I was surprised while reading Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows how much translated to the movie. It was a smart decision to split this book into two movies because there’s so much detail about the horcruxes and the attempts the trio makes in finding them. This book is the grand finale between Harry Potter, the boy who lived and Tom Riddle aka. Voldemort, the halfblood who wants to rule the Wizarding World. I wanted to share all of the details I forgot about in this book:

• Voldemort has glowing red eyes with vertical slits for pupils (in the books)
• Voldemort tells Bellatrix about Tonks marrying Lupin. Voldemort says she needs to “prune her family tree” to keep it healthy
• Dumbledore’s father, Percival died in Azkaban after attacking three muggles
• 1945 is the year when Dumbledore first pursued Grindelwald
• The Dursley’s were actually liking Kingsley Shacklebolt (only because he learned how to dress like a muggle).
• Dudley says Harry wasn’t a waste of space. Cute.
• Petunia doesn’t say anything to Harry before she leaves. Dudley is the one who has the meaningful interaction with Harry instead.
• Thestrals were used besides broomsticks in the “Seven Potters” chapter.
• Harry is supposed to be heading to Tonk’s parents instead of the Burrow like the movie.
• Hedgwig’s death in the book is FUCKING HEART WRENCHING. She’s killed as she lays dead in her cage. UGH.
• Harry is forced to explode the sidecar with Hedwig’s cage in it, like make me cry more..?!?!
• Hagrid leaps off the motorbike to attack a Death Eater. I love Hagrid
• Mr. Weasley is trying to put Sirius’s bike back together, aww.
• Not mentioned in the movie, but Hermione stole Mad Eye’s Polyjuice potion (from the Seven Potter’s incident) and that’s how they used it in the Ministry
• The opening scene where Hermione uses obliviate on her parents comes from the book. It’s not seen, but Hermione made her parents believe they were Wendell and Monica Wilkins and that they wanted to move to Australia. Hermione says if she survives the war, she will come back for them. She tells Harry this story to remind him how serious she is in wanting to help him defeat Voldemort.
• Ron went so far as to catch a ghoul, give him his clothes and have his dad tell everyone Ron is sick with Spattergroit. The reasoning for this is no one will know Ron is with Harry finding horcruxes. BOOK RON IS SO SMART.
• This also prevents the Weasley’s from being harassed by Death Eaters
• Remorse is how you put the soul back together, but the pain of it can rip you apart.
• Ron’s random Quidditch facts are adorable.
• Mrs. Weasley gives Harry a watch with stars for his birthday. It’s a tradition for any wizard who becomes of age.
• Mrs. Weasley throws Harry a b-day party with a golden snitch cake and invites Lupin, Tonks and Hagrid to the party.
• During Bill’s wedding, Harry was giving the Polyjuice Potion and disguised as one of their “cousins” named Barny
• Arthur sends a patronus after Bill’s wedding letting them know they were safe.
• Harry sees a vision of Draco being forced to torture Rowle, a Death Eater in the café.
• Harry finds a letter address to Sirius from Lily. Within the letter, Harry learns Sirius bought him a broomstick. His parents knew Bathilda and Dumbledore on a personal level. Finally, James lends Dumbledore the invisibility cloak. Also they apparently had a cat.
• Kreacher was volunteered by Regulus to put the locket in the cave along with testing all of the spells Voldemort set up.
• Voldemort left Kreacher there to suffer.
• The reason why Kreacher was saved was because Regulus summoned him home and that magic allowed Kreacher to apparate back to Grimmauld Place.
• One of the reasons Kreacher betrayed Sirius to Voldemort (despite his horrible treatment of him in the cave) is Kreacher was loyal to Cissy and Bella. When they wanted info, he was happy to oblige. Sirius was never kind to Kreacher, so why not betray him.
• Death Eaters are watching 12 Grimmauld Place b/c they know Harry was given the home by Sirius in the will.
• After the wedding, Death Eaters tortured Tonk’s parents (SAD)
• The muggle-borns are rounded up because “they’re stealing magic”
• The thought of rounding up cute eleven year old muggles who are attending Hogwarts for the first time is terrifying.
• In the book, they give one of the Ministry members a puking pastille instead of stunning them.
• In the book, Harry stuns Umbridge, but in the movie he says to her “I must not tell lies” This was added in the movie.
• In the book, Ron loses a layer of flesh while in the movie it looks like a deep cut.
• During Ron’s departure, Harry pulls out the Maurader’s Map and watches Ginny. It’s sad.
• Rita used Veritaserum on Bathila to write her book. Appalling.
• Inside the locket, there’s an eye
• Xenophilius has a Erumpent horn, it can explode at the slightest touch. (Hermione read Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them)
• Hermione says the cloak is the best Hallow, Harry says it’s the resurrection stone and Ron says the wand. I think this says a lot about what these characters have gone through. Hermione has wanted to be invisible as she has been persecuted for her background. Harry wants the stone based on everyone he’s lost. Ron wants the wand because he’s felt inferior based on his family and how his brothers have succeeded.
• In the book, the trio are caught after Harry says Voldemort’s name
• In the book, Bellatrix drags Hermione by her hair. ICK this scene where she tortures Hermione is the worst.
