Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Two things stand out in my mind when I think about reading Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban for the first time. The first is going to see The Fellowship of the Ring and getting the Ringwraiths mixed up with the dementors. The other is that I was sitting on the couch in Clay’s apartment reading when he walked into the room and asked me to marry him.

Prisoner of Azkaban is when the story really takes off for me. We have the introduction of the Marauders, the beginning of Harry’s relationship with Sirius, Harry’s relationship with Lupin, and lots of twists and turns along the way. The Marauders are fun and tragic at the same time, it’s fun to read about their antics at school and the friendship that they shared, as long as their contemporary circumstances are ignored. I love that J. K. Rowling gives her characters so much depth and allows them to make mistakes. Sirius did not betray James and Lily, but he has no qualms about hunting Pettigrew down to kill him. Lupin is a wonderful teacher and friend to Harry, but he does not tell Dumbledore that Sirius is an animagus (granted that would have really screwed up the plot, but it’s still not what he should have done) and is just as willing as Sirius to go ahead and kill Pettigrew.

Prisoner of Azkaban is full of twists, Sirius is innocent, Scabbers is not only person, but also responsible for the deaths of Harry’s parents, Lupin is a werewolf, there’s little that can be taken at face value. The constantly shifting story is probably at least partly to blame for some of the more incredible theories that were subscribed to by fans, such as “Ron is Dumbledore.” The use of the time turner is well done and allows the reader a very shocking everything may not be okay moment.