Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Harry Potter, #3)

by J.K. Rowling

‘Right again, Hermione!’ he said. ‘But the Ministry never knew that there used to be three unregistered Animagi running around Hogwarts.’

‘This place is haunted!’ said Ron. ‘It’s not,’ said Lupin, still looking at the door in a puzzled way. ‘The Shrieking Shack was never haunted … the screams and howls the villagers used to hear were made by me.’

‘I was a very small boy when I received the bite. My parents tried everything, but in those days there was no cure. The Potion that Professor Snape has been making for me is a very recent discovery. It makes me safe, you see. As long as I take it 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. ‘Before the Wolfsbane Potion was discovered, however, I became a fully fledged monster once a month. It seemed impossible that I would be able to come to Hogwarts. Other parents weren’t likely to want their children exposed to me. ‘But then Dumbledore became Headmaster, and he was sympathetic. He said that, as long as we took certain precautions, there was no reason I shouldn’t come to school …’ Lupin sighed, and looked directly at Harry. ‘I told you, months ago, that the Whomping Willow was planted the year I came to Hogwarts. The truth is that it was planted because I had come to Hogwarts. This house –’ Lupin looked miserably around the room, ‘– the tunnel that leads to it – they were built for my use. Once a month, I was smuggled out of the castle, into this place, to transform. The tree was placed at the tunnel mouth to stop anyone coming across me while I was dangerous.’

‘My transformations in those days were – were terrible. It is very painful to turn into a werewolf. I was separated from humans to bite, so I bit and scratched myself instead. The villagers heard the noise and the screaming and thought they were hearing particularly violent spirits. Dumbledore encouraged the rumour … even now, when the house has been silent for years, the villagers don’t dare approach it …

‘But apart from my transformations, I was happier than I had ever been in my life. For the first time ever, I had friends, three great friends. Sirius Black … Peter Pettigrew … and, of course, your father, Harry – James Potter.

‘Now, my three friends could hardly fail to notice that I disappeared once a month. I made up all sorts of stories. I told them my mother was ill, and that I had to go home to see her … I was terrified they would desert me the moment they found out what I was. But of course, they, like you, Hermione, worked out the truth … ‘And they didn’t desert me at all. Instead they did something for me that would make my transformations not only bearable, but the best times of my life. They became Animagi.’ ‘My dad, too?’ said Harry, astounded. ‘Yes, indeed,’ said Lupin. ‘It took them the best part of three years to work out how to do it. Your father and Sirius here were the cleverest students in the school, and lucky they were, because the Animagus transformation can go horribly wrong – one reason the Ministry kee...

‘They couldn’t keep me company as humans, so they kept me company as animals,’ said Lupin. ‘A werewolf is only a danger to people. They sneaked out of the castle every month under James’s Invisibility Cloak. They transformed … Peter, as the smallest, could slip beneath the Willow’s attacking branches and touch the knot that freezes it. They would then slip down the tunnel and join me. Under their influence, I became less dangerous. My body was still wolfish, but my mind seemed to become less so while I was with them.’

‘I’m getting there, Sirius, I’m getting there … well, highly exciting possibilities were open to us now we could all transform. Soon we were leaving the Shrieking Shack and roaming the school grounds and the village by night. Sirius and James transformed into such large animals, they were able to keep a werewolf in check. I doubt whether any Hogwarts students ever found out more about the Hogwarts grounds and Hogsmeade than we did … And that’s how we came to write the Marauder’s Map, and sign it with our nicknames. Sirius is Padfoot. Peter is Wormtail. James was Prongs.’

