Minor parts of the story that alarm or surprise you.

[Snapes_Girl]

Originally Posted by inthebreeze

Another part of Prisoner of Azkaban I've always had trouble accepting was that if Sirius could escape Azkaban simply by taking his dog form.. WHY DID HE WAIT TWELVE YEARS TO BOTHER TRYING THIS?

I think Sirius was in utter despair when he was placed into Azkaban. I expect after he had lost his best friends, he felt the hopelessness of never being able to see them again or having the opportunity to clear his name. Therefore, the power of the Dementors could have been too much to overcome until he saw Pettigrew as a rat in the Daily Prophet article. I think that gave him proper motivation and courage to leave without being affected by the Dementors.

[bellatrix93]

Originally Posted by inthebreeze

Another part of Prisoner of Azkaban I've always had trouble accepting was that if Sirius could escape Azkaban simply by taking his dog form.. WHY DID HE WAIT TWELVE YEARS TO BOTHER TRYING THIS?

I remember Sirius saying that by that time, he'd grown slim enough to slip through the cell door when the Dementors were bringing his food. Also, I'm not sure about that, but I think he said something like 'finally being able to transform'. Maybe he couldn't actually transform in the beginning? I'm not sure about that bit though.

[Gwendolen]

I think also that Sirius had nowhere to escape to. He could endure Azkaban as a dog, but if he escaped and got caught he wouldn't be able to clear his name and would probably be given the dementors kiss.

[Quaphasia]

Originally Posted by Abbsalah

That's a really good point. I always thought it had something to do with the clipping of the Weasleys in the paper, when Sirius noticed Scabbers/Pettigrew in the photo with them, and realized that he was at Hogwarts. He had been sort of resigned until then, but I guess that gave him the motivation to go do something and kill Peter? (It's not a perfect theory--if I were an Animagus I would've gotten my tail out of there much quicker as well!)

I thought that too; but then again, he knew that Peter was alive and could do something to harm Harry any time. How could he live with that thought and stay in Azkaban for even one year?

Psychologically speaking, perhaps he first had to come to terms with what happened. But I expect that after 1, or 2 years, he probably would have thought of breaking out. Or demand to talk to Dumbledore or something.

[Gwendolen]

I suppose Sirius didn't know where to start looking for Peter until he saw him in the newspaper.

He did say that Peter would never do anything unless there was something in it for him, so he would be more danger in future.

[SimplyMe]

Originally Posted by LordThingy

This is something I just realized today...

In Half-Blood Prince, Slughorn constantly talks about how Harry has inherited his mother's talent for potions. We all know Harry was only good because of the Prince's book, but was Lily receiving help in potions from the Prince as well? Her and Severus were best friends in school. It seems that Lily and her famous potions skills were most likely just a result of her getting help from Severus in class and with homework, which is why Harry's potion making reminds Slughorn of Lily's. They both used the Prince's techniques.

That is exactly what I thought! Totally. However, it would only happen if their potions class were together, which is possible but there is still a chance that she didn't have Severus's help.

[Slartibartfast]

Originally Posted by Abbsalah

This is kind of weird, but it always sort of upset me that Dumbledore made Gryffindor win the house cup at the end of book 1. I mean--I do think the trio and Neville deserve recognition for all they did, but imagine being in Slytherin at that feast. You'd be so excited you won the house cup, and there were decorations, and then all the sudden, in front of everyone, Dumbledore (who was a Gryffindor) pulls the rug out from under you. And then all of the other houses (Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff included) are so excited and in-your-face about it. It doesn't exactly foster a good relationship between Slytherin and the rest of the school!

I actually agree with this. Sure it was fun for the story but it is a bit insulting to Slytherin who obviously worked at getting their points high enough to win. Only to have it revoked.

Originally Posted by LordThingy

This is something I just realized today...

In Half-Blood Prince, Slughorn constantly talks about how Harry has inherited his mother's talent for potions. We all know Harry was only good because of the Prince's book, but was Lily receiving help in potions from the Prince as well? Her and Severus were best friends in school. It seems that Lily and her famous potions skills were most likely just a result of her getting help from Severus in class and with homework, which is why Harry's potion making reminds Slughorn of Lily's. They both used the Prince's techniques.

