Here's your thread to ask questions, post ponderings, etc from the Prisoner of Azkaban. You can continue to discuss the other books, as well, so don't feel like you HAVE to move on if you've still got questions or want opinions from other people on the first couple.

I've not started this one yet, so I don't have any questions at the moment! I know, I'm behind! ARGH!

Ask away!

I have a question. We know how Sirius was a high security prisoner and had Dementors outside his cell right? And that his turning into a dog probably made them think he was losing his mind like the rest of the prisoners. Well the question I have is Why don't Ministry workers ever visit Azkaban? I know they wouldn't want to go near the Dementors if they could help it but for high security prisoners surely they'd want to keep an eye on them as much as they trust the Dementors to keep them insane.
We heard that Fudge(?) visited him and was surprised at how normal he seemed, asking for the newspaper. Wouldn't that have rung any bells? Surely after so many years their sanity starts to slip so they wouldn't be asking for things to read. If that is the case then Fudge should have done something.

Further along the story we find out he's innocent but up til then didn't anyone else question why the Minister didn't think to up the security or do something since Sirius was normal? I suppose they all thought it was his love of Voldemort that kept his resolve burning strong but see even then they should have done something! If after 12 years in Dementor hell he's still aware and not like the other prisoners they'd have to think somethings up.

I know we don't find out about this til a decent way through but it popped into my head and I had to get it out before I forgot.

I think those in charge have been through quite alot with the death eaters and don't care much for visiting them since they believe Voldermort is definitely dead. It is like for current people in charge visiting nazis in prison, Hitler is dead.



They really don't think they are powerful or harmful at this point and believe the dementors will kill the prisoners before they will allow them to escape.



Apparently, those in charge do not have a firm control on dementors because the book indicates that they cannot distinguish who they are after and who they are not.



It is the matter of them not thinking there is any danger and we seeing that this obviously is not the case.

I still want to know what Malfoy's boggart was. I know that Hermione's was McGonagall coming out and telling her she failed everything, but what was Malfoy's???

ladylila705, I looked and used from what I remember. Draco's boggart was never given out by JKR. We only know about 11 characters' boggarts for sure.

Why don't Ministry workers ever visit Azkaban?

I believe in Sirius's case, him keeping sane maybe was what they thought as the insanity of his taking its course, if that makes sense. I mean, I think they thought the Dementors would always be there and would take care of everything.

I'm going to reread this book this week, as it's my favorite, so I'll probably be on with more questions.

EDIT: I just thought of this when I was reading on the Lexicon. How did Sirius order that Firebolt without giving himself away? I mean, did he seriously have money with him after he got out of Azkaban all those years? I doubt it.

That's a good question. I mean, he has a vault at Gringott's, but you'd think they'd notice if it had been accessed, right? Interesting....

This question stems from Chamber of Secrets but has bearing on Prisoner of Azkaban:

In Chamber of Secrets, Lockhart is going on about all of the wonderful things he's done around the world... one of which was ridding a village of a werewolf. He explains that he turned the werewolf into a man using the...Homorphus Charm? Of course, we know he was full of hot air and was taking credit for someone else's triumphs, but the point is. . .this spell seems to exist. And if it does exist, why doesn't the ministry have a team of wizards who are dedicated to perfecting this charm and using it on werewolves? I mean, sure Dumbledore could have handled this, right? I just don't get why he wouldn't have used it on Lupin and saved the poor guy years of misery...

Going to look it up quickly here . . .

"[...] I then screwed up my remaining strength and performed the immensely complex Homorphus Charm -- he let out a piteous moan --go on, Harry -- higher than that -- good -- the fur vanished -- the fangs shrank -- and he turned back into a man. Simple, yet effective -- and another village will remember me forever as the hero who delivered them from the monthly terror of werewolf attacks."

So, if we can believe the second-hand account with embellishments from Lockhart . . . it turns the werewolf back into a man permanently. I would think this is something the Ministry would want to use... And Lupin.

Why don't Ministry workers ever visit Azkaban?
My guess is that they don't want anything to do with the dementors, and maybe they
might feel guilty about putting the dementors there and making them go crazy.

