Hermione’s Secret
chapter twenty-one of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
After overhearing that Sirius Black is to get the dementor’s kiss, Harry and Hermione travel back in time at Dumbledore’s insistence. There they rescue Buckbeak, Harry casts a Patronus to save them (and Sirius) from the dementors, and they fly Buckbeak to Sirius’s rescue from the tower.
“Ready?” she said breathlessly.
“What are we doing?” Harry said, completely lost.
(by FizzingWhizbees)
“Harry, I don’t understand what Dumbledore wants us to do.”
(by Tealin Raintree)
Harry threw all his weight onto the rope.
(by Tealin Raintree)
There was a swishing noise, and the thud of an axe. The executioner seemed to have swung it into the fence in anger.
(by pojypojy)
And out the end of his wand burst, not a shapeless cloud of mist, but a blinding, dazzling, silver animal.
(by sharpfish)
It wasn’t a horse. It wasn’t a unicorn, either. It was a stag.
(by Sanna Lorenzen)
And Harry realized… “Prongs,” he whispered.
(by TomScribble)
Harry urged Buckbeak forward. They were gliding quietly toward the upper floors of the castle….
(by bluefooted)
“He’s there!” Harry said, spotting Sirius as they rose up beside the window.
“How – how – ?” said Black weakly, staring at the hippogriff.
(by Tealin Raintree)
“We’ll see each other again,” he said. “You are – truly your father’s son, Harry.”
(by FizzingWhizbees)
Black wheeled Buckbeak around, facing the open sky.
(by glockgal)
The hippogriff took off into the air…. He and his rider became smaller and smaller as Harry gazed after them…. then a cloud drifted across the moon…. They were gone.
(by TomScribble)
about the chapter
I absolutely love this chapter. Of course there are a few strange inconsistencies with the time-travel paradoxes – have wizards really ended up killing their past or future selves? – but for the most part, the way Rowling weaves together the past with the present is absolutely brilliant. It’s also fun to look back at previous chapters and see clues that it’s happening, like the trio’s hearing Harry and Hermione running across the entrance hall just before they leave for Hagrid’s.
Something You May Not Have Noticed
So Lupin knew that Harry, Ron, Hermione, Sirius, and Pettigrew were heading down under the Whomping Willow because he was watching them for the whole evening on the Marauder’s Map. Now we know that the whole time he was watching, it wasn’t just that group running around – it was also a duplicate Harry and Hermione. Given the amount of time Lupin was watching the map, and the fact that Harry and Hermione were retracing their steps, there’s almost no chance Lupin didn’t realize what was going on. He would have seen two Harrys and two Hermiones, seen the duplicates saving Buckbeak, and seen them watching as the group went down under the Whomping Willow. So the question is, did he already know about Hermione’s time-turner? And if so, can’t you just imagine him sitting there, watching multiple versions of kids walking around with Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew and trying to figure out what the heck was going on?
And more importantly, did he then tell Dumbledore?
Because Dumbledore must have had a very interesting evening as well. Perhaps he saw Harry or Hermione saving Buckbeak, perhaps not. But either way, Buckbeak was gone. And then the next time we see Dumbledore, he’s been talking to Sirius Black and getting his story of what happened. Why would Dumbledore have talked to him, or believed a word of what he said? Well, because Lupin’s already raised his suspicions. After all, Lupin came running out of the castle toward the Whomping Willow minutes after Dumbledore went in – why not sooner, if he was watching everything unfold on the Marauder’s Map? My guess is he pulled Dumbledore aside and shared his suspicions before joining the party in the Shrieking Shack. And then, by the time Dumbledore talked to Sirius, he was open to hearing what Sirius had to say, and soon realized that he had to be the one to set everything in motion.
In other words, J.K. Rowling is brilliant. :)
Life at Hogwarts
It’s really interesting that the Ministry permits thirteen-year-olds to have Time Turners at all – what an incredibly powerful tool! But given how willing they are to hand them out (we’ll see evidence later that this is probably actually a fairly regular occurrence), I’ve also wondered before whether Hogwarts teachers might routinely have them as well. Look at Snape, for example – he has to teach Potions to students at five grade levels (plus two N.E.W.T.-level classes), spread across four houses, and each class multiple times a week. That’s something like eight or nine class periods a day, not to mention all the planning for that many unique classes and the grading for hundreds (!) of students. And then he always seems to be patrolling the corridors at night! It’s possible to make a feasible schedule with a few backbends, and it’s probably even more likely that Rowling simply never thought about it. But I would be curious to know whether time-turners are the solution that makes the most sense.
The Final Word
“The time-turner was a very difficult invention for me, because it created as many problems as it solved.”–J.K. Rowling, July 2007
Wow, yes, this is my favorite chapter as well! Very nice artwork! And I was wondering the same thing about Lupin and the Marauders Map.
Kim said this on July 13, 2009 at 1:28 pm
What you wrote in the “Something You May Have Not Noticed” passage made me realize that I apparently do not have this book as figured out as I thought I did. Great job and keep it up, this website is fantastic :).
