The Harry Potter Reread: The Prisoner of Azkaban, Chapters 9 and 10Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is the third book in the series. This book marks a turning point in the saga, as Harry for the first time confronts the darker side of his own past and the pasts of some of the people he loves and trusts. Harry is forced to grow up a lot in this book, but he forms some very strong relationships with people who will be immensely important in his life.
first British printing: July 8, 1999 (3:45 pm)
first American printing: October 1999
illustrations by Mary GrandPré, 1999
first American printing: October 1999
illustrations by Mary GrandPré, 1999
The Harry Potter Reread would learn to knit, but it would probably dream too big and start by trying to make a kraken, and that would probably end in knotted yarn and the destruction of many bottled ships, so… it’s probably just as well that knitting will never be a skill that the reread attempts.
This week we’re going to wonder why anyone would allow children to play sports in a massive thunderstorm and taste our first glass of butterbeer! It’s chapters 9 and 10 of The Prisoner of Azkaban—Grim Defeat and The Marauder’s Map.
Index to the reread can be located here! Other Harry Potter and Potter-related pieces can be found under their appropriate tag. And of course, since we know this is a reread, all posts might contain spoilers for the entire series. If you haven’t read all the Potter books, be warned.
Chapter 9—Grim Defeat
Summary
The students are all directed to the Great Hall and a school-wide sleepover takes place as the teachers search for Sirius Black. They don’t find him, but Harry overhears Snape express concern that Black was helped into the castle by someone inside, which Dumbledore shuts down right quick. The school is buzzing for days about how Black might have entered. Sir Cadogan is put in the Fat Lady’s place as the password-keeper of the Gryffindor common room until her portrait is repaired.
Draco has played up his injury so Flint can get Slytherin out of the first Quidditch match with Gryffindor because that weather has been icky. As a result, they’re playing their first match against Hufflepuff, and they have a new captain and Seeker by the name of Cedric Diggory. He’s a handsome bloke. Oliver Wood is very concerned for their chances. The day before the match, Harry gets to Defense Against the Dark Arts to find Snape teaching—Professor Lupin is feeling unwell. Snape insists that the class is grotesquely behind and jumps them forward to study werewolves. He sets a long essay on the subject, and gives Ron detention for speaking out on Hermione’s behalf when Snape humiliates her for answering questions without being called on.
Harry wakes up too early for the match, and the weather is atrocious. He can’t see for the first half of the game because the rain keeps messing up his glasses. Eventually Wood calls a time-out and Hermione fixes Harry’s lenses to repel water. Harry sees a black dog in the stands, distracting him as Diggory takes off for the snitch. Then Harry suddenly feels cold everywhere and looks down to see about a hundred dementors in the stadium below him. He hears a woman’s voice begging to keep him alive and someone laughing. He falls right off his broom.
Harry wakes in the hospital wing, having survived his fall because Dumbledore managed to slow him down with magic. The headmaster was furious that the dementors dared to enter the grounds, and chased them off. Cedric Diggory caught the Snitch right as Harry fell, though, so Gryffindor lost the match. (Diggory wanted to discount it due to Harry’s accident, but everyone agreed it had been a fair and square win.) Harry is distraught at letting the team down despite their assurances. After they leave, he asks Ron and Hermione where his broom is; it turns out that it blew right into the Whomping Willow and was shattered to pieces.
Commentary
I’m just saying that if there are no adults in the Great Hall, it would be pretty easy for Sirius to just run in and murder Harry while they were out looking for him. It seems that way, at least. I guess he’d have to find him amidst the student body, but really…. Also, I am slightly disappointed that Great Hall sleepovers are not a regular occurrence because it’s such a natural space for it with the magic ceiling and also big purple sleeping bags and you could just wake up and breakfast would be right there and I’m not kidding, how is this not a monthly school activity?
It’s fairly clear from a reader perspective that Snape is suggesting Lupin might have helped Black into the castle, and I wonder how well this misdirection worked on the general population. Most of this comes down to whether you trust Snape’s instincts over Dumbledore; for my part, I always went with Dumbledore, so I never believed for a second that Remus might be sekritly ebil. But if you were a Snape fan from the get-go, you might have been deeply suspicious.