It is...indeed possible. Why wouldnt Severus come to Lily's aid if she dared ask about how to do potions. Or if she indeed got very stuck on one or had trouble, he would give her a peek at his own technique. Who knows, perhaps for the first 5 years of classes, they even sat at the same table like Ron, Harry, and Hermione did.

[AMAC]

Or maybe Lily was just good at potions? Maybe it was something they did together and both helped eachother, experimenting with recipes etc. Lily always was described as being extremely bright, so I imagine her and Snape enjoying learning from eachother.

I always wondered why Harry wasnt brighter, what with both Lily and James described as among he brightest in their school year. I sometimes think him and Ron were lazy with their academic work, and relied on Hermione's work too much.

[dukeatreides_iv]

Originally Posted by AMAC

Or maybe Lily was just good at potions? Maybe it was something they did together and both helped eachother, experimenting with recipes etc. Lily always was described as being extremely bright, so I imagine her and Snape enjoying learning from eachother.

I always wondered why Harry wasnt brighter, what with both Lily and James described as among he brightest in their school year. I sometimes think him and Ron were lazy with their academic work, and relied on Hermione's work too much.

it is possible harry was brighter than he showed. every school year he had other things to really worry about. diverted his attention away from fully focusing on his studies. and while hermione was going through a lot also, she seemed the type to use her studies as a way to relieve some stress and escape for a bit.

[Hedwiglives7]

Originally Posted by Quaphasia

I thought that too; but then again, he knew that Peter was alive and could do something to harm Harry any time. How could he live with that thought and stay in Azkaban for even one year?

If he had escaped right at the beginning, he would have had to stay in hiding unless he knew where Peter was. He wasn't even sure if Peter was alive or not at that point. If Peter was indeed dead, there would be no way to prove Sirius's innocence and even order members may not have trusted him, so he had to wait until he knew exactly where to find Peter and expose him(:

[ginevraweasly]

No, the 12 years in Azkaban are not convincing- they just suited the plot. Sirius could have written letters to Dumbledore and explained, but no- he obviously prefered the company of the Dementors and the nice sea view of Azaban

just kidding...

[nimra_ahmed]

Sirius always knew he was non-guilty so he had a hope within him. That hope became more strong when he saw that newspaper, now he had to save Harry Potter. I bet a goal to do made his mind more active and he was able to escape. Him turning into a dog aided him because dementors become confused deciphering dog's thoughts.

[HogwartsWizard]

Originally Posted by Lord_Cadogan

Namely the fact that Dumbledore allows a giant man-eating three headed dog patrol a school corridor behind a door even a first year can open with a simple unlocking spell

I think that Fluffy (three-headed dog) had an understandable reason to be put there, considering... However the "simple unlocking spell" I find alarming also.. You'd think there would be more charms put on the door, following more charms and spells behind the door.

[inthebreeze]

The gossipy, snobby, speculating nature of the wizarding world has always alarmed me. Not at all because of the way Rowling portrayed it - I am intensely impatient with people that read fantasy books and think that fantasy worlds are supposed to be tolerant utopias - and I think the world she created fit the story nicely, but my issue stems from imagining myself in that world and how frustrated I would be at the way the average witch and wizard get completed carried away by gossip and news and stories and seem to lose their heads completed about a lot of things, how adults are reduced to gossiping little children so often.

