Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban: Ch 9-13

Harry Potter and the First Time Readers

Chapter 9 - Grim Defeat

Q1 - Should the students be sent home after Sirius Black got in the castle?

• “Have you any theories as to how he got in, Professor?” asked Snape. Harry raised his head very slightly off his arm to free his other ear. “Many, Severus, each of them as unlikely as the next.”

Q2 - How do you think Sirius got in the castle?

• Harry knew she was deeply interested in the Gryffindor team’s prospects.

Q3 - Is it alarming that McGonnagal chooses Madam Hooch to oversee the practices?

• “You are easily satisfied. Lupin is hardy over-taxing you — I would expect first-years to be able to deal with Red Caps and Grindylows. Today we shall discuss — werewolves.”

Q4 - If you had to fight a werewolf, how do you think you’d defeat it?

• “This is the second time you have spoken out of turn, miss Granger,” said Snape coolly. “Five more points from Gryffindor for being an insufferable know-it-all.”

Q5 - Why is Snape so mean?

• “Not Harry, not Harry, please not Harry!” “Stand aside, you silly girl…stand aside, now…” “Not Harry, please no, take me, kill me instead—”

Q6 - What is this that Harry heard during the dementor attack?

Q7 - Do you think Harry will be a bad seeker now he doesn’t have a good broom?

Chapter 10 - The Marauder’s Map

• Madam Pomfrey insisted on keeping Harry in the hospital wing for the rest of the weekend. He didn’t argue or complain, but he wouldn’t let her throw away the shattered remains of his Nimbus Two Thousand. He knew he was being stupid, knew that the Nimbus was beyond repair, but Harry couldn’t help it; he felt as though he’d lost one of his best friends.

Q1 - Is Harry being extreme by saying he’d lost one of his friends?

• Ron finally cracked, flinging a large, slippery crocodile heart at Malfoy, which hit him in the face and caused Snape to take fifty points from Gryffindor.

Q2 - 50!?

• “The dementors affect you worse than the others because there are horrors in your past that the others don’t have.”...”Dementors are among the foulest creatures that walk this earth. They infest the darkest, filthiest places, they glory in decay and despair, they drain peace, hope and happiness out of the air around them. Even muggles feel their presence, though they can’t see them. Get too near a Dementor and every good feeling, every happy memory, will be sucked out of you. If it can, the Dementor will feed on you long enough to reduce you to something like itself — soulless and evil. You’ll be left with nothing but the worst experiences of your life. And the worst that has happened to you, Harry, is enough to make anyone fall off their broom. You have nothing to feel ashamed of.”

Q3 - What are your thoughts on Dementors and the Azkaban Prison?

• “This little beauty’s taught us more than all the teachers in the school.”

Q4 - Where do you think the map came from?

Q5 - Is Harry irresponsible for going to Hogsmeade?

Q6 - What is apparition?

• “Never saw one without the other, did you? The number of times I had them in here — ooh, they used to make me laugh. Quite the double act, Sirius Black and James Potter!”

Q7 - Does James and Sirius being best friends make Sirius that much worse for going to the dark side?

• “An immensely complex spell,” he said squeakily, “involving the magical concealment of a secret inside a single, living soul. The information is hidden inside the chosen person, or Secret-Keeper, and is henceforth impossible to find – unless, of course, the Secret-Keeper chooses to divulge it.”

Q8 - What do you think about Sirius being Harry’s godfather?

Q9 - What do you think of the Fidelius Charm?

• “You know most of the prisoners in there sit muttering to themselves in the dark, there’s no sense in them…but I was shocked at how normal Black seemed. He spoke quite rationally to me. It was unnerving. You’d have thought he was merely bored…Yes, I was astounded at how little effect the Dementors seemed to be having on him.”

Q10 - What do you think about Peter Pettigrew?

Q11 - How do you feel after hearing this story?

Chapter 11 - The Firebolt

• He stopped on a picture of his parents’ wedding day. There was his father waving up at him, beaming, the untidy black hair Harry had inherited standing up in all directions. There was his mother, alight with happiness, arm in arm with his dad. And there…that must be him. Their best man…Harry had never given him a thought before.
• A hatred such as he had never known before was coursing through Harry like poison.

