9 Things I Didn't Realise I Had Forgotten about the Prisoner of Azkaban

18:32 Cilla 8 Comments

I am a die-hard Potterhead. I know the movies by heart. I write Harry Potter fanfictions. "You still love Harry Potter?" "Always." I remember everything about the books. Or so I thought.

See, I left my copies of Harry Potter at my parents' house, and so the only one I've reread in the last five years or so is Deathly Hallows. I've contented myself with the movies, which air on a regular basis on TV anyway, until recently when I discovered the audiobooks. Narrated by Stephen Fry, they're brilliant as bedtime stories. It wasn't until I got to Prisoner of Azkaban that I discovered something else: I've forgotten some details about the book's version of events.

Insert multiple shocked-face emojis here.

Beware: spoilers ahead if you haven't read the book.

1. The 'faulty' sneakoscope

For his thirteenth birthday, Harry received a sneakoscope for Ron. It's a device that lights up and spins around if someone's untrustworthy is nearby. Ron believed it was broken because it kept lighting up when he got it. But it wasn't broken! Someone untrustworthy was nearby!

2. Cedric Diggory's and Cho Chang's first appearances

Cedric is the one and only Seeker to have ever beaten Harry. True, he won because Harry had blacked out due to the Dementors' appearance during the match. The important part of his whole appearance though, for me, is the fact that he felt bad about winning. He even tried to take it back. If that's not the sign of a good guy, I don't know what is.

Cho Chang also appeared during a Quidditch match, and she was the only girl on the Ravenclaw team! Go Cho! Harry didn't just notice that she was pretty, but also thought she must be "undoubtedly a very good flyer". I've always been defensive of Cho, and this just makes me even more so. She's such an interesting character!

3. The Firebolt debacle

Now, I didn't forget that Harry received his Firebolt in PoA and that its arrival temporarily ripped our trio apart. What I'd forgotten was this gem from Oliver Wood:

“Bad news, Harry. I've just been to see Professor McGonagall about the Firebolt. She – er, got a bit shirty with me. Told me I'd got my priorities wrong. Seemed to think I cared more about winning the Cup than I do about staying alive. Just because I told her I didn't care if it threw you off, as long as you caught the Snitch first."

Wood and his obsession with Quidditch should totally have stayed in the movies.

4. The Quidditch Cup

I'd forgotten how much Quidditch we get in the book! That final match against the Slytherin is - hands down - the best Quidditch match in the series. I remembered the results, but I'd forgotten how intense it got. Stephen Fry's narration made it even more exhilarating, and I cried a little bit at the end.

5. Hermione under pressure

Hermione bit so much more than she could chew in her third year, and she was pushed to the edge. I forgot how much I loved seeing this: that while she is the brightest witch of her age, she makes mistakes. She tried to do too much and failed, but that doesn't make her any less brilliant. It just means she can go easy on herself.

6. "Get away from me, werewolf."

This is a scene I never thought about the first time around, but it struck me hard this time. Remus Lupin had been their favourite teacher all year, but as soon as his lycanthropy came out, their first instinct was to reject him. Of course, at this stage, Ron, Hermione and Harry thinks Remus has been helping a serial killer, but still! Imagine how this feels in that moment for him.

7. Snape is an awful teacher

This is one of the reasons I have little sympathy for Snape. He bullied and intimidated his students. The word 'bullied' was actually used to describe him. He called Hermione 'an insufferable know-it-all' in front of the her whole class. He was literally the worst fear of a thirteen-year-old boy, and you can see why:

"Possibly no one's warned you, Lupin, but this class contains Neville Longbottom. I would advise you not to entrust him with anything difficult. Not unless Miss Granger is hissing instructions in his ear."

I was appalled by this as a teenager, but now that I've been a teacher, this makes me angry. It's one thing to remark to another teacher that a student has difficulties in the staff room, quite another to do it in front of said student and his peers. Is it any wonder Neville does so poorly in Potions? 

8. Draco, Crabbe and Goyle pretending to be dementors

The Quidditch matches in this book are gold for the plot and character developments. Harry was so confident with his patronus that he didn't think twice about whipping his wand out when dementors broke into the match again. Only they weren't real dementors... 

9. Security trolls outside of the Gryffindor common room

Enough said.