CHAPTER DISCUSSION: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban Chapter 12: The Pat

[annemehr]

No: HPFGUIDX 189937

 
> Questions.
> 
> 1. Harry learning how to produce a Patronus was one of the moments in the book
> when I was so very proud of him. What are your "being proud of Harry"
> moments?

Annemehr:

My very best ones are in GoF.  First it was the courageous and elegant way he captured the dragon's egg in the First Task, and then above everything it was the Priori Incantatem event in the graveyard.  Well, the whole graveyard confrontation, really.  And not because he won in a fight, but because of his fortitude in a hopeless situation and the way his best qualities saw him through.


>  3. If Dementor can suck a person's soul from them, does it mean that
> Potterverse does not believe in souls' immortality? If a Dementor dies
> somehow, would the soul be released? Lupin tells Harry that a soul is gone
> forever, lost. Where is it lost in your opinion?

Annemehr:

This whole Dementor's Kiss thing always felt weird to me.  

The way I read it, Lupin is supposed to be stating fact here.  I don't know how he would know, as I don't imagine even a ghost could know whether or not those souls have ever "gone on."

In the absence of any further explanation from JKR, my completely useless opinion is that the soul is destroyed inside the dementor as opposed to being trapped inside forever.

> 
> 4. What is behind Lupin's asking Harry whether anybody deserves the
> Dementor's kiss? Is he hesitant to believe in Sirius' guilt or he is simply not
> a believer in such punishment? Any other suggestions?
>

Annemehr:

I do think Lupin believes no one deserves that.

Again, it's strange to discuss.  In DH, Harry saw what became of his parents, but we have no real idea what living wizards know or believe in general.  But it would seem they know the Kiss is worse than death and so would be too harsh a punishment for murder -- and yet an official punishment it is, and Sirius was to receive it at the end of PoA.

So yeah, I think Lupin opposed it like many in RL oppose the death penalty, only this is even more extreme. 

> 5. Whose side you were on when Harry and Ron and Hermione were at odds if
> anybody's?

Annemehr:

My sympathies were with Ron, as Hermione seemed to have no empathy at all.

Thank you, Alla, these were really good questions.