To spot this mistake in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, you don’t have to pay much attention at all. All it takes is a little Harry Potter wit.
It’s the beginning of September and with it begins the unofficial Harry Potter season. For every year on 1 September, Back To Hogwarts Day is celebrated by fans worldwide. On this date, the Hogwarts Express traditionally departs from Platform 9 3/4. Perhaps you too will now start your Harry Potter marathon again.
Perhaps the best Harry Potter film is The Prisoner of Azkaban. The thrilling time travel plot is naturally prone to logic errors – but the gross blunder this article is about happens much earlier.
What? Harry is allowed to do magic outside of Hogwarts in The Prisoner of Azkaban?
The mistake: Right from the opening scene, the film contradicts one of the most important rules of the fantasy franchise – underage students are not allowed to do magic outside of school. Which is what Harry is doing: casting spells. The camera moves through the logo to his room in Privet Drive at the Dursleys’. Lights flicker and Harry whispers several times, “Lumos maxima,” meaning the spell that creates light, as Harry reads under the covers. As Vernon rumbles into the room, the 13-year-old pretends to be asleep.
The video starts at the Harry Potter 3 opening:
Why this Harry Potter mistake is particularly stupid
First: The scene does not occur like this in the book. You can accuse J.K. Rowling of many things, but she respects the laws of her books, most of the time anyway. In the book, Harry uses a torch, according to Reddit
Second: The prohibition against using magic outside of Hogwarts is particularly present in Harry Potter 3. After all, Harry casts a blowing/floating spell on his ghastly aunt in the first act, thus committing the cardinal sin: casting spells in front of Muggles. Only a much bigger problem in the wizarding world, the outbreak of the alleged felon Sirius Black, saves him from grave consequences.
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One possible explanation for the error: lumos or lumos maxima is considered trivia and not “proper spellcasting” before the Ministry. After all, the spell merely conjures up a bit of light. No one is put in danger; Muggles might also mistake the glowing wand for a rather strange torch.
The much more likely explanation: director Alfonso Cuarón just thought the spell to open his film was cool and didn’t worry about the Harry Potter rules.
Either way, the mistake hardly bothers and doesn’t scratch the film’s status as arguably the best representative of the series. Harry Potter 3 is too rich in detail and too important for the entire series for that.
