Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone movie questions and answers

When the three children get past Fluffy because the harp is playing, as Fluffy wakes he dribbles on Ron's shoulder. However, when they fall down into the Devil's Snare, his shirt is completely dry. See more...

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Richard Harris agreed to take the role as Albus Dumbledore only after his 11 year-old granddaughter threatened to never speak to him again. See more...

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Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001) - 28 questions

Directed by Chris Columbus, starring Alan Rickman, Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Ian Hart, Maggie Smith, Richard Griffiths, Richard Harris, Robbie Coltrane, Rupert Grint (add more)

Genres: Adventure, Family, Fantasy

The "questions" section is for any random questions that occurred to you while watching this film, or anything you didn't entirely understand, and which Google or the IMDb can't help with. Submit them as a question, and hopefully someone will answer (the bold comments in brackets) - check back regularly. If the answer is wrong, or missing information, please use the "clarify answer" option. Don't feel limited - want to know what music played in a certain scene? Whether this was the first film to use a certain effect? Here's the place to ask!

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Questions

In Book 6, Dumbledore mentions that the Defence Against the Dark Arts Job is cursed, and that no one has had it for more than a year since he refused it to Voldemort. But in Movie/Book 1, it seems that Quirell has been at the school for a while (Hagrid knows him, and knows that he's the DADA teacher; all the older students seem to know him and there is no mention that this is Quirells first year of teaching). Explain. [According to Rowling, Quirrell was the Muggle Studies teacher at Hogwarts (which is why all the older students know him) before moving to teach Defence Against The Dark Arts in the year that Harry started there. Immediately after meeting Quirrell in the Leaky Cauldron, Hagrid makes a reference to Quirrell having taken a year off from teaching to "get some first-hand experience", encountering such dark creatures as vampires and hags along the way, which would strongly support the idea that he's not previously been the teacher in that subject.]

Answered by Tailkinker

Does anybody know were I could find footage of the Peeves scenes, as I am interested in what they are. [The footage has never been shown. It's not available to be shown either, but it's rumored to be the same footage when Peeves first comes up in "Harry Potter and The Sorcerer's Stone" on the PS2.]

Did anyone ever find out who sent Harry his father's invisibility to him for Christmas? Some people say it was Sirius Black but I think otherwise. [It was given to him by Dumbledore. James Potter left it with Dumbledore for safe keeping, and he passed it on to Harry.]

Answered by raywest

On the movie timeline it is stated that Harry was born in 1980 and started Hogwarts in 1991. Where are we told this in the book or movie? [In the book "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets", It claims that Nearly Headless Nick has been dead for 500 years...and that he died in 1492. 1492 + 500 = 1992. Since this is the 2nd book in the series, this would mean Harry is 12, and therefore was born in 1980, and started attending Hogwarts in 1991, when he was 11.]

Does the vault number 713 (the philosopher's stone's Gringott vault number) have any symbolic meaning or is it just a random number? [If there is any symbolic meaning to it, only J.K. Rowling knows the answer. One possibility, seven is a lucky or "good" number; thirteen is considered unlucky or synonymous with evil. By being together, they may balance each other out.]

Answered by raywest

I was just wondering why the Sorting Hat speaks out loud in the film, because in the book it was only heard in the pupil's head. Obviously it would need to shout out the house at the end, but everything else could be a bit personal, and shouldn't be shouted to the whole school. [This is a common movie tactic. Telepathic communication can be confusing in a movie, making it hard to really know where the voice is coming from. Being a kid's movie, they apparently opted to eliminate the telepathic element as it could easily confuse the target audience who may not be very familiar with the concept of telepathic voiceover.]

