The Harry Potter franchise turns 20 on June 26, and how are we celebrating? With a binge-watch of all the movies, of course!
You’ve undoubtedly already watched and rewatched all of the films a million times, but chances are you’ve yet to catch every single one of these Easter eggs we found.
Originally published October 2016. Updated June 2017.
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Lucky No. 7
Image Credit: Warner Bros. The movie: All of them
The egg: If you’re a fan of the Harry Potter franchise, you pretty much already know how important the number seven is. Everything comes in sevens. There are seven books, seven Weasley children, seven players in Quidditch (Harry’s Quidditch number is seven by the way), seven locks on Moody’s trunk and seven Horcruxes. There’s a bunch of other sevens, but you get the point.
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The footprints
Image Credit: Huffington Post The movie: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
The egg: It’s perhaps the most infamous Easter egg: The teenage-lover footprints, as the two pairs of feet have been dubbed, can be found at the end credits of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. (They do look rather busy in the left-hand corner, don’t they?)
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The chocolate frog’s first appearance
Image Credit: Dorkly The movie: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
The egg: We’re first introduced to the fine wizarding world delicacy of chocolate frogs in the very first installment, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. The frog, although made out of chocolate, leaps out of the moving train (there’s a spell involved, of course). It was obviously trying not to get eaten.
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The chocolate frog returns
Image Credit: Dorkly The movie: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 2
The egg: In the very last movie, the gang is all grown up and sending their own kids to Hogwarts. A chocolate frog leaps into Rose’s (Hermione and Ron’s daughter) hands. Now, what are the chances that there’s another chocolate frog roaming about? What a cute way to wrap everything up.
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Buckbeak the Hippogriff
Image Credit: Dorkly The movie: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
The egg: So, Buckbeak, who made his debut in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, pooped right before your eyes and you probably didn’t notice. Look closely.
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13 is unlucky
Image Credit: Warner Bros. The movie: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
The egg: Trelawney refuses to sit at the table with Dumbledore when she realizes there are already 12 people sitting.
“I dare not, Headmaster! If I join the table, we shall be 13! Nothing could be more unlucky! Never forget that when 13 dine together, the first to rise will be the first to die!”
Yeah, so that means absolutely no more lunch/dinner dates with groups of 13. Ask Sirius Black.
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Sirius Black
Image Credit: Warner Bros. The movie: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
The egg: Sirius is the first to stand at a table of 13. Later on in the book, he’s the first to die.
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Harry and Trelawney
Image Credit: Warner Bros. The movie: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
The egg: Professor Trelawney is actually right on the mark when she predicts that Harry Potter’s birthday is in midwinter — when he was actually born in July. Voldemort is actually the one born in midwinter. Professor Trelawney was definitely sensing the Dark Lord’s energy in Harry. *shiver*
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Severus Snape
Image Credit: Warner Bros. The movie: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
The egg: So, everyone in Harry Potter fandomland agrees that Snape’s first words to Harry are actually a coded message.
When you decipher the sentence — “Potter! What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?” — from the Victorian language of flowers, you’ll realize that Snape is actually saying: I bitterly regret Lily’s death.
Asphodel is a type of lily symbolizing one’s regrets following another to the grave, and wormwood means “absence” and symbolizes bitter sorrow.
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Ron is a Jack Russell terrier
Image Credit: Warner Bros. The movie: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
The egg: Ron Weasley’s Patronus (spirit animal, basically) is revealed to be a Jack Russell terrier — which makes sense because he’s Harry’s loyal pal and all. Also, Jack Russell terriers are known for chasing weasels and similar land mammals. But does that have to do with his last name? Or something else…
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Hermione is an otter
Image Credit: Warner Bros. The movie: Harry Potter and the Prisoner or Azkaban
The egg: Hermione’s Patronus is an otter, which is related to the weasel. Another hint that she and Ron would end up together. That clever, clever J.K.
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Mr. Weasley
Image Credit: Warner Bros. The movie: Harry Potter and the Order of the PhoenixThe egg: When Mr. Weasley escorts Harry to a hearing at the Ministry of Magic, he has to type in a code before they can get in. Mr. Weasley says the number out loud as he’s inputting the code: “Six… two… four… and another four… and another two…” Yeah, the number spells out “magic.”
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Professor Quirrell
Image Credit: Warner Bros. The movie: Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone
The egg: In the first book, J.K. Rowling writes: “The Weasley twins were punished for bewitching several snowballs so that they followed Quirrell around, bouncing off the back of his turban.” The twins were hitting Voldemort in the face. Very funny.
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The Golden Snitch
Image Credit: Warner Bros. The movie: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s StoneThe egg: Professor Dumbledore’s enchanted script on the Golden Snitch reads: “I open at the Close.” The first Harry Potter book was published in 1998, which is the same year the last battle takes place in the last book. J.K. Rowling really did think of everything, didn’t she?
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