Not at all surprised that Snape directs the kids to werewolves, even though it is basically the most NOT OKAY thing a teacher could to do to a school employee in Remus’ position. But really, it says a lot more about wizarding world prejudice. Snape knows that if anyone finds out Lupin is a werewolf, the guy is fired—he’s deliberately gaming the system in hopes that it will happen. My real question here is, are Snape prejudices against werewolves fully informed by his experience nearly getting killed by Lupin as a boy (which we’ll got more into depth on later, of course), or does he—like so much of the magical world—have prejudices that started long before that incident? It’s clearly fine to feel that way about people with lycanthropy among wizarding society, so the latter seems more likely.
Crookshanks trying to sneak into the room to kill Scabbers is the best, though. His determination toward murder starts to get funny around this point….
You know, school Quidditch teams should have more than the required seven players. That way you’d have to forfeit a game to pull the stunt Draco gets away with. Also, you shouldn’t let kids play in those conditions, I don’t care if they’re magic and bouncy, what the hell. (What happens when a wizard gets struck by lightning?) I really feel like Hogwarts has probably not changed any school rules (outside of not torturing students in detention) in a few hundred years. Like, what is the Board of Governors even for? Pretty sure that other than Lucius Malfoy strutting around and getting in people’s faces (back when he was a member), they probably just get together to drink sherry, talk shit on various Ministry policies, and reminisce about when they used to be students. In fact, I guarantee you that this is exactly what the Board does. …Can I be on the Board?
Forgetful me, this is the first time we hear tell of Cedric Diggory! It’s a pretty great set-up for his role in the next book, too—from the giggles on the female half of the Gryffindor team, we can tell he’s a good-looking fellow, then we find out that he’s talented to boot and a real sportsman. For him to turn around immediately following a very tough win and want it revoked for Harry’s state is… well, it’s pure Hufflepuff. He’s just an all around good guy.
Again, knowing what’s actually going on here casts such a different light on the situation—no, Harry, it’s okay! Your godfather just really wants to watch you play Quidditch! It’s sort-of bonding! That you don’t realize is happening! Dogs follow sports all the time! Harry, noooooo, don’t freak out. (I’m guessing Sirius maybe sensed the dementors heading over, which is why he disappeared. Otherwise, seeing Harry take that fall probably would have led to more castle break-ins.)
The match actually perfectly illustrates everything that is horrifying about the dementors. They’ve been ordered to stay away from the student body and anything within the grounds, but once they feel that concentration of emotions and people in one area, they just hustle on over. And that’s with warning from a powerful wizard like Dumbledore. And if that’s all it takes, how can the wizarding world ever imagine it has the slightest bit of control where they’re concerned? They’re courting disaster and acting like they’ve got it all under wraps.
Harry, true to children not quite recognizing their mortality, is far more broken up about losing the match than the fact that HE ALMOST DIED. Priorities, Harry. On the other hand, it’s a telling illustration of what matters when you’re so young. Harry has encountered real dangers and life-threatening situations, but to a thirteen-year-old, letting down his classmates is going to sting in a much more potent way. Losing a treasured possession will do that as well; reading this when I was younger, the loss of Harry’s broomstick was crushing to me. This time around, I find myself sort of tutting and shrugging my shoulders.
Hey, kid. You’re alive.
Chapter 10—The Marauder’s Map
Summary
Harry doesn’t want to tell anyone about his glimpse of the Grim or that he has finally figured out what he hears when the dementors get near—the sound of his mother’s death at Voldemort’s hand. He finally gets out of the hospital wing and back to classes. Professor Lupin is back, and gets subjected to a deluge of complains from the students about Snape’s lesson and the essay. He tells them they don’t have to complete it, but Hermione already has.
Lupin asks Harry to stay briefly after class, then asks after his broom, which Harry assures him is beyond repair. Harry finally asks why the dementors seem to affect him so badly, and Lupin gives him the answer; dementors suck away a person’s happiest memories until they’re left with only the worst parts of their life. The “worst” in Harry’s life is substantially more horrific than his classmates, hence his being affected by them so markedly. Harry recalls when Lupin fought off the dementor on the train, and asks him for lessons in repelling them. After some waffling, Lupin agrees, though he says it will have to come after the holidays.