Q1 - How do you feel after letting it stew, that Harry is the godson of Sirius Black?

• Harry looked at them. They didn’t seem to understand at all. “D'you know what I see and hear every time a dementor gets too near me?' Ron and Hermione shook their heads, looking apprehensive. 'I can hear my mum screaming and pleading with Voldemort. And if you'd heard your mum screaming like that, just about to be killed, you wouldn't forget it in a hurry. And if you found out someone who was supposed to be a friend of hers betrayed her and sent Voldemort after her —”

Q2 - What would you say to Harry in this moment?

• “Hey, Harry —” Ron gave a great whoop of laughter, “Malfoy! Wait till he sees you on this! He’ll be sick as a pig! This is an international-standard broom, this is!”

Q3 - Do you think Sneakoscopes can gauge animal mischief?

Q4 - Why are Ron and Hermione staying for Christmas holidays?

• “Certainly I knew, Minerva,” she said quietly. “But one does not parade the fact that one is All-Knowing. I frequently act as though I am not possessed of the Inner Eye, so as not to make others nervous.” “That explains a great deal,” said Professor McGonagall tartly.

Q5 - Who sent Harry the firebolt?

Chapter 12 - The Patronus

• Harry knew Hermione had meant well, but that didn’t stop him being angry with her.

PREDICTION #11 - Short lifelines for Harry’s palm.

Q1 - Why is Lupin always sick?

• “The Patronus is a kind of positive force, a projection of the very thing that the Dementor feeds upon — hope, happiness, the desire to survive — but it cannot feel despair, as real humans can, so the Dementors can’t hurt it.”

Q2 - Which memory would you pick to cast your patronus?

• “I heard my dad,” Harry mumbled. “That’s the first time I’ve heard him — he tried to take on Voldemort himself, to give my mum time to run for it…”
• “Professor Lupin?” he said. “If you knew my dad, you must’ve known Sirius Black as well.” Lupin turned very quickly. “What gives you that idea?” he said sharply. “Nothing — I mean, I just knew they were friends at Hogwarts, too…” Lupins face relaxed. “Yes, I knew him,” he said shortly. “Or I thought I did.”

Q3 - Do you think Lupin and Sirius Black are working together in any way?

• “They clamp their jaws upon the mouth of the victim and — suck out his soul.” Harry accidentally spat out a bit of butterbeer. “What — they kill —?” “Oh, no,” said Lupin. “Much worse than that. You can exist without your soul, you know, as long as your brain and heart are still working. But you’ll have no sense of self any more, no memory, no … anything. There is no chance of recovery. You’ll just — exist. As an empty shell. And your soul is gone for ever…lost.”

Q4 - What are your thoughts on the Dementor’s kiss?

• Harry sat stunned for a moment at the idea of someone having their soul sucked out through their mouth. But then he thought of Black. “He deserves it,” he said suddenly. “You think so?” said Lupin lightly. “Do you really think anyone deserves that?”

Q5 - Do you think anyone deserves the Dementor’s kiss?

DRINK FOR SCABBERS!

Q6 - Do you think Hermione was right to tattle about the broom?

Chapter 13 - Gryffindor Versus Ravenclaw

• “He bit Goyle for us once!” Ron said miserably. “Remember, Harry?” “Yeah, that’s true,” said Harry. “His finest hour,” said Fred.

Q1 - Would you like to play Quidditch?

Q2 - How incompetent is Madam Hooch?

• She smiled at Harry as the teams faced each other behind their captains, and he felt a slight jolt in the region of his stomach that he didn’t think had anything to do with nerves.

Q3 - How would you coach quidditch to make sure your team won? Are there any kind of moneyball situations with Quidditch?

Q4 - Who’s side do you take in the friendship battle: Ron or Hermione?

Q5 - Do you think Harry’s dream meant anything?

• “Professor, I woke up and Sirius Black was standing over me, holding a knife!” Professor McGonagall stared at him. “Don’t be ridiculous, Weasley.”

Q6 - How is Sirius Black getting in the castle so easily?