9 moments from the Harry Potter books that should have been in the movies
By Anwesha Nag
4. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs
The Marauders Era is beloved among Harry Potter fans. It is the most popular choice for a Wizarding World spin-off, although the studios continue to pay no heed to that.
Despite them being such fan-favorite characters, the tale of Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs was left out of the movies. They are briefly mentioned in Prisoner of Azkaban, but the film doesn’t delve into their friendship, why they could turn into animals, or even who they were in the first place.
The big reveal of the third book centers around the “Marauders” behind the Marauder’s Map: Harry’s father James Potter and his three close friends, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew. They picked their code names — Prongs, Padfoot, Moony, and Wormtail respectively — to represent the animals they could turn into. After James, Sirius, and Peter found out that Remus was a werewolf, they chose to become Animagi, albeit unregistered, so he wouldn’t feel so alone.
This revelation helps the readers understand how Peter managed to live as Ron’s rat Scabbers all this time, or how Sirius could turn into a black dog. The flashbacks also paint a vivid picture of the previous generations at Hogwarts.
3. Frank and Alice Longbottom
Among the many struggles the Harry Potter movies cut, the story of Frank and Alice Longbottom probably cuts the deepest.
Neville does play an important role in the films, and cutting off Nagini’s head with Excalibur was the perfect cherry on top of his character arc. However, his parents and the fate they suffered at the hands of the Death Eaters in the First Wizarding War are largely forgotten.
In Order of the Phoenix, Harry, Ron and Hermione accidentally meet the couple while checking in on Arthur Weasley. They see Neville and his grandmother visiting Frank and Alice in their permanent room at St. Mungo’s Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, where they had been for years.
It is revealed that the two of them were Aurors and members of the original Order of the Phoenix during the previous war. They were captured and tortured to insanity with the Cruciatus Curse by Bellatrix Lestrange and three others shortly after the downfall of Lord Voldemort in 1981. The Death Eaters were captured and given harsh sentences, but the damage was already done.
The torture of the Longbottoms was widely considered to be the cruelest atrocity committed in the modern wizarding world. J.K. Rowling once stated that it may have been even worse than what happened to Harry’s parents. While Neville’s character held his own in terms of courage and bravery — he was a great fit Gryffindor — the backstory about his parents would’ve lent more depth to it.