Ron and Hermione plan to stay at Hogwarts over Christmas, which Harry appreciates. There’s a trip to Hogsmeade before the holidays, so Harry is left behind once again. But this time Fred and George corner him in an empty classroom and bequeath to him a miraculous object that the filched from Filch (oh, quelle irony). It’s called the Marauder’s Map, created by Mssrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs, and it details the layout of the school and location of its inhabitants. It also shows all of the secret passageways out of the castle. Fred and George show Harry the only operative one that Filch doesn’t know about and tell him to get himself into town. Harry goes along the passageway for a long while until he finally emerges in Honeydukes sweetshop. He finds Ron and Hermione and tell them about the map. Hermione wishes Harry would turn it in, concerned that Black might know about the secret entrances on it.
The trio head off to the Three Broomsticks to have some butterbeer and are promptly interrupted by the arrival of McGonagall, Flitwick, Cornelius Fudge, and Hagrid. Hermione puts the bar’s Christmas tree in front of them to prevent the adults from noticing their presence. The owner of the Broomsticks, Madame Rosmerta, sits down to have a drinks with them and gets the whole scoop on the Black situation. It turns out that Sirius was James Potter’s best friend at school, they were inseparable. Sirius was the best man at his wedding, named Harry’s godfather, and when Voldemort was after them he became their secret keeper. It was his job to keep their location safe from Voldemort and he ratted them out immediately. Another childhood friend of theirs, a hero-worshipping untalented boy named Peter Pettigrew, came after Sirius following the Potters’ deaths. Black murdered him and everyone around him. Fudge had worked for the Department of Magical Catastrophies and the time and saw the scene. He claims that Black seemed utterly calm in Azkaban, despite being one of their most high security prisoners with dementors on him constantly. He can’t bear to think how easily Voldemort would return to power with Black at his side.
Commentary
Harry knows that the voice he’s hearing is his mother dying, and I cannot stress how horrifying it is that Hogwarts has no school counselor or someone around who he can talk to this about. The closest he gets is telling Lupin, who clearly wants to pull the kid into a giant bear werewolf hug, but feels that might be inappropriate with Harry not really knowing his background with the Potters. Just hug him, Remus. He has a deficit, he needs to make it up somehow.
I love how chill Remus is when he finds out about the essay Snape assigned. He’s like, huh, but you told him you hadn’t covered it, weird. That’s okay, I’ll talk to him. No worries. We’re cool. Internally, he must be in a crazy panic.
And finally he explains to Harry what the deal is with his reaction to the dementors, which I’m still shocked no one managed to do before then, because how could you not assume the kid might need that information. At least it leads to the eventual defense lessons, which we’ll get to later on.
The reveal of the Marauder’s Map might be one of my favorites in the series. It’s just a flawless way of slipping it into the narrative, and such an important artifact. The fact that Fred and George found it makes so much sense (though how the ever-loving dweezle they managed to figure out “I solemnly swear I am up to no good” to unlock it is the real question; my assumption is that the map can recognize fellow trouble makers and probably gave them hints). It offers up a piece of the mystery under the guise of a really helpful object—it’s here where we first find the names Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs, and you can’t help but wonder who those names belong to. How are there not more maps like this? How are all wizard maps not like this? How incredibly talented were Harry’s dad and company for creating it the first place? Since this isn’t how all magic maps work, you get an idea of how tremendously innovative those boys were—which is something the wizarding world still has desperate need of. Losing a good part of a generation in the first war against Voldemort set them back in ways they don’t understand.
But that walk through the passage into Hogsmeade, though. I understand that Harry wants to get there, but the twins should have given him an ETA; after walking for a half hour down that passage, I’d have assumed I was being punked and turned back.
Ron and Hermione are so cute—do you think Harry wants to eat some cockroaches? Blood pops? We have to get something really good this time. Hermione’s concern over the map is sensible as ever, but no reader is ever going to agree on giving up a badass magical map that shows you where all the people are. Sorry, Hermione.
I had completely forgotten how the conversation in The Three Broomsticks went down between Fudge, McGonagall, Hagrid, Flitwick and Rosmerta, and honestly… it’s super sloppy. They’re talking in public, in a crowded space where it would be very easy to listen in, giving up classified information, and it’s all such an obvious infodump. Especially with Rosmerta interrupting every other sentence to basically say, “Gee, and what happened next?” Really annoying. Great, essential background, but the fact that they’re just offering it up like that makes no sense. Also, uh, Fudge was responsible for sending Hagrid to Azkaban? Hagrid wants to have a drink with the guy after that? I sure hope Fudge is paying, then.
