Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban



Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is the third book in the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling.

Plot
In the summer of Harry's thirteenth year, his life is turned upside down by an unexpected accident. While staying at the Dursley home over the summer, the family is visited by Aunt Marge. Harry accidentally uses magic (prohibited by underage wizards by the Ministry of Magic) and "blows her up" as a result of his anger at her insults toward his parents.

Believing he will be expelled from school, and still angry with the Dursleys and Aunt Marge, Harry runs away and is picked up by the Knight Bus. While on his way to Diagon Alley in London, he hears about a criminal named Sirius Black who has escaped from the wizarding prison, Azkaban. Directly after being dropped off at the Leaky Cauldron, Harry is found by none other than the Minister for Magic, Cornelius Fudge. His fears of expulsion are quickly diffused, however, when he is told he will not be punished for his unconscious crime.

Harry's question as to why he will not be reprimanded does not get answered right away. Instead, he endures a week of wondering until at last, he is joined in Diagon Alley by his two friends Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, as well as the Weasley family. The night before leaving for Hogwarts, Harry overhears Mr. and Mrs. Weasley arguing. Harry soon learns why: Sirius Black is believed to be after him, and the Ministry of Magic is concerned about his safety. Because of this, dementors from Azkaban have been placed on guard at Hogwarts. Harry also discovers that Black has ties to the deaths of his own parents by Lord Voldemort because he told Voldemort where to find them.

The story takes an unexpected turn when Harry finds that Sirius Black was innocent and wrongly sent to Azkaban. The real criminal is Peter Pettigrew, who is believed dead at the hands of Sirius Black. It was Pettigrew who betrayed Harry's parents to Lord Voldemort, and later killed a number of Muggles in an incident for which he framed Sirius Black and faked his own death. Pettigrew turned out to be an animagus, a wizard who can take the form of a particular animal at will, and had really spent the last twelve years disguised as Ron's rat, Scabbers.

Pettigrew gets away and the Ministry refuses to believe Harry, Ron and Hermione's tale. Dumbledore does believe the story however, and they sneak Sirius to freedom on the back of a hippogriff.

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