Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (novel)/Fridge

Fridge Brilliance

Remember Snape's line just as he entered the Shrieking Shack and was staring down Lupin and Sirius, of how he dreamed about getting revenge on the both of them? Well, it didn't hit this troper until Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, during Harry's one Occlumency lesson with Snape that accidentally revealed Snape's most traumatic memory and just how much hatred and revenge he wanted to foster to these two.
- Actually, the real reason that he wanted revenge against Sirius was because he believed that Sirius betrayed the Potter's to Voldemort and lead to Lily's death. And while he was able to pretend in front of Voldemort, because he knew attacking him would be futile, he had no reason to hold back when he thought Sirius was the traitor. It's the same reason that he continually harassed Pettigrew at the start of the 6th book.
  - I don't believe that Snape had no knowledge about Pettigrew being the spy- he was a death eater and Voldy probably didn't care for peter's spying enough to keep it a secret from the rest of the death eaters, especially since Snape was the one who told V about the prophecy, so he must have been in his good graces even then. The whole thing about Snape's character is that he isn't a noble, misunderstood hero- he is still vindictive towards his former bullies, hateful towards Gryffindors in general etc. His only saving grace is his love for Lilly, and from that stem his good characteristics, for instance- he never used the word mudblood apart from that one time he shouted it at Lilly.
    - Pettigrew was never a spy, per-se - he was worse, a turncoat. He didn't work for Voldemort until the day that he was named as the Potters secret keeper, and by then it would be too late for Snape to ever find out. Its impossible any other way - Snape came to Dumbledore and pledged his life in return for Lily's service before James and Lily went into hiding, and thus before they named Pettigrew secret keeper, so if he had known Pettigrew was a spy, he would have told Dumbledore right away that Pettigrew was a spy working for Voldemort, and they would have just, I dunno, shot him or something. Pettigrew was always a coward, hiding behind those with more power who would tolerate him. and he now had a way to make sure Voldemort, the most powerful wizard alive, tolerated him. So basically, Pettigrew's defection and betrayal would be known buy only four Witches and/or wizards - Pettigrew, Sirius (by virtue of figuring int out), Voldemort, and the Death Eater Pettigrew contacted to get the information to Voldemort. Who was probably in Azkaban.
I have just figured out that people's predictions aren't as farfetched as they seem. At every opportunity, starting with Harry's first divination class in Prisoner of Azkaban, Trelawny has insisted that Harry will die a premature death (with one exception in Order of the Phoenix). Guess what? He does. She also references the Grim, which is supposed to herald death, and he even sees it a few times, but it turns out to be Sirius -- whom Harry sees before he dies. Also, in Half Blood Prince, Dumbledore says that Slughorn has a knack for predicting who will go on to become famous. Slughorn then invites Ginny to his elite club after witnessing her exceptional Bat-Bogey hex. Fast forward to the epilogue, Ginny's become the senior Quidditch correspondent for the Daily Prophet after a successful career with the Holyhead Harpies team, and is the wife of the most famous wizard of all time: Harry Potter. Not only that, but Harry and Ron's predictions for each other also come true: Ron predicts Harry will have a 'windfall of unexpected gold', and the next year, Harry wins a thousand Galleons in the Triwizard Cup. Harry predicts that Ron will face 'trials and suffering' but also have 'great happiness.' Ron suffers as much as anyone in the series (apart from Harry himself, perhaps), but in the end lives happily ever after with his hot nerd love, Hermione.
"Another Troper mentioned this on another page." Well, fine, but I'll mention it here and Fridge it correctly at the same time. In Prisoner of Azkaban, when Snape confronts Sirius, he says: "Give me a reason. Give me a reason to do it and I swear I will." Pretty harsh, but remember, this is the guy that almost got Snape eaten by a werewolf. Then in Goblet of Fire and Order of The Phoenix, they're a bit more civil to each other, but still obviously carrying grudges. Fast forward to Deathly Hallows, and Harry's magical mystery tour through Snape's memories shows him that Snape was in love with Lily. And the realization hits with a big KA-BOOM. Like the entire rest of the magical world, Snape had thought that Sirius betrayed the Potters and was responsible for Lily's death, and only found out the truth after Voldemort's return (when he went to Voldemort two hours after the Triwizard final and would have seen Pettigrew there). This instantly did two things: put a whole new spin on that entire confrontation, and made you realize how far in advance JKR had planned out the whole thing.
