Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

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This article is about the book. See Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (film) or Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (video game) for other formats.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Harry Potter Books

Author	J.K. Rowling
Illustrator	Cliff Wright (UK), Mary GrandPré (US)
Genre	Fiction
Publisher	Bloomsbury (UK), Scholastic (US), Manjul Publications (India)
Release date	1999
Number in series	Three
Sales	12.8 Million (US)
Dedicated to	"Jill Prewett and Aine Kiely, the Godmothers of Swing"
Story timeline	1993-1994

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is the third book in the Harry Potter series of books by J. K. Rowling. The book was published on July 8, 1999. A film based on the book was released on May 31st, 2004, in the United Kingdom (released early due to popular demand) and June 4th in the United States and many other countries. To this day the book continues to be highly popular. This is the only Harry Potter book that Voldemort has not appeared in, one way or another.

[edit] Plot summary

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Cover of the UK and Canadian Adult edition by Bloomsbury and Raincoast (respectively), showing Azkaban Prison

Harry is again spending the summer at the Dursleys, celebrating his birthday alone, although he receives gifts and cards from his Hogwarts friends. He also receives a newspaper clipping from Ron; Arthur Weasley won the Daily Prophet Grand Prize Galleon Draw, and the family uses the winnings for a trip to Egypt.

The wizard newspaper is filled with stories about insane murderer Sirius Black, who escaped from Azkaban prison. More terrifying, however, is the impending visit of Aunt Marge, Vernon Dursley's sister. Harry and Vernon bargain over a permission slip Harry needs for student outings to Hogsmeade, an all-wizarding village. Vernon agrees to sign it if Harry behaves while Marge is there. But Marge's vicious insults infuriate Harry, and he causes her to swell and float to the ceiling.

Fed up, Harry collects his belongings and leaves. On the dark, deserted street, he is startled by a large black dog. Stumbling, sparks from his wand inadvertently summon the Knight Bus which takes him to Diagon Alley. At The Leaky Cauldron Harry is met by Cornelius Fudge, the Minister for Magic, who surprisingly shrugs off the incident with Harry's aunt. He suggests Harry stay at the Leaky Cauldron until school starts. He is soon joined there by the Weasley family and Hermione. While school shopping, Ron mentions that his pet rat, Scabbers, has been sick since they returned from Egypt. When Hermione buys a cat, Crookshanks, it takes an immediate dislike to Scabbers. Later, Arthur Weasely takes Harry aside and tells him Sirius Black is after him and asks a puzzled Harry to not go looking for him.

On board the Hogwarts Express, Harry, Ron and Hermione share a coach with a sleeping Remus Lupin. When the train unexpectedly stops, eerie hooded figures enter the compartment. Their mere presence drains happiness from anyone near them and causes Harry to faint. Lupin repels them with a charm and tells the frightened students the creatures are dementors, the guards of Azkaban prison searching for Sirius Black. At the school feast, Professor Dumbledore announces that the dementors will guard Hogwarts while Black is at large. He welcomes two new teachers—Professor Lupin, the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, and Hagrid, as the Care of Magical Creatures teacher.

School begins and Hermione appears to be taking every available subject. Her timetable is a conundrum to Ron and Harry, listing several classes offered at the same time. They attend Divination with Professor Trelawney. Hermione takes an instant dislike to both professor and subject, while Harry begins to fear that the black dog he saw back home is a Grim—an omen of death.

Hagrid's first lesson is a failure: While showing students how to approach a hippogriff, Draco Malfoy's arm is slashed by Buckbeak after he deliberately insulted it. The Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson goes well until Professor Lupin prevents Harry from facing a boggart. When Lupin steps between it and Harry, the boggart quickly transforms into a floating white orb, a fact noticed by Hermione. Lupin later explains that he intervened because he feared Harry's boggart would transform into Lord Voldemort's image and disrupt the class. Professor Snape suddenly arrives with a potion for Lupin. Soon after, Snape substitutes for an ill Lupin and unexpectedly has the students study werewolves.

One evening, the Gryffindors find themselves locked out of their House, the Fat Lady's portrait has been shredded by Sirius Black, apparently in an attempt to find Harry. One night, Ron awakens to find Black standing over him with a knife. Ron screams and Black vanishes.

