The Harry Potter Reread was thinking about how horcruxes would probably make the most awkward of Christmas presents. “Here, I’m giving you this piece of my soul! Sweet, huh? I did have to do something really horrible to chip away at it like that, though. Hope you like the vase.” Here’s hoping that Voldemort actually did this.
We’re going to chat with old friends and witness our very first werewolf transformation! We’re closing in on the end with chapters 19 and 20 of The Prisoner of Azkaban—The Servant of Lord Voldemort and The Dementor’s Kiss.
Index to the reread can be located here! Other Harry Potter and Potter-related pieces can be found under their appropriate tag. And of course, since we know this is a reread, all posts might contain spoilers for the entire series. If you haven’t read all the Potter books, be warned.
Chapter 19—The Servant of Lord Voldemort
Summary
Snape is elated to have caught them all. He came into Lupin’s office earlier to give him the Wolfsbane Potion he forgot to take, and found the Map uncleared and open, with everyone’s names on it. The cloak was lying at the base of the Whomping Willow, so he used it to sneak in. He’s nothing but gloat now, thrilled to prove once and for all that Lupin was helping Sirius Black, and ready to hand them both over to the Dementors. Black wants to be sure that Peter is brought to justice either way, but Snape isn’t interested. He ties up Lupin and insists that they all get back onto school grounds.
Hermione wants to find out what the rest of Black’s story entails, but Snape is beyond reason at this point and shrieking at them to leave. All three kids disarm him at the same time, resulting in the Potions Master getting thrown into a wall and knocked unconscious. Harry asks for the rest of the tale. Sirius explains that when he got the newspaper off Cornelius Fudge during his visit to Azkaban, he saw the picture of Ron’s family (when they won the drawing and went to Egypt), and Scabbers was sitting there on Ron’s shoulder. It’s also pointed out that Scabbers is missing a toe; all they could send back to Pettigrew’s mother was a finger. Sirius claims that Peter cut it off before yelling to a crowded street that he’d betrayed Lily and James, then blowing the whole thing sky-high and heading down into the sewer with the other rats.
Harry realizes that Scabbers hasn’t been afraid and unhealthy since Crookshanks showed up, he’s been that way since the summer, when Sirius broke out of prison. It turns out that Crookshanks has been trying to help Sirius nab the rat for the better part of the year. The cat was the one who stole Neville’s password sheet to give to Black. Lupin finally asks for the rat, ensuring Ron that if they’re wrong, the spell they use to get him to change back won’t hurt a bit. Sure enough, the rat is Pettigrew. He immediately starts screaming about Black trying to murder him, claiming all the while that he’s innocent. Sirius explains that he did not betray Harry’s parents to Voldemort because he was never their Secret-Keeper. At the last minute, he suggested they switch to Peter, a less-likely suspect—but it turned out that Peter had been spying in their midst for over a year at that point.
Sirius escaped Azkaban because his ability to find Peter and enact revenge became an obsession, an unhappy one that the Dementors couldn’t take from him. He keep himself in dog form most of the time so that the Dementors wouldn’t pray on him; they don’t have eyes, so when they sensed his simpler thoughts, they assumed he was going mad like most of the inmates. Sirius eventually slipped past the guards and swam back to the mainland, and he’s been living in the forest most of the year. (Except when he slipped onto the grounds to peek at Harry.) Harry finally believes Black and so does everyone else. Lupin and Black prepare to murder Pettigrew, but Harry gets in the way. He wants Peter to go to prison, and doesn’t think that his father would approve of his best friends becoming killers in an act of revenge. They obey his wishes, chaining Peter up (and attaching him to Ron and Remus), and casting a spell to get Snape mobilized and off the floor.
Commentary
Snape’s vitriol here is basically a buildup of what’s he’s wanted to level at Remus all year. Of course, he was hoping to get his hands on Sirius as well, considering that he’s got an even sharper axe to grind there. It’s easy to call up Remus’s comments about the Dementor’s Kiss in comparison here; whereas Lupin doesn’t really believe that anyone deserves a fate like that, Snape is completely gleeful at the idea of getting to watch Sirius get his soul sucked out. The way that Snape holds onto things is remarkable, really. Sirius’s continued dislike makes sense—being in Azkaban isn’t going to offer a lot of time for reflection and the ability to get over past misdeeds. Remus has had the time, and clearly isn’t interested in keeping up the fight as an adult. But Snape has just been stewing. That’s what he does.
All three kids going to disarm Snape at the same time might be one of my favorite trio moments ever. There’s no communication or cue for what needs to happen, they just have this perfect synced second where they are of the same mind and know what needs doing.
