Monday, July 16, 2007

Harry Potter Book 3: Prizoner of Azkaban Analysis

Book 3 stuff

I can see that they had summer homework, as can be seen at the beginning of PoA. Why then in book 2 did Ron ask incredulously why Hermione was doing homework during the summer?

Why does Hermione do magic in each of the first two movies ("Occulus Reparo") and not get into trouble for doing magic outside of school?

Pg 2: If wizards are so friggin' awesome, why do they use quills? Jews do too... the only way to write a Torah...

Pg 10: What does a cursebreaker do for Gringotts (Bill in Egypt)? What would a bank need with Egyptian tombs?

Will Harry have any use for a sneakascope?

44: What caused Stan Shunpike to be a suspect in book 6?

48: What did Wormtail do to kill 13 people with a single curse? He wasn't that clever to plan such a cunning escape, right? In book 5 we see him to be such a lackey to the other three Marauders.

50: Why did Sirius laugh?

52: How did Fudge know Harry was coming to the Leaky Cauldron?

55: What does Fudge know about the Magic on his aunt and uncle's house?
--57: Oh, Sirius, right... never mind...

57: Why DID Fudge get involved and not an underling? And why did he come to arrest Hagrid himself in CoS? These both seem too mundane for the head of the wizarding world in Britain...

60: How did Hedwig know he was there? There is something about many of the animals in this series that I feel we are going to learn more about...

62: How would Hagrid have gotten into Diagon Alley in Book 1 without a wand? He used his "umbrella", surely someone realized he had to get in someway, so he had a wand...

62: Why was Florean Fortesque kidnapped in book 6? He knew a lot about Medieval witch burnings and was generous with free sundaes. Did Voldemort want a history buff or free ice cream whenever he wanted it? (The irony is that Rupert Grint, the actor that plays Ron in the movies, just bought himself an ice cream truck)

67: Bird entrails? Whenever I see an elipsis (...) in HP, I find the point of trailing off to be vital information. We haven't seen bird entrails yet used for divination but would this come in handy?

71: Will Arithmancy or Ancient Runes come in handy? Will Hermione's taking so many classes pay off? Which classes did she drop when she gave up the time-turner?

74: What is Crookshanks' deal? Is s/he a Kneazle? How old can these things live ("He'd been in there for ages. Nobody wanted him" -Hermy p76.)?

Why hasn't Scabbers run away to Voldemort yet? Why does he wait until the end of year 3 to seek him out? Why only once the jig is up and Sirius and Lupin discover him to be Petegrew?

82: How did Sirius know Wormtail was at Hogwarts?

84: Were the twins doing magic outside hogwarts?

93: Lupin was quite young? He had to be at least in his mid thirties, right? How old were Harry's parents when they had him?

95: Why did the sneakascope go crazy when he attached it to Errol? Is there something wrong with Errol or something rotten in Egypt?

104: Dementor described as "like something dead that had decayed in water". This sounds like the inferi in The Cave in book 6...

110: Why would Neville tell Malfoy what happened to Harry?

116: Why did Snape hate Lupin, the voice of reason in the Marauders? Did Snape want to be a marauder?

Prof Trelawney does seem to get a lot right, even if her death omens never come true...

163: What does the spell waddiwasi do? It caused the gum to shoot like a gun at Peeves. What is the etymology of the word? Arabic? (Wadi means river in Arabic)

Anything going to come of any of the greatest fears of the then-third years of Hogwarts?

Snape and Dumbledore's eyes often flash. Any reason??

182: Can Crookshanks understand human languages?

184: On what occasion would a pet rabbit come into contact with a fox and why would one dread a pet getting killed?

187: McGonagall "turned to look at him, with an odd expression on her face. Was it pity?" What was it? Legilimency?

193: Why wasn't Lupin afraid to say Voldemort's name? Plus he HAS heard others say the name, albeit hesitantly (ie: Hermione, who, by the way, didn't grow up hearing or fearing the name so why is she so scared of using it?)

193: What you fear most is fear? How do you arrive at that, changing your greatest fear from Voldy to Dementors?

195: Why DOES Snape make the potion for Lupin? I know what it does, but why does Snape ascede to doing it?

The full moon is supposed to be around Halloween? However, according to my Hebrew Calendar, the 15th of Cheshvan was on 30 October 1993. Missed it by a day... How does the potion work?

202: What is with dumbledore and squashy purple things (Sleeping bags, chairs at Harry's trial in book 5...)?

206: Can one talk to a Dementor? Is it just one of those languages that Dumbledore knows, like Mermish?

211: What was the date of this class that it was the day after the full moon?

216: Harry has an alarm clock? An electronic device at Hogwarts? How does it work?

222: why are the dementors going for Harry and trying to deliver the kiss of death? Perhaps the piece of Voldemort he has in him?

--Pg 228--

231: Are Hinky-punks going to be important? They lure travellers into bogs and I think I remember that there are bogs in Godric's Hollow.

233: Muggles feel the presence of Dementors though they can't see them. What was Dudley's experience with dementors in Book 5. Did he see them?

256: Why WASN'T Dumbledore the secretkeeper?

259: As to an earlier comment, McGonagall did teach something to James and Sirius. Was it transfiguration or something else?

267: Did Malfoy also know that Sirius was framed by Pettigrew?