- Also, Snape was in the Shrieking Shack while Sirius and Lupin were explaining the whole thing. I was re-reading it, and I heard the creak and thought "Oh my gosh, that's Snape!" He was late to the party, however, and only heard about his childhood days at Hogwarts: nothing about the Secret Keeper. He still thought Black was the one who betrayed the Potters and that he was deluding Harry, Hermione, and Ron.
I thought at first that Voldemort's line "Stand aside, you foolish girl" and offering to spare Lily's life was unimportant. Then Deathly Hallows rolls around, and Snape admits he begged Voldemort for Lily's life. Because of this, he offered to spare Lily if she let him kill Harry, and she offered herself in place. When he killed her, he essentially accepted the bargain, and then went back on it, which was why the spell backfired. Because Snape asked for Lily to live, Harry is the Chosen One! It could never have been anyone else. That is brilliant. -Darkloid_Blues
- Yes, and another thing: at the end of book 7, Harry agrees to sacrifice himself to protect everyone else, and as a result, Voldemort's spells don't work against anyone (silencing the crowd and freezing Neville). So what basically happened is Snape saved Lily, Lily sacrificed herself to save Harry, and Harry sacrificed himself to save everyone. - Anon IP
  - Except, you know, Colin, Fred, Remus, Dora and Snape himself, which shows how much of a raw deal he got—unless one accounts for the fact that all these people mentioned died before Harry's self-sacrifice took place, so the protection came too late for those already killed off.
Remember how Trelawney in Prisoner of Azkaban makes a big fuss of there being thirteen people at the dinner table, because the first to rise will die? It was pointed out to me that in Order of the Phoenix there are thirteen people at dinner in Grimmauld Place: Harry, Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Fred, George, Bill, Arthur, Molly, Mundungus, Tonks, Remus. and Sirius, and Sirius rises first. Also, J. K. Rowling is oft quoted on fan rumour pages as saying that a huge fan of Harry's was going to die. People took this to mean Colin Creevey or Ginny, but as she says in Order of the Phoenix, Harry is the person Sirius most cares about. - Sweet-Indigo
- I think you may be ove- thinking that one. I don't know the exact context of that particular quote, but I would think the obvious answer is Colin Creevey in the final battle. Sorry, I think in this case the spade is really just an old gardening tool. -Zig Zag
  - That quote was specifically about the death in Order of the Phoenix, but so many people are "special fans" of Harry (for a given value of specialness) that the quote basically amounts to a sophisticated Shrug of God.
- Actually, Molly rises first to get rhubarb crumble - just as Harry or possibly Ron rises first at a banquet of thirteen where Dumbledore is seated. Some divinatory methods really are a hoax.
- Actually, it wasn't a hoax. If you re-read the page, it stated that Dumbledore spoke to Trelawny in a "slightly raised voice". The prediction came true- Dumbledore died first, because he raised his voice, not because he rose from the chair!
  - I have no idea how you noticed that, but it was truly brilliant. Also, when Harry walked into Grimmauld Place for the first time (and I remember someone else pointing it out somewhere else on TV Tropes), he said it felt like "walking into the house of a dead man." Huh.
- Alternatively, the prediction was dead-on, but didn't count on the effects of the Stable Time Loop which probably saved both Harry and Ron's lives at the end of the book.
It suddenly occurred to me why the Dementor's Kiss was used as punishment instead of death: People can just come back as ghosts if their soul isn't harmed. -gumbal1
- Though whether coming back as a ghost is particularly desirable is another question all together.
- Sir Nicholas, the Gryffindor's ghost, says that being a ghost is what happens when one is so afraid of what happens after dying that they remain in the normal world, a behaviour regarded as cowardy.
  - ...Does that mean that we could very well see a ghost of Voldemort floating around nineteen years later?
  - No, Rowling's said his soul is too broken to become a ghost. He's forced to stay as that flayed baby in the afterlife.
    - Well, what about Bellatrix Le Strange?
Rereading the series, and just realized something: when Harry, Hermione, Ron, Neville, and Ginny are confronted by the Dementor on the Hogwarts Express in Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry passes out because, to paraphrase Lupin's later quote: "There are horrors in Harry's past that the others don't have." However, remember that of the other four kids, the one most affected is Ginny, "who was huddled in her corner looking nearly as bad as Harry felt". Not much emphasis is put on this, but the reason is that she's only two months removed from having been Mind Raped by Diary Horcrux-Voldemort. -