‘Severus was very interested in where I went every month,’ Lupin told Harry, Ron and Hermione. ‘We were in the same year, you know, and we – er – didn’t like each other very much. He especially disliked James. Jealous, I think, of James’s talent on the Quidditch pitch … anyway, Snape had seen me crossing the grounds with Madam Pomfrey one evening as she led me towards the Whomping Willow to transform. Sirius thought it would be – er – amusing, to tell Snape all he had to do was prod the knot on the tree-trunk with a long stick, and he’d be able to get in after me. Well, of course, Snape tried it – if he’d got as far as this house, he’d have met a fully grown werewolf – but your father, who’d heard what Sirius had done, went after Snape and pulled him back, at great risk to his life … Snape glimpsed me, though, at the end of the tunnel. He was forbidden to tell anybody by Dumbledore, but from that time on he knew what I was …’

‘My God,’ said Lupin softly, staring from Scabbers to the picture in the paper and back again. ‘His front paw …’ ‘What about it?’ said Ron defiantly. ‘He’s got a toe missing,’ said Black. ‘Of course,’ Lupin breathed, ‘so simple …so brilliant … He cut it off himself?’ ‘Just before he transformed,’ said Black. ‘When I cornered him, he yelled for the whole street to hear that I’d betrayed Lily and James. Then, before I could curse him, he blew apart the street with the wand behind his back, killed everyone within twenty feet of himself – and sped down into the sewer with the other rats …’ ‘Didn’t you ever hear, Ron?’ said Lupin. ‘The biggest bit of Peter they found was his finger.’

‘Voldemort, teach me tricks?’ he said. Pettigrew flinched as though Black had brandished a whip at him. ‘What, scared to hear your old master’s name?’ said Black. ‘I don’t blame you, Peter. His lot aren’t very happy with you, are they?’

‘You haven’t been hiding from me for twelve years,’ said Black. ‘You’ve been hiding from Voldemort’s old supporters. I heard things in Azkaban, Peter … they all think you’re dead, or you’d have to answer to them … I’ve heard them screaming all sorts of things in their sleep. Sounds like they think the double-crosser double-crossed them. Voldemort went to the Potters’ on your information … and Voldemort met his downfall there. And not all Voldemort’s supporters ended up in Azkaban, did they? There are still plenty out here, biding their time, pretending they’ve seen the error of their ways … If they ever got wind that you were still alive, Peter –’

‘Lily and James only made you Secret Keeper because I suggested it,’ Black hissed, so venomously that Pettigrew took a step backwards. ‘I thought it was the perfect plan … a bluff … Voldemort would be sure to come after me, would never dream they’d use a weak, talentless thing like you … it must have been the finest moment of your miserable life, telling Voldemort you could hand him the Potters.’

‘I’ll tell you why,’ said Black. ‘Because you never did anything for anyone unless you could see what was in it for you. Voldemort’s been in hiding for twelve years, they say he’s half-dead. You weren’t about to commit murder right under Albus Dumbledore’s nose, for a wreck of a wizard who’d lost all his power, were you? You’d want to be quite sure he was the biggest bully in the playground before you went back to him, wouldn’t you? Why else did you find a wizard family to take you in? Keeping an ear out for news, weren’t you, Peter? Just in case your old protector regained strength, and it was safe to rejoin him …’

‘I don’t know how I did it,’ he said slowly. ‘I think the only reason I never lost my mind is that I knew I was innocent. That wasn’t a happy thought, so the Dementors couldn’t suck it out of me … but it kept me sane and knowing who I am … helped me keep my powers … so when it all became … too much … I could transform in my cell … become a dog. Dementors can’t see, you know …’ He swallowed. ‘They feel their way towards people by sensing their emotions … they could tell that my feelings were less – less human, less complex when I was a dog … but they thought, of course, that I was losing my mind like everyone else in there, so it didn’t trouble them. But I was weak, very weak, and I had no hope of driving them away from me without a wand … ‘But then I saw Peter in that picture … I realised he was at Hogwarts with Harry … perfectly positioned to act, if one hint reached his ears that the Dark Side was gathering strength again …’

‘Believe me,’ croaked Black. ‘Believe me. I never betrayed James and Lily. I would have died before I betrayed them.’

‘You sold Lily and James to Voldemort,’ said Black, who was shaking too. ‘Do you deny it?’

