Question: How come Hermione didn't say something comforting to Hagrid as they we're leaving before the execution like Harry did? It seems a bit out of character for her.
Answer: Hagrid wants them to leave quickly, before the executioner and the Minister of Magic arrive. Also, Hermione may not have known what to say. One of Hagrid's beloved pets is about to be executed - what could anyone say to make him feel better about it?
Answer: It's not about Hermione. This has to do with filmmaking. The scene was constructed to maintain the pacing, timing, and the mood, which quickly changes when the execution party suddenly arrives at the hut and the Trio rushes out. Harry expressed what all three were thinking. Having each character say something to Hagrid, would just slow the action with unnecessary dialogue. There may have been more to the scene when it was originally filmed, but editing often deletes excess details, for the reasons stated above. Movies, in particular, have details eliminated during post-production editing.
Question: Why does Dumbledore purposely hit Ron's injured leg?
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.
Question: How come while everyone else was looking worried, Hermione was smiling when Hagrid brought Buckbeak out to show the class?
Answer: Hermione has probably read about Hippogriffs already. Maybe she is excited about seeing one. And she is probably trying to keep a positive attitude for Hagrid, who is a new teacher.
Question: I know that, after Richard Harris died, Ian McKellen was considered to play Dumbledore, but he refused. Why did he reject this role?
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.
Question: How come from the whole time from when Hagrid gives Scabbers to Ron, until he bites him and runs away after the execution, Ron keeps holding him instead of putting him in his pocket?
Answer: To start with, Ron recently believed that Scabbers was dead, and is relieved to have him back. So Ron is probably not in the mood to shove him into a pocket again. And why shouldn't anyone be holding their pet?
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.
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.
Question: In the book and the movie, why did Sirius wait many years before escaping Azkaban? If I remember the book correctly, he did it by changing into his dog form and walking past the Dementors, who navigate by emotions. I know he had seen Ron holding Scabbers/disguised Peter in the newspaper article, but could he not have turned into his dog form and walked out years ago? Even without knowing where Peter was?
Answer: To add to the other fine answer that I agree with, Sirius' mental state negatively affected his desire and/or ability to escape. He languished in prison as a broken man, knowing that everyone believed him guilty and that no-one would help him if he did escape. Others would have killed him. It was a while before Sirius realised the Dementors couldn't detect his dog form. It also wasn't until he'd lost a significant amount of weight from being half-starved that he could slip through the bars as a dog, though, realistically, it wouldn't have taken 12 years to become that thin.
Answer: And do what? He had no goal, no way of avenging his wrongful imprisonment. He knew the dementors and every auror would be chasing him if he escaped, he had nowhere to go, no plan. Without any leads he would just be recaptured (and killed most likely). Seeing Wormtail in the papers however, gave him a reason to escape.
Question: What is supposed to happen if you say Voldemort's name? Harry says it throughout the series many times, and nothing happens to him. Why do Arthur Weasley (in this movie) and other people always tell him to stop?
Answer: Actually, nothing happens to anyone who says it. The idea is that Voldemort was so evil that nearly everyone feared saying his name aloud, referring to him only as "You-Know-Who" or "The Dark Lord." Only Harry and Dumbledore freely spoke his name aloud, having no fear of it. However, in HP and the Deathly Hallows, Voldemort, knowing this about Harry, places a jinx on his own name, and anyone saying it will immediately reveal their location. Hermione happened to say "Voldemort" out loud right after she, Harry, and Ron escaped the attack at the wedding and were in the coffee shop. Two Death Eaters appear immediately after she says it, and almost capture the trio.
Answer: Voldemort can find whoever says his name. That's why people don't say his name - purely for the sake of their life.
That is only true after the death eaters take over the ministry.
Question: How is Peter Pettigrew, aka Scabbers, even able to enter Hogwarts under the guise of a pet rat? Surely with all the enchantments protecting the school, one couldn't simply turn into an animal to sneak in? If it's that easy to sneak in, wouldn't the other death eaters turn into cats and owls to do the same?
Answer: Pettigrew didn't sneak in. He arrived with Ron in the first film as his "pet" rat, Scabbers, and returned with him each year up until "Prisoner of Azkaban," when his identity was revealed. "Scabbers" (Pettigrew) was previously Percy's rat and lived with the Weasley family for twelve years. Every student could bring a small pet to Hogwarts, so there was nothing unusual about Scabbers being there. Every pet was accounted for and any outside animals suspect. Death Eaters probably could have sneaked in as a Slytherin student's pet, though few witches or wizards were capable of becoming an Animagus (changing into an animal), nor could they choose or change the animal form - it reflected their personality. All legal Animagus were registered with the Ministry of Magic and their animal forms documented. (Like Pettigrew, Sirius Black was an illegal Animagus, and he entered Hogwarts via the secret tunnel.) There was little reason for Death Eaters to sneak into Hogwarts as Harry wasn't a specific target until much later, and his mother's death magically protected him from harm until he was legal age. (Many consider the Weasley twins having never noticed Pettigrew's name on the Marauder's Map to be a huge plot hole).
Question: Except for Remus Lupin in this movie, it seems as though the Hogwarts teachers do not use the Hogwarts Express. How do they arrive at and leave the school?
