Who Finds Harry Trapped on the Hogwarts Express in the Half Blood Prince?

As Harry, Ron, and Hermione head off to Hogwarts for their sixth year, in Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, Harry has a nagging suspicion that Draco Malfoy is up to no good. They'd already found him doing something sneaky in Daigon Alley, and Harry wanted to know more.

Harry decides to don his invisibility cloak and sneak into the compartment where Malfoy and his Slytherin friends are sitting. He hops up onto the baggage shelf and eavesdrops as Draco lets brags about how he'll be working for the Dark Lord.

Then, as everyone gets ready to leave the train, Malfoy hangs back for a second. He noticed something funny. He shot a petrificus totalus spell at Harry, kicked him in the face, and left him to bleed underneath his invisibility cloak.

With everyone off the train, who was likely to find him? As it turns out, this is a clear difference between the movie and the novel version of the story.

In the Novel...

Harry lies there for a few minutes, thinking about his chances of being rescued. He's not so optimistic.

Then, suddenly, Tonks arrives! Harry is somewhat surprised to see her, but she explains that she is stationed in Hogsmeade on Order of the Phoenix business. She also mends his broken nose with a simple spell.

She's also mighty glum looking, and this is one of several encounters that drives the side plot involving her and Remus Lupin. The majority of these plot, however, has been excised from the movie.

Harry rushes off the train and runs into Snape, who gives him a hard time for being late. Harry eventually makes it up to the Great Hall as the banquet comes to a close.

In the Movie...

Harry is lying on the floor, and who should come through the door? Luna Lovegood!

Lovely Luna was wearing some spiffy glasses that she said allowed her to see some kind of mysterious creature. You catch a glimpse of her point of view, and you see what looks like a bunch of gnats hovering around Harry's invisible body.

Luna helps Harry up, fixes his nose (although she says she's only ever fixed a toe before), and they walk up to the castle. On the way, they notice Malfoy having his luggage inspected by Filch - but Snape vouches for Malfoy and convinces Filch not to search the rest of the baggage. This scene does not appear in the book.

The Difference?

The scene is re-written in the movie to follow two simple patterns...

First, the members of the Order of the Phoenix are rarely prominent in the film. Although they are a constant feature of the novel, they only appear in one or two scenes during the movie. Without that side plot, it makes little sense for Tonks to be in Hogsmeade watching over Harry.

Second, Luna Lovegood seems to get a bit more screentime than she did in the book. Although she had several memorable scenes in the book, her character is fleshed out a bit more and she is written into a few scenes in the movie. This is a good example of an extra role that was given to her to help her characterization.

It's disappointing that the Order of the Phoenix is largely written out of the movie, but in this case there is an upside. It is nice to see more of Luna, because she is a tremendously entertaining character.