275: Why was Hagrid affected by the dementors but Sirius was not? Both were innocent. How was Sirius immune from the dementing of the dementors?

Was James Potter a pureblood? I don't remember seeing him on the Black Family Tree; Nor Voldemort (though I'm not looking at it now)...

282: Why is Scabbers' name Scabbers?

286: December 25, 1993 is the 11th of Tevet, definitely NOT a full moon

290: How exactly did Sirius buy a firebolt? Did he just walk into the Quidditch store with everyone looking for him?
--293: Exactly, Oliver Wood (Olive Wood? Is that what his broom is made of? Ha!)

296: Does this description of Patronuses mean that there are reasons that the patronuses come in the forms they do for specific people (like why Hermione's is an otter and Ron's is a Yorkshire Terrier, and why Luna's is a Rabbit (all canon from Jo or from the fifth movie))
299 (after the Dementor-Boggart caused Harry to faint) "Lupin handed him a chocolate frog". Aha! My ultimate theory for book seven seems plausible! After being attacked by dementors the chocolate frog cards will come in handy...

300: What did James and Lily know about the Prophesy and if not, why did they think Voldemort was after them? Also, who stumbled from a room?

305: C'mon Vector teaching a math class!! The name fits the wizard!

309: So the dementor's kiss doesn't "kill you" per se? Then why couldn't they continue to interview Barty Crouch Jr. at the end of GoF?

314: Arithmancy is Hermione's favorite subject?! Why?! What would the point of a math subject be in the Wizarding world?

333: A strange dream which I don't think has come into fruition yet, according to my Harry-is-Joseph theory (that Harry, like Joseph in the Bible, has dreams that are somewhat portents of the future): "He had a very strange dream. He was walking through a forest, his Firebolt over his shoulder, following something silvery-white (a patronus?). It was winding its way through the trees ahead, and he could only catch glimses of it between the leaves. Anxious to catch up with it, he sped up, but as he moved faster, so did his quarry. Harry broke into a run, and ahead he heard hooves gathering speed. Now he was running flat out and ahead he could hear galloping (Centaurs?). Then he turned a corner into a clearing and -- (at this point he is awoken by the attack of Padfoot). Will something come of this in book 7?

336, 339: Aww... Poor Neville... He's going to kick some major ass in Book 7!

346-7: But Harry never closed the passage way, did he? He already said "dissendium!" (actually, how do you reverse that?)

349: Would Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes (what an alliteration!) do well in Hogsmeade as the twins suggest in book six, seeing as there already is Zonkos there?

355: Is snape employing legilimency? Can it be done wordlessly?

359: "Professor Severus Snape, Master of this School"? That's a little pompous and false...

359-60: remember the handwriting here. Anonymous letters in the seventh book might take on any of these scripts.

369: Any deepermeaning to any of the passwords. flibbertigibbet is in Wikipedia, for example

370: Did Hermione make up that class she missed by going back in time? What are the parameters and limitations of time-turners. Can one go, say, to the night Lily and James were killed?

379: More dreams: Neville replaces Harry as seeker. Eh... Maybe, seeing as Harry might not go back to Hogwarts next year. As for the other dream, Malfoy and cronies are riding dragons while Harry is riding nothing... We know from the Deluxe Edition artwork that the trio will be riding a dragon!

382: 200 people wearing Slytherin green. For the population of Hogwarts, grades, etc. do the math using this information

393: What's with this giant squid? It's been thrown in so many times I feel it's important...

394: The result of taking literally Snape demanding the class turn to page 394 NOW! back when he substituted DADA. Nothing really interesting. Just Hermione's weird schedule...

398: A Hinkypink gives misleading directions? I really need to reread Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them...

404: Harry's right with his prediction. The Hippogrif does fly away. Harry is a sooth-sayer, like Joseph...

==Pg 416==

421: No cat's that clever... gotta be a kneazle or something...

425: Why does he have to beat around the bush...

425: This is another reason I think Ron will be willing to sacrifice himself in Book 7.

428: "I don't deny it"?! Dude, don't tell him that...

433: We don't need lunar charts; we need the 15th of the Hebrew month...

442: "As long as I take [the potion] in the week preceding the full moon, I keep my mind when I transform.. I am able to curl up in my office, a harmless wolf, and wait for the moon to wane again". He didn't take the potion in the past week?! Why?!

445: "A werewolf is only a danger to people". Animagi are people too!

446: Okay, Dumbledore WAS Headmaster then and not the Transfiguration professor.

472: Is that a life-debt? It seems that Harry's handing him over to be killed in Azkaban...

473: Why don't they at least stun Pettegrew like they did Snape to prevent him from transforming?

483: wait, this isn't the realization of the dream on 333, is it (or more specifically what Time-Turner-Harry does)?

529: Why did they try to Kiss Harry?

536: Do students pay tuition to Hogwarts or is it like a wizard public school? Is there a wizard tax? What about the fund Hogwarts has set up for Tom Riddle in book 6?

537: Dumbledore: "Trust me... the time may come when you will be very glad you saved Pettegrew's life".

538: So appropriate to this week: "As the end of term approached, Harry heard many different theories about what really had happened, but none of them came close to the truth."

540: How did they find out about OWLS and NEWTS already? Harry and the trio found out midsummer book 6! Also I thought Gred & Forge were smarter and studied. I thought they got great grades

541: Didn't Hermione have to drop other courses too?

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