Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Chapter Twenty-One:
Hermione's Secret

Synopsis by William Silvester
Notes and links by Michele L. Worley

US hardcover edition: pages 386 - 415
UK paperback edition: pages 416 - 447
Timeframe: 6 June 1994 [Y14]

In which Harry awakens in hospital, desperately tries to tell Black's side of the story but is not believed until Dumbledore arrives, who tells Hermione to use her Time-Turner (which she had been using to increase the amount of classes she could attend) to go back and change events to save Buckbeak and Black. First they rescue Buckbeak, then Harry rescues himself from the Dementors with a Patronus Charm, then they ride Buckbeak to rescue Black, who escapes on the hippogriff.

Interesting facts and notes about the text of this chapter:

shall be executed on the sixth of June at sundown -

Characters introduced in this chapter:

• none

Characters returning in this chapter:

• Black, Sirius (as Padfoot)

• Buckbeak (as Beaky)

• Crookshanks

• Dumbledore, Albus

• Fang

• Fudge, Cornelius

• Granger, Hermione

• Hagrid, Rubeus

• Lupin, Remus (as Moony)

• Macnair, Walden

• Pomfrey, Poppy

• Potter, Harry

• Pettigrew, Peter (as Scabbers, Wormtail)

• Snape, Severus

• Weasley, Ron

• (name unknown) aging wizard, Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures

Characters mentioned in this chapter:

• Fat Lady

• Flitwick, Filius

• McGonagall, Minerva

• Potter, James (as Prongs)

Settings and locations introduced or returning in this chapter:

• Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

  • Entrance Hall

  • Forbidden Forest

  • grounds

  • Hagrid's hut

  • hospital wing

  • West Tower

Settings and locations mentioned in this chapter:

• Hogsmeade

  • Shrieking Shack, the

Exceptional character moments:

• Hagrid, who refuses to leave Buckbeak to die alone no matter how hard it is on him.

Spells:

• Alohomora

• Animagus Transfiguration

• Confundus Charm

• conjured items

• Expecto Patronum

• Fidelius Charm

• Mobilicorpus (still in effect though cast earlier)

Links and Resources:

• Animagi

• Bestiary, the

  • Dementors

  • hippogriffs

  • werewolves

• essays

  • The Changing Image of Grownups in the Harry Potter Books

  • D'you Really Think They're Suited?

  • Harry Potter: The Truest Gryffindor of All?

  • Partners and Friends: The Developing Relationship Between Harry and Hermione

• items and devices, magical

  • Invisibility Cloak

  • Time-Turner

• Marauders

• nicknames

• Order of Merlin

• Whomping Willow

Memorable lines:

• Harry frowned; he felt as though he was screwing up his whole brain in concentration.

Strictly British:

• cupboard

• mad

Timelines/Calendar:

The entire action of this chapter takes place later on the same evening as that of the previous chapter. The document condemning Buckbeak gives the date, although not the day of the week, while PA16 gave the day of the week. Unfortunately, the day of the week given in that chapter (Thursday) and the date given in this chapter don't tally for the year 1994.

• The End of PA

• The End of PA: Chart Showing the Events of the Evening of June 6