PoA Chapters 18-20 Summary

[meboriqua at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 21813

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Monika Huebner" <monika at d...> wrote:
> 
> 1. Do you think it was all right that Lupin didn't tell Dumbledore 
about Sirius?

I don't think it was all right, but it was certainly understandable.  
I'm not the first one to explain that Lupin doesn't exactly trust 
people, and I know he was worried that Dumbledore would no longer 
trust him if he told Dumbledore about the things he did as a student.  
I think Lupin was so pleased to have been hired by D that he was 
focused on keeping his job and D's trust.  Sirius was not in the 
forefront of his thoughts.
>  
> 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?

I thought they were frustrated and exhausted.  Of course, once again, 
they did not do the right thing, but what they did was understandable.  
Snape was completely unwilling to listen, a plot device that drives me 
nuts, and they wanted him to shut up and hear Sirius and Lupin out.  
I, too am sorry, though, that Snape did not have a chance to see 
Pettigrew.  I wonder how he would have reacted to that.
> 
> 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?

When I read for the first time, I am usually too caught up in the 
story to analyze, so I assumed Sirius was bad - until he went to see 
if Ron's leg was okay.  The fact that he cared about Ron's well being 
showed me that he was no murderer.
> 
> 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?

If he had escaped years earlier, where would he have gone?  He 
couldn't possibly have been able to find Pettigrew.  When he saw the 
Daily Prophet with Pettigrew's photo in it, he had a plan.  He had a 
new thought that he (and people here) explained was not a happy 
thought, but one that kept him sane (and focused).  I'm sure seeing a 
happy and healthy Scabbers on the shoulder of a boy who attended 
Hogwarts with his godson was enough to make Sirius able to fight the 
dementors.
> 
> 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?

Confrontations can be very intense and the emotions of the moment can 
take over.  I would have reacted quite similarly.
>  
> 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?

Don't we all know that somehow, in the next three books, Pettigrew 
will sacrifice himself to save Harry?  I don't think that Harry would 
have felt good about allowing someone to die in front of him.  He did 
the right thing.
> 
> 10. Did you feel any kind of sympathy for Pettigrew?

For someone weak and cowardly enough to allow his best friends and 
parents of a baby to be murdered?  I have no room in my heart for 
Peter Pettigrew.  His sniveling excuses meant nothing to me; plenty of 
others have fought Voldie and lost because they were better people.
> 
> 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?

I, too would jump at the chance to live with a wizard who knew me when 
I was a baby, knew my parents well, and would dote on me and no one 
else.  Harry is isolated and abused by the Dursleys; Sirius would give 
the care and love he has so rarely received.  Besides, Sirius proved 
his innocence completely enough, as well as showed respect for Harry 
by obeying Harry's wish to not kill Pettigrew.
> 
> 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?

You know, it's so hard for me to say what I thought when I first read 
the book.  I might have thought some form of Harry's father was there, 
but I just don't remember.
> 
> 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?

Dementors make a mistake?  I doubt it.  Fudge may think he has control 
over the demenotrs, but I think they go along with him to get what 
they want, which is lots of tasty emotions to feast on.  They could 
turn on Fudge and suck out his soul tomorrow if they choose to.

--jenny from