Hermione continuing to try and reason it out with Lupin is the best, and really just drives home how similar they are in the roles they play generationally:
“Professor Lupin?” said Hermione timidly. “Can — can I say something?”
“Certainly, Hermione,” said Lupin courteously.
A word on the Fidelius Charm: we only ever see it used to keep locations a secret in the series, but it’s implied that the charm can be enacted to protect any secret at all. And if that’s the case, its usage is limitless and that is… unsettling. ANY secret. Like, your special family recipes. A lie on an application form. The fact that you’re gay. A robbery you committed. Your favorite musician being Ke$ha. Any of these things would be permissible, as far as we know. (Can you be your own Secret-Keeper? Because that’s also incredibly significant.) It’s an old piece of magic, but not indicated as a particularly difficult one. Something that pretty much any adult can perform.
Can you erase those secrets from people’s memories by performing it? It’s a definite possibility, but never addressed roundly—we don’t know if performing the Fidelius Charm simply prevents everyone but the Secret Keeper from telling your secret, or if it actively erases information from others until the charm is broken. The former seems more likely, but that’s also pretty messed up. Someone could perform the Fidelius Charm involving a piece of information you know, and you wouldn’t be aware of it until you suddenly found yourself incapable of talking about it. You want to tell someone at a bar that your sister accidentally set fire to your house when you were little, and suddenly you cannot get the words out. Secret kept.
The question of the Fidelius Charm is such a complicated one in this specific instance. We know that Dumbledore offered to be the Potter’s Secret Keeper, and it’s totally bonkers that they didn’t chose him; I suspect that James—being the sort who puts a lot by trust and honor between friends—probably wanted it to be Sirius because outside of Lily and Harry, Sirius is the most important person in his life. It’s already been said that they were practically brothers. At this point, James had lost his parents. Outside of Lily and Harry, Sirius was his family, all of it. But once Sirius says, nah, let’s make it Peter? GO BACK TO DUMBLEDORE. BETTER OPTION.
But the real question comes down to why, where Sirius is concerned. And it could be a lot of things; he might have truly believed that Peter was the last person anyone would suspect; he might have been frightened that if he were captured and tortured, he would give the Potters away no matter how tough he was; he might have felt unworthy of James’s trust, even knowing that he had it. No matter what, it coveys a sense of worthlessness on Sirius’s part. It comes down to believing that he’s simply not good enough to protect the people he considers family. And then they die anyway. It’s no wonder he holds himself responsible and has been obsessing over Peter.
We get a really excellent dichotomy when Peter finally appears. It’s starts with Remus:
“Well, hello, Peter,” said Lupin pleasantly, as though rats frequently erupted into old school friends around him. “Long time, no see.”
If I were Peter, I’d probably be more unseated by Remus’s calm demeanor than Sirius’s raging. His friends are both angry, both betrayed, but Remus’s fury is cold. He is feeling all of those things that Sirius is feeling, but he’s keeping it all collected and under wraps. That’s scarier.
And you know Remus is angry because he’s not even bothering to consider a different plan of action; Sirius is there to kill him, Remus intends to help. The fact that it takes the 13-year-old kid to say “hey guys, maybe not because that actually sort of messes this up for everyone involved and lets this guy off the hook real easy” is whoa. This is the sort of bond these guys had growing up, this was how important it was to be true to that bond. They are for each other or nothing at all. It’s not necessarily the most healthy way of handling relationships, but it still hurts.
With that said… what can we infer about Peter? Sirius is quick to go for the throat, talking about how little Pettigrew preferred to surround himself with people who were smarter and more talented to protect him. And that does seem to be the case, but it does make you wonder the specific point at which Peter chose to become a spy for Voldemort—how did that go down, exactly? Did he get cornered by a Death Eater in an alley? Did he stumble into a Dark Lord meeting after getting some directions horribly wrong? This is stuff we’re missing that I really want to know about. Because how easily Peter caved to Voldemort tells us something about him.
What we do know is that no one suspected Peter of being the spy, likely because they assumed he’d be too frightened to try. But the group was already falling apart at this point; Sirius assumed Remus was spying, Remus assumed it was him. The idea that it might have been Lupin likely bloomed from his status as a werewolf, since wizards view them as dark creatures. Remus likely suspected Black due to his family ties to Death Eaters. If it was this easy to suspect ones closest friends, we get a clear measure of just how bad things were at this point in the war. Remus and Sirius are willing to forgive each other retroactively with little care—they know that they never would have thought the worst of each other if it hadn’t gotten so bad.
