Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (novel)/Fridge

Fridge Brilliance

Ronan the Centaur is angry at Firenze for saving Harry from Quirrel/Voldemort in the Forbidden Forest, as it goes against the stars' foretelling. Harry is destined to be killed by Voldemort in the forest, but not until 6 years later.
- Also dealing with the unicorn blood scene: Everyone at first thinks Quirrel's stuttering and turban come from a bad encounter with a Vampire in Albania. He did indeed have a bad encounter, but with Voldemort, so I finished the book the first time thinking this rumor was false. Cut 3 years to my first re-reading, where I realize that Voldemort makes Quirrel drink blood on his behalf.
Also dealing with Quirrelmort: When we're introduced to Quirrel, his constant fear is explained as coming from a supposed vampire encounter in Albania. We later learn that it was actually Voldemort he met in Albania, which put the other story out of my mind. Rereading the first book 12-odd years since I first did, I realized that Voldemort 1) drains Quirrel's life-force, and 2) SURVIVES BY (having Quirrel) DRINK BLOOD.
- His constant fear is also explicable to the other teachers, who probably blame it on his having heard how the DADA position is jinxed.
I first read Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone the spring before the first film came out. I thought Draco Malfoy was a funny character, but really didn't think any more of him. Until two or three years later, when I realized that Draco Malfoy seemed to be crafted into a classic Threshold Guardian, as every decision Harry made in book one that defined him as a hero for most of the school year happened in response to Draco being a douche. When I figured out what Jo had done, I nearly died laughing. That brilliant beast! -- Laota
I realized how well-done the Harry Potter series was on the seventh or eighth time I read the first book. On the first trip on the Hogwarts Express, Ron has a smudge on his nose that won't come off. If you pay close attention to the conversation on the platform, it seems to be implied that the twins put the smudge on as a practical joke.
I heard this one that for some reason had never clicked before. The mirror of Erised. Read it backward. -- Jahwn Lemonjello
- The entire phrase "Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi" that is carved on the mirror can be read backwards as well, reading "I show not your face but your heart's desire."
  - And it says this in mirror language.
- It being written backwards is pretty brilliant to. If you held the writing up to a regular mirror, you'd be able to see what it said.
  - Well, sort of. Mirror writing is not the same thing as writing something backwards. But yes, it might be easier to see what it said in a mirror, because your naturally pattern-finding brain will reverse the letters that need it. Redrum!
The sorting hat tells Harry that he could be great in Slytherin. In other words, it was trying to appeal to Harry's ambition. That's a clever way to see if someone should be in Slytherin.
- And Harry showed courage by asking the hat not to put him in Slytherin.
  - All of which helps juxtapose Harry to Tom, whom I can imagine making the opposite choice—becoming overcome by his "thirst to prove himself." As Dumbledore says, it is our choices that matter. That said, I realized after the seventh book that the hat's consideration of Slytherin may well have had less to do with Harry himself than the presence in Harry's mind of a piece of Voldemort's soul.
When Scabbers (who is actually Pettigrew, though we don't know that til PoA) bites Goyle in the scene on the train—Harry and Ron are on the verge of fighting them because, in part, Malfoy insulted Harry's parents.
- Okay, whoever posted the above, I have officially fallen in love with you. Brilliant!
- Also, Ron's attempt to turn Scabbers yellow didn't just fail because it wasn't a very good spell, but because it specified a rat as its target, and Scabbers isn't really a rat. Or stupid, for that matter.
- Scabbers chewed on Ron's sheets after the post-Sorting banquet. Want to bet that portly young Peter Pettigrew'd really savored those opening-day feasts when he was a student, and was frustrated that he hadn't been able to do more than smell all that food?
When Dumbledore commends Nevile Longbottom for trying to stop the Trio, he comments that while it takes courage to stand up to one's enemies, it takes a great deal more to stand up to one's friends, at the time it seemed to this troper like he was merely ensuring that Griffindor would win the house cup. However in the last book that we find out that Dumbledore's greatest regret was not standing up to his friend Grindelwald earlier, which caused the death of his younger sister, and his eventual rise to power.
Hermione's line, "I hope you're pleased with yourselves. We could all have been killed — or worse, expelled," at first seems humorous, with Ron's (film) response about her priorities getting the expected laugh. However, while reading the Fate Worse Than Death trope, it occurred to me that, considering that those expelled from Hogwarts have their wands broken and are forbidden to use magic in a world where magic-users rule and those without it (Squibs/Muggles) are treated as second-class at best...Well, the best possible outcome is re-integrating into Muggle Society and you spend your life knowing that there's a magic world that you can never access again. Hermione actually has the right of it. -zenfrodo
- Snapping your wand on grounds of expulsion isn't a usual thing, its only in Hagrids case because he was framed for such an extreme crime - i.e. bringing in a creature that killed another student.
This troper is only passing something on that a fanfic writer points out in a piece called "Oh God, Not Again", and I actually did a fanfic based on the whole idea. (Here if you're interested.) Basic summary: The first potion that Snape demands of Harry is "What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?" Seems to be nothing other than a potions master asking a student the concoction that such a combination would make, and kicking off the theme of Snape bullying Harry. Nothing special. Until you look into plant languages. Asphodel is a type of Lily. Clever in itself. The flower has delicate petals of white with pink-red stripe through their centre. Sweet, pure, but not without an angry streak. Feeling creeped out yet? What does that lily mean in flower language? "My regrets follow you to the grave". Headscrewed yet? It get's better. Wormwood means absence or bitter regret. What do you get if you combine those two plants together, other than a Draught of Living Death? This message: "I bitterly regret Lily's death." And now, for that final kicker. In Slughorn's first lesson, the students are asked to make the Draught of Living Death. Guess who's book Harry is using J.K you clever clever woman, do you never stop breaking our hearts?
In the shack on the island where Vernon takes the Dursleys, Harry asks Hagrid what happened to Voldermort. Hagrid's response: "Dunno if he had enough human left in him to die." That's exactly what happens: Voldemort doesn't die because only one-seventh of his soul is in his body at the time.
Near the end of this book, when Harry is trying to convince Hermione and Ron to break school rules to save the Stone, Harry tells them that this is more important than school rules: "Haven't you heard what it was like when he was taking over? There won't be any Hogwarts to get expelled from! He'll either flatten it or turn it into a school for the Dark Arts!" Not at all like what Voldemort tried to do in Deathly Hallows... --
Just a small thing, but in the holidays, Fred and George charm snowballs to bounce off the back of Quirels turban. At the end of the book, it is revealed that Voldemorts face is on the back of Quirels head, under his turban. So the twins snowballs were hitting Voldemort! THIS MUST BE A CROWNING MOMENT OF FUNNY!
- Likewise, when Harry first feels pain in his scar, it's when he takes a good look at Snape up at the teachers' table during the opening-day feast. What's Snape doing when Harry sees him? Talking face-to-face with Quirrell, which means that the back of Quirrell's head must've been turned towards Harry at the time. The pain wasn't because he'd seen Snape, but because Voldemort was glaring at Harry from under the turban!

Fridge Horror

In the first book, a couple of young wizards throw snowballs at Professor Quirrel's turban. Only at the end do we find out that underneath that turban is the most dangerous dark wizard of all time.
- Doubles as Hilarious in Hindsight. Snowballing Voldemort in the face? BRILLIANT
- In the Forbidden Forest, the unicorn-drinking Quirrell is described as "crawling across the ground like some stalking beast" - now imagine Quirrell crawling backwards across the floor, letting the Voldemort face on the back of his head do the drinking...

Fridge Logic

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