Continuity mistake: Before Harry and Hermione go back in time, it mentions that Buckbeak is tied to a tree. But when they go back in time, Buckbeak is tied to a fence.

Issabee

Continuity mistake: In June, Fred and George Weasley find out they have scraped "a few O.W.L.s apiece". However, in subsequent books, it is firmly established that O.W.L. results are sent home by owl and are not received until August.

Continuity mistake: When Harry is buying his books at Flourish & Blotts, it mentions that he is being served by the manager. But when Harry was staring at the book 'Death Omens', it says that he is being served by the assistant of the store. (Corrected in later versions.)

Issabee

More mistakes in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Trivia: This is the only book in the series in which Voldemort does not physically appear. He is mentioned only in passing in the Shrieking Shack.

Cubs Fan

Question: When Harry visits Professor Lupin's office the first time, why does Lupin apologize for only having tea bags and not leaves? (I am American and tea is not as popular in all areas of the United States).

Answer: It's a jokey reference to Harry's Divination classes, where he has been studying the reading of tea leaves; in a recent class, Professor Trelawney claimed to have seen the Grim - an omen of death - in Harry's teacup, and has been regularly predicting his impending doom. By saying he's out of leaves and only has teabags, Lupin is trying to inject some humor into the situation in order to put Harry at ease, so he won't dwell on the Grim or any other death omens.

Cubs Fan

Question: Could Professor Snape really get away with putting Neville's toad in danger (when he feeds Neville's potion to the toad at the end of class, saying that it might poison the animal)? I know that he is already a unfriendly teacher, but it seems that there would be some sort of rule against killing an animal that belongs to a student, and parents of other students might be outraged if they heard about it.

Answer: Snape would never actually poison, kill, or otherwise harm any student's pet. He was just being his usual unpleasant self to Neville and any other student not from his own school house (Slytherin). If any Hogwarts teacher actually did something like that, they would be likely be dismissed.

raywest

Question: Do the dementors have personalities and souls? I thought they didn't, but in one chapter (I can't remember which at the moment), someone says that the Dementors "wanted to help."

Answer: They are sentient, therefore having at least some type of personality, and they are able to communicate with wizards. Otherwise they would be incapable of guarding Azkaban prison or take orders from the Ministry of Magic, and also from Dumbledore when they were guarding Hogwarts. It can only be assumed whether or not they have a soul.

raywest

More questions & answers from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.