With Harry having the better plan (thank goodness), they all move to march out and deliver Peter. It’s a mark of how keyed up everyone is that they’ve forgotten perhaps the most important factor of the evening….
Chapter 20—The Dementor’s Kiss
Summary
As they’re all walking down the passageway, Sirius has a short chat with Harry. He points out that as the kid’s godfather, he’s technically Harry’s elected guardian in the event of his parent’s passing. He tells Harry that if he’d ever like a different home, he is prepared to take on that responsibility. Harry is overjoyed, and Sirius is equally pleased at the favorable reaction.
When they reach the grounds, the moonlight suddenly hits their party. Hermione remembers that Lupin hasn’t taken his Wolfsbane Potion this evening—he’s not safe. His transformation begins, and Sirius urges the kids away, changing into dog form to head the werewolf off. Remus takes off toward the forest, luckily, but Peter takes up Lupin’s wand and transforms into a rat. He’s gone in an instant. Ron is knocked off his axis again, out of sorts. Harry and Hermione are going to try to get him to the castle, but Harry hears Sirius whining in dog form. He and Hermione run after him, finding him back in human form as hundreds of Dementors close in on him.
Harry tries to create a patronus and encourages Hermione to do the same, all to no avail. Right before it seems as though they’re all about to succumb, there is a bright light and the shape of an animal that seems to chase all the Dementors away. Before Harry passes out, he sees a figure near the animal who he recognizes…
Commentary
The instant Sirius offers the possibility of a new home to Harry, their relationship is cemented. I actually adore this conversation because they’re both reaching out in desire of the exact same thing—a real family. Sirius has lost most of the people who mattered in his life. Harry is all that’s left of those people. And after dealing with abuse from his only other relatives, I can’t blame Harry for responding with such joy at the prospect of living with someone who was actually appointed by the parents he never knew for exactly that job.
It’s also not surprising to me that Harry would feel an immediate affinity for Sirius (once he knows the guy isn’t, like, evil and stuff). While Harry is certainly a more sensitive kid than his pops, he does have a lot of James in him. James and Sirius had an almost… spiritual bond, for lack of a better term. Certain types of people just click. It seems awfully likely that Harry would key into that. Add to that, Sirius is a person who has the ability (and probably the desire) to tell Harry about his family. Add to that a lack of bars on windows and evil Aunts with bulldogs and never having to pretend to attend a correctional facility for school, and I’m having a hard time thinking of a reason not to hug Sirius Black and never let go. You know, apart from the fact that he probably hasn’t bathed in a dozen years.
But things can never go so smoothly… or at least, they can’t now that it’s book three and we’re done with pat endings. Remus runs off and Peter gets away and Ron is delirious because he’s really had enough for tonight, okay? And while I understand that Harry and Hermione want to make sure nothing is happening to Sirius, I do have to point out that Remus is still a werewolf and could still come out of the woods, and they’ve essentially left Ron and Snape to get mauled by him. Priorities, everyone. Friends don’t let friends get eaten by their teachers.
You know this book is different when we get to the Dementor attack and it comes clear that there are mysterious elements being added to the plot. Harry doesn’t know how the patronus pops up, and he recognizes the figure, or thinks he does, but soon he’s confused and then unconscious, and obviously we have to know what’s up with that. Rowling has solved the big emotional mysteries here—now it’s time for the practical ones.
Emmet Asher-Perrin wonders what happened when Snape woke up with a giant scrape across his forehead. You can bug her on Twitter and read more of her work here and elsewhere.
Excellent post Emily!
I must say reading this series is always one of the highlights of my week. Can’t wait for next week’s timeturner episode. One of my favorite sequences in the series.
Thanks, Emily.
Argh! No one thinks about the fact that Lupin is going to turn into a werewolf. Even after Snape drops that remark about delivering the wolfsbane potion, it’s so easy to overlook that one CRUCIAL detail in our fury at Snape and our shock at the truth about Wormtail. But it’s SO important…
As far as the Fidelius charm goes, I never really thought about it. I always kinda assumed it was just for hiding places, like it was used on the Potters’ home, but I guess it could have more applications. I’m not sure if it could be used on memories, though…
Things really might have turned out better if Harry had just let them go ahead and kill Pettigrew. They could have brought his body back to the castle and summoned the Ministry to reveal the truth. Though I guess in the long run Pettigrew’s debt to Harry proved important.
