Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Answer: She's not angry. She realises how serious the situation is, and is considering the difficult task Dumbledore has suggested he wants her and Harry to do.

raywest

Not to mention that what Dumbledore is suggesting is illegal under wizarding law and highly dangerous. She knows what could happen legally and physically if problems arise.

LorgSkyegon

Question: When freeing Sirius Black, then flying around the School, why did they whoop and holler and make so much noise if they were trying to be secretive?

Beau Peterson

Chosen answer: They were still high enough in the air where there was little chance of being heard or if they were, it would be muffled. Also, they're kids. They are not always capable of restraining their emotions or enthusiasm when they should. It is also a means to heighten the scene's mood (enthusiasm and success) and show the audience what emotions the characters are feeling at the time.

raywest

Question: Before Harry gets on the bus for stranded witches/wizards, Sirius appears in dog form and growls at him. Why is Sirius behaving aggressively toward his godson?

Answer: Sirius wasn't being aggressive toward Harry. In the book, Harry merely saw a hulking shape and a pair of eyes in the bushes watching him, but there was no growling. The way it's shown in the movie was played up to make it appear that there is some imminent threat to Harry. The filmmakers were apparently attempting to foreshadow the coming danger and to keep the audience in suspense about Sirius' identity and true intentions.

raywest

Question: Why did they change the geography of Hogwarts (Hagrid's hut, Whomping Willow, etc.) if it would just annoy people?

Answer: They didn't do it with the assumption that it would annoy people; like anything, they knew some people would like it and others wouldn't. But that was one of the things they decided could be changed when Alfonso Cuaron took over as director. His vision was different from that of Chris Columbus, and it was now Cuaron's movie.

Krista

Question: When the fat lady painting lets Harry and the others in after "breaking" the glass, she says something quite quietly to herself, possibly foregin. I can't make it out - does anyone know what she says? The subtitles don't say...

Hamster

Chosen answer: She calls them plebs - dates back to Roman times, relating to common people.

Super Grover

Question: Both the movie and book make it seem like Harry did a merciful act by sparing Peter Pettigrew's life and trying to take him to the Dementors instead. It even created a life debt that made Peter hesitate to kill Harry later on (during the "Deathly Hallows" events). But having your soul removed by a Dementor is supposed to be a fate worse than death. How has Harry been merciful at all?

Answer: It wasn't about his being merciful. Harry knew that Pettigrew needed to be alive long enough so he could exonerate Sirius Black by confessing his part in the crime. Sirius had been wrongly accused.

raywest

Answer: In the book Harry spares Peter's life to take him to the dementors, because he didn't think his dad would want his two best friends to be murderers.

Question: This occured to me after watching all the movies. Until the end of this movie, everyone thought Sirius Black supported Voldemort. Therefore, if Severus Snape wants Voldemort to believe that he is loyal to him and is only faking his allegiance to Dumbledore, why does he attempt to capture Sirius and turn him over to the Dementors? Wouldn't he have to explain to Voldemort why he attacked a fellow servant?

Answer: This is not explained well in the movie. Snape was motivated purely by hatred toward Sirius that extended back to when they were students at Hogwarts together. Young Sirius bullied Snape relentlessly and nearly got him killed by playing a trick on him. Like others, he also erroneously believed Black had betrayed the Potters. Snape never forgave him and was so blinded by wanting revenge that he would let the Dementors suck out his soul. Snape would not have to explain anything to Voldemort because Sirius, unlike his family, was never a Death Eater nor did he ever serve the Dark Lord. In fact, he joined the Order of the Phoenix and fought against Voldemort. The Dark Lord knew this.

raywest

Question: This is a two-part question. 1. When the Dementors first appear on the train, why does frost cover the windows and the train become so cold? 2. If the Dementors were sent to capture Sirius Black, why would they be on a train full of Hogwarts students?

Answer: The frost appearing whenever the Dementors are nearby never happened in the books. It was solely a creation for the movie as a device to foreshadow their oncoming and ominous presence. This same freezing over plays a part later in the movie when Harry saves Sirius from the Dementors by the lake. The audience already knows it signals something bad is about to happen. Regarding the second part of your question, When Sirius Black escaped from Azkaban, it was known that he wanted to kill someone who was at Hogwarts. Because he was convicted as Voldemort's accomplice in Lily and James Potters' murders, it was assumed he was on his way to kill Harry. The Dementors are on the Hogwarts express, and later at the school, to protect Harry as well as hunt for Sirius. However, the Dementors have overstepped their purpose and become a threat to Harry, who has a particularly strong reaction whenever they approach him.

raywest

Question: What song/music is Lupin playing in the first Boggart scene?

Answer: The song during the boggart scene is called Hot Liquorice.

Question: How did Harry send his own patronum at the lake without knowing it ?

Answer: After the first time Harry saw it, as he was being attacked by the dementors, he had convinced himself that it was sent by his (dead) father, who he believed had somehow been resurrected. When he goes back in time three hours, and watches the other Harry across the lake, he realizes that it was he who cast the earlier patronus, not his father. That is when he casts it again.

raywest

Question: Why did Professor Snape insist on teaching Professor Lupin's class about werewolves (when he takes over the class)? If he or any other staff members suspected Lupin of being one, it seems that they wouldn't want to cause any panic or distraction among the students.