• Dobby is so scared because he’s back at the Malfoy’s where he endured all that abuse.
• I wish they kept Wormtail’s death in the movie.
• When Dobby actually dies all he says is “Harry Potter”. This stuff about his friends was all added for dramatic effect. Personally, I think the book is more sad because Harry doesn’t get a chance to say goodbye.
• “He dug with a kind of fury, relishing the manual work, glorifying in the non-magic of it, for every drop of his sweat and every blister felt like a grin to the elf that saved their lives”
• Harry, Ron and Dean helped bury Dobby. Ron puts shoes and socks into Dobby’s grave and Dean puts a hat on Dobby’s head. (This is the point where I started crying)
• Malfoy’s wand (now Harry’s) is Hawthorne and Unicorn Hair 10 in.
• Ron is now using Peter Pettigrew’s wand. Chestnut and Dragon Heartstrings 9 ¾ inches.
• I love how the other two names for the Elder Wand are Wand of Destiny and Deathstick < my favorite.
• Lupin comes to Bill’s cottage to announce the birth of their son Ted.
• The Goblets in Bellatrix’s vault has Gemino and Flagrante curses which causes the cups to multiply and burn.
• In the book, this scene is more life threatening as there’s one point where Griphook falls underneath the treasure. He’s blistering and burning.
• When the trio meet Aberforth, he reminds Harry that he’s only 17. That’s the issue. Dumbledore places this burden of carrying on the war when he shouldn’t have to worry about that to begin with.
• Neville has been standing up to Death Eaters. He refused to perform the Cruciatus Curse on students and he defends muggles in the muggle’s study class.
• The Death Eaters at the school went after Neville’s grandmother (since Neville was protesting at their school) and his grandmother kicked their asses. Imagine a little witch lady dueling two government dudes. The imagery. She lets Neville know she’s okay and tells him that he is his father’s son
• Ravenclaw’s entrance of course would make you answer a riddle for a password.
• McGonagall is fierce. “I will not permit your ineptitudes to passed onto the Hogwarts students”
• Harry fires off a Cruciatius Curse against the Death Eater who spit in McGonagall’s face.
• The original Quidditch team (Oliver Wood, Angelina Johnson, Katie Bell and Alicia Spinnet) come back to fight at Hogwarts.
• Helena Ravenclaw, Rowena’s daughter, stole the diadem from her mother. She wanted all the wisdom. Her mother sent the Bloody Baron aka. Slytherin’s ghost after her. When she rejects his advances, he kills her then kills himself.
• Neville lobs mandrakes over the wall.
• Neville’s grandmother comes back to fight.
• Hermione kisses Ron after he suggests to evacuate the house elves. This is such a Hermione thing to do.
• Nagini is protected in a magical sphere unlike the movie.
• Peeves dropping stuff on Death Eaters makes me happy.
• Ron punching Malfoy in the face after they stun the Death Eater that wanted to attack him.
• Luna, Ernie and Seamus all cast patronuses to save Harry, Ron and Hermione. Luna has a hare, Ernie has a boar and Seamus has a fox.
• In the book, the cage Nagini is in encases Snape and Nagini wraps herself around Snape while attacking him.
• Also Snape was killed in the Shrieking Shack in Hogsmeade. It’s ironic because this is the place where he was saved by James Potter, yet this is where Snape dies.
• Petunia begged for Dumbledore to accept her to Hogwarts even though Lily gets to go. Dumbledore even wrote back with a kind response
• In the King’s Cross scene, Dumbledore wears midnight blue robes (I wish they kept these in the movie)
• Dumbledore equates himself to Voldemort as he wanted to escape death and rule over Muggles with Grindelwald.
• The reason Dumbledore turned down the Minister position is he was afraid he would be selfish with all that power.
• Voldemort summons the sorting hat and puts it on Neville’s head. He then lights the hat on fire which holy shit burning someone alive!?
• Neville when confronting Voldemort grabs the sword and decapitates Nagini. Without hesitation.
• OMG Mrs. Weasley telling people to stay away from Bellatrix because she’s her’s to finish is a whole mood.
• As Voldemort attacks Molly after she kills Bellatrix, Harry holds a shield up to Molly. This is the moment where Voldemort knows that Harry is alive.
• Voldemort doesn’t turn to pieces like in the movie, he falls dead like any normal person would
• When Harry took Ron and Hermione to Dumbledore’s headmaster office, all the headmaster’s cheered and Dumbledore is seen crying in his frame.
• Harry uses the elder wand to repair his own wand then is going to return the elder wand to Dumbledore’s grave. This will end the control it has.
• “The scar had not pained Harry for nineteen years, all was well.

When I re-read this book, the two deaths that hit me the hardest were Dobby and Hedwig. When Dobby arrives to save Harry, there’s a couple of paragraphs talking about how scared Dobby is. Malfoy Manor is a place where Dobby has been abused for decades. Despite his fear, he shows up because Harry Potter is one of the few people who respected him.

Hedwig’s death is more brutal in the book because she was killed while still in her cage. Due to various circumstances, Harry is forced to blow up Hagrid’s motorbike which had Hedwig’s cage in it. He couldn’t even bury his owl who provided him peace while he lived with the Dursley’s.

2019 was the year I re-read the Harry Potter series. It was a wonderful experience going back to this book series.