Gryffindor's first Quidditch match, against Hufflepuff, ends in a loss when Harry faints and falls from his broom — the dementors were drawn to him during the game — although the Hufflepuff captain, Cedric Diggory insists on a rematch. Unfortunately, Harry's broom was destroyed by the whomping willow. Lupin promises to teach Harry how to force dementors away.

Because Harry does not have parental permission, he is barred from visiting Hogsmeade. Fred and George Weasley give him their Marauder's Map showing a secret passage from Hogwarts. Using his Invisibility cloak, Harry sneaks into a pub with Ron and Hermione where they overhear a conversation about Sirius Black between Fudge, Hagrid, Professors Flitwick and McGonagall, and Madam Rosmerta. Black was James Potter's best friend and Harry's godfather — he was also the Potter's "secret keeper" but betrayed them to Voldemort and killed Peter Pettigrew, another Potter friend. An enraged Harry vows to kill Black.

Hagrid is not charged for the hippogriff injuring Malfoy. However, Buckbeak is to be destroyed. Harry, Ron and Hermione offer to help Hagrid with the appeal. On Christmas Day, Harry anonymously receives a Firebolt. Suspecting the broomstick was sent by Black and may be cursed, Hermione reports it to Professor McGonagall, who confiscates it. This creates a rift, with neither Harry nor Ron speaking to Hermione. As the new term begins, Harry begins anti-dementor lessons with Professor Lupin and learns the Patronus Charm. Eventually, his Firebolt is returned, and the rift with Hermione is temporarily healed, but when Scabbers is missing and blood is found, Ron blames Crookshanks.

At the next Hogsmeade visit, Harry narrowly avoids being caught by Snape, but Draco Malfoy spots him at the Shrieking Shack with Ron. Returning to Hogwarts, Snape calls him aside, and finding the Marauder's Map, confiscates it. He attempts to force the blank parchment to reveal itself, but it merely produces insults from its creators: Padfoot, Prongs, Moony and Wormtail. Professor Lupin tells Snape it is a trick parchment and declares the matter closed, but he later admonishes Harry for using the map. Harry and Ron are astonished that Lupin seems to know about the map and its creators.

Image:Le prisonnier d'azkaban.jpg

When Hermione says that Hagrid lost the appeal and Buckbeak is to be executed, she and Ron end their feud. After Divination class, Professor Trelawney suddenly goes into a trance and predicts that Voldemort's servant will return to him, although she recalls nothing when she awakens.

Just before the execution, the trio sneak to Hagrid's hut to console him. There they discover Scabbers is alive and unharmed. Hearing Fudge, Dumbledore, and the executioner approaching, Hagrid rushes them out the back. They hear the axe fall as they leave. Scabbers bites Ron and escapes. As Ron chases him, he is grabbed by the Grim and dragged through a gap in the Whomping Willow's trunk. Harry and Hermione follow through a tunnel leading to a dilapidated house —the Shrieking Shack. Inside is an injured Ron, who tells them the dog is Sirius Black's animagus form. Harry overpowers the weakened man. As Black tries to tell Harry what actually happened to his parents, Professor Lupin bursts in and disarms the students and embraces Black. The shocked students believe he is Black's accomplice, and Hermione exposes his secret—Lupin is a werewolf.

Lupin explains he saw them going to the Shrieking Shack on the Marauder's Map, the map he helped create as "Moony." He also saw Peter Pettigrew, who is disguised as "Scabbers." Pettigrew is an unregistered animagus (transforming into an animal), as were James Potter and Sirius Black. Sirius is "Padfoot," Pettigrew is "Wormtail," and James Potter was, "Prongs." In school, they secretly became animagi to keep Lupin in line during his werewolf transformations, although he now takes a monthly potion which allows him to retain his sanity when he transforms. When the Potters switched their secret keeper from Sirius to Pettigrew, it was Pettigrew who betrayed them. Black recognized "Scabber's" picture in the article about the Weasleys and, seeking revenge, escaped Azkaban. Snape suddenly enters, his wand aimed at Lupin and Black—he also saw the map on Lupin's desk. Disbelieving Black and Lupin, Snape intends to turn them in, but he is knocked out by the students with a combined spell. Restoring Pettigrew to human form, Lupin and Black want to kill him, but Harry intervenes.

