chapter four of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Harry spends his last weeks of vacation in Diagon Alley, finally meeting up with Ron and Hermione (who buys a new cat). On the last night, though, Harry overhears Mr. and Mrs. Weasley talking, and learns that Sirius Black has escaped to come after him.
 

Diagon Alley… was packed with the most fascinating wizarding shops in the world.

(by NicoPony)

 

They were there, both of them… Ron looking incredibly freckly, Hermione very brown.

(by Jeni Malament)

 

“It’s my rat,” he told the witch. “He’s been a bit off-color ever since I brought him back from Egypt.”

(by glockgal)

 

“You bought that monster?”

(by gerre)

 

“And what about Scabbers?” said Ron, pointing at the lump in his chest pocket. “He needs rest and relaxation! How’s he going to get it with that thing around?”

(by Marta T)

 

Ginny, who had always been very taken with Harry, seemed even more heartily embarrassed than usual when she saw him.

(by LMRourke)

 

Dinner that night was a very enjoyable affair. Tom the innkeeper put three tables together in the parlor, and the seven Weasleys, Harry, and Hermione ate their way through five delicious courses.

(by White Elzora)

 

Sirius Black was after him. This explained everything.

(by Sanna Lorenzen)

 

about the chapter

I love the little lines that Rowling drops into this chapter that are hints of things to come. A wizard ogling the Firebolt mentions that the Irish international team has ordered them; we’ll see them play on those very brooms in the next book. And virtually every creature in the Magical Menagerie is described in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them,, which Rowling released later as well. These are just tiny little hints of a world with far more to it than she ever managed to fit into the books, and it’s one of the reasons they’re so beloved (by me, anyway ;) ).
 

The Wizarding World

I love the offhanded comment the Flourish & Blotts manager makes to Harry when he’s looking at the book of Death Omens: “Oh, I wouldn’t read that if I were you. You’ll start seeing death omens everywhere. It’s enough to frighten anyone to death.” Maybe Hermione’s later comment that wizards die because they’ve seen the omens has something to it.
 

The Power of Magic

So the Firebolt can accelerate… to one hundred and fifty miles per hour? We already know that wizards have some innate abilities that Muggles don’t, like for instance staying in one piece after long falls, or living through car crashes. It’s pretty clear from this they also have some sort of ability to tolerate winds that would knock any of us clean off of something so small as a broom (or maybe it’s a spell built into the broom). But still… how could anyone ever see a Quaffle, much less a Snitch, while traveling that fast? Surely it can’t be done very often during the games. Either way, that’s one heck of a broom.
 

The Boy Who Lived

These two weeks Harry spends at Diagon Alley are almost entirely unique in his childhood, in that he has what he describes as “freedom.” He’s not living under tyrants, or strict school rules; he’s not worrying about when he’ll next go after Voldemort, or anyone who might be trying to come after him; and he just feels like a normal kid. Sadly, it will be quite a long time before Harry experiences anything remotely like these two weeks again.
 

Something to Remember

Ron mentions that Scabbers hasn’t been looking well “ever since I brought him back from Egypt.” Ron will claim later that Crookshanks is to blame for Scabbers’s being ill, but there’s another, very specific reason that Ron would never guess in a million years.