This scene is probably Snape’s nadir as a character. While to the readers, he seems to be most evil at the end of HBP when he kills Dumbledore, we find out later that that was all part of the plan. But Snape’s total fury in this scene, where he is driven into a feverish drooling rage at the thought of killing his old rival(s) (and getting revenge on the man he blames for betraying the love of his life) is pretty scary. I think this point in the books is actually where Snape really is at his most dangerous and most opposed to the welfare of Harry et al.
“Snape has just been stewing. That’s what he does.”
…I see what you did there.
Peter’s backstory really would be interesting to hear. Plus I am always curious if he really stayed a rat all the time while living with the Weasleys. Did he ever sneak out for a night on the town?
Like #2, I got the impression that the fidelius charm was used on places. Isnt this the same charm used to hide the Black house in OotP? If it can be used more globally like Emily suggests…. wow!
I’m pretty sure that the Fidelis charm protects the place itself. Even if you know the location of the person you are looking for, you can’t actually enter unless the secret-keeper tells you about it (or someone the secret-keeper told). After all, the Potters were hiding in their own house, not an unlikely place for Voldemort to look. And in DH everyone knows Harry is being moved to The Burrow, but since they don’t officially know (via the secret-keeper) they have to get to him while he’s on the move. Plus, the Ministry would know all about Grimmauld Place from Sirius’ will, and they could easily have guessed he would be there, but they couldn’t get in until Hermione accidentally brought Yaxley along.
When Peter and his relationship to the others were revealed, I immediately wondered if Rowling was going to parallel that with the current generation. For all that Neville would have seemed the likely candidate for that, my suspicion went straight to Colin Creevey. His overwhelming hero worship of Harry in CoS seemed to position him perfectly for the role. Maybe it was a plot thread she considered and discarded.
I’m with MDNY @2 that this is Snape’s worst moment. He thinks he’s finally going to get revenge for what (he thinks) the Marauders tried to do to him and it completely blinds him. Of course, he will quickly redeem himself protecting the kids from Lupin, but right now he is so easy to hate.
Maybe it’s just me, but I’m having a hard time remembering why it was useful to NOT kill Pettigrew right then and there. I recall that he kills himself with his magic hand and all, but how did that really help anything? In my opinion, Sirius deserved to get his revenge and would have been right to take it. Though I suppose maybe then no one would have believed he was innocent? Not that Fudge does anyway, but at least Dumbledore knows what’s what. But he knows that without seeing the proof, so nope they should’ve killed him.
@7, in retrospect, killing Peter now seems like the smarter choice, but only because of the full moon. They were expecting to march Peter straight to Dumbledore’s office and get Sirius exhonerated.
I wonder how and when Sirius learned that Peter had been a spy for over a year?
@7 Pettigrew ends up owing Harry his life, which as Dumbledore points out is very important. In the last book, it helps Harry and Ron jump him in the Malfoys’ basement, because he hesitates just for a second, which results in his silver hand strangling him. In the long run, maybe it didn’t matter, since Harry’s escape plan there didn’t succeed so well and it was really Dobby who engineered their escape, but it still stands that Pettigrew owing Harry his life was an important weakness in Voldemort’s position that he overlooked.
@9 When the Potters were killed. That’s when he realized that Pettigrew had been the mole, which is why he went to hunt him down.
Mark me with those thinking the Fidelis charm only works on places, and that it must be extremely difficult to do. I mean, we’ve only seen Dumbledore cast the thing, right? For the Potters, and for 12 Grimald place…
otherwise, why not just cast it on the people needing protecting and let them go where they want. Or on assassins and send them in to kill whomever. Or on all the gold in Gringotts or something…
really, seems to be difficult, and seems to be limited to places. Probably because it does erase memories, and prevents people, even wizards, from seeing what’s in plain sight.
@9, The Prophecy was made in July 1980 and Snape immediately reported it to Voldemort. Yet it seems that the Fidelis charm was only cast just before Harry’s murder on Oct 31, 1981. That implies a year or more of doubt, fear, relocation, chases, etc. Presumably during that time, Remus and Sirius each became convinced that someone in their circle was giving information about the Potters to Voldemort. Voldemort would only have needed to spy on the Potters once the Prophecy was made, so it’s a logical conclusion that the spy (who turned out to be Peter) was subborned more or less a year or so before the attack on the Potter house.
See guys, I’d be with you on thinking the Fidelius Charm is only for places, but that is definitely not what Flitwick says about the charm:
“An immensely complex spell involving the magical concealment of a secret inside a single, living soul. The information is hidden inside the chosen person, or Secret Keeper, and is henceforth impossible to find — unless, of course, the Secret Keeper chooses to divulge it.”