‘Sirius, Sirius, what could I have done? The Dark Lord … you have no idea … he has weapons you can’t imagine … I was scared, Sirius, I was never brave like you and Remus and James. I never meant it to happen … He Who Must Not Be Named forced me –’ ‘DON’T LIE!’ bellowed Black. ‘YOU’D BEEN PASSING INFORMATION TO HIM FOR A YEAR BEFORE LILY AND JAMES DIED! YOU WERE HIS SPY!’ ‘He – he was taking over everywhere!’ gasped Pettigrew. ‘Wh-what was there to be gained by refusing him?’ ‘What was there to be gained by fighting the most evil wizard who has ever existed?’ said Black, with a terrible fury in his face. ‘Only innocent lives, Peter!’

‘THEN YOU SHOULD HAVE DIED!’ roared Black. ‘DIED RATHER THAN BETRAY YOUR FRIENDS, AS WE WOULD HAVE DONE FOR YOU!’

‘He can go to Azkaban,’ Harry repeated. ‘If anyone deserves that place, he does …’

‘You know what this means?’ Sirius said abruptly to Harry, as they made their slow progress along the tunnel. ‘Turning Pettigrew in?’ ‘You’re free,’ said Harry. ‘Yes …’ said Sirius. ‘But I’m also – I don’t know if anyone ever told you – I’m your godfather.’

‘Well … your parents appointed me your guardian,’ said Sirius stiffly. ‘If anything happened to them …’ Harry waited. Did Sirius mean what he thought he meant? ‘I’ll understand, of course, if you want to stay with your aunt and uncle,’ said Sirius. ‘But … well … think about it. Once my name’s cleared … if you wanted a … a different home …’

‘One wrong move, Peter,’ said Lupin threateningly, ahead. His wand was still pointed sideways at Pettigrew’s chest.

‘Professor Lupin is currently deep in the Forest, unable to tell anyone anything. By the time he is human again, it will be too late, Sirius will be worse than dead. I might add that werewolves are so mistrusted by most of our kind that his support will count for very little – and the fact that he and Sirius are old friends

‘Now, pay attention,’ said Dumbledore, speaking very low, and very clearly. ‘Sirius is locked in Professor Flitwick’s office on the seventh floor. Thirteenth window from the right of the West Tower. If all goes well, you will be able to save more than one innocent life tonight. But remember this, both of you. You must not be seen. Miss Granger, you know the law – you know what is at stake … you – must – not – be – seen.’

‘It’s called a Time-Turner,’ Hermione whispered, ‘and I got it from Professor McGonagall on our first day back. I’ve been using it all year to get to all my lessons. Professor McGonagall made me swear I wouldn’t tell anyone. She had to write all sorts of letters to the Ministry of Magic so I could have one. She had to tell them that I was a model student, and that I’d never, ever use it for anything except my studies … I’ve been turning it back so I could do hours over again, that’s how I’ve been doing several lessons at once, see? But …

‘No!’ said Hermione in a terrified whisper. ‘Don’t you understand? We’re breaking one of the most important wizarding laws! Nobody’s supposed to change time, nobody! You heard Dumbledore, if we’re seen –

‘Harry, what do you think you’d do if you saw yourself bursting into Hagrid’s house?’ said Hermione. ‘I’d – I’d think I’d gone mad,’ said Harry, ‘or I’d think there was some Dark Magic going on –’ ‘Exactly! You wouldn’t understand, you might even attack yourself! Don’t you see? Professor McGonagall told me what awful things have happened when wizards have meddled with time … loads of them ended up killing their past or future selves by mistake!’

And then it hit him – he understood. He hadn’t seen his father – he had seen himself – Harry flung himself out from behind the bush and pulled out his wand. ‘EXPECTO PATRONUM!’ he yelled. And out of the end of his wand burst, not a shapeless cloud of mist, but a blinding, dazzling, silver animal.

