Harry Potter fans are just realising what Aunt Petunia is doing in kitchen scene

JOE

‘The amount of times I have seen this movie and yet I didn’t even notice!’

Harry Potter has been a staple of many people’s lives for well over 20 years now.

From the books to the films to the theatre productions, it is undoubtedly one of the most successful series’ of all time.

Yet for all of its success, there’s still some moments that escape the eye of even the biggest of Harry Potter fans.

One of these concerns an often-overlooked scene from the first film – The Philosopher’s Stone.

An eagle-eyed user on Reddit, who claims to have watched the first film ‘hundreds’ of times, spotted an Easter egg involving the complex character of Aunt Petunia – played brilliantly by the great Irish actress Fiona Shaw.

Petunia is hardly anyone’s favourite character considering she was an nosy, hostile and abusive person who took a particular dislike towards Harry and, furthermore, the world of magic.

During one of the opening scenes, the aunt can been seen in the kitchen stirring something in a bucket as Harry walks through to the living room.

The Reddit post read: “What is Aunt Petunia doing? First time EVER noticing this in hundreds of viewings.”

Another user then explained: “Aunt Petunia is visible in the background of this scene dyeing [her son] Dudley’s old clothes grey for Harry’s uniform. This is only ever mentioned in the book.”

The novel states that the family originally planned on sending Harry to Stonewall High, rather than Dudley’s prestigious Smeltings Academy.

As such, Petunia had dyed some of Dudley’s old clothes grey for Harry to wear, instead of getting him his own new uniform.

Harry, however, was saved at the last moment when the family received the letter from the magic school Hogwarts, which Harry ultimately attended instead.

Stunned by the scene that had gone unnoticed, fans reacted, with one saying: “The amount of times I have seen this movie is crazy, and I’ve read the book once, absolutely loved it, and yet I didn’t even notice this.

Another added: “That’s actually really cool! Shame the movies cut down so much from the books.”

A third said: “I always wondered what she was doing, I’d clearly forgotten that detail between reading the book and watching the film.”

One other user claimed that the strange action is “explained in deleted scenes.”

The fact that some people hadn’t noticed the detail until now has also seemingly angered some die-hard fans on social media.

A thread talking about what Petunia is doing has attracted many upset comments on X, with one person writing: “I’m convinced people watch movies with their eyes closed.”

Another went as far as to insult viewers because of it: “It’s not an easter egg. It’s in the book so they put it in the film! People really are idiots!”

It wouldn’t be a Harry Potter fan debate if people didn’t let their emotions get the better of them.

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