Answer: Severus Snape hates Remus Lupin because he was best friends with Sirius Black and James Potter, who used to torment Snape when they were all students at Hogwarts together. Snape is teaching the class about werewolves in the hope that one or more of the students will recognize Lupin for what he is, tell their parents about it, and then Lupin will be fired from his position. Snape takes this roundabout course of action most likely because all the faculty had promised Dumbledore to keep Lupin's nature a secret from the student body for this very reason.

Phixius

Question: After turning into a werewolf, what is it Lupin mutters as Hermione is walking over to him? It's very difficult to understand, but it sounds like words. Not just whining. (I don't know if it is in the theatrical version. I am noticing it on the DVD copy). (01:40:25)

Answer: He's not saying anything, it's just unintelligible whimpering. It gives the impression that Hermione is able to communicate with him, but once Lupin has transformed into a werewolf, he has no human consciousness.

raywest

Question: WWhen the boggart changes into something in the classroom scene, can everybody see it then? Are all people seeing the same, or do they see the object that frightens them the most?

Loesjuh1985

Chosen answer: The all see it the same; it turns into the thing that most frightens whoever has the boggart's attention at the time.

Phixius

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.

Ssiscool

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.

Phixius

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).

Zwn Annwn

Question: Can anyone tell me what exactly a kneazle is? I know Crookshanks is part kneazle, as stated in Corrections, but I don't know what that means.

Answer: To summarise their entry in "Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them", a companion book written for charity by J K Rowling (under the pseudonym of "Newt Scamander", a Kneazle is a small cat-like creature which is intelligent, independent and occasionally aggressive which, should it take a liking to a witch or wizard, makes an excellent pet. They have an uncanny ability to detect unsavoury or suspicious characters and can be relied upon to guide their owner safely home if lost.

Tailkinker

Question: Maybe this has been brought up before, but I haven't been able to find a discussion of this particular time-turner question. If they went back in time and ensured Remus took his potion, wouldn't it sort of solve all of the problems? He wouldn't turn, Pettigrew would still be captured, Sirius would be proven innocent and not forced into hiding, and Lupin could still teach at the school. I know they aren't supposed to know that he is a werewolf in the past, but they could at least mention the moon or something! I know that there are a million other ways it could have gone, but this is one I haven't seen discussed.

thebirdandbull

Chosen answer: There's no particular answer to this. When Dumbledore had Harry and Hermione go back in time to save Sirius and Buckbeak, he may have wanted to minimize any chance of them causing irreparable harm by changing too many events. The Ministry of Magic strictly controlled how the Time Turners were used and by whom for a good reason. As Hermione mentioned to Harry, horrible things could happen to wizards who meddled with time. It may simply have been too dangerous to add that on to Harry and Hermione's primary mission. Dumbledore may also not have had all the facts about what transpired inside the Shrieking Shack, and he needed to act quickly. He also knew that due to the curse Voldemort put on the Defense Against the Dark Arts teaching position that Lupin would not last longer (one year) than any previous instructor and there was no point in attempting to change that. It also serves the movie's and the book's story lines for the events to unfold as they did. Sirius' unproven innocence was carried over into the next book/movie, and unfortunately, it ended tragically for him.

raywest

Chosen 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.

MovieFan612

I have watched it several times and cannot see any part of Hermione behind the tree. What part did she see?

As we see later in the film, Hermione #2 is looking around the tree and a twig snaps, causing Hermione #1 to quickly turn around and catch a glimpse of Hermione #2 before she gets her body behind the tree. By the time the camera is showing that portion of the forest Hermione #2 is fully behind the tree so we don't see anything at that time, which is on purpose since the audience isn't supposed to know the movie's later events yet.

jimba

But when Hermione #1 turns around, what part of Hermione #2 does she see?

We don't see her, she saw herself.

lionhead

But what part of herself did she see?

Most likely her bushy hair as that will stand out in the darkness of the forest.

Ssiscool

Is it possible to notice that if I watched that scene?

As Jimba said, by the time the camera gets there, she's behind the tree. Hence why I stated it's probably her hair as we simply don't know.

Ssiscool

Question: Who are Mooney, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs?, I haven't read the books yet, so I don't know if there's anything about them in the books.

Answer: They're the nicknames of Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, Sirius Black and James Potter. Lupin is "Mooney" because he's a werewolf (full moon, get it?), Pettigrew is Wormtail because he's a rat, Black is Padfoot because he's a dog, and Potter is prongs because he's a stag (with antlers).

Krista

Deliberate mistake: When Harry drops the Monster Book of Monsters, in the first shot facing Harry's feet as the book chomps at him, he runs backwards a few steps and he stands at the foot of the bed. However, in the shot facing the fireplace, there is actually plenty of floorspace now, much more than other shots, between the rug and bed for Harry to continue to run backwards. (00:15:15)

Super Grover

More mistakes in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Sirius Black: Brilliant, Snape. Once again you've put your keen and penetrating mind to the task and as usual come to the wrong conclusion.

More quotes from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Trivia: The song featured in the trailer (Double, double, toil and trouble...) is the spell the three witches (a.k.a. Weird Sisters) chant over the caldron in Shakespeare's Macbeth.

MoonFaery

More trivia for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

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