Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

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.

Feather

Chosen 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.

Phixius

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.

Blibbetyblip

Answer: According to the Harry Potter Wikia, someone using a Time Turner can only stay in the past for five hours at a time, to avoid doing irreparable damage to the timeline or the time traveler themselves.

Chosen 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.

Tailkinker

Question: Do some Hogwarts students arrive at school before others? I ask because of the choir singing in this movie, on the first day of the term. Wouldn't they have needed at least a day to practice the song?

Answer: All the students arrive on the train, but it is feasible they took part or all of the afternoon on the train to practise. They also could have met a few times over the summer.

kristenlouise3

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.

raywest

Question: Does anyone know why in some scenes with Malfoy and Crabbe that there's a tall, skinny, nasty looking kid accompanying them instead of Goyle? Did Cuaron think the actor who plays Goyle was looking too cuddly and teddy bear-like?

Answer: The character that you see is actually Blaise Zabini and he is standing with Goyle not Crabbe. Harry turned into Goyle in Chamber of Secrets and Ron turns into Crabbe. The actor who played Crabbe was actually arrested for growing marijuana in his home so the director had to replace him.

Question: Is it possible to tell what Hermione was doing to Ron in the background when Harry and Sirius are talking after they get out of the whomping willow? I thought she was untying his shoelaces but his laces are still tied so what was she doing?

THE GAMER NEXT DOOR

Chosen answer: She was tending to the bite wound on Ron's leg.

Casual Person

How? She didn't make any difference?

How do you know she didn't make any difference. Hermione was inspecting Ron's leg to see how badly injured it was and then could have performed a spell that would temporarily treat the wound until they got him to the infirmary for more extensive care. In HP and the Half-Blood Prince, Luna Lovegood repaired Harry's broken nose by casting a spell.

raywest

Because we just see her looking at it and if she treated it while Sirius and Harry are talking and I missed it, All the blood is still there on the leg.

As you mentioned, you don't see everything she's doing. She could have cast a spell to numb the pain or slow the bleeding, etc. The blood would still be there. She may merely be looking at the wound to see "if" she can do anything before getting him to the infirmary. There's just no way of knowing exactly what she did, but she certainly would not have just ignored it. Anyone in that position would check the wound to see how severe it was and whether they could do anything at the time. Mostly, she's just sitting next to Ron to comfort him, as he's rather excitable.

raywest

Answer: Hermione heard a twig snap behind her. It was the time-traveling Hermione, who was hiding in the trees with the "other" Harry. They are waiting to steal Buckbeak in order to save him from execution. When Hermione heard the sound, she started to say, "I thought I just saw..." then abruptly stopped. She must have realised that it was her alternate self, and not wanting Harry or Ron to know, then dismissed it as being nothing.

raywest

But when they go back in time you don't see Hermione snap a twig at all.

We never see her feet so she either stood on one by accident or when she held the branch, a twig snapped. Also who says Harry didn't step on one either.

Question: When Harry and Hermione go to rescue Sirius from the tower, why did Hermione cast Bombarda instead of Alohamora? Using Bombarda caused a very loud sound to erupt and destroyed the door which could have got all three caught. Using Alohamora would have been easier since there's hardly any sound and the door would have simply been unlocked instead of being blown practically to pieces.

Answer: For one, Sirius is being held in an isolated area, high up in the tower, so any sound would be muted or not heard at all. Also, he is not in an ordinary room, but a cell with fortified locks. Hermione used a powerful charm to blast open the iron gate. Alohamora simply unlocks ordinary doors. Bombarda blows things up. It also made the scene more dramatic and climatic.

raywest

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.

Tailkinker

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!

Blibbetyblip

Question: I've tried to look for this in the books but I still don't get it. When future Harry and Hermione come back to the hospital wing after they went back in time and saved Sirius, then their selves should have just left again to do the same thing. What happens to them, since it was already done? Where do they go?

Answer: Time travel is very complex. They are going back to fix things, but from out point of view, they already have! But, if you consider when our Harry and Hermionie leave, the previous Harry and Hermionie would enter the room, it might start to make sense. Basically, an infinite number of Harry and Hermionie travel back to change the past, but we only follow one.

