Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban



Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is the third installment in the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling. It was first published in 1999.

Disturbing news
J.K. Rowling's third book opens with Harry Potter enduring another unhappy summer at the Dursleys'. One day, Harry overhears a news report about escaped convict, Sirius Black. When Uncle Vernon's sister, Marge, viciously insults Harry, his anger causes her to inflate and float to the ceiling. Upset, Harry runs away. On a dark street, he sees a large black dog ominously watching him from the bushes, but the Knight Bus suddenly appears and takes him to the Leaky Cauldron. During the trip, Harry learns that Black murdered thirteen people with one curse and is a supporter of Lord Voldemort. He is met by Minister for Magic, Cornelius Fudge, who Harry is certain will expel him from Hogwarts for use of under-age magic, which is illegal. Surprisingly, the matter is dropped. While staying at the Leaky Cauldron, Harry hears Mr. and Mrs. Weasley arguing over whether he should be warned about Black.

There are a few changes at Hogwarts as Harry begins his third year. For one, Hermione Granger is taking nearly twice as many classes, including some taught at the same time. In addition, two new wizards join the staff: Professor Remus Lupin for Defence Against the Dark Arts and Rubeus Hagrid for Care of Magical Creatures. While Lupin's lessons are enjoyable, Hagrid's soon become dreary. During the first class, Draco Malfoy deliberately provokes the hippogriff Buckbeak, a half-horse, half-bird creature, into attacking him. Draco's father, Lucius Malfoy, files a complaint against Hagrid.

Rising tensions
Because Black is still at large, dementors, the inhuman Azkaban prison guards, patrol the school. Dementors drain happiness from anything they approach, though they tend to choose human emotions over those of animals. Harry is particularly affected, and Professor Lupin teaches him the Patronus charm that repels them after several dementors approach Harry during a Quidditch match, causing him to faint and fall off his broomstick. Albus Dumbledore stops Harry's fall, but his Nimbus Two Thousand flies into the Whomping Willow and is destroyed, much to Harry's dismay.

Meanwhile, tension grows between Hermione and Ron because Hermione's cat, Crookshanks, continually torments Ron's rat, Scabbers. At Christmas, Harry receives a new, superb Firebolt broomstick, although Hermione suspects Black is the anonymous donor. She reports it to Professor Minerva McGonagall, who confiscates the broom for testing. Harry and Ron are furious with Hermione and they stop speaking to her. When the broom is returned some months later, the two boys try to make up with Hermione, but it goes wrong when Ron discovers Scabbers is missing; Ron blames Crookshanks because he found cat hairs and blood on his dormitory floor.

Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, & Prongs
Shortly before Christmas, the Weasley twins give Harry their Marauder's Map, a magical document that shows every person's location within Hogwarts as well as secret passageways in and out of the castle. Harry uses a tunnel to sneak into Hogsmeade village where he overhears a disturbing conversation that Black was his parents' best friend and is his godfather and legal guardian. He was the Potters' Secret Keeper and he supposedly divulged the Potters' secret whereabouts to Lord Voldemort and murdered their friend Peter Pettigrew, as well as the twelve Muggle bystanders.Peter left a finger to prove that he has been killed with the 12 Muggles.

After Harry completes his Divination Exam, Professor Trelawney enters a trance and predicts that the Dark Lord's servant will return to him that night. Harry and Ron finally make peace with Hermione, but the trio soon learn that Buckbeak will be executed. When they visit Hagrid to console him, Scabbers appears, and Ron picks him up. Cornelius Fudge, Albus Dumbledore and the executioner are making their way to Hagrid's Hut, and Harry, Ron and Hermione make their way out the back door. AS they are walking up the path, they hear Buckbeak executed, when all of a sudden, Scabbers bites Ron, and Ron chases him to the Whomping Willow. A large dog attacks Ron and drags him and Scabbers into a hole at the tree's base. Harry and Hermione follow, finding a tunnel leading to the Shrieking Shack. Inside, Harry confronts Sirius Black, who, as an unregistered, and therefore illegal, Animagus, can transform into an animal at will. Lupin, who spotted the group on the Marauder's Map, suddenly bursts in and embraces his old friend Black. Confronted by Hermione, Lupin admits to being a werewolf and also the Map's creator, along with Black, Pettigrew, and James Potter, the latter two also being illegal Animagi (a rat and a stag, respectively). Lupin and Black explain that Scabbers is actually Peter Pettigrew in his Animagus form. He is Voldemort's servant, and he betrayed the Potters, framing Black for the crimes. Harry is skeptical until Black and Lupin force Pettigrew back into his human form. Black explains he discovered that Pettigrew was still alive and escaped Azkaban to seek revenge as well as make sure that Pettigrew couldn't harm Harry. Harry stops Black and Lupin from murdering Pettigrew, believing that his father, James, wouldn't have wanted his two best friends to become killers.

Saving the innocent
As the group heads back to the castle, the full moon rises, causing Lupin to turn into a werewolf. During the ensuing commotion, Pettigrew escapes. Black turns into his dog form to protect the others from Werewolf Lupin. Lupin flees, leaving Black badly injured. As Dementors move in to attack Black, Harry sees a mysterious figure in the distance cast a powerful stag-shaped Patronus, scattering the vicious creatures. Harry becomes convinced it is his father, or at least his father's spirit, who produced the Patronus. Black is then captured and taken to the castle where the Dementors intend to suck out his soul.

