Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Books/Prisoner of Azkaban/Chapter 16
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Chapter 16 of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban: Professor Trelawney's Prediction
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[edit] Synopsis
It is late May, and exams are looming. Harry and Ron see that Hermione has two exams scheduled for Monday morning and two for Monday afternoon. When Harry asks if there is any chance of an explanation as to how Hermione expects to sit two exams at once, Hermione cheerfully says, "No," then looks for her Ancient Runes book. Hedwig delivers a note from Hagrid: Buckbeak's appeal is 6 June, and it will be at the school. A Committee wizard and an executioner will attend, making it appear to Harry that the Committee's decision is already made. Ron is dismayed over the wasted work he has done on the appeal. Draco, who lost some of his usual swagger after Slytherin's Quidditch defeat, appears to be getting it back. Worse, the tight security has made it impossible to visit Hagrid, and Harry has not yet dared to retrieve the Invisibility Cloak from the One-Eyed Witch tunnel.
Exams begin, and they are as rough as expected. In Transfiguration, students had to transfigure a teapot into a tortoise, which was a problem for most. In Charms, they were tested on Cheering Charms, the one class Hermione missed. Tuesday's Care of Magical Creatures was a simple exam; they only had to keep Flobberworms alive for one hour. Harry, Ron, and Hermione use this time to exchange a few words with Hagrid, who says Buckbeak is tired of being penned up. It will be several days before they know the appeal's outcome. The Potions exam does not go well. Snape gives Harry a zero. Astronomy is Tuesday at midnight, History of Magic Wednesday morning, and Herbology is Wednesday afternoon. Thursday morning is Defence Against the Dark Arts, and Professor Lupin has set them a practical test: students have to wade across a deep pool containing a Grindylow, cross a series of potholes containing Red Caps, cross a stretch of marshland while avoiding being distracted by a Hinkypunk, then climb into an armoire to battle a Boggart. Harry gets a perfect score, but Ron is distracted and led astray by the Hinkypunk. Hermione is unable to defeat the Boggart who has taken the form of Professor McGonagall telling her she has failed every subject.
Heading back, they run into the Minister for Magic on the castle steps. Fudge says he is there for a very sad duty—witnessing the execution of a dangerous animal. Ron protests that the hippogriff might be exonerated, but before Fudge can answer, he is joined by a testy old wizard and a tall, strapping man carrying a large axe. Convinced the appeal is a mockery, Ron starts say something, but Hermione drags him away to protect Mr. Weasley's job.
After lunch, Harry and Ron have their Divination exam, while Hermione has Muggle Studies. Professor Trelawney examines students individually. Harry, examined last, pretends to see a hippogriff in the crystal ball and claims it is flying away. As Trelawney dismisses him, she suddenly enters into a trance and speaks in a strange voice: "It will happen tonight. The Dark Lord lies alone and friendless, abandoned by his followers. His servant has been chained these twelve years. Tonight, before midnight, the servant will break free and set out to rejoin his master. The Dark Lord will rise again with his servant's aid, greater and more terrible than ever before. Tonight... before midnight... the servant... will set out... to rejoin... his master..." Suddenly awakening, Trelawney is unaware of what she has just said, and chastises Harry for repeating it to her.
Uncertain if Trelawney was merely adding melodrama to the exam or experiencing a real prediction, Harry heads back to the Common room. Before he can share what Trelawney said, Ron and Hermione tell him Hagrid sent a note that Buckbeak lost the appeal and will be executed at sunset. He orders them to stay away. Harry bemoans that his Invisibility Cloak is still in the One-eyed Witch tunnel, otherwise they could visit Hagrid. However, if Snape catches Harry anywhere near there, he will be expelled. Hermione dashes off, returning shortly with the Cloak.
Donning the Invisibility Cloak, the three head to Hagrid's hut. A distraught Hagrid says Macnair, the executioner, is Lucius Malfoy's friend, but at least the end will be quick and clean. Professor Dumbledore is also coming to support Hagrid. Says Hagrid, "Great man, Dumbledore." Fetching a pitcher, Hermione discovers Scabbers hiding inside. Scabbers seems frantic to remain hidden, trying to climb back into the milk jug even as Ron grabs him. Hagrid spots the execution committee coming and shoos Harry, Ron, and Hermione out the back door. As they head to the castle under the Invisibility Cloak, Scabbers makes another bid for freedom. As Ron tries to contain him, they hear the swish and thud of the executioner's falling axe.
[edit] Analysis
Trelawney's prediction leaves Harry stunned and confused, unsure if what he has just heard was mere melodrama or a true prophecy. It should be remembered, however, that Trelawney has a poor record for making accurate predictions. There is also no indication as to who Voldemort's servant may be. Harry can only wait and let events unfold; the prediction, if it is real, is that events will happen before midnight, far too short a time for Harry to consult with other wizards to try and find a meaning.
[edit] Questions
[edit] Review
- What happens during Trelawney's Divination final exam? What might it mean?
- Who retrieves Harry's Invisibility Cloak and why?
- What makes Harry believe that Buckbeak's appeal has been decided even before the committee convenes?
[edit] Further Study
- Scabbers vanished in April, and it is now early June. Why did he remain hidden in Hagrid's hut all this time, rather than leave Hogwarts?
- What might Trelawney's prediction mean?
- Who is Voldemort's servant mentioned in the prediction?
[edit] Greater Picture
Although Harry's made-up prediction that Buckbeak flies safely away is wishful thinking, it foreshadows events in the book's conclusion. It is perhaps lucky that Harry is aware that he is making this up; if he had been a little less sure of himself, he might have somehow come to the conclusion that he had a touch of the Talent.
Trelawney's strange pronouncement is, in fact, a true Prophecy, and Dumbledore later tells us that it is her second while in Hogwarts' employ. We will later find out that the first concerned Harry and Voldemort, and had occurred on the occasion of her initial hiring by Dumbledore. It is apparently on the strength of these two prophecies that Dumbledore keeps her on staff; otherwise, it would seem that he shares the general opinion of the staff that the subject, Divination, is purest flummery and does not deserve a place at Hogwarts.
The reader may believe that this is a true prophecy; it is certainly delivered in a convincing manner. If so, the reader will be misled by the belief that Sirius is the Dark Lord's servant. It is true that Sirius, imprisoned in Azkaban, could be said to be chained "these past twelve years", except that he has by now been free for almost a year. Despite the various bits of foreshadowing — the Sneakoscope, the revelation of the Animagus transform, Sirius' attack on Ron, and Crookshanks' repeated attacks on Scabbers — we are somehow unable to predict that Scabbers will turn out to be the Animagus form of Peter Pettigrew.
The Invisibility Cloak has lain, undiscovered, in the secret passage leading from Hogwarts to Hogsmeade after Harry was forced to abandon it there in mid-April. It was still there in early June, when Hermione went to retrieve it. We know that Sirius was in the school on the night after the match against Ravenclaw, before the Cloak is left in the passage, and Harry sees him in his Animagus form the night before the Slytherin match, after it had been left. Did Sirius enter the school via that passage? If so, did he pass by the Cloak, and, recognizing it as once belonging to James Potter, leave it aside? Or did he use another means to get into Hogwarts? The author never clears this point up, but it is quite possible that Sirius has opened one of the boarded-up windows of the Shrieking Shack, and is using the tunnel under the Whomping Willow to enter the school grounds.