I have this niggling feeling that Sirius allowed himself to be entirely lucid around Fudge just to screw with him. Which I prefer to believe because the other option is that he’s just completely desperate for any kind of human contact, since he’s never allowed it, and no, that hurts too much, stop.
And then another excellent cliffhanger as Harry tries to parse out feelings over having a godfather responsible for the death of his family. Oh, honey. It’s gonna get much more confusing than that.
- day by day calendar of events in the book
- differences between the British and American versions
- edits and changes to the text
- visual timeline of the time travel episode
Reader’s Guide to Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban:
a complete chapter-by chapter guide with notes and commentary
PA1 – Owl Post
In which we are reminded of Harry’s previous adventures and told of his summer holidays, he receives birthday cards and presents from his friends, and Harry learns what Ron and Hermione did during the summer.
PA2 – Aunt Marge’s Big Mistake
In which Aunt Marge comes to visit and her taunting drives Harry to inflate her, then gather his belongings and leave Privet Drive without permission to visit Hogsmeade.
PA3 – The Knight Bus
In which Harry tries to decide what to do when the Knight Bus arrives to take him to London. En route Harry learns about Sirius Black, is met by Cornelius Fudge at Diagon Alley and installed in a room in the Leaky Cauldron.
PA4 – The Leaky Cauldron
In which Harry enjoys his new-found freedom, purchases his school supplies, and meets with Hermione and Ron. Hermione buys Crookshanks after the cat takes after Ron’s Scabbers. Back at the Leaky Cauldron, Harry overhears Mr and Mrs Weasley talking about the danger he is in.
PA5 – The Dementor
In which the students leave the Leaky Cauldron for Hogwarts, board the train, discuss Hogsmeade and a sleeping Professor Remus Lupin prevents a fight with Malfoy. The train is boarded by dementors, Harry passes out, McGonagall wants a word with Harry and Hermione and Hagrid is the new Care of Magical Creatures teacher.
PA6 – Talons and Tea Leaves
In which students begin the new year of classes, Hermione is taking a very full course load and in Divination class Professor Trelawney predicts Harry’s death. Hagrid introduces hippogriffs at his first class and Buckbeak is insulted and scratches Malfoy, HRH go to console Hagrid.
PA7 – The Boggart in the Wardrobe
In which Malfoy takes advantage of his injury in Potions, Snape orders Ron and Harry to do his work, Black has been sighted near the school, Lupin conducts his first DADA class on confronting Boggarts.
PA8 – Flight of the Fat Lady
In which DADA class remain a favourite, Quidditch practice begins, Crookshanks goes after Scabbers, tension builds between Ron and Hermione, Harry is denied permission to visit Hogsmeade, Lupin talks to him about fear, Snape brews a potion for Lupin, Hallowe’en feast, and Black slashes the Fat Lady’s portrait.
PA9 – Grim Defeat
In which the students are gathered in the Great Hall for the night, Quidditch practice continues, DADA is taken over by Snape when Lupin falls ill, Peeves wakes Harry, Quidditch match between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff in a thunderstorm, Harry sees the Grim and Dementors on the pitch and passes out to awaken in hospital having lost the game.
PA10 – The Marauder’s Map
In which Harry spends the weekend in hospital, Lupin returns to class and tells Harry about Dementors, and Fred and George give Harry the Marauder’s Map. Harry uses a secret passage to join Ron and Hermione in Hogsmeade, they overhear a teachers’ conversation, and learn that Black is believed to have betrayed Harry’s parents and is his godfather.
PA11 – The Firebolt
In which Harry mulls over what he heard about Black, almost everyone has gone on holiday, HRH go to visit Hagrid, find him distraught about Buckbeak’s hearing before the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures and HRH begin seeking precedents to help Buckbeak’s case. Christmas comes and Harry gets a Firebolt broom from an unknown (Black) benefactor, Crookshanks goes after Scabbers again and revives bad feelings between Ron and Hermione, dinner is taken with the teachers, McGonagall takes the Firebolt to check for jinxes.
PA12 – The Patronus
In which both Harry and Ron are angry with Hermione for reporting the Firebolt to McGonagall, Oliver Wood tries to get it back, classes resume, Lupin teaches Harry Patronus to use against the Dementors, Harry asks repeatedly about his Firebolt and finally gets it back, makes up with Hermione just as Ron finds bloody traces of what he thinks is Scabbers.
