Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004) - 80 questions

Question: How is it possible that Peter Petigrew was in Gryffindor? The main Gryffindor attribute is bravery, and we can see that Petigrew is a total coward.

Answer: The sorting hat takes into consideration your choices. Black, Lupin, & Potter befriended Pettigrew on the Hogwarts express. So when Black and Lupin, preceeding Pettigrew alphabetically, were sorted into Gryffindor, Pettigrew chose to join his new friends thinking to have them as protectors from school bullies.

Question: During the DADA class that Snape teaches, Hermione says that "werewolves only respond to a call from their own kind". Why, then, does the werewolf-Lupin go to Hermione's wolf call when she and Harry have gone back in time to save themselves? Does this mean that she is something other than a girl?

Answer: She is not something other than a girl. Hermione is just able to imitate a werewolf's howl to save Harry and the others.

Question: When Harry and Hermione are using the time turner, I have two questions about that scene. One: Why can't anyone see them? IS this crucial to their mission? Two: Before they go back in time, we see that they already have (Hermione thinks she saw herself in the tree's.). But this means that there would never be an end to the chain. It's a time paradox.

Answer: They can't be seen to avoid people asking questions. It's generally known where Harry and Hermione were during the course of events, so if somebody later claimed to have spotted them somewhere, people might realise what had really happened, which could cause them problems. As for the paradox, I don't see one - it's a simple course of events. Harry and Hermione live through the chain of events once, including a couple of unknowing interactions with their future selves. They then use the time-turner to travel back and re-experience the events and interactions with themselves again, this time from the alternate perspective. They catch up with the time left departed from and continue onwards. It's pretty straightforward, with no obvious paradox involved.

Question: When Harry and Hermione are rescuing Sirius, Hermione blasts open the door using a different spell than the one she used in The Philosopher's Stone to open the door to where Fluffy was. I can understand that the reason the spell would be stronger on Sirius's cell is so he can't escape and it's more secure. But the Philosopher's Stone had to be secured well, so why was the lock so easy to unlock?

Answer: It's never stated that one spell is stronger than the other. There may be different spells that achieve similar results, and Hermione simply chose one over the other. Therefore, it should not be assumed that one lock was easier to open than the other. Also, the "bombarda" spell was never mentioned in the books. It was invented by the filmmakers for the movie, probably because it sounded stronger and was more descriptive (as in to bombard).

Question: When Hermione says 'I thought I just saw. Never mind' what did she think she saw?

Answer: She thought she saw herself, which would have been impossible, if not for the Timeturner that Prof. McGonigall gave her. She saw a flash of the scene as it appears when she and Harry revisit that moment in time.

Question: Near the end of the film, from Buckbeak's execution, there are things that relate to Harry and Hermione going back in time, like the stones being thrown through Hagrid's window, and the wolf howl etc. But if they had already gone back in time to do these things, then wouldn't Buckbeak and Sirius have already been saved, meaning that they wouldn't have to go back and do all that in the first place?

Answer: Yes, they had already been saved. But the kids didn't know about either of them. And Dumbledore didn't yet know about Sirius. He did know that Buckbeak had mysteriously vanished, but the fact that these things had already happened didn't mean they didn't have to do them. To the contrary, it formed a bit of a prophecy, telling Dumbledore that they not only had to do it, but that they would succeed, at least in the areas he knew had already happened. When time travel is involved, you are not allowed to assume your job is done just because a task has already been completed. In fact, that it actually locks you into a path that eventually leads to performing that same task.

Question: Why is there another flight of stairs going up from the Fat Lady's portrait when there are only supposed to be 7 floors on the Grand Staircase? There's also another flight of stairs going up higher in the background (behind Harry and the others) when the Fat Lady won't allow the students in until she's broken the glass with her voice. Is there an 8th floor we're not hearing about?

Answer: We are constantly told that the staircases move by themselves and often lead no-where. It is very easy to assume that these stairs are ones that go no-where.

Question: There's a scene in the Leaky Cauldron where an anonymous customer is reading Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time and stirring a spoon in his coffee cup without touching it. Is this just a random display of magic, or is it some kind of inside physics joke? I seem to remember some example (maybe about entropy?) in Hawking's book that included reference to a coffee cup, but it's been a really long time since I read it. Does anyone know what, if anything, this scene is supposed to signify?

Answer: It is a bit of an inside joke, but not as significant as you make it out to be. The plot in "Azkaban" involves time travel, and the book, written by the famous British scientist, fits in with that premise. The magic being used to stir the coffee is probably just that—a demonstration of magic. It also draws attention to Ian Brown of the band Stone Roses, who makes a cameo appearance as the coffee drinker.

Question: What is the 'Messrs.' in 'Messrs. Mooney, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs' on the marauders map?

Answer: It's the plural form of Mr. Effectively the same as saying "Mr Mooney, Mr Wormtail, Mr Padfoot and Mr Prongs", but without the repetition.

Question: What is the creature that roars at the maid in the Leaky Cauldron scene?