The Patronus turned. It was cantering back towards Harry across the still surface of the water. It wasn’t a horse. It wasn’t a unicorn, either. It was a stag.

‘Harry, I can’t believe it – you conjured up a Patronus that drove away all those Dementors! That’s very, very advanced magic …’ ‘I knew I could do it this time,’ said Harry, ‘because I’d already done it

‘What happened to the other boy? Ron?’ said Sirius urgently. ‘He’s going to be OK – he’s still out of it, but Madam Pomfrey says she’ll be able to make him better. Quick – go!’ But Black was still staring down at Harry. ‘How can I ever thank –’ ‘GO!’ Harry and Hermione shouted together. Black wheeled Buckbeak around, facing the open sky. ‘We’ll see each other again,’ he said. ‘You are – truly your father’s son, Harry …’

‘He must have Disapparated, Severus, we should have left somebody in the room with him. When this gets out –’ ‘HE DIDN’T DISAPPARATE!’ Snape roared, now very close at hand. ‘YOU CAN’T APPARATE OR DISAPPARATE INSIDE THIS CASTLE! THIS – HAS – SOMETHING – TO – DO – WITH – POTTER!’ ‘Severus – be reasonable – Harry has been locked up –

‘OUT WITH IT, POTTER!’ he bellowed. ‘WHAT DID YOU DO?’ ‘Professor Snape!’ shrieked Madam Pomfrey. ‘Control yourself!’ ‘See here, Snape, be reasonable,’ said Fudge. ‘This door’s been locked, we just saw –’ ‘THEY HELPED HIM ESCAPE, I KNOW IT!’ Snape howled, pointing at Harry and Hermione. His face was twisted, spit was flying from his mouth. ‘Calm down, man!’ Fudge barked. ‘You’re talking nonsense!’ ‘YOU DON’T KNOW POTTER!’ shrieked Snape. ‘HE DID IT, I KNOW HE DID IT –’ ‘That will do, Severus,’ said Dumbledore quietly.

‘Fellow seems quite unbalanced,’ said Fudge, staring after him. ‘I’d watch out for him, if I were you, Dumbledore.’ ‘Oh, he’s not unbalanced,’ said Dumbledore quietly. ‘He’s just suffered a severe disappointment.’

‘The Daily Prophet’s going to have a field day! We had Black cornered and he slipped through our fingers yet again! All it needs now is for the story of that Hippogriff’s escape to get out, and I’ll be a laughing stock! Well … I’d better go and notify the Ministry …’ ‘And the Dementors?’ said Dumbledore. ‘They’ll be removed from the school, I trust?’ ‘Oh, yes, they’ll have to go,’ said Fudge, running his fingers distractedly through his hair. ‘Never dreamed they’d attempt to administer the Kiss on an innocent boy

thought he mighta met Professor Lupin in the grounds, but Lupin says he never ate anythin’ las’ night …’ ‘What?’ said Harry quickly. ‘Blimey, haven’ yeh heard?’ said Hagrid, his smile fading a little. He lowered his voice, even though there was nobody in sight. ‘Er – Snape told all the Slytherins this mornin’ … thought everyone’d know by now … Professor Lupin’s a werewolf, see. An’ he was loose in the grounds las’ night. He’s packin’ now, o’ course.’ ‘He’s packing?’ said Harry, alarmed. ‘Why?’ ‘Leavin’, isn’ he?’ said Hagrid, looking surprised that Harry had to ask. ‘Resigned firs’ thing this mornin’. Says he can’ risk it happenin’ again.’

Lupin’s office door was open. He had already packed most of his things. The Grindylow’s empty tank stood next to his battered old suitcase, which was open and nearly full. Lupin was bending over something on his desk, and only looked up when Harry knocked on the door. ‘I saw you coming,’ said Lupin, smiling. He pointed to the parchment he had been poring over. It was the Marauder’s Map.

