10 Plot twists in Harry Potter movies that made us drop our Butterbeer

The Harry Potter franchise was pretty good in terms of spell-binding, Butterbeer-dropping moments across the eight films. With unexpected villains, and even more unexpected heroes, secrets, lies, and truths about the characters, the franchise made sure to keep us guessing till the end, while subtly dropping some of the biggest bombs in the plot.

Although J.K. Rowling's mastery made sure to include quite a few of these moments across all seven stories, here are our favorite ten picks of the biggest plot twists in Harry Potter.

Professor Quirrell was orchestrating Harry Potter's death all along

Snape had us all fooled with his icy glares, dramatic cloak swishes, and a voice that dripped suspicion; he felt like the villain from scene one. But while we were too busy side-eyeing him, the real snake was stammering in the corner. Professor Quirrell, all nerves and sweat, turned out to be hiding Lord Voldemort on the back of his actual head. Every creepy event we blamed on Snape was Quirrell’s doing. Quiet, awkward, forgettable Quirrell. Turns out, evil doesn’t always wear black. Sometimes it trembles and says “p-p-p-please.”

Tom Riddle is the heir of Salazar Slytherin

To have an evil wizard who is half a century older than you pine and pray for your death is one thing, and him being the heir of one of the most powerful and feared wizards of all time is another thing. And unfortunately for Harry Potter, Voldemort was both.

Up until Chamber of Secrets, Voldemort was an enemy, sure, as Harry still continued to make new discoveries about the Dark Wizard. But finding out his ancestry and his legacy was a whole new discovery. The basilisk obeyed him like an old friend. Salazar Slytherin’s blood ran through his veins like poison with a pedigree. It was one moment that led us to understand just how dangerous Tom Riddle was.

Ron had a traitor for a pet all these years

Scabbers always seemed like a useless little lump of fur, lazy, twitchy, and frankly kind of gross. But then came the night everything squeaked sideways. That rat? Not a rat. He was Peter Pettigrew, an animagus, a traitor, and the man who sold out Harry’s parents to Voldemort.

To think that he lived with Ron's family for eleven years while Sirius Black rotted in Azkaban is a matter of curiosity.

Nevilla was pretty close to being The Chosen One

Throughout the franchise, up until The Order Of The Phoenix, we go on seeing Neville Longbottom as one of the side characters, somewhat irrelevant to the Golden Trio, or more of the Weasley siblings. But in the fifth film, it is revealed that Longbottom came pretty close to being where Harry Potter is today, and the only thing that separated him from that fate was Voldemort himself.

Trelawney's prophecy, which talked about a boy being born at the end of July, who will be Voldemort's equal, could have been about any of the two Gryffindor boys, who had parents in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and were born within hours of each other. Yet, Voldemort's own choosing of Harry Potter leads to establishing the story of the franchise.

Severus Snape was bullied by James Potter

Throughout the franchise, Harry pretty much idolises James. In the fifth film, for the first time he sees his father being involved in something unkind. During his Occlumency lessons, Harry gets a peek into Snape's memories and sees that he was bullied by James, who made him levitate in front of everyone as the crowd laughed.

It's a pivotal twist, and one that kind of gives a root to Snape's hatred for Harry and James. It's also a deeper foreshadowing of what's about to come in the final film, but more on that later.

Sirius Black is related to Draco Malfoy

Another shocking moment in the fifth book was when we got to know that Sirius Black was related to Draco Malfoy! During the scene where Sirius is showing Harry Potter the Black family tree, Harry notices Draco's name, and Sirius explains that Draco's mom, Narcissa, is his cousin.

It's another twisted plot point that proves Ron Weasley's point right when he talks about most Wizarding families being connected. It also ties the characters together in some ways and shows how all of them were related in each other's lives.

Narcissa Malfoy saved Harry Potter

Although the Malfoys were involved in some of the most evil scenes in the franchise, Narcissa Malfoy's final act of kindness was a huge plot twist and most certainly unexpected. The Malfoy matriarch was tasked with checking if Harry Potter had died, and after a whispered question about Draco's safety and an obvious indication that Harry is very much alive, she falsely declares him dead as the Dark Army rejoices.

It's a pivotal scene, and gives way to something much bigger- Harry Potter's final duel with Voldemort.

Snape's true intentions

The absolute biggest plot twist of the franchise was Snape's true intentions. In the final film, as Harry takes the Potions master's tears to the Pensieve, he gets to see his memories, his love for Harry's mother Lily, how he had been protecting Harry all these years and how he did not have the tiniest bit of evil in him as Harry imagined.

More importantly, it was a shocking revelation that he had been a spy for Dumbledore all these years, saving, protecting, and living for the last thing that remained of Lily's. And in doing so, he paid with the price of his own life.

Dumbledore's true intentions with Harry

Although the movies barely scratched on Albus' darker side, in the last film we do get to see how he had intended Harry's death all this while, and was simply waiting for the right time for him to face Voldemort. In the seven years he spent at Hogwarts, Dumbledore never told him the truth. That was the only way Voldemort could die if he died too. It was a cruel way of keeping The Boy Who Lived alive, putting him to the task of facing a heroic sacrifice, and hiding the truth from him.

Harry Potter becomes the Master of Death

The tale of the three brothers is an enchanting story, but Harry Potter gets to live it in real life. In the final moments of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows 2, we get to know that he is now the owner of all three Hallows. The invisibility cloak, handed down from James; the resurrection stone, handed down by Dumbledore; and the Elder Wand, having defeated Voldemort.

It's a full circle moment that brings him back as the hero who saved everyone, and now owns three of the most magical artefacts in the world, without having the desire to use them for his own good.