Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban

Alarmed at the news that Sirius Black infiltrated the castle, Dumbledore and the other Hogwarts teachers search the grounds. The students spend the night in the Great Hall and wonder how Black got in. Late that night, Harry hears Dumbledore and Snape talking. Snape reports that the castle is clear, and Dumbledore admits that he “didn’t really expect Black to linger” (165). Snape suggests, “It seems—almost impossible—that Black could have entered the school without inside help” (166). In the days that follow, Harry is watched more closely by the teachers. One day, Lupin is “feeling too ill to teach” (170), and Snape takes over Defense Against the Dark Arts class. He complains about Lupin’s “lack of organization” (170) and assigns the students an essay about werewolves. For the first match of the year, Gryffindor goes up against Hufflepuff, and the weather is cold and stormy.

During the match, Harry sees “the silhouette of an enormous shaggy black dog” (178) in the stands, and without warning dementors appear. Harry again hears a woman begging for mercy, crying “Not Harry, not Harry, please not Harry!” (179), and an evil voice laughing and telling the woman to stand aside. He blacks out in midair, and when he awakens, he is in the hospital wing. The other members of the Gryffindor team tell him that they lost the match because Harry fainted, and Ron and Hermione explain that Harry’s beloved broomstick—the Nimbus Two Thousand—landed in the Whomping Willow, “a very violent tree” (182) that smashed the broomstick into tiny pieces, beyond repair.

In the days following the Quidditch match, Harry is miserable and mourning his destroyed broomstick. He realizes that the voices he hears in his head when dementors are around are the voices of Lord Voldemort and his mother on the night Voldemort murdered his parents. Professor Lupin returns to work, showing signs of illness. After class, Lupin offers his condolences to Harry for the loss of his broomstick, and Harry asks if Lupin could teach him how to fight the dementors, just like Lupin did on the Hogwarts Express. Lupin agrees. On the next Hogsmeade weekend, Fred and George Weasley, Ron’s brothers, take Harry aside and give him the Marauder’s Map, which shows all of the secret entrances around the castle, including one that leads “Right into Hogsmeade” (193). The map also keeps track of where everyone is. Harry uses the map to sneak into the cellar of Honeydukes, where he meets up with Ron and Hermione. Although Hermione is distressed and thinks the map might be dangerous, she reluctantly agrees to not tell anyone

The three decide to go to the Three Broomsticks, but once inside, they spy a group of Hogwarts teachers and Cornelius Fudge. While hiding under the table, Harry listens as the adults discuss Sirius Black. Harry learns that Black and his father were best friends, and that Black is Harry’s godfather. The Potters trusted Black to be their Secret-Keeper when they were in hiding from Voldemort, but Fudge states that “Black betrayed them” (204) and told Voldemort where they were hiding. According to Fudge, Black is responsible for the Potters’ death. Peter Pettigrew, another friend of James Potter and Sirius Black, went after Black and was reportedly murdered when Black “[b]lew Pettigrew to smithereens” (208) and killed a whole street full of muggles. Fudge believes that Black is looking to reunite with Voldemort and finish the job by killing Harry. The adults leave, and Harry, Ron, and Hermione are stunned.