Chapter Discussion: Prisoner of Azkaban Ch 21: Hermione's secret

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 190984

 
> Questions:
> 
> 1. At the beginning of Fudge and Snape's conversation, we see Snape trying hard
> to get Harry in trouble, with detention and expulsion as his punishment. We all
> know he does this constantly, but, why? After knowing the ending of the series,
> and knowing that he is Harry's protector, why do you think he tries so hard to
> have him punished?

Pippin:
I think it is like Harry threatening to use magic on the Dursleys at the beginning of CoS. He isn't actually intending to do it, and isn't  allowed to anyway, but the Dursleys don't need to know that. 

While Snape really does think that Harry takes horrible risks and should be stopped from doing so, he also thinks he is under no obligation to make Harry's life any more pleasant or comfortable than it has to be. He sees no reason why he shouldn't insult and threaten Harry if there is the slightest possible chance that he deserves it, and being a clever man, he is always able to think of a reason that Harry might.

> 
> 2. Snape was a Death Eater from the beginning and would have probably known
> who's who in the clique. Do you think he knows that Sirius is innocent?

Pippin:
Snape's fury in the Shrieking Shack shows he believes Sirius is guilty. Now that we know any Death Eater can communicate directly with Voldemort and with others through the Dark Mark, it is easy to see how  Voldemort could keep the cells of his organization separate and still pass information between them. 

Lucius Malfoy,  with his dark mark becoming active again, might have used it to summon other Death Eaters  at the QWC without having to know who they were. 

I think  Snape may have discovered that some DE's knew  the spy as "Wormtail" and Snape knew that "Wormtail" had been Pettigrew's nickname at school. But given Voldemort's talent for misdirection,  the fact that the spy was using one of the Maruader's nicknames did not, of course, mean that the spy was that particular Marauder, or even one of the Marauders at all. It only meant that Voldemort had corrupted someone close to James, and was daring Dumbledore to find out who it was. 
 
> 3. It wasn't mentioned how the Dementors were called into Hogwarts. We assume
> they came on their own. Macnair came to fetch the Dementors. And Fudge (and
> other ministry officials) seems to have a degree of hold on them and can even
> give them orders. Fudge isn't even afraid of being in the same room as them.
> Dementors have shown they have free will but do you think they have brains?

Pippin:

Since dementors glide rather than walk, I think they are more akin to entities like poltergeists and ghosts rather than Beings who have a living body with a brain in it. 

They have some kind of magical intelligence. We know they are capable of assembling data and reaching conclusions from it. Sirius says that they knew his thoughts were simpler when he was a dog, but they thought that meant he was going insane like the other prisoners.  

What they don't seem to have is any intellectual creativity. AFAWK, their only goals are to get more food and make more dementors. 

> 
> 4. Hermione and Harry were in the infirmary but after flipping the time turner,
> why did they end up at the entrance hall? Being a time turner, it should only
> be able to turn back time and not change your location.

Pippin:
It has to take you back to a location near where you were at the time you are revisiting, but out of sight.

It's Einsteinian, IMO -- time and space are one. 
> 
> 5. On a similar note, do you think the time-turner can go forward in time?

Pippin;
We've seen them do it. The cabinet time turners at the Ministry in OOP fall, break, and return to Harry's present, which is their future, over and over again. 

> 
> 6. Hermione said she was given the time turner so she could get to all her
> classes, and that Mcgonagall had to write to different people in order to get
> her permission. So do you think that schools or Hogwarts in particular have been
> giving out time turners to their outstanding students for ages?

Pippin:
Yes, though Hermione may have been  McGonagall's first  ever  opportunity.  Barty Jr was a twelve OWL student and must have had one, but he probably wasn't in Gryffindor. Dumbledore may have been the last Gryffindor student to have one. McGonagall doesn't strike me as the 12 OWL type, though I could be wrong. 

It would be fun to think of her turning herself into a cat to catch up on her sleep and resting in her own lap while her human self did her homework.

 I suspect most students weren't as zealous as Hermione about using the Time Turner only to get to class. I'm sure Riddle had a time turner  and used it to hunt for the Chamber of Secrets and to give himself alibis.

> 
> 7. Dumbledore is in his usual calm state even though Buckbeak is about to be
> executed. Do you think he has knowledge of past and future events? Do you think
> that he knew Buckbeak would be saved?

Pippin:
Dumbledore knows that Hagrid needs him to be calm and strong, whatever happens. Also Dumbledore knows that his intelligence and ability to reason are his strengths, and they are not at their best when he permits himself to become angry or inflamed. 

> 
> 8. We know that past!Harry and Hermione heard the thudding of an axe and
> Hagrid's howling after they left his Hut. But could it be that what they heard
> was really the events of this chapter: Macnair throwing the ax at the fence and
> Hagrid crying with joy because of Buckbeaks apparent escape?

Pippin:
I am pretty sure there is supposed to be only one time line, though wizards have experimented with creating multiples. Hermione, once she has been observed to be absent from charms, cannot go back and take the charms class. She is not supposed to try and change time and has been told that bad things will happen if she tries. 


> 
> 9. Harry and Hermione talk about what could've driven the dementors away. And
> Harry confesses that he thinks it might've been his Dad. What were your first
> thoughts in reading this chapter so long ago?
> 
PIppin:
Darned if I know. I might've thought it was Snape. I know I never thought it was Harry. 

> 10. On a side note, it really amazes me how "important" doors and windows can be
> opened by a simple alohamora. Was this deliberate?

Pippin:
It's not so amazing if you think about it. Even in the Muggle world we tend to treat locks as a formality -- I have had padlocks you could smash with a hammer, cars you could unlock with a coat hanger,  doorlocks you could open with a credit card, and how many of us are as careful with our PINS and computer  and voicemail passwords as the experts say we ought to be? 

The lock functions more like a "private --keep out" sign than as an actual barrier.  And like the sign, most people will respect it, though it can do nothing to stop a determined thief. 

Really, really important doors, like the one for the Love room in the Ministry of Magic, cannot be opened by any spell that the Trio knows even as fifth years. Fudge could probably have locked Sirius's window with something like that if he had thought of it. 

There are times when wizards will deliberately make the first in a series of barriers too easy to  overcome -- as a sort of feint or an incentive to overconfidence. But I don't think that was the case here.  Fudge was  locking Sirius in, not  locking rescuers out, and Sirius didn't have a wand. Though if it was Dumbledore who locked the window, he was probably already thinking of a plan to let Sirius escape. 


Thanks, luirhys, for the interesting questions. 

Pippin