How did Sirius order that Firebolt without giving himself away?
That question I wondered myself, maybe he wrote a letter to the broom supplies and told him to take money out of his vault? I honestly don't have a clue.

I'm only about halfway done with this one and I don't quite remember the details on it, but why couldn't Hermione go back in time to do her homework if she was so overwhelmed by it all? Or would it have not been done when she went back to the present?

I think hermione did go back in time to do her homework, but she couldn't do it to much as she couldn't have loads of hermiones everywhere and he each one would have to find a different place in the castle were she was unlikely to walk in on.

But this raises another question. If hermione was reliving most hours of the day three times (Her timetable shows three lessons at the same time.) for a whole year, then wouldn't she be almsot three years older by the end of the year. Or do you not age while back in time?

About the firebolt, I'm sure Sirius said that he had crookshanks send the order form in at the hogsmeade post office. (And I'm sure they'd have accepted it all right, you get alot of strange stuff going on in hogsmeade.) But he said he put the order under Harry's name but took the money from his own vault. So all the goblins would see on the list of withradwals and deposits they undoubtedly have, would be Harry taking money from his imprisoned godfathers vault. It would just seem as though Harry had inherited the money.

About the Homorphus charm I think Lockhart was exagerating. Rather than being permanent or even being useful against werewolves I think it could be used to turn animagi back into their human form.

If hermione was reliving most hours of the day three times (Her timetable shows three lessons at the same time.) for a whole year, then wouldn't she be almsot three years older by the end of the year. Or do you not age while back in time?

Maybe she had 3 lessons at the same time on one day, then the rest of the days were normal? Or it could possibly be that your body doesn't age when going back into time? But I personally think this: she didn't go back in time to sleep, or eat, or on weekends, or anything else then lessons, so it's only an extra 5 hours a day. That's 25 hours a week, a little over a day, so she wouldn't age a whole 3 years, maybe by a month or two she would age more.

I don't think you would age while going back in time as you're going back i.e returning to a time(be it by 3 hours or many days) when you are younger so surely it has no effect Possibly....

I've a question.

I'm watching POA now and I'm at the part where Harry and Lupin are talking about why Lupin stopped him with the Boggart. Lupin said because he thought that Lord Voldemort would appear and cause hysteria. But how would Harry know what Voldemort looked like? Would the Voldemort/Boggart look like the face on the back of Quirrels head or young Tom Riddle? Harry has never seen the alive Voldemort until GoF so what did Lupin expect to show up? What he knew Voldemort looked like before his demise or just an figure that had the aura of deadliness around it? Very confusing for me.

Anyway want to add their two cents about it?

I'm watching POA now and I'm at the part where Harry and Lupin are talking about why Lupin stopped him with the Boggart. Lupin said because he thought that Lord Voldemort would appear and cause hysteria. But how would Harry know what Voldemort looked like? Would the Voldemort/Boggart look like the face on the back of Quirrels head or young Tom Riddle? Harry has never seen the alive Voldemort until GoF so what did Lupin expect to show up? What he knew Voldemort looked like before his demise or just an figure that had the aura of deadliness around it? Very confusing for me.

Hmmm...well maybe Lupin was more afraid of how Harry's imagination would picture him. I mean, I'm sure that after Harry saw Voldemort on the back of Quirrel's head during his first year he would try and imagine what he actually looked like. And of course, teenagers can have very eccentric imaginations. Harry could have imagined Voldemort to be scarier physically than anyone could imagine. At least, that's how I see it. Then again, maybe he'd just see Voldemort when he was on the back of Quirrel's head...

I never thought of that. It's a good theory, especially since we know how Harry's imagination gets the better of him sometimes.
I suppose Harry might picture him something like a Dementor, with the long cloak and all. And perhaps some of the young Riddle features added in.

Thanks, you've given me more to think about.

Hm...Well its definitely tough to guess what Harry thought Voldemort would look like. As far as Lupin is concerned, I think he was just worried that because Harry had actually experienced things far worse than his other classmates that whatever form the boggart would take would be scary rather than amusing. He just assumed it would be Voldemort, but a dementor would have possibly been just as scary to a class of 13 year olds.