Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Books/Prisoner of Azkaban/Chapter 10
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Chapter 10 of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban: The Marauder's Map
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[edit] Synopsis
Harry is deeply disappointed over his first-ever Quidditch loss and losing his broom. He is also worried that he has seen the Grim three times; twice he was nearly killed, once by the Knight Bus, and then by falling off his broom during a Quidditch game. He says nothing, however, to Hermione, who would scoff, or Ron, who would panic. The Dementors also trouble him, and Harry is beginning to realize it is his mother's screams as she was being murdered that he hears when they approach him.
Returning to classes on Monday is a relief, even with Draco's taunts. Professor Lupin also returns and cancels the Werewolf essay Professor Snape assigned. After class, he tells Harry he is sorry that the Whomping Willow destroyed his broomstick. The willow was planted during his first year at Hogwarts. Lupin says that Harry's reaction to the Dementors is not weakness. Dementors drain peoples' happiness and good memories, leaving only the bad. Harry's dreadful memories make him particularly vulnerable. Harry says that when the Dementors are near, he can hear Voldemort murdering his mother, a revelation that leaves Lupin visibly shaken. Harry asks Lupin to teach him how to defend himself against the Dementors the way Lupin did on the Hogwarts Express. Lupin promises he will after the Christmas holidays.
With that promise, and Ravenclaw flattening Hufflepuff in Quidditch, Harry's outlook brightens. Also, Ron and Hermione are staying at Hogwarts over Christmas, further bolstering his morale. Even the prospect of missing yet another Hogsmeade weekend does not bother him too much. Borrowing Which Broomstick from Oliver Wood, Harry intends to spend the Hogsmeade weekend reading up on a replacement for his destroyed broomstick. Fred and George, however, have other ideas. Claiming Harry's needs are greater than their own, they bequeath him their Marauder's Map, a magical parchment they stole from Filch their first year. The map, apparently created by Messrs "Moony," "Wormtail," "Padfoot," and "Prongs," shows seven secret passageways in and out of Hogwarts, as well as every person's location within the castle. Fred and George say Filch apparently only knows about four tunnels. One of the remaining three has caved in, and one starts under the Whomping Willow, making it too dangerous. The passage at the One-Eyed Witch statue goes directly to Honeyduke's Sweet Shop in Hogsmeade village. To activate the map, the user must say, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," and "Mischief managed" to make it blank again.
Harry opens the One-Eyed Witch's hump with a spell ("Dissendium!") provided by the map and heads down the passageway. He emerges in Honeyduke's basement. Upstairs, Harry sneaks up behind Ron and Hermione. Ron believes he Apparated, but Harry tells him about the Map. Ron is upset that Fred and George did not give him the map. Hermione demands Harry turn it in to Professor McGonagall, but Harry refuses, believing Sirius cannot be using the two usable passageways because Hogsmeade is swarming with Dementors. They set off for the Three Broomsticks. Ron, who seems to have a slight crush on Madam Rosmerta, the pub's owner, gets a round of Butterbeer.
Professor McGonagall, Professor Flitwick, Hagrid, and Cornelius Fudge, the Minister for Magic, enter. Ron and Hermione quickly hide Harry under the table. The four, plus Madam Rosmerta, sit down at an adjacent table. When Rosmerta complains the Dementors are affecting her business, Fudge explains they are necessary because Black is so dangerous. Rosmerta mentions that Sirius and James Potter were great friends once, always in the Three Broomsticks together. This surprises Harry. Fudge says that not only was Sirius James' best friend, but also best man at his wedding and Harry's godfather. James and Lily knew Voldemort was hunting them and went into hiding. They used the Fidelius charm to conceal themselves and appointed Sirius their Secret-Keeper. Dumbledore, aware someone close to them was leaking secrets, offered to be their Secret-Keeper, but they declined. Barely a week later, Voldemort killed James and Lily, although he met his own demise in baby Harry. Obviously Black, tired of playing double agent, had thrown his lot in with Voldemort but, after his defeat, fled for his life. Peter Pettigrew, another Potter friend, caught up to Black the next day and accused him of betraying James and Lily. Black killed him and twelve Muggle bystanders with a single curse. Only Pettigrew's bloodstained robes and a severed finger remained. Black was sentenced to Azkaban. It is believed he is trying to reunite with Voldemort, perhaps after killing Harry to prove his loyalty. The teachers depart; Harry, Ron, and Hermione are too stunned to speak.
[edit] Analysis
Professor Lupin seems particularly upset about the Whomping Willow destroying Harry's broomstick. Curiously, the Marauder's Map shows a secret passageway starting from the Whomping Willow, although it is unknown why a tunnel would be next to such a dangerous tree or where it leads to. Lupin tells Harry that the Willow was planted the year he started Hogwarts. This is obviously no ordinary tree, and its massive size would indicate it is much older. It is probable that magic was used to accelerate its growth in addition to making it "whomping", although for what purpose is unknown.
