Harry Potter, #3
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
by J.K. Rowling
Contents
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Overview
Exam week brings mounting pressure as Buckbeak’s appeal looms and Cornelius Fudge arrives with the executioner. During Harry’s Divination test, Professor Trelawney delivers a startling true prophecy about Voldemort’s servant breaking free that night. The trio secretly visit Hagrid, discover Scabbers alive, and, retreating under the Invisibility Cloak, hear an axe fall at sunset.
Summary
In the sultry days after Gryffindor’s Quidditch victory, exams overtake Hogwarts. Anxiety peaks for Hermione, Percy, and the Weasleys. Hagrid alerts Harry that Buckbeak’s appeal is set for the sixth, with an executioner attending, implying a foregone verdict. Security remains tight, limiting visits to Hagrid.
Exam week unfolds: Transfiguration and Charms on Monday; Care of Magical Creatures with passive Flobberworms on Tuesday; Potions goes badly for Harry under Snape’s scrutiny; then midnight Astronomy and scorching Herbology. Lupin’s inventive Defence exam earns Harry full marks, though Hermione panics at a Boggart of McGonagall announcing failure.
Outside the castle, Harry meets Fudge, who has come both to oversee security and to witness the Hippogriff’s potential execution. Committee members arrive, including the executioner Macnair, deepening dread. Before Divination, Ron dismisses Trelawney as a fraud; during Harry’s test, he fakes a vision, but Trelawney suddenly delivers a harsh-voiced prophecy: Voldemort’s servant, bound twelve years, will break free before midnight and aid his master’s return.
Harry rushes to the common room to tell Ron and Hermione but finds Hagrid’s note: Buckbeak lost the appeal; execution at sunset. Lacking the Cloak, Hermione bravely fetches it from the secret passage. At dusk, under the Cloak, they slip to Hagrid’s hut. Hagrid, stunned and broken, confirms Dumbledore will be present. While helping with tea, Hermione finds Scabbers alive in a milk jug; Ron grabs the sickly, frantic rat.
As Dumbledore, Fudge, the Committee elder, and Macnair approach, Hagrid forces the trio to leave via the back garden. They pass Buckbeak tethered in the pumpkin patch and ascend toward the castle under the Cloak. Scabbers thrashes and squeals; behind them, voices rise, then fall. A swish and thud of an axe cut the air, and Hermione whispers that it’s done.
Who Appears
- Harry PotterTakes exams, faces Trelawney’s real prophecy, leads a secret visit to Hagrid, and hears the axe fall.
- Hermione GrangerOverworked but decisive; retrieves the Invisibility Cloak, finds Scabbers alive, and supports Hagrid.
- Ron WeasleyAnxious about Buckbeak; fakes Divination answers; recovers his rat Scabbers, who panics violently.
- Rubeus HagridDevastated by Buckbeak’s failed appeal; hosts the trio and prepares to face the execution.
- Professor Sybill TrelawneyDuring Harry’s exam, unexpectedly delivers a true prophecy about Voldemort’s servant breaking free.
- Cornelius FudgeArrives to check on Black and witness the Hippogriff execution as Ministry representative.
- Albus DumbledoreLeads officials to Hagrid’s; plans to stand with Hagrid during Buckbeak’s execution.
- MacnairThe Committee’s executioner, seen sharpening his axe; proceeds to Buckbeak’s execution.
- Professor Remus LupinSets an inventive Defence Against the Dark Arts practical; praises Harry’s performance.
- Severus SnapeSupervises Potions; marks Harry harshly when his Confusing Concoction fails.
- ScabbersRon’s long-missing rat; discovered alive, terrified, and struggling to escape.
- BuckbeakHippogriff tethered in Hagrid’s garden; loses appeal, with an apparent execution at sunset.
- Committee elderA very old Committee member present for the appeal and execution proceedings.