excitable.

raywest

Question: Is there anywhere I could find behind the scenes of Buckbeak's execution? From before they went back in time? If so, can I please have a link?

Answer: Buckbeak was never executed. Harry, Hermione, and Ron had mistakenly believed he was because from their vantage point on the hill, they could not see that Buckbeak had already disappeared. What they initially saw was the executioner swinging his ax in frustration because Buckbeak was gone. We learn later that the "alternate" Harry and Hermione had already rescued him before the execution. Therefore, there are no scenes filmed showing this.

raywest

I know that. I meant are there any behind the scenes videos for that scene at all.

There is this on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HR8stMyZWq0.

raywest

Thank you. Please let me know if there's more.

Why would they film scenes that would never make it into the movie?

Happens all the time - they often end up on DVD. They're removed for editing or pacing reasons, or an alternative scene is filmed.

The request was for behind the scenes footage, not unused footage.

Answer: Hermione was attempting to restrain him because she feared he'd try to rescue Scabbers, not knowing that he was really Peter Pettigrew disguised as Ron's pet rat.

raywest

Why would he try with a broken leg?

Hermione doesn't know if his leg is broken or not. Knowing how Ron tends to be emotional and reactive, she's just acting to ensure he remains calm and doesn't impulsively make the situation worse.

raywest

People can do extraordinary things when in a desperate state.

Ssiscool

Answer: Because they had some small hope that something would happen that prevented it, they stayed to see if a miracle would happen basically. They didn't want to see it of course, but they felt it too terrible to just not know if there was any hope it wouldn't happen and then miss it.

lionhead

But how could they tell from the top of that hill? They were so far away they couldn't hear a thing.

They could see the executioner from where they were standing, just not very well or entirely. They saw him swinging the ax, but not what he was hitting. They just assumed it was Buckbeak.

raywest

Answer: They didn't actually see Buckbeak being executed because he never was. They were far enough away that they only partially saw the executioner wield the axe, but he was actually chopping a pumpkin out of frustration because Buckbeak had disappeared. If they had been closer, they most likely would not have looked at all, not wanting to witness such a gruesome scene.

raywest

Thank you but I was meaning to ask why they stayed on that hill to watch instead of returning to the common room?

It's pointless to speculate what their reasoning for watching was because it really comes down to it being a plot device. The audience has to think that Buckbeak has been killed in order to propel the story forward. That is achieved by having HR&H stop atop the hill and watch what they think is the execution. It also is to convey their sense of grief and hopelessness.

raywest

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