The Marauder's Map is an extraordinary magical creation. Whoever Padfoot, Moony, Wormtail, and Prongs may be, they were obviously exceptionally talented wizards. Since the map is of Hogwarts, it can be presumed they were students there, although it is unknown when. The twin's gift gives Harry new-found freedom and power over his own actions, and he feels no hesitation in using the map to break school rules, although Hermione, as usual, objects, while Ron urges him on. However, when Harry secretly slips into Hogsmeade to join his friends, his excursion will ultimately bring unwelcome news and additional distress. While in the Three Broomsticks, the supposed back story behind Black's imprisonment is revealed, along with why he is attempting to break into the castle. Harry, thrown into a turmoil after learning that Black betrayed his parents, now understands the reason there is so much concern over his safety and why Black is supposedly trying to kill him. That this person is also his godfather, someone who is supposed to love and protect him, only adds to Harry's despair. Harry realizes that when Malfoy was talking to Harry about wanting revenge, Malfoy knew that the Potters were betrayed by Black, as did Mr. Weasley when he spoke to Harry at the train station, although neither told him this.
In this chapter, we begin to see Fudge's remaining fear of the previous Wizarding war, as he states here that he still has nightmares of the events of the day that Sirius Black was captured. With the escape of Sirius following Fudge's last meeting with him, Fudge seems to see the prospect of a revival of Voldemort's previous reign of terror, and does everything he can conceive of, with his limited imagination, to protect the Wizarding world from the possibility of that recurrence.
As was mentioned in the last chapter, when Snape substituted for Lupin's Defence Against the Dark Arts class, he assigned a paper on werewolves; while there is not yet enough information to understand why Snape chose this particular subject, Hermione may have some idea.
[edit] Questions
[edit] Review
- What is the Marauder's Map and how does it work?
- How did Fred and George come into possession of the Marauder's Map, and why do they give it to Harry?
- What was Sirius Black's relationship with James and Lily Potter?
- Why is it believed that Sirius Black betrayed Lily and James Potter and Peter Pettigrew?
[edit] Further Study
- Why would a dangerous tree like the Whomping Willow have been planted on school grounds during Lupin's first year at Hogwarts? Why would it be planted over a tunnel and where might the tunnel lead to?
- If the huge Whomping Willow had only been planted the year Lupin started at Hogwarts, it is likely magic was used to accelerate its growth. Why?
- Why would Lupin be so shaken when Harry tells him that the screams he hears are his mother's when she is being murdered?
- Who might Moony, Padfoot, Prongs, and Wormtail be? What could their relationship to the Marauder's Map be?
- The Marauder's Map only responds to precise instructions. How could Fred and George have figured out how to use it?
- What might the names "Moony", "Padfoot", "Prongs", and "Wormtail" actually mean? Do they fit any characters that have been seen so far?
- Does Sirius Black's betrayal of James and Lily Potter seem logical? Is there another explanation, given what is known about the personalities involved?
[edit] Greater Picture
Harry receives another relic of his father's: the Marauder's Map, which James Potter, along with Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew, created in their sixth year using their combined knowledge about Charms and Hogwarts' grounds. This map aids Harry in many ways during the series, usually by helping him avoid detection during his night-time sojourns around Hogwarts, to guard against and spy on Malfoy in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and to gaze at Ginny's name in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. It also plays a role in Barty Crouch Jr.'s plan to murder his own father during Harry's next year because the map shows when Crouch Sr. arrives at Hogwarts.
Lupin may feel partially responsible for Harry's broom being destroyed by the Whomping Willow because it was on his behalf that the dangerous tree was planted when he first arrived at Hogwarts as a student. We will find out that the tree was planted expressly to protect the entrance to the secret passage, and that the passage leads to the Shrieking Shack, where Lupin penned himself up at the full moon, so that he could transform safely.
With the exception of one teacher (Lupin), the Hogwarts faculty are unaware that the One-eyed Witch tunnel exists. It will be revealed later, however, that Dumbledore, and several other faculty, know about the tunnel leading from the Whomping Willow. Also, Snape is aware that Sirius Black knows it exists. Regardless, it appears that this passageway, which will be used by the Trio later in the story, was never monitored or sealed off after Black's escape. It is unclear why Dumbledore failed to consider this a necessary precaution, especially after Black by-passed the castle's security. Perhaps the fact that the tunnel starts outside the castle proper and ends inside a boarded-up house leads to something of a false sense of security.
According to Minister Fudge, Sirius Black was the Potter's Secret Keeper in an attempt to hide them from Lord Voldemort, but Sirius betrayed them and later killed Peter Pettigrew, leaving only Pettigrew's finger behind. This ties in to another fact: Scabbers, Ron's pet rat, lacks a toe on one paw. It will be discovered that Scabbers is actually Peter Pettigrew, who, like Sirius and James, was an Animagus, his rat form prompting the nickname, "Wormtail." Pettigrew severed his own finger to make his escape appear more convincing. Sirius, seeing the picture in the Prophet of the Weasley family in Egypt, has recognized Pettigrew in his rat shape, and by the lack of a finger has realized what Pettigrew had done; it is actually because of Pettigrew that he has come to Hogwarts. In the next book, Pettigrew will again be forced to sever a body part.
It is extremely interesting to note that in this chapter, Fudge seems to believe in the possibility of a re-animated Voldemort; when Madam Rosmerta suggests that as a horrible possibility, Fudge admits that they believe that is Sirius' plan. Yet, in the next book, when Dumbledore asserts that Voldemort has returned, Fudge refuses to accept this. One must wonder what has happened in the meanwhile to cause Fudge's beliefs to change so wildly.
