Why didn't Harry Potter get in trouble for using Lumos Maxima outside of school in the opening of PoA?

Question

What dipshit let this happen in the beginning of Prisoner of Azkaban? Rowling never wrote this part in the book, and while some add-ons in other films were necessary this wasn't, it makes no sense as to why Harry wouldn't get in trouble if he was accused of using magic when Dobby used it later on...and none of this "as long as he wasn't in front of a muggle" business, as he's underage and can't use magic outside of school...

Answer 1

In the films they simply decided to **** on JK Rowling's rule in the books and say 'who cares, we'll just let them do what they want as long as Muggles can't see'. Notice how Hermione's also able to repair Harry's glasses in Diagon Alley in the second movie because they're too lazy to just let Mr Weasley do it as he did in the book.



However I think Harry's allowed to use Lumos outside of school. I don't know why they'd set it as summer homework to practise, but it's one of the few spells that's allowed simply because it's so painfully basic and can be explained if seen by a Muggle. In fact, Harry does use Lumos in the book of Prisoner of Azkaban, not in his bedroom but to illuminate the alleyway where he sees the Grim/Sirius Black for the first time and no one had a problem with it. He also uses it in Order of the Phoenix when everything goes dark as a result of the Dementors, yet the only thing the Ministry has a problem with is the Patronus Charm. I think this is because Lumos works like an ordinary torch/flashlight, or at least it does in the books anyway, rather than shining light in all directions, so if a Muggle saw Harry using it from a distance, they would just think he's using a Muggle electric torch instead of a wand and wouldn't be suspicious of it.

Answer 2

I don't know why it was added to the movie. It may have been more dramatic to have his uncle checking to make sure that he wasn't using magic or wasn't awake after the Dursleys were asleep than just to show him doing homework. In the book, he avoided danger since his use of the flashlight was constant, opposed to lumos, which had surges of power that may alert Vernon and the other Dursleys that Harry was doing something that he wasn't supposed to. However, since Harry seemed to be practicing the spell from a book, it may have been homework or school related and not just to show off magic. Light is also a necessity in some situations, like if Harry or other underage wizards and witches were outside in the dark when they were alone and/or there were dangerous people around. When Harry used the lumos spell when he used the patrounus charm in Order of the Phoenix, he wasn't questioned about it. However, it is possible that the use of the spell didn't register since Harry didn't have the wand in his hand when he cast the spell or since it was night, the spell was necessary. It is also possible that the use of magic wasn't a big deal in the magical world. In the Chamber of Secrets movie, I don't think that the Dursleys received any information that Harry had used an illegal spell and they just punished him because they ruined their party. The issue of illegal magic was brought up in Order of the Phoenix since it was essential to the plot.

Answer 3

He didn't get 'punished' by the MoM in Chamber of Secrets either, he just got a letter from Mafalda Hopkirk reminding him not to do magic out of school (and CoS comes before PoA, BTW).



In CoS, it was the Dursleys who locked him in his room and confiscated all his magical things, as a punishment for Dobby's exploding pudding ruining their dinner party (and Vernon's business deal). Up until Harry got the letter, he'd been having his best ever summer -- because the Dursleys hadn't known that Harry wasn't supposed to use magic outside of school.



And in PoA, after Harry blew up Aunt Marge and ran away, he wasn't punished either -- Fudge was very understanding about it (because of Sirius' escape), and MoM agents easily shrank her back down to size and modified the Dursleys' memories.



Fudge only turned against Harry after GoF, when he thought Dumbledore was working to depose him. And then he used disproportionate legal repercussions to try and punish/discredit Harry -- 'a trial by the full Wizengamot' -- as last seen (in Pensieve, in GoF book and movie) being used to put Death Eaters on trial for using Unforgivable Curses during Crouch's reign.



But yeah, it was kind of dumb that Cuaron put the 'Lumos under the bedcovers' in the movie, when JKR clearly states on the first page of PoA that Harry used a torch (= 'flashlight', for the Scholastic readers!) to do his homework. If he wanted to show how trapped Harry was, then putting bars (back) on his window would have done just fine.



Apart from that, though, I thought the PoA movie was a pretty good adaptation overall -- not the best (that would be CoS), but certainly much better than the low points of the series: OotP (needed more shouting, and less 'comedy') and HBP (needed more Voldemort memories, and fewer totally made-up scenes).

Answer 4

Lumos Maxima

Answer 5

Lumos Spell

Answer 6

the director said the reason for this was to show how trapped harry still was at home. How he had to hide while trying to learn spells and other different things. The reason Harry never got in trouble was because the ministry had bigger things to worry about like Sirius Black escaping.Fudge was glad to see Harry safe because he had thought Sirius may have gotten to him. He wasnt going to punish the great harry potter while a crazed man was trying to kill him. The reason he gets in trouble in the fifth book is because Fudge thinks Dumbledore is trying become Minister and that this whole Voldemort is back thing is to get Fudge out. SO Fudge tries to expel Harry to stop his so called lies.

Answer 7

That was only in the movie. In the book, he used a flashlight to write his History of Magic essay. He may not have gotten into trouble because the use of the spell may have also been for homework. He was practicing the spell from a book.

Answer 8

So many great answers already for this question

Answer 9

Movie mistake. Nothing more.