Chapter Twenty-One: Hermione’s Secret
In chapter twenty-one of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban Hermione and Dumbledore hatch a plan, Sirius escapes on Buckbeak, and Harry figures out who Prongs is.
(Please be advised that this is a reread and I will be discussing book and movie spoilers.)
Harry retains consciousness and the first thing he hears is Snape smugly accepting congratulations from Cornelius Fudge about “saving” our trio from Sirius Black, and quick, Harry! Knock yourself unconscious again so you don’t have to suffer through this!
Snape’s gotta Snape, so it’s not enough for him that Sirius is about to get the kiss and he’s being praised by the Minister of Magic, he’s got to throw in some Harry Potter insults:
“Black had bewitched them, I saw it immediately. A Confundus Charm, to judge by their behavior. They seemed to think there was a possibility he was innocent. They weren’t responsible for their actions. On the other hand, their interference might have permitted Black to escape. . . They obviously thought they were going to catch Black single-handed. They’ve got away with a great deal before now. . . I’m afraid it’s given them a rather high opinion of themselves. . . and of course Potter has always been allowed an extraordinary amount of license by the headmaster –“
“Ah, well, Snape. . . Harry Potter, you know. . . we’ve all got a bit of a blind spot where he’s concerned. “
“And yet — is it good for him to be given so much special treatment? Personally, I try and treat him like any other student. And any other student would be suspended — at the very least — for leading his friends into such danger. Consider, Minister — against all school rules — after all the precautions put in place for his protection — out-of-bounds, at night, consorting with a werewolf and a murderer — and I have reason to believe he has been visiting Hogsmeade illegally too –“
Holy SHIT Snape, get a life! Get a hobby! Get a damn grip! Get a puppy! Anything!
I like to think Lily looks down once in a while, observes Snape’s continued idiocy about her son and only child, and is like “yup Sev, this is why I never dated you and you still don’t get it, huh?” And then James cackles.
Madam Pomfrey shows up with a giant boulder of chocolate and look, now I’m hungry so you’re going to be hungry too.
You’re welcome! Let’s all hope we get attacked by a dementor so we have an excuse to eat some of this guilt free.
Hermione and Harry are being force fed chocolate by Pomfrey when they overhear that Sirius is about to get kissed by a dementor and Harry loses his shit, tries to convince Fudge that Sirius is innocent, yells at Snape for being unhelpful, and gets gagged by chocolate.
Dumbledore shows up to believe Harry and Hermione, make Snape look like a petty ass in front of Fudge, but also to tell them that no one else will believe two deluded teenagers and a werewolf, and that *wink* there’s nothing *nudge* they can do to help *doublewink* cause sadly we can’t turn back time *nod*
Hermione’s like: “Got it Professor we can’t time travel!”
“Shame I don’t own a time turner!”
“Guess we can’t save Sirius!”
Harry:
Hermione pulls out her timeturner, explaining her weird behavior all book, and our duo of H’s travel back three hours. Harry understandably freaks out for a bit, and they try to figure out what exactly they’re supposed to do, since Dumbledore as usual, told them no details because he’s nuts and/or a sadist, take your pick.
Our H’s hang around and argue about interfering with the events of the past, until Harry sneaks out to catch a glimpse of “James” rescuing them from the dementors, realizes he saw himself when no one shows up, and has one of his biggest badass moments in the series to me:
Oh no big deal, it’s just Harry Potter doing a spell most adult wizards can’t even do, repelling hundreds of dementors. Harry realizes the form his patronus takes, a stag, is what his father turned into as an Animagus as Prongs, and that would’ve taken thirty seconds to explain, movie!
PotzGrange hop aboard Buckbeak and rescue Sirius, and everything is perfect until a certain greasy professor shows up to try to throw everyone into prison.
<—Previous Chapter Next Chapter —>
Join in with your thoughts below, on twitter, or instagram with #ReadHarryPotterWithMe. Follow me on my twitter @HSecretLibrary, pinterest, and my instagram @hermionessecretlibrary
On a scale of one to eleventy, how mad would Lily be if she could see how Snape treats her son?
Why doesn’t Dumbledore just tell Hermione and Harry to fly Buckbeak up to save Sirius?
What is one of your favorite badass Harry moments?
What animal would your Animagus form be?
Picture taken in Varenna, Lake Como, Italy. Send me/tag me in your pics of you reading Harry Potter!