PA13 – Gryffindor Versus Ravenclaw
In which Ron and Hermione’s anger grows, Quidditch practice resumes, Gryffindor plays Ravenclaw and wins despite Slytherin’s attempts to sabotage the match by dressing as Dementors. Gryffindor celebrates into the night while Hermione studies. Black gets into the dorm and apparently slashes Ron’s bed curtains.
PA14 – Snape’s Grudge
In which security is tightened, Hagrid is summoned to London with Buckbeak, Ron and Harry plan another visit to Hogsmeade despite Hermione’s appeals, Harry wears his invisibility cloak and while playing a trick on Malfoy and his goons was unmasked, rushing back to school only to be confronted by Snape, questioned and only saved by the arrival of Lupin.
PA15 – The Quidditch Final
In which Hagrid loses his case and Buckbeak is sentenced to death, Ron and Hermione make up, Hermione slaps Malfoy, misses Charms class and storms out of Divination. Tensions rise as the Gryffindor-Slytherin match approaches. When it comes, it is the roughest match Harry has ever played, but Gryffindor still wins.
PA16 – Professor Trelawney’s Prediction
In which OWLs and NEWTs are coming up and everyone is studying, exam week arrives, Buckbeak’s appeal is scheduled, Professor Trelawney unknowingly predicts the return of the Dark Lord, HRH use the cloak of invisibility to visit Hagrid, try to comfort him, Hermione finds Scabbers in a milk jug, men come to execute Buckbeak, HRH go out the back door under the cloak and Scabbers goes berserk.
PA17 – Cat, Rat, and Dog
In which HRH start back to the castle, Crookshanks chases Scabbers, and a big black dog drags Ron into a tunnel under the Whomping Willow. Crookshanks stops the tree from attacking Harry and Hermione, and they follow the cat down the tunnel to emerge in the Shrieking Shack outside Hogsmeade. They find Ron a captive of Black, who disarms them. Harry attacks Black, and with Ron and Hermione overpowers him, but Crookshanks stands between Harry and Black when Harry threatens to kill him. Lupin arrives and admits that he’s Black’s friend and a werewolf. It is revealed that Scabbers is an Animagus named Peter Pettigrew.
PA18 – Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs
In which Lupin tells his story of becoming a werewolf and school days with James Potter, Black and Snape, the last of whom now appears.
PA19 – The Servant of Lord Voldemort
In which Snape threatens Lupin and Black with the Dementors, HRH disarm Snape with a spell, Lupin and Black tell the truth about Harry’s parents’ deaths, Scabbers reverts back to Peter Pettigrew, the truth comes out about all the players in the drama, revealing that Pettigrew was responsible for the Potters’ deaths, and Harry keeps Lupin and Black from killing Pettigrew.
PA20 – The Dementor’s Kiss
In which they go back through the tunnel towards the castle, Black invites Harry to live with him, Lupin becomes a werewolf when the moon comes out and Black transforms to a dog prevent him from attacking HRH, Pettigrew becomes a rat and escapes, Black goes after him and is confronted by Dementors, Harry and Hermione run for help but are caught by Dementors as well.
PA21 – Hermione’s Secret
In which Harry awakens in hospital, desperately tries to tell Black’s side of the story but is not believed until Dumbledore arrives, who tells Hermione to use her Time-Turner (which she had been using to increase the amount of classes she could attend) to go back and change events to save Buckbeak and Black. First they rescue Buckbeak, then Harry rescues himself from the Dementors with a Patronus Charm, then they ride Buckbeak to rescue Black, who escapes on the hippogriff.
PA22 – Owl Post Again
In which Harry and Hermione safely return to the hospital wing, where Snape arrives to blame them for Black’s escape but cannot prove it. Lupin resigns, returning the invisibility cloak and Marauder’s Map to Harry. Term ends, HRH return home on the Hogwarts Express, Harry gets owl post from Black, and Ron gets a new owl.
Calendar and Dates
The events in the book take place from June 26, when Ron tries to call Harry on the telephone, through June 18, when the Hogwarts Express travels back to London.
Dedication
To Jill Prewett and Aine Kiely, the Godmothers of Swing.
Jill Prewett and Aine Kiely were two of JKR's flatmates and good friends from her days in Porto. Swing does not refer to swing dancing, but rather to the name of a disco in Porto, where the three women spent many Saturday nights (SS_JKRB). Molly Weasley's maiden name was Prewett (WBD).