Hermione reveals to Harry that she was entrusted with a time-traveling device, called a time-turner, which is how she was able to attend so many classes. Prompted by Dumbledore, she and Harry travel three hours into the past, watching themselves go through the night's previous events. They set Buckbeak free and return to the Whomping Willow. As the dementors are about to attack the "other" Harry and Black, Harry realises that the mysterious figure he saw earlier was actually himself. He casts the powerful Patronus that repels the dementors. Harry and Hermione free Black, who escapes on Buckbeak, as they rush back to where they were before. As they see Dumbledore exiting the hospital wing, they complete their journey.

After Sirius is revealed to have once again escaped, Snape bursts into the hospital wing and blames Harry, but leaves when he is unable to convince anyone without any proof. Fudge says he will remove the Dementors because they tried to perform their kiss on Harry. Malfoy is furious that Buckbeak escaped while Hagrid is ecstatic. Professor Lupin resigns after Snape "accidentally" reveals that he is a werewolf.

When Harry tells Dumbledore about Professor Trelawney's prophecy, Dumbledore tells him to not feel guilty about letting Pettigrew live. One the train back, Harry receives a letter from Sirius. It tells him that he sent him the Firebolt, and includes a letter saying that he gives Harry permission to visit Hogsmeade, the letter is delivered by a small owl, which Sirius Black gives to Ronald Weasley as a replacement for Scabbers. The owl is later named Pigwidgeon. When Uncle Vernon picks Harry up, he is scared to find out Harry has a convicted murderer for a godfather. Interestingly, The Prisoner Of Azkaban is the only book in the series in which Lord Voldemort doesn't appear in some form or another, and is only mentioned.

Chapters

 * 1) Owl Post
 * 2) Aunt Marge's Big Mistake
 * 3) The Knight Bus
 * 4) The Leaky Cauldron
 * 5) The Dementor
 * 6) Talons and Tea Leaves
 * 7) The Boggart in the Wardrobe
 * 8) Flight Of The Fat Lady
 * 9) Grim Defeat
 * 10) The Marauder's Map
 * 11) The Firebolt
 * 12) The Patronus
 * 13) Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw
 * 14) Snape's Grudge
 * 15) The Quidditch Final
 * 16) Professor Trelawney's Prediction
 * 17) Cat, Rat and Dog
 * 18) Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs
 * 19) The Servant Of Lord Voldemort
 * 20) The Dementors' Kiss
 * 21) Hermione's Secret
 * 22) Owl Post Again

Behind the scenes/Errors
definitely shows June 9th, 1994, as a new-moon night, which means that a full moon could not possibly rise three days earlier.
 * Before Harry and Hermione go back in time, it mentions that Buckbeak is tied to a tree. But when they go back in time, Buckbeak is tied to a fence.
 * When Harry is buying his books at Flourish & Blotts, it mentions that he is being served by the manager. But when Harry was staring at the book 'Death Omens', it says that he is being served by the assistant of the store.
 * The length of time Sirius has known Pettigrew is hiding at Hogwarts is inconsistent. From Mr. Weasley's conversation at the Leaky Cauldron in chapter four, Sirius has known about it for several months. But in the Shrieking Shack in chapter eighteen, Sirius says that he first learned about it the night he escaped from Azkaban.
 * When they first come out of the Shrieking Shack, the order is Crookshanks, Lupin, Pettigrew, Ron, Snape, Harry, Hermione, and Sirius. However when they go back in time, the order is now Lupin, Pettigrew, Ron, Hermione, Snape, Harry, and Sirius.
 * On the Marauder's Map, the possessive form of "Marauders" is incorrect. Since the Marauders were a group of students (thus, the term is plural), it should be "Marauders' Map."
 * In June, Fred and George Weasley find out they have scraped "a few O.W.L.s apiece". However, in subsequent books, it is firmly established that O.W.L. results are sent home by owl and are not received until August.
 * It says "Ron crawled to the four-poster and collapsed onto it". But when Professor Lupin comes in, it says "his eyes flickered over Ron, lying on the floor". This could not be, as Ron should still be on the bed.
 * Mr Weasley says that Ron and Harry have ended up in the Forbidden Forest twice. But only Harry has been in the forest twice. Ron went once to see Aragog with Harry in Chamber of Secrets, but the other time Harry went was for detention in Philosopher's Stone, and Ron wasn't there (he was in the movie, but not the book).
 * When Harry and Hermione leave from the hospital wing using the Time Turner, Dumbledore says it is ten minutes until midnight, but on the way back to the ward after they rescue Sirius, they hear Dumbledore say to the other versions of them that it is five minutes to midnight.
 * Chapter sixteen (Professor Trelawney's Prediction) takes place in June 1994. In the beginning of that chapter, Harry Potter reads a note from Hagrid and says, 'Buckbeak's appeal - it's set for the sixth.' The night after the Hippogriff's appeal, Remus Lupin is forced into a werewolf form by the full moon, which means that this happened on the night of June 6th, 1994. The web page HP-Lexicon.org also backs this up. However, a brief look at lunar phase calendar sites such as 1994 and lunar phases in 1994
 * On the American version of the cover, the front art is the night that Harry and Hermione saving Sirius and Buckbeak. However on the back side of the cover, the moon is crescent when it should be a full moon.
 * In the U.K version of the book on page 45, it states that Harry is being waited on the manager of Flourish and Blotts. The manager takes him to the Divination section and takes down Unfogging the Future. Harry soon becomes fixated on Death Omens book, when the manager is suddenly referred as a assitant.

Style
Chapter 17 'Cat, Rat and Dog' contains a Tom Swifty: ""He's friends with that dog," said Harry grimly"

- chapter 17

Harry Potter und der Gefangene von Askaban Harry Potter et le Prisonnier d'Azkaban