‘Why?’ said Harry. ‘The Ministry of Magic don’t think you were helping Sirius, do they?’ Lupin crossed to the door and closed it behind Harry. ‘No. Professor Dumbledore managed to convince Fudge that I was trying to save your lives.’ He sighed. ‘That was the final straw for Severus. I think the loss of the Order of Merlin hit him hard. So he – er – accidentally let slip that I am a werewolf this morning at breakfast.’

Lupin said, ‘From what the Headmaster told me this morning, you saved a lot of lives last night, Harry. If I’m proud of anything, it’s how much you’ve learned. Tell me about your Patronus.’ ‘How d’you know about that?’ said Harry, distracted. ‘What else could have driven the Dementors back?’

Lupin was smiling again. ‘Yes, your father was always a stag when he transformed,’ he said. ‘You guessed right … that’s why we called him Prongs.’

‘Here – I brought this from the Shrieking Shack last night,’ he said, handing Harry back the Invisibility Cloak. ‘And …’ he hesitated, then held out the Marauder’s Map, too. ‘I am no longer your teacher, so I don’t feel guilty about giving you this back as well. It’s no use to me, and I daresay you, Ron and Hermione will find uses for it.’

‘You told me Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs would’ve wanted to lure me out of school … you said they’d have thought it was funny.’ ‘And so we would have done,’ said Lupin, now reaching down to close his case. ‘I have no hesitation in saying that James would have been highly disappointed if his son had never found any of the secret passages out of the castle.’

Lupin picked up his old suitcase and the empty Grindylow tank. ‘Well – goodbye, Harry,’ he said, smiling. ‘It has been a real pleasure teaching you. I feel sure we’ll meet again some time.

‘Why so miserable, Harry?’ he said quietly. ‘You should be very proud of yourself after last night.’ ‘It didn’t make any difference,’ said Harry bitterly. ‘Pettigrew got away.’ ‘Didn’t make any difference?’ said Dumbledore quietly. ‘It made all the difference in the world, Harry. You helped uncover the truth. You saved an innocent man from a terrible fate.’

‘But – I stopped Sirius and Professor Lupin killing Pettigrew! That makes it my fault, if Voldemort comes back!’ ‘It does not,’ said Dumbledore quietly. ‘Hasn’t your experience with the Time-Turner taught you anything, Harry? The consequences of our actions are always so complicated, so diverse, that predicting the future is a very difficult business indeed … Professor Trelawney, bless her, is living proof of that. You did a very noble thing, in saving Pettigrew’s life.’ ‘But if he helps Voldemort back to power –!’ ‘Pettigrew owes his life to you. You have sent Voldemort a deputy who is in your debt. When one wizard saves another wizard’s life, it creates a certain bond between them … and I’m much mistaken if Voldemort wants his servant in the debt of Harry Potter.’ ‘I don’t want a bond with Pettigrew!’ said Harry. ‘He betrayed my parents!’ ‘This is magic at its deepest, its most impenetrable, Harry. But trust me … the time may come when you will be very glad you saved Pettigrew’s life.’

‘I knew your father very well, both at Hogwarts and later, Harry,’ he said gently. ‘He would have saved Pettigrew too, I am sure of it.’

‘Last night … I thought it was my dad who’d conjured my Patronus. I mean, when I saw myself across the lake … I thought I was seeing him.’ ‘An easy mistake to make,’ said Dumbledore softly. ‘I expect you’re tired of hearing it, but you do look extraordinarily like James. Except for your eyes … you have your mother’s eyes.’

‘You think the dead we have loved ever truly leave us? You think that we don’t recall them more clearly than ever in times of great trouble? Your father is alive in you, Harry, and shows himself most plainly when you have need of him. How else could you produce that particular Patronus? Prongs rode again last night.’

‘Sirius told me all about how they became Animagi last night,’ said Dumbledore, smiling. ‘An extraordinary achievement – not least, keeping it quiet from me. And then I remembered the most unusual form your Patronus took, when it charged Mr Malfoy down at your Quidditch match against Ravenclaw. So you did see your father last night, Harry … you found him inside yourself.’