Night falls.
Hogwarts.
Easter at Hogwarts always lands on the first Sunday after the full moon following the spring equinox. This year, that means April 19th. It's a Sunday holiday, and Hogwarts kicks off the break on Friday with no fuss about make-up classes or schedule tweaks—just a straight-up two-week holiday. Professors love the breather, and students are thrilled.
Unlike Christmas, Easter holidays mean students stay at Hogwarts. No trips home.
Third-years and up can pop over to Hogsmeade for the weekend, but younger students are stuck at the castle. Not that they mind much. For some, a holiday at school with no classes beats going home to parents' lectures. Here, they're surrounded by friends, and even doing homework together feels like a blast.
The house-elves in the kitchen go all out, whipping up Easter treats from around the world. The castle's ghostly theater troupe puts on a special performance, and even though Nearly Headless Nick has told his tale a hundred times, the younger kids still scream when he juggles his ghostly head. It's a riot.
This Easter feast isn't as grand as Christmas, but it's livelier, full of cheer.
At 7:30 p.m., the entire school gathers in the Great Hall.
The staff table at the front has been transformed into a massive screen, with a giant enchanted mirror swirling with silvery mist. The four house tables are packed—nearly a thousand seats filled, except for a few awkward spots at the edges. Some students even squeeze into the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff tables in the middle just to get a better view.
It's not just students. Ghosts hover in the air, portraits cram their frames, and pretty much every moving thing in Hogwarts shows up.
The heads of houses patrol the aisles, keeping order, while elective professors sit at the back of the tables, just as excited as the students.
Dumbledore watches the scene with a warm smile.
"Here we go," he says.
Melvin nods to the deputy headmistress, slipping a misty memory into the enchanted mirror. The magical ceiling dims, and the Great Hall's lights fade.
A cheerful melody kicks in, the opening sequence short and sweet. No credits, no director, no cast list—just a single line:
Based on true events.
Toot… toot…
A scarlet train chugs slowly along the tracks, pulling into a small, shadowy platform. Lights flicker on, the doors slide open, and passengers spill out.
"I'm getting off—stop pulling me back!"
"Has anyone seen my toad?"
"First years, first years, over here!" In the chaotic crowd, Hagrid's towering figure stands out, his bushy beard taking up half the screen. He holds a lantern high, grinning. "Come on, little ones, follow me!"
The students line up neatly, filing out like a trail of ants, one stepping on the heels of the next.
It's a late summer night, the air damp with mist. As a soothing witch's chant hums in the background, the view zooms out, revealing a wide lake, rolling fields, and Hogwarts Castle slowly coming into focus. Warm light spills from its windows, while the sharp towers blend into the starry sky.
First-years glide across the lake in little boats, the water rippling with golden light.
"That's what it was like for us…" Harry murmurs, his eyes distant. He remembers Ron chattering nonstop about the Sorting Ceremony, Hermione reciting half a textbook, and his own gnawing fear that he'd fail some test and be sent back to the Dursleys. The embarrassment and dread still feel fresh.
"Look, that's me!"
"I'm right there!"
"Oh, that's the kid who tripped!"
"Haha!"
The Great Hall erupts in laughter. At the same time, wizarding pubs across England burst into similar cheers as parents squint at the screen, trying to spot their kids.
Those without kids at Hogwarts soak in the castle's nighttime beauty. It's been years since they've seen it.
They thought those memories had faded, but as the mirror shows the path near the station, the boats on the Black Lake, and the castle's glowing windows, it all comes rushing back.
"That's how it was for us, too…"
Malcolm and Tucklot sit side by side, leaning away from each other as if allergic. Yet their eyes share the same wistful look—nostalgia tinged with a touch of bittersweet longing, hard to pin down but deeply felt.
The first scene ends, cutting straight to the Sorting Ceremony. It's brief, focusing on Harry being sorted into Gryffindor. From there, the story follows his perspective, lingering on the professors at the staff table.
Dumbledore gives his speech, introducing two new professors and issuing a cryptic warning about the forbidden corridor on the fourth floor. "If you don't want to meet a painful, untimely end, stay out of the right-hand corridor on the fourth floor." His knowing look fades as the scene shifts.
Hogwarts life unfolds: classes in the classrooms, meals in the Great Hall, pranks on the grounds, splashing by the Black Lake… and, by some twist of fate, Harry joining the Quidditch team as a Seeker.
Melvin skips the chase scene with Draco, instead showing Harry soaring on his broom, streaking past towers and over the hills, forests, and lake below, the endless blue sky behind him. The scene closes with a shot of Professor McGonagall, then cuts to the lake, transitioning to students in the courtyard buzzing about Harry's new role as Seeker.
