PoA Chapters 18-20 Summary (long)

[catherine at cator-manor.demon.co.uk]

No: HPFGUIDX 21786

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Monika Huebner" <monika at d...> wrote:
- a very good, concise summary of chapters 18 -20, which, IMO, is the 
most complicated sequence in all the books.

> Questions:
> 
> 1. Do you think it was all right that Lupin didn't tell Dumbledore 
about Sirius?

No.  I can understand it, but if Lupin really thought that Sirius was 
the evil, murdering person he was alleged to be, then he must have 
known that Sirius would probably be able to get into the castle both 
as an animagus, and by knowing all the secret passage ways.  I think 
that Dumbledore should have been told - afterall, as far as they all 
knew, Harry was very much at risk.  

However, something makes me think that Lupin still had some remnant 
of loyalty towards Sirius - I don't think it was self interest alone 
which stopped him from going to Dumbledore.

> 2. Did you have any suspicions about Scabbers not being a rat? 
After all, we
> already knew that he had been in the Weasley family for quite some 
time.

I remember thinking that JKR was leading up to something, but I don't 
think that I was clever enough to put two and two together.  I did 
have a feeling that there was something fishy going on though - 
perhaps I smelt a rat? (Sorry, very bad pun - I give you all 
permission to groan).


> 3. What did you think when Harry, Ron and Hermione disarmed Snape? 
Do you think
> they did the right thing or should they have waited for something 
actually to
> happen?

Yes, because they were fair enough to want to hear Sirius' and 
Lupin's explanation of what really happened.  Compare Harry, with the 
rage he directed at Sirius, deciding to give him a chance to tell his 
side of the story, compared to Snape, who was so clouded by his 
teenage hatred of Sirius that he wanted to feed him straight to the 
Dementors.  It was a life or death situation - they all realised that 
there was an element of doubt surrounding Sirius' guilt, and were 
therefore unwilling to let Snape take Sirius up to the dementors when 
they weren't 100% sure that he was guilty.

However, I do wish that things had happened differently and that 
Snape had actually seen Peter Pettrigrew.  

> 4. When did you start to believe Sirius? When you heard that 
Scabbers was
> actually an Animagus or did it take you as long as it took Harry?
I can't remember.  I did always think that it was unlikely that 
Sirius was the bad guy - particularly as JKR is very good at turning 
things such as this on the head (Quirrel and Snape is a good example 
of this).  I think I believed him to be innocent right away - but 
only because I wanted him to be.

> 5. When Sirius told them about the night when James and Lily died, 
he had tears
> in his eyes. Did this scene have some kind of effect on you and 
deflected a bit
> from the evil wizard he was supposed to be?

Well yes, but only because I was already convinced that he wasn't the 
evil wizard he was supposed to be.  I found it very moving - poor 
man - he thought that he had come up with the perfect plan, which 
instead of keeping his friends safe, had the opposite effect.  He 
lost his best friend that night - it is not surprising that when he 
relates the events to Harry, his best friend's son, he gets a little 
emotional.  The man has a heart.

> 6. Why do you think has Sirius waited so long before he escaped 
from Azkaban?
> After all, he could have gotten away years ago, since it couldn't 
have taken him
> twelve years to get thin enough to pass through the bars?

I think that seeing the article about the Weasleys going to Egypt, 
and seeing that Pettigrew was at Hogwarts brought Sirius right back 
into the present.  It is likely that he had spent all this time 
dwelling on the past (unhappy memories linger in Azkaban).  When he 
realised that Pettigrew was positioned closely to Harry, this gave 
him the impetus to act.

> 7. When Sirius accused Pettigrew of having sold James and Lily to 
Voldemort, he
> was shaking all over. Why do you think did he have this kind of 
reaction?

I couldn't find this reference to his shaking, but if he were, I 
wouldn't be surprised - literally shaking with anger.  Pent up anger 
at Pettigrew for murdering his best friend, leaving his godson an 
orphan, for destroying his own life - 12 years wasted in Azkaban, 
currently on the run, the injustice of it!  I am surprised he kept 
control as much as he did.