That is not specific to the idea of the secret being a place. That appears to pertain to any kind of secret. The only thing I can figure is that the charm is mostly commonly used for locations.
@Domino – D’aww, thank you! I am also super keen to get to next week’s installment!
@Drew McCaffrey – Puns are a wizarding invention. Probably. ;-)
@Rich B – I so desperately want to find out about Peter’s wild nights now. Peter looking on Muggle Christmas dinners. Peter cow tipping. Peter getting wasted in pubs and telling everyone he’s a wizard, no, really, you don’t even know.
@10: Plus they got Peter’s wand, which they used when they went to save Hermione. Still, Peter was essential to Voldemort’s resurrection in GoF, so overall letting him get away must be seen as a negative.
@6. DemetriosX
Technically Snape protecting the kids from Lupin doesn’t happen in the books – the scene was added in the movies. In the books he’s out cold until way after the action happens. He wakes up after time-travel Harry has fought off the dementors, and then he proceeds to cart everyone back up to the castle.
Not be pedantic. It’s actually a bit of a pet peeve of mine – the movies went to great lengths to make Snape more heroic and sympathetic then he was portrayed in the books. Stuff like him valiantly jumping in between the trio and a werewolf just didn’t happen in the books.
Thanks, Emily
1. About the Fidelius Charm: In my opinion, one of the very few big mistakes JKR made, was making Bill his own secret keeper in book 7. Because one automatically has to ask, why James or Lily didn’t become their own secret keeper as well.
2. On the plus side, knowing Snape’s backstory, adds another layer to these chapters and makes them even better. And they were already excellent anyway.
3. IMO, the generation parallels were always superficial. (A Potter, his best friend, the nerdy friend and a hanger on.) First of all, Neville never was the fourth wheel like Wormtail was. The Marauders were four close friends in school, while the Trio were three close friends in the earlier books. There simply wasn’t a fourth character, who was as close to HRH as Wormtail was to his friends.
Also, the more we learn about the Marauders, the less they seem like Harry and his friends. Ron, while hot-headed, never came close to the completely reckless, irresponsible and sometimes really nasty behaviour Sirius showed (especially by almost killing Snape). Hermione actually has a backbone, which Lupin, as much as I like him, is often missing (even as a grown-up). And Dumbledore even said to Snape in book 7, that Harry is nothing like James. James was a pampered pureblood. Harry, who was abused as a child, is much more compassionate.
@6: I can see the parallel between Colin and Wormtail. Especially because it is obvious in book 2, that Colin worships Harry as a celebrity instead of liking him as a person. But nonetheless, he, too (and even more so than Neville), simply wasn’t close enough to the Trio. In fact, he was that distant, that a betrayal possibly wouldn’t have any impact for the reader.
Who is the Golden Trio “Wormtail”? Its obvious, it is Ron. However, Rowling is showing that history doesn’t need to repeat itself, because while in the Maurader generation Wormtail turns tail, runs, betrays, and hides, when Ron’s lowest point comes in DH, Ron gets over it and comes back. Where Pettigrew failed, Ron succeeds and I like that message. You can be the overlooked one, you can be the tagalong, you can be the outsider within your own group (all of which apply to Ron, whose job in most of the books is to be insecure) but when it comes time to face your fears and terrors, overcome them.
First of all, good commentary. Second, I don’t think the Fidelius Charm is that common, as Flitwick describes it as “An immensely complex spell”, so it does not sound like every other wizard and his sister are going to be using it. As to the logical paradox of what JK meant by a secret, well, this one of the many instances where it just does not behoove one to delve to deeply into the world building of H.P., just nod and let it pass.
Also, it seem the first Order of the Phoenix knew for some time that they had a mole, and while Black may have suspected Lupin (it might have been an over abundance of caution that prompted him to keep Lupin out of the loop rather than a long held suspision on Black’s part about Lupin), there is no evidence that Lupin suspected Black until after the events of the night Harry getting his scar, and Black did look pretty guilty.
The Burrow wasn’t under the Fidelus charm when Harry was moved, just protective shields.
And then in was Muriel’s place and Bill’s that got the Charm, and that was only after they escaped Malfoy Manor, which is why Ron is able to tell Dobby where to take them.
I remember getting so much joy when Sirius offered Harry a home. Too young at the time to realise it would never happen.
Werewolf-Lupin’s appearance (though objectively cool) was one of the few things I disliked about the PoA movie. The books clearly indicate that werewolves and true wolves look very similar.