The film doesn't spell out every detail, but the audience connects the dots, piecing together the story from the glimpses shown.
Melvin carefully edits the tale, trimming side characters like Draco or minor professors, focusing everything on Harry and his closest allies.
At the Three Broomsticks' upstairs theater, Malcolm and Tucklot sit up straight, eyes glued to the mirror. Scenes of getting scolded in Transfiguration or mucking about with manure in the greenhouses remind them of their own foolish school days.
After graduating into the adult world, tasting life's ups and downs, those carefree Hogwarts moments only lingered in dreams. Now, seeing them so vividly pulls at their hearts.
That's the magic of a school-life film.
As the first-years settle into Hogwarts, the story dives into the main plot.
Neville Longbottom gets lost and returns late, prompting Harry and his friends to search for him. Their adventure stirs up trouble, catching the caretaker's attention. A chase ensues, and they accidentally stumble into the forbidden fourth-floor corridor, coming face-to-face with a ferocious three-headed dog.
The mirror zooms in on Fluffy, its three heads snarling, muscles rippling, sharp teeth glistening with traces of blood. The image is so vivid it feels like the audience's heads are inside the beast's jaws.
"Whoa!"
The crowd gasps, the scene even more thrilling than the trailer promised.
"What are they doing, keeping that thing in the school?"
"Didn't you see what it was standing on?"
"The floor?"
"No! A trapdoor! It's guarding something!"
The audience's curiosity spikes, drawn into Harry's shoes. Why is there a three-headed dog in the school? What's under that trapdoor? Are the two new professors up to something sinister?
Hagrid reappears, his big mouth letting slip that the trapdoor's secret is tied to Nicolas Flamel. Harry presses for more, but Hagrid clams up like an NPC with no more dialogue.
"I'm not saying another word."
"Then we'll have to find out ourselves!"
Onscreen, Harry and his friends grow anxious. Offscreen, the audience is even more on edge. The first-years don't know who Nicolas Flamel is, but the adults do.
"The Philosopher's Stone! It's the Philosopher's Stone!"
Malcolm shouts, desperate to jump into the mirror and warn them. Tucklot clamps a hand over his mouth, and the two start wrestling.
With Fluffy's appearance, the film's lighthearted tone shifts. The audience follows Harry's gaze, noticing Quirrell popping up more often. Close-ups during Defense Against the Dark Arts highlight his odd expressions, hinting at something suspicious.
As Harry and his friends inch closer to the truth about the Philosopher's Stone, strange incidents pile up at Hogwarts.
In the first Quidditch match, Harry's broom is jinxed, leaving him dangling in midair, fighting for his life before scraping out a win.
On Halloween, Harry and Ron, stuffed from the feast, head to the bathroom and run into a troll. They outsmart it until the professors arrive.
After the first snow, a group of students, including Harry, gets detention for tardiness and is sent to patrol the Forbidden Forest. There, they stumble across a mysterious wizard hunting unicorns, only driven off by Professor McGonagall and a centaur.
Incident after incident mounts, and even the densest wizards sense something's wrong. The theater grows quiet.
Then Christmas arrives.
Jingle Bells plays, light and festive, as the castle dons holiday decorations. Students bundle up in scarves, leaving footprints in the snow. Through Harry's eyes, the mirror shows steaming pumpkin juice and golden-brown roast turkey.
The Christmas scenes are cozy, but the audience stays tense, sensing trouble.
Sure enough, things take a turn. McGonagall heads to Hogsmeade to settle accounts, Sprout leaves to buy herbs, the heads of houses are busy, other professors go home, and even Dumbledore is summoned away by the Ministry.
Sharp-eyed viewers notice the pattern: Hogwarts' defenses are peeling away, leaving the school vulnerable. Shockingly, only Harry and a few other first-years remain.
In the mirror, the first-years enjoy Christmas, unaware of the looming shadow. The contrast tugs at the audience's hearts.
Jingle Bells fades, and Quirrell stands at the hospital wing's window, watching the professors leave one by one. His face is shrouded in shadow, only his purple turban visible.
The screen goes dark. A creaky hinge squeaks, like an old wooden door groaning open, grating on the audience's nerves.
Wizarding pubs across England fall silent. The theater holds its breath, the sound mimicking their own racing heartbeats.
Before, they could rely on professors or Dumbledore for help. Now, with those safety nets gone, are the first-years really left to face a dark wizard alone?
How could that be?
Malcolm and Tucklot's faces pale, brows furrowed, as if they're back in their student days, staying at Hogwarts over Christmas while the school empties out, leaving them with a powerful dark wizard.
In the dimness, they feel unseen eyes watching, their nerves on edge.
Their wives exchange a glance, silently watching as the two men grip each other's robes to ease their tension.