1993-1994 – The year of the Dementors, Sirius Black, and learning about the Marauders.

Ron is unfamiliar with telephones and shouts extremely loudly into the mouthpiece. Unfortunately, it was Uncle Vernon who answered the call and his response was “THERE IS NO HARRY POTTER HERE!” (PA1). Read More
The Daily Prophet runs a small article announcing the winner. In it we find out that the Weasleys will use the gold to travel to Egypt where Bill Weasley works as a curse breaker for Gringotts Bank. They will be in Egypt for a month,… Read More
Uncle Vernon finds the report lacking, however, since the television reporter doesn’t even say where this Black person has escaped from: “Hang on!” barked Uncle Vernon, staring furiously at the reporter. “You didn’t tell us where that maniac’s escaped from! What use is that? Lunatic could be coming up the street… Read More
Percy Weasley is very proud and pleased with himself when he is appointed Head Boy shortly before the start of his seventh year at Hogwarts (PA4). Read More
Marge insults Harry’s father, and Harry’s deep anger leads to uncontrolled magic. Marge inflates like a balloon and floats up to the ceiling. Knowing he’s in trouble with the Dursleys for blowing up Marge and believing he’s expelled from Hogwarts for performing magic outside of school, Harry grabs his school… Read More
He does his homework out in the open, eats free ice creams, picks up his books, and repeatedly stops by Quality Quidditch Supplies to admire the Firebolt. (PA3)… Read More
A week after Harry arrives in Diagon Alley, the shop displays a prototype of “the most magnificent broom he had ever seen in his life.” It’s a Firebolt, reputed to be the fasted broom in the world. At the end of the placard giving the details of the broom are… Read More
Harry, Ron, and the Hermione are all staying at the Leaky Cauldron. Hermione buys Crookshanks. That night, Harry overhears Mr. and Mrs. Weasley in conversation – and learns that Sirius Black is after him. Read More
She buys him at the Magical Menagerie in Diagon Alley, using the ten galleons her parents gave her for an early birthday present. The witch in the shop said that Crookshanks had been there for ages, that nobody wanted him. Read More
During a heavy rainstorm, a group of Dementors stop the Hogwarts Express as it travels to Scotland and search the train. One Dementor enters the compartment where Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville, Ginny, and Lupin are traveling. Harry collapses as the Dementor approaches, but Lupin drives the Dementor away with… Read More
In Hagrid’s first Care of Magical Creatures lesson, Harry approaches, bows, and wins the trust of the hippogriff Buckbeak. Draco, on the other hand, taunts the creature, which promptly retaliates with very sharp claws. Read More
Lupin, who believed that practical experiences were the best way to teach, brought his class of Third Years to the staff room where a Boggart had taken up residence in the wardrobe. The Boggart tried to scare a number of kids in the class, beginning with a very nervous Neville… Read More
Lavender receives a letter informing her that her young pet rabbit, Binky, has been killed by a fox. She takes this upsetting news as evidence of Professor Trelawney’s powers of prediction, but Hermione tries to point out why that is a flawed conclusion (PA8). Lavender believes the… Read More
Everyone thinks Sirius Black wants to kill Harry. Dumbledore sends all of the students to sleep in the Great Hall overnight so that the teachers and staff can search the school. Snape thinks Lupin is helping Sirius sneak into the castle. Read More
The Gryffindor Quidditch Team loses to Hufflepuff in a match played in a howling thunderstorm. Hermione casts a spell on Harry’s glasses so that they repel water which at least allows him to see. In the midst of the match he sees a large dog in the stands… Read More
Because Ravenclaw beat Hufflepuff in their Quidditch match at the end of November, the Gryffindor team is not out of the running for this year’s Quidditch Cup. This helps Harry Potter feel a little bit better about him falling off his broom when they played… Read More
On the last Saturday before the Christmas Holiday, there is a Hogsmeade trip. Along with an unspecified number of fourth-through-seventh years, all the third years besides Harry are allowed to go to the village to enjoy themselves and do some Christmas shopping. (PA10) Thanks to his invisibility cloak and the… Read More
Fred and George Weasley know that Harry desperately wants to go to Hogsmeade but he is not allowed because escaped convict Sirius Black is on the loose and the castle is surrounded by Dementors. So they decide to give him the Marauder’s Map,… Read More
Harry wakes up on Christmas morning in 1993 to a pile of presents at the foot of his bed. Among them is a long thin box with no note attached. When Harry opens it a brand new Firebolt rolls out of the wrappings.  Harry and Ron are in shock. They… Read More
The successful Japanese Quidditch team, Toyohashi Tengu, narrowly missed a win over the Gorodok Gargoyles of Lithuania when they played each other in a 1994 match. With Quidditch growing in popularity in Asia only during the last century, this was considered a good result against… Read More
Because Slytherin did not beat the Ravenclaw team by a large margin in their Quidditch match, Oliver Wood tells Harry Potter that it means that Gryffindor will be in second place for the Quidditch Cup if they also beat Ravenclaw in the next match (PA12). Read More
Hagrid takes Buckbeak on the Knight Bus to appear before the Committee of the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures. Hermione helps Hagrid prepare a defense but it’s not enough. Lucius Malfoy bullies the Committee into condemning Buckbeak to be executed. Hagrid writes a tear-stained letter back to Hermione at… Read More
Gryffindor vs. Ravenclaw in Harry Potter’s third year is the first Quidditch match where he is allowed to fly on his new Firebolt broom, which was given back to him only in time for one practice session with the team (PA13). It is a “must win” situation… Read More
In this match, the Slytherin team members resort to dirty tactics to try and beat Gryffindor’s team in what is the last Quidditch match of the year. However, in spite of Slytherin’s efforts to foul and cheat, Harry Potter catches the Snitch and Gryffindor wins… Read More
Harry, Ron, and Hermione start back to the castle from Hagrid’s cabin. Crookshanks chases Scabbers, and a big black dog drags Ron into a tunnel under the Whomping Willow. Crookshanks stops the tree from attacking Harry and Hermione, and they follow the cat down the tunnel to emerge in the… Read More
Harry and Hermione lead the hippogriff away while the execution party – an elderly member of the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures, Walden Macnair (the executioner), Dumbledore, and Hagrid – is busy inside Hagrid’s hut. Prompted by Dumbledore, Harry and Hermione used Hermione’s Time-Turner to return to the time… Read More
“Gryffindor house, meanwhile, largely thanks to their spectacular performance in the Quidditch Cup, had won the House Championship for the third year running. This meant that the end-of-term feast took place amid decorations of scarlet and gold, and that the Gryffindor table was the noisiest of the lot, as everybody… Read More
Ron Weasley, who supports the Chudley Cannons, accuses Cho Chang of being one of Tutshill Tornados fans to have only begun following the team since they started winning. Cho coolly answers that she has been a fan since childhood. Hermione Granger starts arguing with Ron afterwards,… Read More