I always facepalm when Pettigrew escapes. If he’d died there and then, would someone else have found and resurrected Voldemort? (Voldy’s return was obviously required by The Plot, but still)
Fudge happened to visit Sirius on the day when the Weasleys were photographed in the paper for happening to win the lottery. That is officially a Contrived Coincidence, one of many listed for Harry Potter on TV Tropes.
To be a bit picky, this is actually one place where the movie gets it right. (I had to double-check in the book because as someone pointed out above, there are definitely differences.) Peter gets Lupin’s wand, but Harry Disarms him, then Peter transforms. Given our discussion last week about whether or not Animagi need wands to transform, that’s a crucial difference.
I mean, we’ve only seen Dumbledore cast the thing, right? For the Potters, and for 12 Grimald place…
Dumbledore can’t have been the one who cast it for the Potters, or he would have known who was the Secret Keeper.
And now I have this visual of a prayer circle of dementors surrounding Sirius.
So Dumbledore couldn’t have cast the charm for the Potters but he might have taught them how to cast it. On the other hand, James at least had already proven he was capable of highly complex magic…
It’s got to be the sort of spell people only attempt when there’s a great need, otherwise everyone would have their property protected by such means as just part of general security. Great way to keep the ministry out of your business, too, if they can’t turn up unannounced.
As for why they didn’t choose Dumbledore to be their secret keeper, perhaps they were afraid that he was more likely to be targeted by Voldemort and that their safety would then be compromised if he died (and therefore more than one person was capable of divulging their whereabouts)? Dumbledore wouldn’t stay out of the firing line just to protect the Potters’ secret because he would have other important things he felt he needed to be doing, whereas one of the Potters’ friends could more easily make the Potters safety their number one priority.
… alright, so it’s possible that Dumbledore would feel that protecting the Potters was that important, given the prophecy about Harry, but I don’t think the Potters know about the prophecy, do they?
This scene reminds me of something. Back in SS, Hagrid stated that the only people that joined Voldemort in the original war had been in Slytherin, which is a bald-faced lie; at the time he said that, he believed that Sirius (who had been in Gryffindor) was the traitor. Here it’s revealed that, rather than Sirius, it was Peter (who was also in Gryffindor). His statement runs counter to both the truth and his belief.
The constant anti-Slytherin propaganda is probably my biggest complaint with the series.
@17, 18, 19 – I stand by the generation parallels because a parallel doesn’t mean an exact correlation. In fact, it works in the oppsite manner, to show how Harry’s generation was just different enough to create the better outcome (Hermione having a backbone, Ron being less vindictive than Sirius by virtue of having a loving family, Harry being more compassionate than James, as was mentioned above). This is exactly where the Neville/Peter parallel works out; Neville never goes down the path Peter does because he doesn’t attach himself to the trio. He doesn’t rely on their protection or their friendship to learn his own self-worth.
Colin Creevey may have been in consideration for this role, but I doubt it. He really does seem a plot device in Book 2 to prevent Harry from going down the Gilderoy Lockhart Road of Fame.
@mgp – That’s a very interesting point – my only thought there is that to Hagrid, he probably is thinking of Sirius retroactively as a Slytherin because he thought he betrayed the Potters and Sirius’s whole family came through that house. Which is still not cool, but probably not simple forgetfulness or a lie from Hagrid’s own perspective. (Even if it is untrue.)
@26 Like.
@27
Dumbledore not being the secret keeper because he wouldn’t stay out of the firing line might also hint at why Sirius suggested Peter. Sirius would, of course, want to be in the thick of things, while Peter would be very likely to try and stay safely out of the way.
@24 I think Peter needed the wand to disspell what was cast on him by Sirius and Lupin (I don’t remember who cast the spell). I think that the spell was not allowing him to transform into his animagi form. So an animagi does not need a wand to transform, but Peter used to wand to get rid of the magic stopping him from transforming.
I can’t help but thinking that Harry saving Peter’s life is a (very) mild homage to Tolkien and Gollum in Lord of the Rings. Peter was dead by the time Harry took out Voldemort so Gollum’s big finish was not there, but still…
“And you know Remus is angry because he’s not even bothering to consider a different plan of action; Sirius is there to kill him, Remus intends to help. The fact that it takes the 13-year-old kid to say “hey guys, maybe not because that actually sort of messes this up for everyone involved and lets this guy off the hook real easy” is whoa.”
I’m not usually a “kill the villain” type of person, but it’s worth noting that if Sirius and Remus HAD killed Pettigrew, then Voldemort wouldn’t have had the chance to return. The search for horcruxes could have taken place over years while Voldemort remained powerless in Albania.
