7 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Mistakes You’ll Never Be Able to Unsee

It’s no secret that Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets raised the bar from the first movie, bringing better special effects and darker arts to defend against. However, even with a bigger budget and a returning cast coming into their own (even with Kenneth Branagh’s Gilderoy Lockhart in purple robes), the second film in the hit franchise still slipped up a few times.

We may not have caught these mistakes on the first dozen rewatches, but once pointed out, they reveal the vast network of muggles working behind the scenes to bring Harry Potter to life. Chamber of Secrets is riddled with things like tape marks on the floor, toy animals doing their best impression of being alive, and a crew member who somehow made it into the dueling club. Warning: once you see these goofs, you can try your best to “obliviate” yourself, but there are no guarantees it will work. 

1) Lucius Caught with His Wig Down

Jason Isaacs’ Lucius Malfoy might win for Best Dressed Evil Wizard, but sadly, his luscious blonde wig couldn’t withstand the lighting department. Near the end of the movie, as he storms into Dumbledore’s office with his signature sneer, you can clearly see a patch of short brown hair glowing, silhouetted by the backlights. His platinum locks are blown back behind his shoulders by the momentum of his angry marching just long enough to kill the illusion. 

It’s a peek behind the magical curtain so to speak, but it takes the wind out of Lucius’s intimidation tactics. For a moment, instead of a scary pure-blood supremacist Death Eater, we get Jason in a wig. Isaacs, who initially auditioned for Lockhart, reportedly resisted taking the role of Mr. Malfoy at all, so I guess we’re lucky to have him, hair faux pas and all.

2) Strange Markings on Platform 9¾

It’s already chaos when the Weasleys and Harry try to catch the train at King’s Cross. But when rewatching the fullscreen DVD version, you can spot something truly out of place, even for the Muggle world. When Mr. Weasley and Ginny are rushing the barrier, two very obvious tape marks are visible on the ground, likely put there by production to help the actors with blocking. Mark Williams as Mr. Weasley even shouts his line right as he hits the tape, like a pro.

Usually, marks are painted out of the shot in post, but somehow this time it was overlooked. To be fair, the scene was filmed at the real King’s Cross Station, and with dozens of actors, extras, animals, and trolleys, it would almost make sense that someone dropped their school supplies on the ground. Unfortunately, duct tape isn’t on the official Hogwarts shopping list. Watching Percy’s trolley hit the tape while Harry patiently waits for his cue in the background feels a little like we’re watching a dress rehearsal.

3) Hedwig Gets Petrified

While we’re on the topic of Platform 9¾, a closer look at Hedwig’s cage during the moment of the trolley crash reveals something strange. As Harry slams into the solid brick wall, Hedwig’s cage falls to its side, and within it, you can see a very unconvincing plastic bird stuck into place. He doesn’t move, react, or flap his wings; the Hedwig imposter simply sits there stiffly, like a taxidermy hunting trophy. Mind you, this is long before the Basilisk starts petrifying people and animals. 

The prop department nearly had us fooled, but once you notice the flub, it’s all you can see. Hedwig was played by multiple snowy owls throughout the films, all trained for different movements, but this little blip makes you wonder what other scenes they used the dummy for. Of course, the real owl actors couldn’t be used during the stunt, or PETA might have been the next ones trying to bust down the brick wall. 

4) The Howler That Seals Itself

When Errol crash-lands in the Great Hall and drops Ron’s dreaded Howler, he lands in a bowl of crisps on the Gryffindor table. If you pause at just the right frame, you’ll see that the envelope’s wax seal is already broken when Ron goes to grab it. But the moment he turns it around, the seal appears perfectly intact, only for him to break it again seconds later before the wrath of Molly Weasley fills the hall and makes poor Ron go red in the face. 

This kind of continuity slip is a common byproduct of filming with practical props. It’s possible the envelope accidentally popped open in the first shot, then, when they reset to film a different angle, they gave actor Rupert Grint a fresh one to open. While it’s still a legendary scene, thanks to Julie Walters’ delivery as Mrs. Weasley and a convincing special effect, the mistake does kind of break the illusion that Howlers are sealed with rage magic and not an Elmer’s glue stick. 

5) Case of the Disappearing Blood

In the Chamber itself, right after Harry stabs the diary and defeats Tom Riddle, he rushes to Ginny’s side, clearly injured. He clutches his wounded arm, and his hand is visibly bloody. But as Ginny looks at the wound, Harry moves his hand to cover it. Cut to close-up, and the blood on his hand has disappeared. Then, in the next shot, it’s back again. Either Fawkes’ tear healing was working overtime, or the SFX makeup team let this one slip.

Considering how fast-paced and effects-heavy the Chamber climax is, this is probably just a classic case of different shots having slightly different makeup continuity, similar to the missing drool stain in Sorcerer’s Stone. Still, the sequence in the chamber is hugely impressive. It was filmed in one of the largest physical sets ever built for the series, and featured a full-size animatronic Basilisk head. Though it is fun to imagine Harry taking a moment to wipe his hands clean before striking a heroic pose for Ginny. 

6) Dueling Club Gets a New Member

The Dueling Club sequence delivers killer wand combat, a surprise snake for Draco, and Snape being a drama queen as per usual. But in the widescreen version, it also features an unexpected guest star. As Snape helps Malfoy off the ground, at the far left side of the screen, you can see a whole entire cameraman crouching down, amongst the other students in the scene as if waiting for his turn.

It makes you wonder how many takes they went through before deciding to leave him in, or if the editors even noticed him at all. Not the kind of background extra we were expecting, but if these wizards can have a dueling club in the middle of the Great Hall, surely there’s room for one rogue Muggle cameraman. Perhaps he snuck onto Hogwarts grounds to film The Secret Lives of Wizards. Either that or Hagrid needs to chime in quick with, “You’re a wizard, Camera Op.” 

7) Neville LongEars

In Lockhart’s unhinged pixie lesson, we see desks overturned, books flying across the room, and Neville, played by Matthew Lewis, having a worse time than anyone else thanks to two Cornish Pixies that lift him by the ears and dangle him from the chandelier. Eagle-eyed fans have spotted the method behind the madness: clips on Neville’s ears, to simulate the pixies’ gripping and pulling them upwards. The effect works marvelously well, the only issue is that after they drop him, the clips are still on, so his ears look perpetually stretched and pointed. 

This is likely one of those practical-meets-CGI moments that was probably way harder to coordinate than it looks. The result is hilarious, but the bizarre ear physics do slightly spoil the spell. The Cornish Pixies themselves were created using cyber scanning and digital animation, meaning during filming, everyone was running around screaming and swatting at nothing. It’s hard not to admire the ingenuity here, and despite the blunder, it’s impossible not to enjoy this scene. 

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is streaming on HBO Max.

Which Chamber of Secrets blunder made you laugh the most? Let us know in the comments below. 

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