Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Books/Prisoner of Azkaban/Chapter 6
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Chapter 6 of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban: Talons and Tea Leaves
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[edit] Synopsis
The next morning, Malfoy entertains the Slytherin table by imitating Harry's reaction to the Dementors. The Weasley twins remark that Draco was less brave when the Dementors were near his compartment.
Ron notices that Hermione's class schedule lists Arithmancy, Muggle Studies, and Divination, all at nine o'clock. When Ron teasingly asks if she is going to be in all three classes at the same time, Hermione says only that it is all worked out with Professor McGonagall.
Harry and Ron have trouble finding the Divination classroom at the top of the North Tower. Sir Cadogan, an inept Knight in a portrait, clatters through several paintings, leading them to a room with a trapdoor in the ceiling. A nameplate reads "Sibyll Trelawney, Divination Teacher." The trap door opens, and a silvery ladder descends. Harry clambers up followed by the others. With great drama and fortuneteller's tricks, Professor Trelawney tells them Divination is a difficult subject, one that cannot be learned from books. Hermione seems skeptical. Today's lesson is reading tea leaves, and Trelawney sees a dog shape in Harry's cup that she identifies as the Grim, an omen of death. She predicts someone will die, leaving Harry a bit worried; it is the third time a dog shape has appeared to him recently.
Harry and the entire class are so disturbed by Trelawney's prediction that during their next class, Transfiguration, they seem unimpressed when Professor McGonagall transfigures herself into a cat to demonstrate how Animagi change shape. Somewhat nettled, Professor McGonagall, who appears to have little respect for Divination or its teacher's abilities, explains that it is an imprecise branch of magical study. Every year Professor Trelawney predicts some student's imminent demise and none have ever died. McGonagall carefully stops short of denigrating Professor Trelawney.
At lunch, Hermione comments that she is quite unimpressed by Divination, proclaiming it a woolly and almost useless subject, particularly compared with her Arithmancy class. Ron is amazed, as she has been with them all morning and wonders how she could also have Arithmancy.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione head to Hagrid's Care of Magical Creatures class. Hagrid is dismayed that no one has been able to open their textbook — the secret is to stroke it, whereupon it becomes quiescent. In a paddock in the Forbidden Forest are Hippogriffs, magical creatures with a horse's hindquarters, and the wings, talons, and head of a bird. Harry is volunteered to be the first to approach them. He steps up to Buckbeak and, acting as Hagrid instructed, is accepted. Hagrid convinces him to climb onto Buckbeak, whereupon Buckbeak takes him for a quick flight around the Forest and back to the paddock. The students lose their fear and address the Hippogriffs properly; Malfoy, however, insults Buckbeak, and the angry Hippogriff slashes his arm with its talons. Hagrid carries Malfoy to the hospital wing as the class disperses in disarray.
When Hagrid is not at dinner, the Trio decide to visit him later. Hagrid has been drinking, convinced he will be sacked. Harry, Ron, and Hermione insist that Professor Dumbledore would not do that and that they are witnesses that Malfoy behaved improperly. Hermione tells Hagrid he has had enough to drink. He soaks his head in the rain barrel and, suddenly realizing Harry is outside the castle after dark, soundly berates them.
[edit] Analysis
Once again, Harry sees a dog image. Professor Trelawney identifies a shape in the tea leaves as a Grim; this is the first time that it is actually named and specifically identified as a death omen. This, along with Ron's description of the Grim that his uncle had seen shortly before he died, further supports Harry's growing suspicion that he is seeing a true death symbol. Coupled with the ever-present Dementors, this is making Harry extremely anxious and fearful for his own safety.
Readers no doubt will be appalled at the level of fakery in the Divination course as taught by Professor Trelawney. The cultivation of the mystical, misty atmosphere in her classroom, and the careful impreciseness of her "predictions", clearly reflects the fortune-telling methods used by Muggle "mediums". It is particularly curious that Trelawney's classroom seems less designed to teach the methods of fortune-telling, than to be a place where Trelawney's fortune-telling abilities can be showcased. It seems that Trelawney is held in less than great esteem by the other teachers at the school. Although she very carefully avoids speaking ill of another teacher, McGonagall clearly does not feel that the brand of Divination taught by Trelawney is of any use. We can see that Professor Dumbledore, despite his eccentricities, is very level-headed and aware of what is transpiring in the school, and he almost certainly shares McGonagall's lack of faith in the validity of Trelawney's teachings. Given this, one must wonder exactly why she is kept on.