There are so many examples of this it's hard to pinpoint just a few, but think about how Fudge, Flitwick, McGonnagall and Hagrid in Prisoner of Azkaban talk of Sirius Black as though it was well-established fact he was Voldemort's greatest supporter, how they talk like it was a concrete truth, proven beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Black was just a shade under the level of terror that Voldemort himself was. And the evidence for this is.. virtually non-existent. True, he supposedly murdered 13 people with one curse - that's horrible, and understandable - all the evidence pointed to him indeed being a mass-murderer, but it seems a very, very big leap to me to assume that because he seemed to have sold Lily and James to Voldemort that that means he was Voldemort's right-hand man. It was established as early as Hagrid retrieving Harry from the Dursleys that Voldemort had legions of supporters, hundreds if not thousands are implied throughout the books, and all those involved in the conversation Harry overhears in the Three Broomsticks should've known this. I can appreciate that the legend of Sirius Black would grow quite a bit if Pettigrew had shouted more than just 'Lily and James, how could you?' before be apparently blasted into bits, but seriously - there was no evidence to suggest Sirius had anything to do with anything dark before Lily and James died, except the vague possibility some in the ministry may have known his brother was a Death Eater. If that's the case, we don't hear it. Fudge was not Minister at the time, as was shown, but even then, he should've known that there was precedent for many other death eaters and dark wizards on Voldemort's side having trials where their truly awful crimes achieved legendary notoriety, and Sirius never even had a trial. There was little proof he had betrayed Lily and James in the first place, and virtually-none but Pettigrew's last words that he had anything to do with Voldemort, and all of this combined with the established fact that Sirius had been James Potter's greatest friend. That the wizarding world considered Sirius Black a vicious murderer is, more or less, understandable. That they considered him to be a mini-Voldemort, only slightly less dangerous than the real one, when they had proof of many other wizards much more likely to be filling that role, none of which had ever named Sirius Black as a Voldemort supporter, yet still the entire wizarding world considered him to be that, is stunning.

[Hedwiglives7]

Originally Posted by inthebreeze

Fudge was not Minister at the time, as was shown, but even then, he should've known that there was precedent for many other death eaters and dark wizards on Voldemort's side having trials where their truly awful crimes achieved legendary notoriety, and Sirius never even had a trial. There was little proof he had betrayed Lily and James in the first place, and virtually-none but Pettigrew's last words that he had anything to do with Voldemort, and all of this combined with the established fact that Sirius had been James Potter's greatest friend.

Great points, I never thought about it that way. So many death eaters had killed hundreds of people and they got fair trials, yet a man who killed about a dozen was thought of as even worse? Doesn't really make sense...

[Slartibartfast]

Inthebreeze, do remember it was Crouch who put Sirius away without trail. That guy was so hard up in "catching wrongdoers" that it reached a mania. At that time, i would imagine the wizarding world was all "oh hell naw!" about anything a bit dodgy. I think Sirius's capture occurred probably right after Bellatrix and co. did what they did to the Longbottoms. (if not then...hmmm.) While that isnt a very good excuse, it probably is the reason (or one of them) why the mentality was like that.

As for OotP nonsense about Harry...thats just the Ministry being incompetent boobs.

[Gwendolen]

It seems to be standard operating procedure for the ministry to throw people to the dementors first and ask questions later, or not at all. They did it to Hagrid and Stan Shunpike as well. Apparently trial by Daily Prophet is enough to get people convicted.

When I first read PoA I assumed Peter had improvised his death in a panic, to get away from Sirius, but now I think he deliberately lured Sirius there and planned it so there would be witnesses. Peter staged his death and went into hiding as a rat because the other death eaters thought he had betrayed Voldemort. That means several people must have known Sirius was innocent. I should think if Bellatrix knew then so did Narcissa and Lucius.


I'm also surprised they took Dumbledore's word that Sirius had been secret-keeper, that Snape was a spy, that Harry would be better off with the Dursleys, that Quirrell was killed by Voldemort rather than Harry. Didn't anyone check?

[inthebreeze]

Seems Dumbledore gets a free pass for a lot of things, which to be honest, he should. A camel is a horse designed by a committee.

[DA93]

What really alarms me is how the teachers allows the students to bully each other. In OotP the teachers are in the audience while 1/4 of the crowd (i guess all the Slytherin's where in on it) sings a horrible song about Ron. Of course, if they where singing about the entire team it would be okay, but they are singing about one individual person. If i don't remember wrong, they are even saying bad things about his family. I can't understand how Dumbledore, McGonagall just stand by and let them do it!

Really dislike this part of the book. Allways feel so sorry for Ron

[Arcus]

Originally Posted by inthebreeze

Another part of Prisoner of Azkaban I've always had trouble accepting was that if Sirius could escape Azkaban simply by taking his dog form.. WHY DID HE WAIT TWELVE YEARS TO BOTHER TRYING THIS?

This was discussed and answered in the book. You should re-read it.