Prisoner of Azkaban: Chapters 9 & 10

Wizard rock of the week: "Four of Us" by Creevey Crisis

Hi again everybody! Welcome! Happy Groundhog Day (and, if you're of the Jesus-y persuasion, happy Feast of the Presentation!). Poor Punxsutawney Phil. Of *course* he saw his shadow; with 384 TV cameras around it's nearly inevitable. Alas an alack, six more weeks of winter it is. Or maybe instead, we'll wake up tomorrow and it will still be today...

This past week the HPA's Help Haiti Heal continued, and the cumulative total is now over $85,000, or more than enough for TWO planes full of aid supplies with Partners in Health. (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) I think my favorite moment was Andrew Slack's dramatic Barack Obama-style rendition of "I'll Make a Man out of You" from Mulan. And also, we got to see John Green's beautiful new baby Henry today (which is why this post is late- I was busy watching the livestream show)! Clever vocabulary and witty expression fails me at this moment, so all I can say is, "OMG you guys!!" Yay for babies. Everybody loves babies :-) And Hank Green danced to Bad Romance when we broke $85,000. Yup.

UPDATE: We only need another $20K to send THREE planes full of supplies! Wowee! Partners in Health said that they'll name the planes "Harry, Ron, and Hermione." How amazing would that be? Amazing #1: Helping people in a desperate situation who really need help. Fellow human beings. People with the same dignity as us. Our brothers and sisters. Amazing #2: Once again demonstrating the power of activism in the fandom... because the weapon we have is love. Amazing #3: Um... planes named after three characters we all love? Yes please! So, go here to donate what you can. Even a few dollars from everybody adds up to a lot!

UPDATE THE SECOND: We did it! I'm so amazed. $105,000, enough for planes named "Ron, Harry, and Hermione." I am hoping we manage to finish the event at $140,000, or enough for a fourth plane. I'd suggest naming the fourth plane "Luna."

Today's post covers chapters 9 and 10, in which Harry almost dies (again), he and Lupin chat (again), Fred and George help Harry break the rules (again), and Harry learns some unpleasant facts about his parent's history (again). Also, I'm terrible at spelling the word mauraders "marauders."

Ready? And... here we go!

Chapter Nine: Grim Defeat

What Happens:

Dumbledore assumes command immediately, sending the students to the Great Hall under the prefects’ care while the teachers set off to search the castle. Everyone nervously tries to settle down but all the students are understandably freaked out. Ron notes that it’s lucky it’s Halloween; everyone was at the feast and not their dorms. Hermione can’t believe that no one else has read Hogwarts, A History; after all if they had they would know that sneaking into Hogwarts is no small feat. The students drift off to sleep. In the middle of the night, Dumbledore returns and Harry overhears his conversation with Percy. Dumbledore has appointed a replacement to guard the Gryffindor entrance. Later, Snape tries to raise his concerns about how Black could’ve gotten past all the school’s defenses, and he’s about to accuse someone when Dumbledore curtly cuts him off.

Life without the Fat Lady isn’t super. Sir Cadogan makes up absurd passwords and changes them far too often. This is especially difficult for Neville, of course. Lots of the teachers seem to be hovering around Harry, and even McGonagall tries to convince him to take some time off from Quidditch. Harry, however, insists upon playing. Just before their first match, Wood breaks some bad news. Slytherin has begged out of the match and they’ll be playing Hufflepuff instead. Wood is frantic and keeps cornering Harry in the halls between classes to give him last-minute tactical advice. His extra coaching sessions make Harry late for Defense Against the Dark Arts, and (of course) it’s on a day when Lupin is ill and Snape is substituting. Rather than follow the usual lesson plan, Snape spend the whole class lecturing about werewolves despite the students’ protests.

The morning of the Quidditch match, Harry wakes up at four a.m. thanks to Peeves’ antics. He’s too nervous to go back to sleep, so he just waits for sunrise. He notices that Crookshanks keeps trying to sneak up toward Scabbers in the boys’ dormitory, and when looking out the window he sees a huge black dog that looks just like the Grim.

The weather is truly horrible- cold and very raining and windy. Harry can’t see or hear anything during the match. During a time-out Hermione does a water-repelling charm on his glasses, which helps considerably. He’s just about to chase after the Snitch when a flock of dementors glides on the field. He hears a woman screaming and pleading for her life and faints into the blackness.

When Harry comes to, he’s in the hospital wing, surrounded by Ron, Hermione, and the team. They’re all relieved he’s alive, but Harry’s horrified that his fall caused them to lose the match. Ron fills Harry in; Dumbledore was furious at the dementors, “shot some silvery stuff at them” to send them away, and made sure Harry was carefully taken to the infirmary. To add to the bad news, Harry’s Nimbus blew away in the violent wind and hit the Whomping Willow, which made short work of the broom… which has been reduced to kindling sticks.

Commentary:

Yeah, that was a long recap. Sorry. I'm not so good with brevity, especially if I'm not limited by a wordcount or article size. On the interwebs, it's free reign! So mhhahahamama.

What was I talking about again? Oh yes, Harry's rotten week. Poor kid can't ever seem to catch a break can he? No wonder he'll start getting pissy in a few books.