- Also Neville was very pale and his voice was higher then normal. Neville's parents were tortured into insanity and can no longer recognize him, thats pretty traumatic.
When reading Prisoner of Azkaban, I thought Sirius's nickname Padfoot was just a sort of pun like the rest of them, because dogs have padded feet. Now, after looking into some of the British Isles mythology, the black dog is a death avatar that goes by many different names. One of them happens to be Padfoot. Now Trelawney's prediction makes a lot more sense. Sirus also is a death avatar; his friends from school all die rather violent deaths, so does Harry, and his cousin Tonks. - ashilles
- A padfoot is also sometimes slang for a thief. Make of that what you will.
It just dawned on me that the Marauders are first mentioned in Prisoner of Azkaban in the order "Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs". This just happens to be the reverse of the order in which they die - James first, then fourteen years later Sirius, then two years later Peter at Malfoy Manor, then a few weeks later Remus during the final battle.
One I noticed my first time reading Azkaban all those years ago (and expected to see on here) was this: Harry's dad was the genius behind the three animagi—an incredibly difficult transfiguration to pull off [no comment on how Rita Skeeter did it] which he pulled off at, like, thirteen years old. Back in Book one, Ollivander described Daddy Potter's wand as "good for transfiguration." Wand and wizard were more than just good; they were exceptional!
Just realized why Voldemort has so much control over Dementors, and why Dementors don't seem to affect him like everyone else: Voldemort's soul is so tiny, the Dementors see a creature similar to them, and thus, are more likely to follow him! Also, the fact that his soul is so small means that the Dementors wouldn't get much out of it. On the flipside, the reason Harry is so affected by Dementors, and why they always seem to go for him: Harry is established as having a particularly powerful soul, full of all the things that Voldemort has ignored in his pursuit of immortality. To the Dementors, they see something so unlike them, that they need to put it out, to consume Harry's soul would be like a rare feast, since his heart is full of the things that Dementors feed on.
Several different people mention that Dumbledore dislikes Dementors. While he let's them guard the school, he doesn't let them enter the grounds and is furious when they do. This seems perfectly reasonable - Dementors are, after all, nasty creatures - but there is a simpler explanation: Every time the Dementors come near him, Dumbledore has to relive Ariana's death.
- Has he ever faced a boggart on screen?
  - Nope, but it's implied that would be his worst memory by the cave scene in the sixth book. Still, when you've lived as long and been through as much as Dumbledore, it's not likely he'd just experience Ariana's death again. That would probably be most prominent, but he's also dealt with the pressures of leading the wizarding world, the war against Grindelwald (who he was in love with, mind), his utter and abysmal failure to prevent Tom Riddle becoming Voldemort, the war against Voldemort... really, the only thing that would make someone tastier to a Dementor than the trauma Harry's gone through, is old age.
On the American English hardback jacket, the preview information gives plenty of information on Sirius, From a Certain Point of View. It implies guilt, but does not explicitly state it as fact. Additionally, the last sentences are "Harry Potter isn't safe, not even within the walls of his magical school, surrounded by his friends. Because on top of it all, there may well be a traitor in their midst". At the bottom of this fold in the jacket is a rat, which unlike everything else on the cover, is small, casts a large shadow, and seems unnecessary. It's even standing on its hind legs. --User:Wanderlust Warrior
This is one I realized ages ago, but every animagus in the series turns into an animal indicative of his or her true personality. James became a stag, a proud leader (plus possible Bambi references). Sirius became a dog, and he was very loyal, a prized trait in dogs. Peter Pettigrew became a rat, Wikipedia has them as "vicious, unclean, parasitic animals that steal food and spread disease" and further comments "It is a term (noun and verb) in criminal slang for an informant - "to rat on someone" is to betray them by informing the authorities of a crime or misdeed they committed. Describing a person as "rat-like" usually implies he or she is unattractive and suspicious." Rita Skeeter became a beetle, which are often seen as pests. As for McGonagall, well...