The Harry Potter Reread would learn to knit, but it would probably dream too big and start by trying to make a kraken, and that would probably end in knotted yarn and the destruction of many bottled ships, so… it’s probably just as well that knitting will never be a skill that the reread attempts.
This week we’re going to wonder why anyone would allow children to play sports in a massive thunderstorm and taste our first glass of butterbeer! It’s chapters 9 and 10 of The Prisoner of Azkaban—Grim Defeat and The Marauder’s Map.
Index to the reread can be located here! Other Harry Potter and Potter-related pieces can be found under their appropriate tag. And of course, since we know this is a reread, all posts might contain spoilers for the entire series. If you haven’t read all the Potter books, be warned.
Chapter 9—Grim Defeat
Summary
The students are all directed to the Great Hall and a school-wide sleepover takes place as the teachers search for Sirius Black. They don’t find him, but Harry overhears Snape express concern that Black was helped into the castle by someone inside, which Dumbledore shuts down right quick. The school is buzzing for days about how Black might have entered. Sir Cadogan is put in the Fat Lady’s place as the password-keeper of the Gryffindor common room until her portrait is repaired.
Draco has played up his injury so Flint can get Slytherin out of the first Quidditch match with Gryffindor because that weather has been icky. As a result, they’re playing their first match against Hufflepuff, and they have a new captain and Seeker by the name of Cedric Diggory. He’s a handsome bloke. Oliver Wood is very concerned for their chances. The day before the match, Harry gets to Defense Against the Dark Arts to find Snape teaching—Professor Lupin is feeling unwell. Snape insists that the class is grotesquely behind and jumps them forward to study werewolves. He sets a long essay on the subject, and gives Ron detention for speaking out on Hermione’s behalf when Snape humiliates her for answering questions without being called on.
Harry wakes up too early for the match, and the weather is atrocious. He can’t see for the first half of the game because the rain keeps messing up his glasses. Eventually Wood calls a time-out and Hermione fixes Harry’s lenses to repel water. Harry sees a black dog in the stands, distracting him as Diggory takes off for the snitch. Then Harry suddenly feels cold everywhere and looks down to see about a hundred dementors in the stadium below him. He hears a woman’s voice begging to keep him alive and someone laughing. He falls right off his broom.
Harry wakes in the hospital wing, having survived his fall because Dumbledore managed to slow him down with magic. The headmaster was furious that the dementors dared to enter the grounds, and chased them off. Cedric Diggory caught the Snitch right as Harry fell, though, so Gryffindor lost the match. (Diggory wanted to discount it due to Harry’s accident, but everyone agreed it had been a fair and square win.) Harry is distraught at letting the team down despite their assurances. After they leave, he asks Ron and Hermione where his broom is; it turns out that it blew right into the Whomping Willow and was shattered to pieces.
Commentary
I’m just saying that if there are no adults in the Great Hall, it would be pretty easy for Sirius to just run in and murder Harry while they were out looking for him. It seems that way, at least. I guess he’d have to find him amidst the student body, but really…. Also, I am slightly disappointed that Great Hall sleepovers are not a regular occurrence because it’s such a natural space for it with the magic ceiling and also big purple sleeping bags and you could just wake up and breakfast would be right there and I’m not kidding, how is this not a monthly school activity?
It’s fairly clear from a reader perspective that Snape is suggesting Lupin might have helped Black into the castle, and I wonder how well this misdirection worked on the general population. Most of this comes down to whether you trust Snape’s instincts over Dumbledore; for my part, I always went with Dumbledore, so I never believed for a second that Remus might be sekritly ebil. But if you were a Snape fan from the get-go, you might have been deeply suspicious.
Not at all surprised that Snape directs the kids to werewolves, even though it is basically the most NOT OKAY thing a teacher could to do to a school employee in Remus’ position. But really, it says a lot more about wizarding world prejudice. Snape knows that if anyone finds out Lupin is a werewolf, the guy is fired—he’s deliberately gaming the system in hopes that it will happen. My real question here is, are Snape prejudices against werewolves fully informed by his experience nearly getting killed by Lupin as a boy (which we’ll got more into depth on later, of course), or does he—like so much of the magical world—have prejudices that started long before that incident? It’s clearly fine to feel that way about people with lycanthropy among wizarding society, so the latter seems more likely.