I'm not sure how I feel about this whole "Grim" business. At first it seems like a red-herring. After all, the books might involve magic and prophecies, but they don't really encourage superstition, and I think that being afraid of a Grim is the Wizarding World equivalent of trying not to walk under a ladder. But... Harry's life is in danger, almost constantly. So which is it? Coincidence, or actual omen?

Okay, I'm a little suspicious that Quidditch wouln't be canceled for hurricane-force winds. Really? Maybe I'm just a wimp. That must be it.

This is a good demonstration of employing creatures, like dementors, who you'd rather avoid. It's easy for us, because hindsight's 20/20, but seriously NO ONE at the Ministry was worried about these creepy creatures turning against them at some point? Really? Have they not read *any* science fiction or fantasy novels?

I don't think Harry has quite figured out what the dementor-induced flashbacks are really about. He tells Lupin that he can hear Voldemort murdering his mum, but that's not till a few days later. Right now he can just hear a woman screaming.

Ron doesn't get a good enough look at the "silvery stuff" Dumbledore shoots at the dementors to describe in any more detail... but what is Dumbledore's patronus? Is this every answered? My guess is a phoenix.

Chapter Ten: The Marauders' Map

What Happens:

Harry spends a few days recovering in the hospital wing. He hasn’t told anyone about his Grim sighting or the specifics of what her hears when the dementors draw close. He’s glad to get back to the routine of school, especially now that Lupin is back teaching. After class Lupin asks Harry to stay for a minute. He asks after Harry’s broomstick, and Harry glumly informs him it was destroyed. Lupin tells him a bit about the Willow’s history: it was planted the year he came to Hogwarts. Harry finally asks Lupin why the dementors affect him more strongly than anyone else, and Lupin insists it has nothing to do with any kind of weakness. He explains a little more about the dementors’s tendencies. Harry asks if there are things he can learn to do to block them, and Lupin agrees to begin teaching after the Christmas holidays.

Just before Christmas the students get another chance to visit Hogsmeade. Harry, of course, glumly resigns to stay behind, but Fred and George corner him in a deserted corridor and bequeath to him a treasure: the Marauders’ Map. Among its many gems are the secret passages out of Hogwarts, and the twins give Harry some sage advice about how to use it. Hardly daring to believe his luck, Harry takes the passage behind the one-eyed-witch statue into Honeydukes, where he meets up with Ron and Hermione a fun afternoon of exploring the village. Finally they’re ready for some warm drinks at the pub. They enjoy the delicious butterbeer until several people walk in at once: McGonagall, Flitwick, Hagrid, and Cornelius Fudge. Harry hides under the table at once. The adults sit down at the table next to him and begin to chat about the dementors, the recent Black sighting, and how it’s affecting the village and the school.

During their conversation, Fudge and the teachers fill Rosmerta in on the whole story: Black and James Potter were best friends, like brothers. When Lily and James went into hiding Black was the Secret Keeper for their Fidelius Charm spell and told Voldemort how to find them. The day after the Potters' demise, Ministry officials cornered Black on the street while he confronted little Peter Pettigrew. Black blew up Pettigrew and half the street, killing 12 others. Despite twelve years in prison, Fudge notes that Black seemed very normal when he last saw him; he asked to see the newspaper, calm as you please. Finally, the adults leave to go back to the castle and Harry, Ron, and Hermione sit speechless in their absence.


Commentary:

A nice afternoon of friends and tomfoolery, ruined by the details of his tragic past. Welcome to a day in the life of Harry Potter.

This chapter is a very good example of clever info-dumping. Rosmerta's presence at the Grown-Ups' Table makes it work. Everyone else present already knows the story, so to avoid an inelegant case of As You Know, Bob, Rowling includes a newcomer to the group who can proxy for Harry and the audience. Clever, Jo. I see what you did there.

Remember back in the beginning of this book when Fudge greeted Harry at the Leaky Cauldron? I noted that he's rather rude to Stan the bus attendant and Tom the barman, and detected a hint of elitism. But here he is, happily rubbing elbows with Hagrid (who's concerned an "oaf" by the Malfoys and likely others of their ilk) and Madam Rosmerta, a barmaid. So is he an elitist? Maybe not. Or maybe he's just being nice to people outside is social group because it looks good in public. Hmm. What do you think?

I'll spend more time on the Pettigrew vs. Sirius saga when we get there at the end. But for now, let's just say that I'm impressed ( in a bad way) how so many people - EVERYONE - were all simultaneously fooled, and remained in the dark for so long. This leads me to suspect that Pettigrew had help setting up the whole thing; he doesn't seem bright enough (or a powerful enough wizard) to do it on his own. But if he had help, who was it? If it was another Death Eater, why didn't they confess to help save their own skin when they were caught? Or if it was someone like the Lestranges who never tried to pretend innocence, why would they help Pettigrew? He was pretty pathetically low on the Death Eater chain of command, as I recall.

Poor Harry. But onward and upward, and next week he'll get a pretty fabulous Christmas present, so we have that to look forward too.

And that's it!! Enjoy the LOST premiere, Lost fans... I have so far resisted the temptation to get addicted to another show. I'll netflix them all when the whole series is done :-)

There's going to be a Wizard World of Harry Potter commercial played during the Superbowl!! Woot! So whether you're Team Colts or Team Saints, I think we can all agree: Go TEAM POTTER!

Have a wonderful week, friends.