Eviden said this on July 13, 2009 at 10:48 pm
In your “what you may not have noticed” you said that Lupin might have told Dumbledore what he had seen before he went to the Shrieking Shack. But why didn’t Dumbledore come with him? Wouldn’t he want to see Pettigrew and Black himself? (Or, in case he might not right away believe Lupin, wouldn’t he want to go to the Shack to protect Harry? (and the others))
Besides, is it so weird for Dumbledore to believe Sirius without Lupin’s story? He’s always been a man of reason (and seconnd chanches), and he must’ve seen the flight of Buckbeak…
The only reason I can come up with is that he might’ve still had Fudge over, and couldn’t come to the Shack himself…
Also, I do think that every teacher at least knows about the timeturner… Even if McGonnagal and Dumbledore didn’t inform them at the start of the term, they could at least have figured it out, couldn’t they?
Sorry for the lenght…:)
kim said this on July 20, 2009 at 5:19 pm
Regarding Live at Hogwarts:
Potions lessons are just once a week for every class. And since 2 house are together at potion, there must be 10 potions lessons from year 1 – 5. For the NEWT-level there must be just one lesson/week incl. all 4 houses, since they contain far less students. so Snape had to give 12 lessons/week.
Marco said this on August 9, 2009 at 1:06 pm
I always figured that all the teachers were aware of any student with a time-turner. It seems like the sensible thing to do with such a powerful object; the MoM gives it to Hermione but they probably also trust her teachers to keep an eye on her.
I have also wondered many times whether Dumbledore hasn’t been planning Buckbeak’s escape all along; during the execution scene he always has a sort of “funny look” on his face and he seems to be purposedly distracting the Ministry staff in order to give Harry and Hermione time to save the Hyppogriff. There is no conclusive proof of this but I always get that feeling when I read the passage, and I think it’s a Dumbledore-ish thing to do; he’s not worried about it because he knows there’s a time-turner in the school and it can be used to save the animal.
My guess is that after learning about Sirius’ story he just takes advantage of the plan he was already going to get the kids to carry out and gets them to save Sirius as well.
Lola said this on August 10, 2009 at 7:30 pm
In the fifth book, Dumbledore tells Harry he “watched him from afar” when Harry was fighting off Dementors from Sirius in his thrid year.
Seán said this on August 17, 2009 at 3:29 pm
Yes, this is a great chapter, a bittersweet one. Everything you say in “Something…” is true, I have always thought that there were some problems with the time turner scene but never really figured out what they were, so good observations.
Dumbledore says that he is watching Harry all the time and I think that he only steps in when Harry’s life is at risk. Even though his life was threatened I suppose he never believed it to be an unmanageable situation for them to handle.
Paula said this on October 28, 2009 at 11:16 am
If they ever make the Harry Potter series into animated films sometime in the future, they better hire Tealin Raintree to do the character sketches!
Roonil Wazlib said this on October 30, 2009 at 11:53 am
In the ‘Something….’ space I think you made a good point. But think about it this way. The Marauder’s Map is used to show people, obviously. If past Remus were looking at the map then it wouldn’t be possible for him to see future Harry and Hermione, because the map probably only shows people who you are expecting. Remus wouldn’t be expecting to see Harry and Hermione on the map twice, therefore he wouldn’t. The Marauders were in their late fifth year, early sixth when they started on the map. I don’t think any of them were thinking, ‘You know I ought to make sure that this map will work with people using time turners on the off chance that I end up here as a teacher with a best friend who was accused of murder and two of my students run off after them and one of those students has a time turner.’
Elizibeth said this on January 10, 2010 at 12:36 pm
Elizibeth, you have an interesting thought, but I’m not sure I agree. I think the Map should show all people who are present, regardless of anything else. The map wouldn’t look at the second Harry and Hermione and say, “they’re time travelers, so I won’t show them” any more than it would say “Peter Pettigrew is supposed to be dead, so I won’t show him either.” There are two Harry Potters and two Hermione Grangers, so my thinking is that they would both show up on the map (just like if Barty Crouch Sr and Barty Crouch Jr both came, it would show two Barty Crouches). Unless I’m misunderstanding something you’re saying?
John Kearns said this on January 10, 2010 at 8:34 pm
Wow the painting by sharpfish is amazing. New background for my pc! :)
Sarah 'LeStrange' said this on January 18, 2010 at 4:43 pm
Re: Elizabeth and John – That is an interesting thought, Elizabeth, but I agree with John. When time travelers come around, it is confusing for we non-travelers to grasp how it works, but both sets of Harry and hermione were out on the grounds the whole time, so the map would have shown all four of them. Also, Remus wouldn’t have been expecting to see Peter, yet he did.
I love the final word quote because I’ve had so many arguments with myself about why everything can’t be fixed with a time-turner.
Laura said this on July 16, 2010 at 4:16 pm