Crookshanks trying to sneak into the room to kill Scabbers is the best, though. His determination toward murder starts to get funny around this point….
You know, school Quidditch teams should have more than the required seven players. That way you’d have to forfeit a game to pull the stunt Draco gets away with. Also, you shouldn’t let kids play in those conditions, I don’t care if they’re magic and bouncy, what the hell. (What happens when a wizard gets struck by lightning?) I really feel like Hogwarts has probably not changed any school rules (outside of not torturing students in detention) in a few hundred years. Like, what is the Board of Governors even for? Pretty sure that other than Lucius Malfoy strutting around and getting in people’s faces (back when he was a member), they probably just get together to drink sherry, talk shit on various Ministry policies, and reminisce about when they used to be students. In fact, I guarantee you that this is exactly what the Board does. …Can I be on the Board?
Forgetful me, this is the first time we hear tell of Cedric Diggory! It’s a pretty great set-up for his role in the next book, too—from the giggles on the female half of the Gryffindor team, we can tell he’s a good-looking fellow, then we find out that he’s talented to boot and a real sportsman. For him to turn around immediately following a very tough win and want it revoked for Harry’s state is… well, it’s pure Hufflepuff. He’s just an all around good guy.
Again, knowing what’s actually going on here casts such a different light on the situation—no, Harry, it’s okay! Your godfather just really wants to watch you play Quidditch! It’s sort-of bonding! That you don’t realize is happening! Dogs follow sports all the time! Harry, noooooo, don’t freak out. (I’m guessing Sirius maybe sensed the dementors heading over, which is why he disappeared. Otherwise, seeing Harry take that fall probably would have led to more castle break-ins.)
The match actually perfectly illustrates everything that is horrifying about the dementors. They’ve been ordered to stay away from the student body and anything within the grounds, but once they feel that concentration of emotions and people in one area, they just hustle on over. And that’s with warning from a powerful wizard like Dumbledore. And if that’s all it takes, how can the wizarding world ever imagine it has the slightest bit of control where they’re concerned? They’re courting disaster and acting like they’ve got it all under wraps.
Harry, true to children not quite recognizing their mortality, is far more broken up about losing the match than the fact that HE ALMOST DIED. Priorities, Harry. On the other hand, it’s a telling illustration of what matters when you’re so young. Harry has encountered real dangers and life-threatening situations, but to a thirteen-year-old, letting down his classmates is going to sting in a much more potent way. Losing a treasured possession will do that as well; reading this when I was younger, the loss of Harry’s broomstick was crushing to me. This time around, I find myself sort of tutting and shrugging my shoulders.
Hey, kid. You’re alive.
Chapter 10—The Marauder’s Map
Summary
Harry doesn’t want to tell anyone about his glimpse of the Grim or that he has finally figured out what he hears when the dementors get near—the sound of his mother’s death at Voldemort’s hand. He finally gets out of the hospital wing and back to classes. Professor Lupin is back, and gets subjected to a deluge of complains from the students about Snape’s lesson and the essay. He tells them they don’t have to complete it, but Hermione already has.
Lupin asks Harry to stay briefly after class, then asks after his broom, which Harry assures him is beyond repair. Harry finally asks why the dementors seem to affect him so badly, and Lupin gives him the answer; dementors suck away a person’s happiest memories until they’re left with only the worst parts of their life. The “worst” in Harry’s life is substantially more horrific than his classmates, hence his being affected by them so markedly. Harry recalls when Lupin fought off the dementor on the train, and asks him for lessons in repelling them. After some waffling, Lupin agrees, though he says it will have to come after the holidays.
Ron and Hermione plan to stay at Hogwarts over Christmas, which Harry appreciates. There’s a trip to Hogsmeade before the holidays, so Harry is left behind once again. But this time Fred and George corner him in an empty classroom and bequeath to him a miraculous object that the filched from Filch (oh, quelle irony). It’s called the Marauder’s Map, created by Mssrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs, and it details the layout of the school and location of its inhabitants. It also shows all of the secret passageways out of the castle. Fred and George show Harry the only operative one that Filch doesn’t know about and tell him to get himself into town. Harry goes along the passageway for a long while until he finally emerges in Honeydukes sweetshop. He finds Ron and Hermione and tell them about the map. Hermione wishes Harry would turn it in, concerned that Black might know about the secret entrances on it.