Fridge Horror

In the third book, when Percy is parading his Head Boy badge, Fred and George threaten to stick it to his head with a Permanent Sticing Charm. In the fifth, we see that the effects of such a charm are Exactly What It Says on the Tin when the Order is unable to remove the portrait of Mrs. Black. So in essence, there is a charm that sticks things together, permanently, with no counterspell, that can apparently be used on humans (and presumably other living things as well)...when you think about it, there are countless horrific ways to use a spell like that, some of which could easily be thought of as mere pranks by the people doing it.
- Made even worse when you realize there is a way to get rid of those things, given that wizards have been shown to heal large, missing chunks of a body, and even reattach limbs, without much trouble... -Hyrin
- To be fair, skin is flaking off constantly, so it'd be a lot easier than with a wall...
In Harry Potter, Percy and Ron Weasley handled Peter Pettigrew's poop for 12 years and were likely naked in front of him.

Ron: I let you sleep in my bed!

- On a lesser note, how much revolting rat food has Pettigrew had to subsist on in that time?
On this note, during all of the time that Percy and Ron had Peter in their rooms it was highly likely that Fred and George had the Marauder's Map and used it often. Why didn't they tell Percy or Ron that they were shown sleeping in the same space as a dead person?
One of the books Harry reads mentions the witch burnings and about how they were ineffective because any real witch or wizard would just cast a protective charm on themselves. Which is very nice... for the wizards whose captors helpfully left them their wands, the freedom to use their hands, and presumably their mouths too. For those who were searched and tied properly, on the other hand...
- And even if witches and wizards back then were savvy enough to take precautions about hiding their wands on their person in case they got captured, the essay title explicitly states "Witch-Burning in the 14th Century was Completely Pointless". Anyone familiar with history knows that witches were being burned long before the 14th century. Meaning someone must have invented the Flame-Freezing charm in the 1300s, long after four witches and wizards decided that they really, really, really needed to build a secret magic school. Suddenly, Salazar Slytherin's mistrust of muggles doesn't seem all that bigoted anymore...
  - Also, the Flame-Freezing Charm specifically applies to Witch-Burning. As stated on the Burn the Witch page, the majority of English accused witches were hanged.
    - Wingardium Leviosa, pretend to be dead, then when no one is around, Diffindo the rope and run away.
  - Furthermore, the entire point of that story is that witch-burning was pointless, in that it didn't kill any actual witches or wizards. Meaning that, as far as the textbook's author is concerned, all the Muggle deaths in witch hunts don't really matter, just as long as the witches and wizards were safe. And this is the official textbook used to educate every child in Britain. Under Dumbledore's authority.
    - Not necessarily. Passage sounds just like stating cold facts. Burnings in 14th century didn't kill any true witches, which was their goal, and thus were pointless. How many muggles were killed is another matter entirely...
      - But notice the almost humorous tone in which the section is written, no offense to Bathilda, but I don't think she took witch burning seriously.
Azkaban is bad enough on the surface. And then you start thinking about it, and oh my God . . .
Percy getting shoved into a pyramid in PoA. It's mentioned briefly and clearly meant to be a joke. Percy can be a pompous jerk, but one has to wonder a few things. Just how long was he in that pyramid before he got himself out or someone else did? And everyone else seems to see nothing wrong with this. Okay, Percy can be an idiot, but still...

Fridge Logic

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