Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Books/Prisoner of Azkaban/Chapter 5
From Wikibooks, the open-content textbooks collection
Chapter 5 of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban: The Dementor
Contents |
[edit] Synopsis
Surprisingly, the Weasleys, Hermione, and Harry are all ready on time the next morning. Ministry cars spirit them away to catch the Hogwarts Express at King's Cross Station. At Platform Nine and Three Quarters, Mr. Weasley takes Harry aside to discuss Sirius Black. Harry admits that he overheard him and Mrs. Weasley. Mr. Weasley asks him to promise that, no matter what he hears, he will not go looking for Sirius Black. Harry is puzzled, but the departing Hogwarts Express prevents him from making that promise. Wanting to talk privately to Ron and Hermione, they chase away Ron's sister Ginny. The only available compartment is occupied by someone named R. J. Lupin, although he is apparently fast asleep. Despite his presence, Harry relates everything he knows about Black, including what Mr. Weasley said. The pocket Sneakoscope Ron gave Harry starts whistling. Ron says it is cheap and likely defective, so Harry bundles it back up in his trunk to deaden the noise.
The conversation turns to Hogsmeade, and Ron and Hermione are appalled that Harry will be unable to join them, as neither Uncle Vernon nor Fudge would sign his permission slip. Later, Draco and his two sidekicks, Crabbe and Goyle, show up intending to cause mayhem, but Lupin's presence deters them.
The train lurches to an unexpected stop. Ginny and Neville Longbottom make their way through darkness to Harry's compartment, and amidst the confusion, Lupin wakes up and provides some illumination. As he is about to go and find out what is happening, the compartment door slides open and a black-robed figure, as tall as the doorway, glides in, briefly displaying a hideous, dead-looking hand. Harry hears someone screaming and passes out.
When he regains consciousness, the creature is gone and the train is moving again. Lupin says it was a Dementor, an Azkaban prison guard searching for Sirius Black. To counteract the Dementor's effect, he gives each student chocolate, then leaves to speak with the driver. In his absence, Harry asks if anyone else fainted, but they tell him no, nor did they hear a woman screaming. Hermione tells Harry that Lupin repelled the Dementor by casting a silvery object from his wand.
They arrive at Hogwarts in a driving rain. As Hagrid rounds up the first-years for the boat ride across the lake, the trio find horseless carriages waiting for them. Upon hearing from Neville that Harry fainted, Malfoy maliciously attempts to taunt him, but Lupin arrives on the scene, defusing the incident. As they head to the Great Hall, Professor McGonagall asks to see Harry and Hermione in her office; she reassures Ron that his two friends are not in any trouble. Hearing about Harry's encounter with the Dementor, she has summoned him to be checked over by Madam Pomfrey, who approves Lupin giving the students chocolate. Professor McGonagall suggests keeping Harry in the infirmary overnight. Not wishing to give Malfoy further ammunition to humiliate him with, Harry insists he is fine and asks to attend the Welcoming Feast. Professor McGonagall grants permission, and then asks for a private word with Hermione about her class schedule. Afterwards, they go to the feast together.
Although they have missed the Sorting ceremony, the Feast is just beginning; Professor Dumbledore warns students that the school grounds are being guarded by Dementors and any attempt to slip past them by subterfuge will fail as they do not rely on sight to hunt their prey. He also welcomes two new teachers: Rubeus Hagrid, who will be teaching Care of Magical Creatures and Professor Lupin, the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. Harry notes that Lupin receives a loathing look from Professor Snape. Harry, Ron, and Hermione congratulate Hagrid on his appointment and then head for Gryffindor Tower.
[edit] Analysis
The Ministry providing cars to transport Harry, Hermione, and the Weasleys to King's Cross Station is highly unusual, and it indicates that there is deep concern for Harry's safety that is probably tied to Sirius Black's escape. Mr. Weasley's warning to Harry to not go looking for Black is revealing, although Harry nonchalantly dismisses its significance, more concerned with finding a way to attend the Hogsmeade weekends with his friends than with avoiding an escaped murderer.