That’s also why I feel like Dumbledore’s comment to Harry in the later chapter, that at some point in future he will have reason to be glad he kept Pettigrew alive, has always felt like a load of bull. If Pettigrew had been dead, there’s a strong chance Harry wouldn’t have been dealing with Voldemort at all, or at least not for a while longer. Pettigrew’s the culprit for every single person killed by the revived Voldemort.
Another comment – I like that, upon first reading Prisoner of Azkaban, it seems like Snape is massively overreacting to schoolboy enmities when he wants to give both Sirius and Remus to the Dementors, and (two chapters later) when he completely loses it after hearing Sirius has escaped. It’s only after Deathly Hallow that you realize he’s reacting so severely because he believes Sirius is responsible for Lily’s death (and that he’s probably focusing his blame so hard on Sirius in order to evade or mitigate the understanding that he, Snape, is responsible for Lily’s death).
It doesn’t make his reaction right, but it adds a lot to them and makes his part in the whole scene more tragic and less petty.
^ Since Snape knew about Pettigrew at this point, what would have he done to him had he not been knocked unconscious? I can totally picture him killing Scabber (particularly easy after that one potion class in fact), but would he kill Wormtail in human form in cold blood? He’s certainly not going to let him go (not after what he did to Lily), and bringing him to justice would innocent Sirius, so that’s also impossible. Would he really have killed him?
@36: Snape didn’t know about Wormtail at this point. In the previous chapter it is mentioned, that the door to the hut opens by itself. This is Snape under the Invisibility Cloak entering the building, and from this time until the others stun Snape, Wormtail is not mentioned by anyone.
I agree that we learn Snape has more baggage than you realize in this scen (and there’s already a lot of baggage) – but also that this is a prime example of his being unable to really let go.
I have definitely wondered lately about Pettigrew’s upbringing and personality. Was he always oppotunistic? How did the Marauders treat him? (If I recall from the Penseive scene, not very well). I wonder if in some ways they contributed to his own jealousy and sense of self worth. I don’t say this to excuse his actions…but I think it’s another difference between Harry’s generation and his parents’ – in general they always treated Neville with respect and tried to help him see his own worth. Even Colin Harry at least tried not to be outright rude to.
@37, It’s mentioned that Snape knew where they all were at the Shack because he saw the map, so Pettigrew was there to be seen on the map.
@38, Exactly. With Pettigrew, the Marauders reaped what they sewed, much like Sirius did with Kreacher
@39: Snape only mentions seeing Remus on the Map, running down the passage-way and disappearing off the edge. He doesn’t say whether he was there in time to see Sirius dragging Ron and Scabbers off, nor even if he saw Harry and Hermione hurrying after them.
Notably, he also fails to mention seeing another copy of Harry and Hermione, who are watching things unfold from somewhere reasonably close.
Apropos the Fidelius Charm, I never quite understood how making one particular function of a house could make that house invisible. I mean sure, “the HQ of the OOTP” might now be a secret, but “the family seat of the Most Noble House of Black” isn’t, and there’s plenty of cousins who ought to recall visiting, not least Narcissa and Bellatrix. I always assumed that the house must have been crawling with anti-Muggle enchantments which was actually why it was hidden.
We do know, however, that JKR changed her mind about how the Fidelius works some time between here and Dumbledore’s eventual demise, because the concept of everyone who knows the Secret becoming a Secret-Keeper just arrived out of the blue.
I assume this also relates to how the Potters’ house was suddenly accessible once they died, although the Fidelius was still presumably live. We don’t know precisely how it was worded, do we?
(Several days late, but) @35–That’s probably my favorite part of that chapter, now that we know the whole story. Lupin even asks Snape “Is a schoolboy grudge worth putting an innocent man in Azkaban?”, a line that made my jaw drop the first time I reread #3 after all the books were out. I love how Rowling slips in tiny clues that seem like perfectly normal things to say in context. And as far as I can remember, nobody even picked up on that one. With all the speculation after #6 about Snape’s true character, I can’t recall anyone trotting out that line and going “You know, a schoolboy grudge ISN’T enough to put an innocent man in Azkaban. Is something else going on here?”
