Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban – J.K. Rowling

Hello Lovelies!!

Sorry there’s been a bit of a gap between this post and my last. I am back at school on a new rota system. Whilst it’s lovely to see everyone, it’s so strange remembering to be 2 metres apart and not seeing the rest of my team and fellow colleagues is really strange. Never mind! Things do seem to be getting better slowly, slowly. I hope you are all continuing to be safe and well.

As you may be aware, I am reading my beloved Harry Potter series again. It’s something on my list of things I want to do when I turn 30. Today I want to share with you my review of my favourite Harry Potter book – The Prisoner of Azkaban. I hope you enjoy reliving and following the series with me. If it’s your first experience of Harry, then I especially hope you love it as much as I do!

What’s it all about?

Summer rolls around again and once again Harry is at the Dursleys’ having a miserable existence. Muggle television airs a report about an escaped convict, Sirius Black. If that wasn’t bad enough, Aunt Marge visits and insults Harry. In retaliation, accidentally, Harry inflates her and runs away from home with the fear of being expelled. He’s at significant risk but thankfully the Knight Bus manages to pick him up. This journey is full of strange new experiences but exciting nonetheless. Harry meets Stan Shunpike, encounters a large black dog that seems to be following him. He travels to the Leaky Cauldron where Cornelius Fudge, the Minister for Magic. He asks Harry to stay in Diagon Alley for his own protection. After time, he is reunited with Ron and Hermione.

“Don’t let the muggles get you down.”

Before their return to Hogwarts, Harry learns from Arthur Weasley that Sirius Black is a convicted murderer. Somehow, it is unknown currently, he managed to escape the wizard prison, Azkaban to kill Harry. On their journey to Hogwarts a Dementor (an Azkaban prison guard) boards the train causing Harry to relive his parents’ death before fainting. In the same carriage was Remus Lupin, the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, who saves them from the Dementor. What is more concerning is the fact that Dementors will be patrolling the school in attempts to catch Sirius Black. Everyone seems to love Lupin. All but one…Snape.

Third years do have a welcomed distraction, IF they have their parents permission. Sadly Harry doesn’t, so trips to Hogsmeade are banned. Instead, Fred and George give him a gift: the Marauder’s Map. What looks like a piece of parchment is actually enchanted to show all the passages and people on Hogwarts grounds. This means that Harry has a way of sneaking out. Sadly, Lupin catches him. What is exciting is that Lupin knows all about it as he was part of the group who made it in their school days.

“I solemnly swear that I am up to no good.”

During a Quidditch match, Harry faints and falls off his broomstick. The cause? Dementors. Dumbledore was naturally furious. As a result, Harry’s beloved Nimbus 2000 is blown away and smashed to pieces by the Whomping Willow. Professor Lupin decides that Harry needs to learn to defend themselves. Therefore, he teaches him how to achieve the Patronus charm.

“Where is Wood?” said Harry, suddenly realizing he wasn’t there.
“Still in the showers,” said Fred. “We think he’s trying to drown himself.”

Meanwhile, Ron and Hermione are at loggerheads as Ron is under the impression that Hermione’s cat, Crookshanks, has eaten his rat, Scabbers. Hermione is also incredible critical about the anonymous Christmas present Harry receives: a Firebolt broomstick. She’s worried it could have been cursed or jinxed by Sirius Black. Hermione’s stresses continue as she has many classes, some at the same time. She absolutely refuses to explain how she achieves this to Harry and Ron.

Malfoy continues to be up to his old tricks but this time his target is Hagrid. Hagrid’s hippogriff Buckbeak is in danger of being executed by the Ministry of Magic after injuring him. Malfoy did deserve it as he failed to listened to the instructions given by Hagrid. His father is pushing for punishment. Hermione and Ron work tirelessly to try and defend the hippogriff. The trio hear Buckbeak executed as they leave Hagrid’s hut. The rift between Hermione and Ron is healed when Scabbers is spotted and returned to him.

Things take a turn for the strange and Scabbers escaped again. However, this time the large black dog appears and drags Ron into a tunnel under the Whomping Willow. The others have no choice but to follow ultimately ending up in the Shrieking Shack, a haunted house in Hogsmeade. It is revealed that the dog is in fact Sirius Black. Harry feels like he has to kill him, but he can’t.

Lupin arrives but weirdly, hugs and embraces Black as a friend. We learn that the belief that Sirius betrayed the Potters was not true. It was Peter Pettigrew. Lupin admits he is a werewolf and that the Marauders (Black, Pettigrew and James Potter) learned how to transform into animals to help support Lupin. Scabbers is Pettigrew. He faked his own death, framed Black for the murders and has been hiding ever since.

We saw at the start the hostility between Lupin and Snape. This continued – Snape hates Harry remember? Snape arrives to apprehend Black but is knocked out by Harry, Ron and Hermione, who now know Sirius is innocent. Lupin and Black transform Pettigrew into human form and prepare to kill him. Harry stops them. He knows his father would not have wanted that. What is fair and right is to send him back to Azkaban.

“You think the dead we loved truly ever leave us? You think that we don’t recall them more clearly in times of great trouble?”

Pettigrew, slimy as ever, manages to escape and the full moon transforms Lupin into a wolf. The problems continue for Harry, Ron, Hermione and Black as they are chased to the shore of the lake. Here, waiting for them is the Dementors. Just as hope was feeling lost, a Patronus charm saves them, cast by Harry’s dad, he believes.

“Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light.”

Harry awoke later in the hospital wing full of panic and confusion. Harry and Hermione are told that Black has been sentenced to the Dementor’s Kiss. This is where the Dementor’s suck out the soul of their prisoner. Pettigrew’s escape means that Black is still a convicted murderer. Professor Dumbledore tells Harry and Hermione that there is a way to save many innocent lives in one evening. Hermione has a way of attending classes that seem to be on at the same time: a time-turner. The two set off on a mission to go back in time to save Buckbeak and Sirius.

Whilst on this mission, Harry sees himself at the side of the lake. Harry learns that it wasn’t his father who summoned the Patronus charm, it was him. Buckbeak escapes with Sirius on his back. The two are saved. Time ticks away but thankfully Harry and Hermione return to the hospital wing to close the timeline. Snape is furious with Lupin and reveals to all that he is a werewolf, resulting in Lupin’s resignation. Harry returns to Kings Cross with his friends. What is different this year, is a letter from Sirius, giving him permission to visit Hogsmeade next year.

“He was my mum and dad’s best friend. He’s a convicted murderer, but he’s broken out of wizard prison and he’s on the run. He likes to keep in touch with me, though…keep up with my news…check if I’m happy…”

Final Thoughts

I think the reason why I like this book the most is because we have two brilliant characters: Lupin and Black. I love his misunderstood Black is and the fact that he has been in prison, a hell, for years for something one of his friends did, not him. As the trio get older, the magic gets darker. I also like this because it’s really good to see Hermione centre stage. She is the one with the knowledge and the history but here we saw her put that into action. After all, she is the only one with a time-turner. I think it is also good to see niggles and fallings out between the trio – it is reminiscent of real life in that sense. I’m absolutely loving re-reading these. They do get bigger and darker now too which is great.

I hope you’ve enjoyed Book Three! Here’s to the next: The Goblet of Fire. See you next time for the Reading Challenge Book Review for June and hopefully more cakes! Stay safe everyone!!

Big love all. xx