Answer: There's a variety of ways that wizards can travel including magical vehicles (like the motorcycle that Hagrid drove), broomsticks, port keys, or riding flying animals (like a hippogriff or the threstrals). They could also use floo powder if their fireplace was connected to the floo network like Umbridge had in her office. The other teachers can certainly travel on the Hogwarts Express, and some probably do but just aren't shown. In the book, "Half-Blood Prince", Professor Slughorn rode the train and some teachers live at the school year round.
Answer: They can apparate whenever they want (as seen in Half Blood Prince).
Some can Apparate, but it's tricky and uncomfortable. In one of the books, Arthur Weasley mentions that many wizards don't like to Apparate. They prefer other ways to travel. Broomsticks, port keys, etc.
Question: Both the movie and book make it seem like Harry did a merciful act by sparing Peter Pettigrew's life and trying to take him to the Dementors instead. It even created a life debt that made Peter hesitate to kill Harry later on (during the "Deathly Hallows" events). But having your soul removed by a Dementor is supposed to be a fate worse than death. How has Harry been merciful at all?
Answer: It wasn't about his being merciful. Harry knew that Pettigrew needed to be alive long enough so he could exonerate Sirius Black by confessing his part in the crime. Sirius had been wrongly accused.
Answer: In the book Harry spares Peter's life to take him to the dementors, because he didn't think his dad would want his two best friends to be murderers.
Question: After Ron says they might chop his leg off, is it just me or can Hermione be seen smiling a little?
Answer: I watched the clip. Hermione does not appear to be smiling, though if she is, she is probably reacting to Ron's usual hyperbolic reaction to many situations. Hermione had said his leg looked "painful," so Ron then exaggerates, saying they might have to "chop it," as a means to elicit more sympathy. Both know the injury is not that serious.
Answer: Based on the way Hermoine's head is positioned in the shot, it's kind of hard to tell. Though a closer look will show that she does smile a bit after Ron says "They might chop it", just before the shot cuts. She likely found Ron's belief that he might lose his leg to be somewhat amusing. In the following shot, when Harry approaches Sirius, Hermoine can be heard off-screen saying "I'm sure Madam Pomfrey will fix it in a heartbeat", so she must have thought he was worrying about it too much.
Question: When Harry says "That's the man who betrayed my parents!" why does Hermione roll her eyes? That's completely disrespectful.
Answer: Eye rolling is a rude act in general. People do that because they think the other person is being what they believe to be "stupid" and are visually making it known by eye rolling. Hermione believes Harry is being "stupid" because risking being seen could cause the others in the hut, including himself, to think dark magic is going on and they may attack the Harry traveling back in time. She's rolling her eyes to let it he visually known that she believes he's being "stupid" by putting himself in harm's way out of anger.
Question: Why didn't Hermione use the time turner to save Buckbeak before Scabbers bit Ron, since she had it on her?
Answer: They needed to make it look like Buckbeak had escaped by himself. If they had freed him earlier, the Ministry of Magic would have believed that Hagrid deliberately released him, and held him accountable. They freed Buckbeak while Dumbledore and Fudge were inside Hagrid's hut so that the Ministry would know Hagrid was with them when Buckbeak "escaped" and Hagrid could not be blamed.
I'm not sure if I explained myelf properly. What I mean is, when Hermione was crying on Ron's shoulder, why not she just tell them about the time turner then instead of crying? Or just go back in time herself.
She's not allowed to tell anyone about the time turner. It's only after the events in the shack, when things are a lot more dire, does Dumbledore basically give permission for her to use it. She also had to sign to say she wouldn't use it for anything other than it's intended use. Saving 1 Hippogriff is not worth the risk of being caught.
I know she can't tell anyone but like I said, she could have done it on her own. Then they wouldn't know.
She can't mess with it and use it to do things on her own without approval. She was given it to be able to attend more classes and was specifically told not to use it otherwise.
Question: Why did Hermione stop Harry from going after Pettigrew while Lupin was transforming?
Answer: For one thing, they're kids, and Hermione knows Harry is ill-equipped to handle this and he will just run off in a blind rage with no thought about what ti do. Hermione is methodical and always thinks before she acts and follows the rules. She wants Harry, who is impetuous, to do the same, and for them to work together.
Question: Why does Hermione look angry when Dumbledore is subtly suggesting they use the time turner?
Answer: She's not angry. She realises how serious the situation is, and is considering the difficult task Dumbledore has suggested he wants her and Harry to do.
Not to mention that what Dumbledore is suggesting is illegal under wizarding law and highly dangerous. She knows what could happen legally and physically if problems arise.
Question: Why did Hermione take her time turner with her to Hagrid's hut with Harry and Ron? She wouldn't need it.
Answer: In the book, Hermione had to receive special permission from the Ministry of Magic to use the Time Turner and then had to abide by strict rules on how and when to use it and to keep its use a secret. As noted in the other answer, she would keep the Turner with her at all times to prevent it from being found and misused by other students (like the Weasley twins). For the purpose of the movie, Hermione is more prominently shown wearing it which is meant to be a clue to the audience about its existence and purpose.
Answer: She was being sarcastic to the professor about her predictions, thinking that it's all just guesswork. She doesn't believe in divination and walks out because she feels it is wasting her time. And she was insulted, of course.
lionhead