[HPforGrownups] Chapter Discussion: Prisoner of Azkaban Chapter 17: Cat, Rat and Dog

[June Ewing]

No: HPFGUIDX 190252

1. When the dog attacked the group, what were your thoughts about
where it had come from and what it was? For example, did your mind
return to the Grim?

June:
I like Hermione didn't believe there was a grim and Harry had
already said that if Crookshanks can see it too that it must not
be a grim so that didn't come to mind. My thought was that it had
been hiding  and watching them for a while and waiting for it's
time to pounce, however I  was shocked that it was Ron it went
for instead of Harry and wondered if it had grabbed the wrong
person.

2. Did you assume that it was attempting to get at Harry? If that
was the case, what was your reaction that, after Ron pushed Harry
aside, it then apparently focussed its attack on him instead?

June:
As I said in the first question I was shocked and wondered if it
had grabbed the wrong person.

3. Crookshanks pushed the knot on the trunk of the tree which
caused its flailing to stop. What were your thoughts at that
point about Crookshanks and his actions? Accidental? More to the
Kneazle than meets the eye?

June:
I thought there was more to him than meets the eye and was
concerned that he might have been on the wrong side. I had also
thought it possible he was an animagi because he was just too
smart even for a cat lol

4. In the Shrieking Shack, the dog is then revealed to be Sirius
Black. Had any sort of possibility like this crossed your mind
previously?

June:
At this point I was starting to think that these two animals
(Crookshanks and the dog) where way too smart lol and was
thinking that both of them were animagi and was sure the dog was
Sirius and thought maybe the cat was someone who was going to
help them.

5. Many of Sirius' actions and words at the outset still seemed
to indicate that he was after Harry. Do you think that he took a
very great risk to himself in increasing that perception by
saying to Harry "Going to kill me?". If so, why did he behave in
this way? Would Harry have really attempted to do this if
Crookshanks had not intervened?

June:
I think Sirius knew Harry couldn't bring himself to do it and I
feel that way too. I also think Sirius was amused by Harry trying
to because he could see James in Harry.

6. To me, this is the most interesting chapter in the whole book
because there are so many questions answered, so many puzzles
resolved and, as a result, so many pieces of the jigsaw fall into
place. Would you agree and, if so, what was for you the most
illuminating information that was revealed?

June:
I totally agree with you here. I loved this chapter but for me
the most illuminating information was the discovery that Ron's
pet rat who had been in the family for years was really Peter
Petigrew. That just floored me, didn't see it coming.