Like several commenters on the chapter 17/18 thread, I felt that Harry’s decision to hear out Lupin & Black was a bit flawed in execution, seemingly driven more by narrative requirements than in-story logic. Invoking Harry’s ‘inherent good nature’ only explains why he couldn’t bring himself to injure Black or press his later advantage over Lupin. Harry has some serious trust issues (that persist all the way through to the end of DH), and at this point in the story neither he, Ron, or Hermione has any good reason to listen to either an escaped murder convict or a man who’s been deceptive about his very dangerous ‘condition’. Harry changes his mind for a bad (or at least logically irrelevant) reason: his loathing of Snape. Harry figures that Snape’s animosity towards Lupin & Black suggests some interesting backstory, and Harry finally decides to hear it largely as a reaction to Snape’s furious refusal to do so. It’s the right choice for the wrong reason, which is totally characteristic of Harry at this point in the story (and through the next two books).
Unfortunately, the placement of the break between chapters 18 and 19 seems to ‘bury the lede’ a bit here. Snape’s sudden appearance does seem like a natural breakpoint in some ways, but it draws attention to him at a moment where his presence is really just a foil to enable Harry’s change of heart and thus some plot-critical exposition. If the chapter break were moved instead to the moment just after they knock Snape out, or just before/after Pettigrew’s return to human form, I think the influence of Snape’s attitude on Harry’s thought processes would be more obvious. (YMMV, it depends somewhat upon how significant you find the impact of chapter breaks on narrative flow and character focus.)
I’m rereading PoA, and it just occurred to me the cruelty with which Peter Pettigrew treated his mother after faking his death and framing Sirius and effectively living as Scabbers for years; it’s mentioned in an earlier chapter that all she receives his his finger in a box (eew) and the posthumous Order of Merlin. In hiding as Scabbers he probably didn’t contact her . . . am I reading that right? One wants to know more about the Pettigrew family.
@43 – I have thought about that myself, but also perhaps it’s some kind of small mercy that she died before realizing her son was actually a traitor. As horrible as living through the loss of a child would be, I think I would find it even harder to deal with the knowledge that my son was responsible for some horrible atrocity.
@43, @44: Peter Pettigrew as a Gryffindor seems ever more inexplicable the more you examine it, no? If the Sorting Hat made its choice based on hopes from his family’s history at Hogwarts, that just adds an extra layer of betrayal and tragedy. (And no, Hat, Pettigrew’s moment of sacrifice at Malfoy Manor 26 years later does not vindicate your choice…)
@46 – The only way Pettigrew in Gryffindor makes sense is that he met James and Sirius on the train, saw how cool and awesome they were, saw Sirius go to Gryffindor and heard James talk earlier about how his family has a Gryffindor legacy, and asked the Hat to please put him in Gryffindor. The Sorting Hat is known to take your choice into account…well, that’s how I picture it anyways. It’s the only way that makes sense.
@44 Lisamarie, Definitely! When a grandson of some friends of ours was murdered several years ago, we counted it a mercy that his grandfather had already passed and not only did not experience the grief but did not know about the circumstances or the identity of the killer.
@45 Ian and @46 Austin, yes, it’s interesting about the Sorting Hat’s choice–what it does or doesn’t see, what it takes into account or doesn’t take into account . . . It would be interesting to know what if any sort of exchange went on between the Sorting Hat and Sirius when he was being Sorted.
I always figured it would have been pretty much the same as Harry: “Not Slytherin, not Slytherin!“
@37, 39, 40
Coming in late, but I think the borders of the map need to be taken into account. The trio, along with Sirius and Wormtail, are already in the tunnel before Remus leaves his office. Snape sees the map, and sees Remus in the tunnel. It’s reasonable to guess that, at this point, the others are far enough ahead that they no longer appear on the map (we know it doesn’t show where the tunnels come out, only that they are there). Also, with the second copies of Harry and Hermione, note that they were in Hagrid’s hut at this point, and from what we’ve seen, it seems that the hut is also not on the map (or Remus would have seen before that Wormtail was hiding there).
Here’s a bit of Fridge Brilliance with Snape’s usage of the Marauder’s Map: Snape could just as easily be lying when he said the map hadn’t been wiped. Earlier when he was telling Harry that his head is (or was) not allowed in Hogsmeade, Snape could have used Occlumency, which would have given Snape easy access to the map’s key PWs. He couldn’t just prove as much, of course; otherwise, Snape would have to use them on the Marauder’s Map to maintain his cover, and that would get Harry expelled. And when he finds the map in Lupin’s office? Snape would use the PW, with nobody around to catch him doing it. (Imagine him saying “I solemnly swear that I am up to no good.”) Lupin may in fact have remembered to wipe the map thinking the PW was enough security, and then forgot that he would have in the chaos of the night’s events.
Granted, we’ll never know for sure; if Snape did, he would have taken his knowing as much to the grave.
I’m now sad we never had Alan Rickman say that line. That would have been so cool.