Despite it being only the second book in a magical series meant for kids, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is a rather dark book full of monsters and death. It deals with a lot of heavy subject matter within the world of Harry Potter, showing that there was a dangerous side behind the wizardry. The movie adaptation of this book does a good job of bringing all of the main elements from the book to the screen however, it’s hard to include every detail from the books.
Because of this, there are some things about the Chamber of Secrets that might not make sense if you haven’t read the books. Here are the top 10 things from Chamber of Secrets that only made sense if you read the books.
WHY ARTHUR WEASLEY BEWITCHED THE FORD ANGLIA IN THE FIRST PLACE
In Chamber of Secrets, the Ford Anglia plays a rather large role. It’s how Harry and Ron get to school when they can’t get onto the Hogwarts Express, and it also rescues them from the spiders in the Forbidden Forest.
However, it’s never really explained why Arthur bewitched the car in the first place. In the books, readers learn that he spends a lot of time tinkering with Muggle artifacts, even though it’s illegal to do so. But his love of Muggles and their stuff endured, which is why he enchanted the car anyways.
DETAILS ABOUT THE GHOSTS AT HOGWARTS
In the Harry Potter movies, the ghosts are just background characters who add more mysticism to the magical Hogwarts. They aren’t really a big part of things, and there isn’t much explanation for them like there is in the books.
In the Chamber of Secrets book, Harry, Ron, and Hermione attend a Death Day Party for Nearly Headless Nick. Here, they learn more about ghosts, what being a ghost is really like, how ghosts can’t really feel or taste anything, and that being a ghost is a rather lonely existence.
WHY FILCH IS SO BITTER
Argus Filch is a fairly miserable character, to say the least. He is cruel to the students and seems to wish horrible things upon them, such as torture as punishment. While nothing really excuses this behavior, there is some explanation as to why he’s so bitter and why he never uses magic to clean anything.
The truth is that Filch is a Squib. This means that he was born into a wizarding family but that he’s not able to do any magic himself. No wonder he’s so resentful towards the wizarding students of Hogwarts.
HOW MCGONAGALL KNOWS SO MUCH ABOUT THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS
When the Chamber of Secrets is supposedly opened, there is a message that shows up in blood on the wall outside of Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom. This understandably leaves the students with a lot of questions.
In the books, it’s actually Professor Binns, the ghost who teaches History of Magic, who tells the history of the legend. But in the movies, it’s McGonagall who explains things. It makes less sense that she would know so much about this seeing as she isn’t as old as Binns, and it’s unclear if she taught at the school the last time it was opened.
WHAT LIFE IS LIKE AT THE BURROW
Some of the details that are missing from the movies are less important to the overall plot and more important to the feel of the world. While the movies give a glimpse of life in the Burrow, we don’t see that much of it. The books, conversely, give a more detailed description and describe Harry’s time visiting there.
This adds a lot of information about what the Weasleys are like as a family, and it also gives insight into what life growing up in a wizarding family is all about.
HOW MAGICAL LIFE AT HOGWARTS REALLY WAS
Seeing as the movies only have less than three hours to tell a detailed story, they have to focus more on the plot and the important moments. This is why a lot of the background things happening at Hogwarts and in the Harry Potter world don’t make it into this movie or any of the sequels. One big thing missing is Peeves the Poltergeist.
While he definitely was a big pain and a lot of trouble for everyone, his inclusion was the kind of detail that really made Hogwarts feel like a magical school.
THE TRUE HATRED BETWEEN LUCIUS MALFOY AND ARTHUR WEASLEY
It’s fairly clear in the movie version of the story that Arthur Weasley and Lucius Mafloy don’t really like each other that much. However, how much they hate each other isn’t really explored.
When they meet in Flourish and Blotts in the books, they actually get into a physical fight in the store. Meanwhile in the movies, they only glare at each other, exchange some terse words, and it ends at that. These two are basically opposites in most ways, and they definitely despise each other for that and more.
WHY RON IS SO SCARED OF SPIDERS
Ron’s fear of spiders is quite severe. He’s deathly afraid of them, so the fact that he’s willing to follow the spiders and face up to his worst fear is definitely extremely brave of him. However, the reason why he’s so freaked out isn’t explained in the Chamber of Secrets movie.
In the books, he tells Harry about the time he was a young kid when Fred and George put a spell on his teddy bear to turn it into a spider. This would definitely be traumatizing, so his fear makes quite a bit of sense.
WHY THE WEASLEYS TRAVEL USING FLOO POWDER
Chamber of Secrets is the book that introduces readers to a new way that some witches and wizards get around. Floo Powder allows them to use fireplaces to travel to and from different locations. Practically speaking, it seems like there would be better and less messy methods.
The movies don’t really explain why this way is used. However, in the books, it talks about how not all wizards and witches can apparate (i.e. teleport). Additionally, Floo Powder is one of the simplest ways to travel with underage children.
WHY HARRY CAN’T BREAK OUT OF HIS OWN ROOM AFTER THE DURSLEYS LOCK HIM UP
After Dobby drops Petunia’s dessert and Harry gets blamed for it, the Dursleys lock him up in his room. He can’t leave except for a couple of times a day. Obviously, Harry knows he can’t do magic because he would get expelled if he did.
However, in the movies, it’s not explained how the Dursleys know this. In the books, this is explained by the letter that is sent from the Ministry, so the Dursleys know that Harry is basically trapped.