The trio head off to the Three Broomsticks to have some butterbeer and are promptly interrupted by the arrival of McGonagall, Flitwick, Cornelius Fudge, and Hagrid. Hermione puts the bar’s Christmas tree in front of them to prevent the adults from noticing their presence. The owner of the Broomsticks, Madame Rosmerta, sits down to have a drinks with them and gets the whole scoop on the Black situation. It turns out that Sirius was James Potter’s best friend at school, they were inseparable. Sirius was the best man at his wedding, named Harry’s godfather, and when Voldemort was after them he became their secret keeper. It was his job to keep their location safe from Voldemort and he ratted them out immediately. Another childhood friend of theirs, a hero-worshipping untalented boy named Peter Pettigrew, came after Sirius following the Potters’ deaths. Black murdered him and everyone around him. Fudge had worked for the Department of Magical Catastrophies and the time and saw the scene. He claims that Black seemed utterly calm in Azkaban, despite being one of their most high security prisoners with dementors on him constantly. He can’t bear to think how easily Voldemort would return to power with Black at his side.
Commentary
Harry knows that the voice he’s hearing is his mother dying, and I cannot stress how horrifying it is that Hogwarts has no school counselor or someone around who he can talk to this about. The closest he gets is telling Lupin, who clearly wants to pull the kid into a giant bear werewolf hug, but feels that might be inappropriate with Harry not really knowing his background with the Potters. Just hug him, Remus. He has a deficit, he needs to make it up somehow.
I love how chill Remus is when he finds out about the essay Snape assigned. He’s like, huh, but you told him you hadn’t covered it, weird. That’s okay, I’ll talk to him. No worries. We’re cool. Internally, he must be in a crazy panic.
And finally he explains to Harry what the deal is with his reaction to the dementors, which I’m still shocked no one managed to do before then, because how could you not assume the kid might need that information. At least it leads to the eventual defense lessons, which we’ll get to later on.
The reveal of the Marauder’s Map might be one of my favorites in the series. It’s just a flawless way of slipping it into the narrative, and such an important artifact. The fact that Fred and George found it makes so much sense (though how the ever-loving dweezle they managed to figure out “I solemnly swear I am up to no good” to unlock it is the real question; my assumption is that the map can recognize fellow trouble makers and probably gave them hints). It offers up a piece of the mystery under the guise of a really helpful object—it’s here where we first find the names Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs, and you can’t help but wonder who those names belong to. How are there not more maps like this? How are all wizard maps not like this? How incredibly talented were Harry’s dad and company for creating it the first place? Since this isn’t how all magic maps work, you get an idea of how tremendously innovative those boys were—which is something the wizarding world still has desperate need of. Losing a good part of a generation in the first war against Voldemort set them back in ways they don’t understand.
But that walk through the passage into Hogsmeade, though. I understand that Harry wants to get there, but the twins should have given him an ETA; after walking for a half hour down that passage, I’d have assumed I was being punked and turned back.
Ron and Hermione are so cute—do you think Harry wants to eat some cockroaches? Blood pops? We have to get something really good this time. Hermione’s concern over the map is sensible as ever, but no reader is ever going to agree on giving up a badass magical map that shows you where all the people are. Sorry, Hermione.
I had completely forgotten how the conversation in The Three Broomsticks went down between Fudge, McGonagall, Hagrid, Flitwick and Rosmerta, and honestly… it’s super sloppy. They’re talking in public, in a crowded space where it would be very easy to listen in, giving up classified information, and it’s all such an obvious infodump. Especially with Rosmerta interrupting every other sentence to basically say, “Gee, and what happened next?” Really annoying. Great, essential background, but the fact that they’re just offering it up like that makes no sense. Also, uh, Fudge was responsible for sending Hagrid to Azkaban? Hagrid wants to have a drink with the guy after that? I sure hope Fudge is paying, then.
I have this niggling feeling that Sirius allowed himself to be entirely lucid around Fudge just to screw with him. Which I prefer to believe because the other option is that he’s just completely desperate for any kind of human contact, since he’s never allowed it, and no, that hurts too much, stop.
And then another excellent cliffhanger as Harry tries to parse out feelings over having a godfather responsible for the death of his family. Oh, honey. It’s gonna get much more confusing than that.
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