Chapter Discussion: Prisoner of Azkaban Ch 19: The Servant of Lord Voldemort

[willsonteam]

No: HPFGUIDX 190646


> 
> 1. 
> "Professor Lupin could have killed me about a hundred times this year,"
> Harry said. "I've been alone with him loads of times, having defence
> lessons against the dementors. If he was helping Black, why didn't he
> just finish me off then?" This is a funny quote by Harry, since a couple of  years later he fails to apply same logic. Do you agree or disagree?

Potioncat:
It sounds good, but doesn't really prove what Harry thinks it does. Barty Crouch will get lots of opportunities  to harm Harry next year but won't--and doesn't make him a good guy. By the same token, all year long Black has also had the opportunity to harm Harry and didn't but no one gave it any thought.


> 
> 2.  "You fool. Is a schoolboy grudge worth putting innocent man back in prison?" Discuss.

Potioncat: 
 Lupin couldn't help himself, JKR made him say it. It's a bit of misdirection, close enough to the truth so that we/Harry doesn't think any more about it. None of us--not even Lupin-- knows what's going on with Snape. He's carrying the guilt of causing Lily's death, the task of protecting Harry, the belief that Black was the traitor and  he knows a werewolf is about to transform. If he wants Black's soul sucked out it's because of Lily, not because of a school boy grudge.

Back to Lupin (and forget JKR)  I agree with Pippin, this is a poor way to reason with Snape. For Heaven's sakes, Lupin wasn't 100% certain about Black when he first arrived and  he understands what's really going on with Sirius and Peter. It is funny that Lupin, who usually goes out of this way to praise others (including Snape) is so derogatory here. Was he trying to impress Black?  Lupin doesn't know the whole story about Snape and Lily--but he should that Snape has many reasons to believe Black is guilty and that Lupin is helping him. He should have taken a different approach. 

  
> 3.  "But you, Peter -- I'll never understand why I didn't see you were the spy from the start." So, discuss why you think Sirius (and James and Lily) did not see this.

Potioncat: It wasn't clear the first time through--at that time it seemed that the makers of the Marauders' Map were friends. But I think James and Sirius were the friends; Remus and Peter were hangers-on. I'm not sure when Lupin's secret came out, but I'm sure that secret raised him in their esteem  and probably in treatment. Peter was just a little toady---a bully's minion. So I doubt they gave Peter much thought at all--even after the bullying stopped.


> 
> 4. "THEN YOU SHOULD HAVE DIED!" roared Black. "DIED RATHER THAN
> BETRAY YOUR FRIENDS, AS WE WOULD HAVE DONE FOR YOU!"
>  Do you believe this? Do you think it reasonable that Peter did not, regardless of your answer to the first part?

Potioncat: I think a true Gryffindor or Hufflepuff would have died before betraying a friend. I've never understood how Peter got into Gryffindor. Has anyone figured that out?


> 
> 5. Snape's emotions in this chapter reach an intensity he has never displayed before. Did you think he had reasons for it?

Potioncat: It really seemed over the top, and we'll see it again very soon. It makes much more sense now than it used to. I think his emotion is all Lily-based.


> 
> 6. Snape thinks Harry should have thanked him on  bended knee because otherwise he would have died just like his father, "too ----- [arrogant] to believe he must be mistaken in Black". What were your thoughts when you have read this paragraph  for the first time if you remember and what were your thoughts about this paragraph after book seven?

Potioncat: I recall some speculation at one time that Snape may have tried to warn James.  However, it's more that Snape warned DD and spied for him. As far as I know, the only thing anyone knew is that someone close to the Potters were spies. James should have accepted DD as his secret keeper. I don't think anyone in the WW had done a better job of keeping secrets than DD. From Snape's view-James turned down DD's offer out of arrogance.


> 7. Snape promises to give Sirius and Lupin to the Dementors, did you believe that he will do it?

Potioncat: At the moment I was reading it---yes. But by the end of this book, I did not think so. After all, he doesn't, and for some good reasons as already mentioned by Pippin. But I  do think he expected Black to be turned over  to them. Yet for the trip to the castle, he treated Black with the same care and dignity that he provided for the others.


> 8. "Sirius says Peter passed information to Voldemort for a year. Why do you think Peter did this?

Potioncat: Because he aligned himself with the biggest bully on the playground, and that's what he had to do. In many ways Peter exceeds expectations. He seems to be a nothing, yet he became an Animagus, helped create the map, and managed the potion for LV. 

Thanks Alla and Zara, great discussion!