This chapter shows a possible hint of Harry's and Ginny's relationship in the future. As Percy goes to meet his girlfriend Penelope, Harry and Ginny look at each other and silently laugh. Although this does not mean that Harry is interested in Ginny, it does show that they have a similar sense of humor, and therefore have common ground on which to build a relationship.
While Harry is thinking foolishly by brushing off concerns about Sirius Black, he soon becomes fixated on Dementors. Although the eerie creatures have been assigned to protect him and hunt Black, they strongly affect anyone near them, feeding on unhappy emotions and memories, while leaving behind darkness, coldness, and despair. The Dementor that entered Harry's compartment may have deliberately targeted Harry, though its purpose is unknown. This, compounded with what Harry believes is a recurring death omen and Sirius Black's escape, likely foreshadows a difficult and dangerous year ahead at Hogwarts. Professor Lupin, however, unexpectedly demonstrates an ability to repel Dementors with an unknown spell, suggesting that it is possible to protect one's self from them.
Also, a valuable story clue may appear here, but Harry quickly bundles it up and stows it away. There is some question as to whether the Sneakoscope actually works; Ron, in the note he included when he sent it to Harry, claimed it was just a cheap device. Apparently, it is more effective than anyone realizes, even though it seems to be giving off false alarms; when Ron used it before sending it to Harry, it was responding correctly.
[edit] Questions
[edit] Review
- Why would the Ministry of Magic provide cars to transport Harry, Hermione, and the Weasley family to the train station?
- Why does Lupin give the students chocolate after their encounter with the Dementor?
- Why is Harry the only one who faints in the Dementor's presense?
[edit] Further Study
- Who might Harry have heard screaming as he fainted? Why did no one else hear it?
- Why would Snape give Professor Lupin such a loathing look during the Welcoming Feast? Is it because Lupin got the job that Snape has long wanted or is it something else?
- Why does Harry's Sneakoscope sound an alarm? Is it faulty as Ron claims, or could something be amiss?
- Why would Mr. Weasley ask Harry to promise not to go looking for Sirius Black?
[edit] Greater Picture
Harry's reaction to the Dementors is by far the most severe of anyone he is aware of. Nobody else heard screaming, nobody else fainted. Harry is afraid that this is caused by some weakness in himself. Lupin will reassure him later that this is not so; Dementors feed on happy memories, leaving only despair in the minds of their victims, and Harry, having had so many bad experiences in his life, is much more deeply affected by them. The memory that the Dementors seem to be fixating on in Harry is the time of his mother's death; as Harry encounters Dementors through this story, the memory will be repeatedly brought forward and strengthened until he is able to recall not only his mother's words but Voldemort's.
Harry will learn much later that the "horseless" carriages are actually pulled by creatures that are invisible to most people.
We have seen no evidence whatsoever so far that the pocket Sneakoscope is giving false warnings. Assuming that it is working, we can guess that one of the people in the compartment is not trustworthy. Apart from the Trio, the only other human in the compartment is Lupin, who being asleep is certainly not untrustworthy, leaving only Crookshanks, Hedwig, and Scabbers as potentially untrustworthy. We have already had our attention pointed at Scabbers, as he has apparently lived a good deal longer than any rat ought to have. Still, when the truth about Scabbers is revealed late in this book, it will be a surprise to us.
Lupin's shabby appearance has also been quite strongly pointed out to us. This would be an indication that he is having a hard time finding work, which would also be possible explanation for his taking the Defence Against the Dark Arts post, one that is now widely believed to be jinxed. We will discover later that Lupin is a werewolf, and over the next few books we will discover that there is a significant anti-werewolf prejudice in the Wizarding world. It is this prejudice, merited or not, that presumably has prevented Lupin from finding work.