Readers should also pay close attention to Professor McGonagall's class lecture and demonstration.
Hermione is in all of Harry and Ron's classes, but it would appear from her timetable that she is taking many other subjects they are not, including ones that are taught at the same time. She remains cryptic and evasive when Harry and Ron ask just how she can be taking so many courses, saying only that she has arranged it with Professor McGonagall. There is as yet no explanation as to how Hermione is managing this, although there is probably some magical means behind it.
Hagrid, who was recently exonerated after being falsely accused of releasing the monster from the Chamber of Secrets, based on suspicion that he was repeating actions falsely attributed to him some fifty years before, soon finds his new-found confidence and self-esteem severely shaken after the incident involving Draco Malfoy and Buckbeak.
Malfoy's character is further illuminated when he uses the Dementor incident to mock Harry, as the Twins tell Harry that Draco is also terrified by them. Although he is a bully, he is a cowardly one who only acts when he is accompanied by his ever-present minions. False accusations and incorrect assumptions will likely continue to be a recurring theme throughout the novel.
[edit] Questions
[edit] Review
- Why is this chapter called "Talons and Tea Leaves"? What does that represent?
- What is seen in Harry's tea leaves and what does it signify? Has Harry seen it before?
- What does Trelawney predict and how do the students react to it?
- What does McGonagall have to say about Trelawney's prediction?
- What is Hermione's opinion about Divination? Explain.
- Why does Buckbeak attack Draco Malfoy?
[edit] Further Study
- How does Hagrid react after the Malfoy/Buckbeak incident? Is his behavior justified or not?
- Why might Hermione be so evasive about her class schedule? How can she be taking classes that are scheduled at the same time? What effect might this eventually have on her?
[edit] Greater Picture
It is at the end of this book that we will learn part of the reason for Trelawney's tenure. During Harry's Divination exam, Trelawney will lapse into a trance and make an actual prophecy. Told of this later, Professor Dumbledore will remark that this is her second real prophecy. We will later learn that her first prophecy had concerned Harry and Voldemort, and that Dumbledore had witnessed it just after deciding not to hire Trelawney as Divination teacher. He later also refuses to allow her to leave the school, apparently fearing for her welfare should Voldemort learn that she was the source of the first prophecy, which Voldemort badly wanted. We will also learn that Divination is an examined subject, as an OWL exam is offered in that course. Though, given what Trelawney is teaching, one must wonder exactly what is being examined.
In Professor McGonagall's class, we learn about the Animagus transformation. We are told by Hermione that there are only seven registered Animagi, but of course we do not learn yet about unregistered Animagi. Most readers, unlike Hermione, will understand that it is possible to be outside the law in small ways, and after learning about registration of Animagi, will wonder if the registered ones are all there are. It will turn out that there are several unregistered Animagi, one of whom is Sirius Black.
As noted, Hermione seems somehow to be taking more classes than humanly possible. We will learn that what she has arranged with Professor McGonagall is a technique for moving back in time, using a device called a time-turner. However, Hermione soon realizes she may have taken on a heavier load than she can comfortably handle and is beginning to discover her own limitations. Through the course of the book, Hermione will get steadily more stressed by the work she has to do, to the point that she actually slaps Malfoy. At the end of the book, she will drop a class, leaving her with a humanly-possible workload, and will return the time-turner to McGonagall. The time-turner will be destroyed accidentally in the fifth book, along with all other known examples of that artifact.
Despite his size and strength, and his bravery in facing various monsters, Hagrid is curiously insecure in himself. It will take a long time for him to recover from the incident with Draco and Buckbeak, and he will struggle throughout most of the book to prove Buckbeak's innocence. Meanwhile, Malfoy, who deliberately insulted Buckbeak, shows no remorse over how he damages the lives of those he considers inferior to himself, nor will he hesitate to allow an innocent being to be condemned.