Image:Harry Potter & the Prisoner of Azkaban J.jpg The group leave the Shrieking Shack, with Pettigrew and an unconscious Snape in tow. Sirius, Harry's legal guardian, offers him a home, which Harry eagerly accepts. But as the moon rises, Lupin turns into a werewolf, and having forgotten his potion, loses his conscious mind. Black transforms into his dog form to protect Harry and the others, while Pettigrew turns into a rat and escapes. As Harry helps a wounded Sirius, the dementors approach. Harry attempts to conjure a Patronus but fails. The dementors attack, but before passing out, Harry sees a Patronus in the form of a silver stag scattering the dementors. Across the lake, a shadowy figure stands on the shore.

Harry awakens in the hospital and overhears that the Dementors' "Kiss" (sucking a person's soul from their body) is to be performed on Sirius. Dumbledore enters, and he cryptically tells Hermione more "time" is needed, as well as where to find Sirius. Before leaving, he says more than one innocent life can be saved. Hermione understands and produces a small hour glass pendant from around her neck—a Time Turner—it is how she has been taking so many classes all year. She transports herself and Harry three hours back in time.

Hiding Buckbeak in the forest, Harry and Hermione watch as the previous events unfold once again. They see Lupin turn into the werewolf and the other Harry going to Sirius' aid as the Dementors attack. Harry runs to where the mysterious figure on the lake shore was standing. He believes it must somehow have been his father he saw, but he suddenly realises it was actually himself and conjures a powerful Patronus, creating a predestination paradox. His Patronus takes the form of a silvery stag, similar in appearance to his father's animagus form, and the nickname "Prongs," becomes clear.

Harry and Hermione free Sirius, and he escapes on Buckbeak. Racing back to the hospital, Dumbledore locks them in as the timeline restores itself to normal. A furious Snape bursts in, accusing Harry of releasing Sirius, but both Dumbledore and Madam Pomfrey provide alibis. The next day, Snape deliberately lets slip to the school that Lupin is a werewolf. Lupin resigns, but before leaving, he returns the Marauder's Map to Harry. Harry regrets saving Pettigrew, but Dumbledore reassures him that sparing him may prove valuable; Pettigrew now owes Harry a "life debt."

On the Hogwarts Express, Harry is in low spirits, returning to the Dursleys when he nearly had a new life with Sirius. Ron promises he will convince his parents to invite Harry to visit during the summer. A tiny owl then delivers a letter from Sirius who confirms he sent Harry the Firebolt. He also encloses a permission slip for Harry to visit Hogsmeade. In a postscript, he offers Ron the owl in place of Scabbers. Met by Uncle Vernon at the station, Harry swiftly informs him that his godfather, a convicted murderer, expects regular letters. Harry looks forward to a pleasanter summer than usual.

Spoilers end here.

[edit] Editions

Bloomsbury (United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada etc.)

ISBN 0-7475-4215-5 Hardcover
ISBN 0-7475-4629-0 Paperback
ISBN 0-7475-7362-X Hardcover (adult edition)
ISBN 0-7475-7449-9 Paperback (adult edition)
ISBN 0-7475-7376-X Paperback ("celebratory" edition)
ISBN 0-7475-4511-1 Hardcover (special edition)

Scholastic (United States etc.)

ISBN 0-7475-4215-5 UK hardcover
ISBN 0-439-13635-0 US hardcover

See: Harry Potter in translation for foreign language editions.

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Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series
Philosopher's Stone	book	film	game	soundtrack
Chamber of Secrets	book	film	game	soundtrack
Prisoner of Azkaban	book	film	game	soundtrack
Goblet of Fire	book	film	game	soundtrack
Order of the Phoenix	book	(film)	(game)
Half-Blood Prince	book	(film)
Unnamed 7th book	(book)
Other books			Other games
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Quidditch Through the Ages
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