Answer: We're never told. This scene is not in the book, and it is never elaborated on in the film. It was just added to be amusing.

Question: Am I mistaken or does Malfoy mean Bad Dragon?

Answer: According to Language Realm - Malfoy can be taken as "mal" and "foi" or translated to "bad faith or evil belief". Draco, of course, is akin to the Greek "drakon" for dragon. So where Draco refers to a dragon, the name Malfoy itself, does not mean Bad Dragon - but Bad Faith (which in itself makes sense in the Rowling realm).

Question: When Harry and Hermione go back in time to rescue Sirius and Buckbeak, does Dumbledore know that they are rescuing them? It's just that earlier the execution happened quickly, but when they go back in time, Dumbledore seems to be distracting the executioner and Fudge so that Harry and Hermione can do what they need to do.

Answer: Yes Dumbledore knows that they are rescuing Buckbeak and Sirius, because (and this is a little complicated) he is planning to tell Harry and Hermione (the Harry and Hermione who have just left Hagrid's Hut, not the Harry and Hermione who are now rescuing Buckbeak) to go back in time and rescue them, so he is presuming that a future Harry and Hermione would currently be rescuing Buckbeak. Hope that doesnt play with your mind too much!

Question: What is it that Malfoy calls Ron in the scene near the shrieking shack?

Answer: He calls him Weaselby (a pun on Ron's last name Weasley and a weasel).

Question: This applies more to the book: Buckbeak's appeal is set for two in the afternoon, and his execution at sundown. If the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures is so certain of Buckbeak's guilt, why (besides the gaping plot hole) do they wait so long between appeal and execution?

Answer: The gap is to get all the formalities done. There was probably lots of paperwork to be done.

Question: On the 2nd Disc, there is an interview with director Alfonso Cuaron and J.K. Rowling. In the interview, Rowling states that Cuaron unknowingly put some clues in the movie that foreshadow events that happen in books 6 an 7. I have read books 6 and 7 and I re-watched the movie, but I still have no idea what clues Rowling was referring to. Could someone please fill me in?

Answer: Semi-spoilers, but just a few things that I noticed: Lupin speaking about Lily, saying that she saw the good in anyone, Hermione and Ron's little "moments" which were much more plentiful than in the 3rd book, and Snape protecting Harry from the werewolf when he could have run. I'm sure there might be more, but also keep in mind that between the making of this movie and the release of the final books, JKR did change/edit several things so some "clues" might foreshadow things that never made it into the books.

Question: This applies to the movie and the book. Is there any reason why somebody can't go back in time using a Time Turner and save all those people that Voldemort killed or perhaps kill the child Voldemort? It seems like such a big plot hole so I had to check before I submitted it as a mistake.

Answer: To change time, even with good intentions, would be to break one of the most important wizarding laws. Hermione was only allowed access to a Time Turner under very carefully controlled conditions; Professor McGonagall had to write many letters to the Ministry on her behalf and, according to Hermione, told her a number of stories about occasions when wizards had attempted to alter time with horrific consequences. Going back to kill the infant Voldemort would simply not be an option.

Question: In the first scene, Harry is seen practicing his 'Lumos Maximus' spell under his bedcovers. But in film 5 (and the books, for that matter) it is said that students aren't allowed to perform any magic outside of school. So how was he able to perform this spell without being warned/expelled from Hogwarts?

Answer: It's also shown that the Ministry have some discretion in what's allowable. Given that Harry's using a low-level spell, out of the sight of any muggles (the incidents that get him into trouble in books 3 and 5 both take place with muggles present), in a repeated fashion that would clearly indicate practice, it's reasonable to think that the Ministry would exercise its discretion in this instance and choose not to pursue the matter.

Question: Why was there never a tribute to Richard Harris in the credits of any of the Harry Potter movies? I understand he died 2 weeks before the Chamber of Secretes debuted in theaters, however there was plenty of time to put a tribute in the credits of The Prisoner of Azkaban.

Answer: Probably because it was eighteen months later by that point and, in the end, Harris really had nothing to do with that film, making a tribute to him in the credits inappropriate.

Question: How did Lupin become a werewolf? Did he get bitten or is he a shape shifter?

Answer: This is answered in the sixth book. He was bitten as a small boy (about 11) by a dangerous Werewolf called Fenrir Greyback. He is not an Animagus like Sirius Black.

Question: When Harry's boggart turns into a dementor, Lupin dives in front and says "ridiculous". He then later says he did this because he thought the boggart would turn into Lord Voldemort. But the boggart wasn't Lord Voldemort, but just a dementor. So that excuse doesn't hold up. Why wouldn't he let harry fend off the boggart like the rest of the class?

Answer: He says that he instinctively thought the boggart would turn into Voldemort. He jumped in front of this as Harry had already had dealings with a dementor, and the boggart would be able to weald the same powers a dementor has. He knew once Harry had seen the dementor that he would not be able to deal with it due to his past experience.