How Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets Differs From The Book

The second installment of the "Harry Potter" franchise by J.K. Rowling, titled "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" was adapted into a movie in 2002. The film follows the source material rather closely. For instance, in both the book and movie, the house-elf Dobby, owned by the Malfoy family, tries to keep Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) away from Hogwarts. The elf is unsuccessful, and the young wizard returns to his beloved school, just in time for the Chamber of Secrets to be opened. 

As Harry can speak Parseltongue, many of his classmates are under the impression that he has released the Chamber's monster, which happens to be a Basilisk, to kill all of the Muggle-Born students. However, it ends up that Ron Weasley's (Rupert Grint) little sister, Ginny (Bonnie Wright), had been possessed by Tom Riddle (Christian Coulson), aka Voldemort, to do his evil bidding after writing in his diary. And, as per usual, Harry manages to save the day.

That being said, the movie does deviate from the book in a few ways. Here is how the film "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" and its source material differ.

While Nearly Headless Nick (John Cleese) hardly has any screen time, the book has nearly an entire chapter dedicated to his 500th Deathday Party, which happens to be the night of Halloween. Harry, Ron, and Hermione (Emma Watson) are the only non-ghosts at the shindig and soon discover there's nothing for them to eat, as the spread consists of "large, rotten fish ... cake burned charcoal-black ... [and] maggoty haggis." At the party, Hermione also makes Moaning Myrtle (Shirley Henderson), the young ghost who lives in the girls' bathroom, cry after being caught talking behind her back. 

The friends eventually leave the party and try to make it back in time to enjoy the Halloween feast. Unfortunately, they are unable to eat a delicious dinner as they come across Mrs. Norris' petrified body. In both the film and the book, Filch (David John Bradley) immediately thinks Harry is the culprit. However, in the movie, he doesn't have any evidence as to why the 12-year-old boy would harm his feline friend, whereas, in the book, he claims Harry targeted him because he is a Squib.

In the book and film, Draco Malfoy's (Tom Felton) father Lucius (Jason Isaacs) gives new brooms to each member of the Slytherin Quidditch team. After Hermione insinuates that the brooms were the only reason Draco got a spot on the team, he calls her a "filthy little mudblood." In the film, the members of the Gryffindor team appeared to be shocked by the slur, which is meant to degrade Muggle-Borns. Ron pulls out his broken wand and tries to cast a spell on Draco in retaliation. Unfortunately, his wand malfunctions and the young Gryffindor begins to vomit slugs. Harry and Hermione rush him over to Hagrid's (Robbie Coltrane) hut to help their friend. 

When the kind groundskeeper asks what occurred, Harry explains that Draco insulted Hermione with a term that he was unfamiliar with. Hermione, who is on the verge of tears, reveals that Mudblood "means dirty blood," and Hagrid takes this opportunity to teach Harry about the concept of blood purity in the wizarding world. He then compliments Hermione and holds her hand, causing her to smile.

However, on the book's pages, Hermione is equally as clueless as Harry about the slur's meaning. In between vomiting slugs, Ron — the only member of the trio who was raised by wizards — gives them a brief history lesson as to why the word is offensive.

Ron's stern older brother, Percy Weasley (Chris Rankin), is barely featured in the second film. However, in the book, his role is slightly more significant. He has a secret relationship with a Ravenclaw student named Penelope Clearwater. After Ginny is saved from the Chamber of Secrets, she reveals that she caught Percy and Penelope making out. This delights her brothers, Fred (James Phelps) and George (Oliver Phelps), who look for any opportunity to make fun of their uptight sibling.

The Basilisk also petrifies Penelope Clearwater and Hermione at the same time. The mirror that Hermione is seen holding in the movie actually belongs to the Ravenclaw Prefect. Penelope's petrification understandably upsets Percy, giving him some emotional depth, which he is typically lacking.

Penelope is not even mentioned in the movie. Instead, the Basilisk only has five victims — Hermione, Nearly Headless Nick, Mrs. Norris, Justin Finch-Fletchley (Edward Randell), and Colin Creevey (Hugh Mitchell).

At the end of both the film and book, Harry comes up with a clever plan involving a dirty sock to deceive Lucius Malfoy. The Hogwarts school governor unintentionally hands Dobby the filthy clothing item, which grants him his freedom. However, how he reacts to losing his abused house-elf differs.

In the film, he is immediately enraged and takes out his wand. He swiftly walks toward the young wizard and almost utters The Killing Curse, but thankfully, Dobby intervenes. This means that the movie version of Lucius was ready and willing to risk a lifelong sentence in Azkaban for killing The Boy Who Lived over an elf. In the book, the character is also angry but refrains from nearly murdering a 12-year-old orphan. While "he [lunges] at Harry," he does not seem to be holding his wand. Dobby still saves Harry from his former master, however, and Lucius leaves the scene defeated.