> 8. We know Lupin as a very kind and calm person. Why do you think 
was he almost
> as eager to kill Pettigrew as Sirius was?

I have never understood this.  Why on earth weren't they clever 
enough to realise that a confession from Pettigrew was necessary to 
secure Sirius Black's freedom and have him declared innocent.  I 
think that this was a device to let Harry step in and put a stop to 
it.  

Another thing - Lupin is kind and calm - but the latter because he is 
used to keeping his emotions to himself.  I see him as very 
withdrawn - a result of the way he has been treated most of his 
life.  Now, one of the few people who totally accepted the fact that 
he was a werewolf and didn't shun him, indeed loved him, was James 
Potter, so I would not be surprised if Lupin was also very angry with 
Pettigrew, but just didn't show it to the same extent as Sirius.

> 9. Now that you know what happened at the end of Book 4, do you 
think that Harry
> would have been better off if he would have let Lupin and Black 
kill Pettigrew?

Absolutely not.  The story isn't over yet!  There are three books 
left in which Pettigrew has a chance to redeem himself or at least 
help Harry in some way.  Besides which, I think it is important that 
Harry didn't give into his anger here.  He always strikes me as 
having excellent morals, and I don't think I want to see him tainted 
with someone's death just yet.

> 10. Did you feel any kind of sympathy for Pettigrew?

None at all. Cowardice is no excuse.  Betraying one's friends like 
that, I personally feel, is inexcusable, and I think he has his just 
desserts, as Voldemort treats him as the vermin he is.  (Another kind 
of pun, sorry).

> 11. When Sirius offers Harry to live with him, Harry immediately 
says yes. Now,
> we know that there aren't many adults Harry trusts. Why do you 
think does he
> trust Sirius to the point of going to live with him, even though he 
has known
> him only for about an hour or so?

Push and pull factors.  He obviously would prefer almost anything to 
living with the Dursleys.  More importantly, even in a short space of 
time, he has realised exactly what Sirius has been through, and that 
his escape from Azkaban wasn't solely to avenge himself on Pettigrew, 
but to protect Harry.  He also knows that Sirius was his godfather 
and that James' faith in him was not misguided, therefore he is 
trusting his father's judgement.  

I have to add that I was in tears when I read this scene.  Sirius' 
trepidation in asking Harry, Harry's excitement and obvious pleasure 
in the invitation, Sirius' incredulity and happiness at being wanted, 
and the way the smile transforms his face.  I was absolutely 
heartbroken, and even more so when it didn't happen.  When I reread 
it now, it still has the same effect, and I am always worried that 
the Dementors are going to get Sirius, even though I know that they 
won't.

> 12. Did you think that Harry really saw his father, or the ghost of 
his father
> across the lake, or did you think someone else must have cast the 
Patronus?

I can't remember.  I do remember thinking that Hermione was obviously 
either time travelling or able to split herself in three, and felt 
sure that this was going to play an important part at some stage.  I 
don't know whether this lead me to believe that it could have been 
another Harry casting the Patronus.  I probably wildly speculated 
that as Sirius, Lupin and Pettigrew were there, that perhaps James 
Potter wasn't dead afterall.

> 13. Do you think it was an accident that this Dementor tried to 
administer the
> Kiss to Harry, or do you think the Dementors aren't as loyal to 
Fudge as he
> would like them to be?

I have absolutely no idea on this one.  I think that the Dementors 
are selfserving.  They had their official quarry in sight (Sirius) - 
perhaps the fact that others were with him were enough to stir them 
into attempting a kiss.  Perhaps they all wanted to administer the 
kiss to Sirius, argued about it, and decided to go for all of them 
instead.

BTW:  When I think of the dementors, I don't see them as individuals, 
but as one mass entity.  I get the feeling that if one of them 
feels/experiences something, they will all do so, perhaps a little 
like the Midwich (sp) Cuckoos.  Does anyone else think this as well?


Catherine