Answered by Garlonuss

On the second DVD for Special Features, how do you buy your owl in Eeylops? The narrator tells you to pick an owl and that you'll need it for communication. How do you buy it? I've clicked on all three of them and nothing happened. None of my friends can figure it out either. [Those owls are not essential. Just follow these instructions to view the deleted scenes: 1) In the Main Menu click the Owl - Diagon Alley. 2) To enter, choose the bricks in clockwise order from the left. If you make 4 mistakes, it will open anyway. 3) Once in Diagon Alley, hit the Key, located at the bottom of the Gringotts sign. 4) Click on the Coins. Then hit the Arrow to go back to Diagon Alley. 5) Click on the Ollivanders sign. 6) Pick a Wand Box, until the wand chooses you and then you'll be sent back to Diagon Alley. 7) Click on the Arrow to go back to the Main Menu. 8) Click the Wand on the table - Classrooms. 9) Place the cursor over the word- Transfigurations under the Cat and hit DOWN Arrow (or simply move the cursor directly to the *H* under the fire and skip to 12). 10) The two Owls under the fire will be highlighted. Hit Enter. 11) The *H* above the Owls is highlighted. Hit Enter. 12) Click on the Flute, above Fluffy's three heads. 13) Click on the tiny key with the bent wing tip at the door. Or pick any key. When you miss four times the correct key will be shown in the center of the screen, much much larger than the others. Click it. 14) Click on the short, round, yellow bottle in the back. Do this fast or you'll land in the Hospital Wing anyway. 15) In the Mirror of Erised click on the Stone.]

Answered by Rikki

Who sent Harry the broomstick? [It was sent to Harry by Professor McGonagall. She was able to persuade Dumbledore to bend the rule regarding first years and broomsticks, so Harry would be allowed to play on the Gryffindor Qudditch team.]

Answered by Cubs Fan

I've heard that the cast is entirely British, except for one American. Who is the American? These ALL seem like British actors or actresses to me. [While is known as a British actress, Zoe Wannamaker (Madam Hooch) was born in the United States. Another American that makes an appearance in the film is Verne Troyer (Mini-Me from the "Austin Powers" films), who plays Griphook the Goblin.]

Answered by Cubs Fan

Whats the deal with the moving staircases? Wouldn't they make all the students late for classes? [Hogwarts is a highly magical place with many oddities built into it; the staircases are one of those, but most are reasonably predictable in how and when they move. The students simply have to learn the patterns to avoid problems.]

Answered by Tailkinker

What is the actor who played the Slytherin seeker in this movie called? [Will Theakston plays Terrence Higgs, the Slytherin seeker, according to the IMDb.]

Answered by Rikki

This question applies to all three Harry Potter movies. Why is no one allowed to say Voldemorts name? [There's no actual law preventing it, it's largely traditional, left over from when Voldemort was previously active. He was considered so terrifying that people were frightened simply by the power of his name, so it became the norm to use an alternate method of referring to him if it was necessary to do so. Despite his apparent fall, the tendency remains.]

Answered by Tailkinker

I listened to the scene where Harry goes to visit Ron and Hermione at the end after he gets out of the hospital wing. Ron and Hermione apparently have a conversation that's not appropriate for a PG rated movie, and I turned it up as loud as I could, and I heard Ron say something like, "I have this black shirt." Can anyone tell me what he really is saying? [While he stands at the top of the stairs with Hermione, Ron says, "I had a resurrection!!", referring to his 'near death' experience on the chess board earlier in the film. Some people mis-hear it as a reference to "an erection" which is why you may have heard people think it's inappropriate.]

Answered by Rikki

My son and I believe that, in Harry's photo album and the magic Mirror, Lily and James Potter are played by J.K. Rowling and a friend of hers named "Sean" who is said to be the inspiration for Ron Weasley's character. Can anyone confirm/deny? [According to J.K. Rowling on her official site (www.jkrowling.com), the filmmakers asked her to play Lily, but she felt she "would have messed it up somehow". IMDb credits Geraldine Somerville as Lily and Adrian Rawlins as James.]

If no one is permitted to use magic outside of Hogwarts, then what is the point of teaching it? [Only underage wizards are not allowed to use magic outside of Hogwarts, much the same as underage people are not allowed to drink or smoke here. They aren't mature enough to do so, but once they come of age they can do it permitting no Muggles see them.]

Not from the movie, but there were two books actually printed that were mentioned in the harry potter books, called 'Quidditch Through the Ages', with the claimed author of Kennilworthy Whisp, and 'Magical Beasts and Where to Find Them' by Newt Scamander. My question is do these people exist or did J.K Rowling write these books as well, but since they were supposed to be Harry's schoolbooks did she use different names? Also, what exactly does IMBd stand for? [Yes, J.K. Rowling wrote both of those books; she used the pseudonyms to make the books more realistic (as opposed to just being a HP spinoff). IMDb stands for Internet Movie Database, probably the premiere site online for movie information (http://www.imdb.com).]

Answered by Xofer

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. [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.]

Answered by Tailkinker

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 ? [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.]

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? [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.]

Answered by Tailkinker

Where exactly does it say the school's family motto? [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.]

Answered by STP

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