Harry Potter, #3
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
by J.K. Rowling
Contents
CHAPTER TWELVE
Overview
Harry begins Patronus lessons with Lupin, reliving his parents’ final moments but managing a faint Patronus. Lupin explains the Dementors’ Kiss and news that Black may face it. McGonagall returns Harry’s cleared Firebolt. Tension with Hermione eases, but Ron discovers Scabbers missing, with blood and ginger hairs implying Crookshanks’s involvement.
Summary
Harry and Ron remain angry at Hermione for reporting the anonymous Firebolt, while Oliver Wood presses Harry about Dementors and broom options. Lupin schedules Patronus lessons. Classes resume: Hagrid’s salamanders cheer the cold morning; Trelawney predicts Harry’s short life through palmistry.
In the first lesson, Lupin uses a Boggart to mimic a Dementor and teaches Expecto Patronum. Harry twice collapses, hearing his mother’s pleas and, for the first time, his father defying Voldemort. On a third attempt, Harry conjures a faint, silvery shield. Lupin halts practice, offers chocolate and Butterbeer, and reveals the Dementors’ Kiss; the Ministry has authorized it for Sirius Black.
Gryffindor intensifies Quidditch practices before Ravenclaw. Hermione’s workload grows mysteriously heavy, as she seems to attend overlapping classes. Harry struggles to strengthen his Patronus but no longer faints. McGonagall intercepts Harry to return the Firebolt, now cleared of jinxes.
Back in the common room, Harry and Ron move to reconcile with Hermione. Amid talk of studies and Arithmancy, Ron’s scream interrupts: Scabbers is missing. He brandishes bloodstained sheets and reveals long ginger hairs, accusing Crookshanks by implication and reigniting tensions.
Who Appears
- Harry PotterTrains the Patronus with Lupin, hears his parents’ last moments, regains the cleared Firebolt, and faces Scabbers’s disappearance.
- Professor Remus LupinTeaches Harry the Patronus, uses a Boggart-Dementor, provides chocolate and Butterbeer, and explains the Dementors’ Kiss.
- Ron WeasleyAngry at Hermione, supports Harry, then discovers Scabbers missing with blood and ginger cat hairs; blames Crookshanks.
- Hermione GrangerAvoided for reporting the Firebolt; overworked with an impossible schedule; partially reconciles before being confronted about Scabbers.
- Professor Minerva McGonagallOversees Firebolt inspection; returns it cleared and urges a Gryffindor win.
- Oliver WoodPressures Harry about Dementors and Quidditch; unsuccessfully lobbies for the Firebolt’s return earlier.
- Sir CadoganEccentric portrait knight; blocks Neville after he loses the week’s passwords.
- Neville LongbottomForgets the changing passwords, stranded outside the common room.
- Professor Sybill TrelawneyTeaches palmistry and ominously comments on Harry’s short life line.