SexyIrishLeprechaun

Question: What evidence linked Black to killing the Potters? After the movie I didn't understand how everyone could have been so completely wrong.

Answer: Black was thought to be the Potter's secret keeper and only the secret keeper could have directed Voldemort to the Potters. There was a showdown on a street between Pettigrew and Black, after the Potters were killed, where many people died. Since Black was the only one to live, and they found only Pettigrew's finger, everyone assumed Black did the killing. No one knew that Pettingrew, along with Black, and James Potter, were animagi.

Rlvlk

Question: When Lupin asks 'Can anyone take a guess as to what is inside' someone says 'That's a boggart that is.' who says this?

Answer: It's Dean Thomas that says that. He stands between Seamus and Harry, with Neville behind him.

Super Grover

Question: In the book, Lupins fear (the boggart) is a Silver ORB, It never says anything about the moon besides the fact that every full moon he transforms. In the movie, it turns to the moon with clouds and everything, was it supposed to be a moon in the book?

Answer: Actually, in the book, Lupin compliments Hermione on noticing that the boggart turned into the moon when he was present. Rowling initially describes it as a silvery orb, presumably to preserve the mystery of Lupin's nature, but it's clearly intended to be the moon all along.

Tailkinker

Question: When Harry and Lupin are talking about Harry's boggart that turned into a dementor, Lupin says that he thought the boggart was going to transform into Voldemort. If that had been so, would Harry have had a clear image of what Voldemort may have looked like? He probably wouldn't have imagined Voldemort as Tom Riddle from the diary in CoS because Voldemort's more human form isn't fearful and even in The Philosopher's Stone Voldemort's face isn't fully formed as it eventually is in GoF.

Answer: There is no way of knowing how Harry would have imagined how Voldemort looked. However, since Voldemort was an infamous figure, Harry could have, at some point, seen photos or portraits of him in books, old news articles, or other sources.

raywest

Question: Why didn't werewolf Remus kill the marauders in animagus from? What difference did it make if they were in animal form then human form?

Answer: Remus, when in his werewolf form (and before the werewolf potion was invented) did not display aggression towards any other animals, only humans. This allowed James, Sirius and Pettigrew to be able control him at all times when they were transformed into their animagus forms.

raywest

Question: Lupin said he recognised Harry because of the eyes, but apart from the eyes, Harry looks like his father. Shouldn't Lupin recognise him as the son of one of his best friends?

Answer: This is a plot hole. Harry is often told, "You look just like your father, except you have your mother's eyes." or some variation of that. Because of this, there really isn't a logical explanation as to why Lupin wouldn't immediately recognize Harry as his best friend's son.

Question: Why is it when Harry is fainting from his encounter with the dementor he hears a woman screaming? In the film it sounds exactly like the train. I haven't read the book, so I am unsure if this is answered there.

slp44

Chosen answer: It transitions into a train whistle in the film for dramatic effect. The scream is his far-distant infant's memory of his mother screaming when Voldemort came to kill Harry, brought back to the surface by the dementors' ability to make your relive your worst memories.

Phixius

Question: When they are in the hospital wing why did Madame Pomfrey take off Ron's sock? it was his leg that was broken, not his foot. Besides why did Ron need a cast on his leg if Hermione cleaned up all the blood on Ron's leg?

THE GAMER NEXT DOOR

Chosen answer: It was never stated that Ron's leg was broken. Sirius, in his dog form, grabbed him by the lower part and pulled him into the Shrieking Shack, injuring him. Hermione did only minor treatment on Ron's leg until they could get him to the infirmary. Madam Promfrey would naturally remove a dirty sock to more thoroughly treat and clean his wounds.

raywest

Question: When Harry and Hermione were sitting with Buckbeak waiting to see themselves as Lupin turned into a werewolf, why didn't one of them go to where Pettigrew escaped to capture him?

Alex Lynn Cline

Chosen answer: Their focus was to save Sirius from the Dementors. It would have been too dangerous for Harry and Hermione to split up at that time and try to handle each situation separately. They would also risk being seen by the other Harry and Hermione, which could have derailed the entire plan.

raywest

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: Sorry about the bite. I reckon that twinges a bit.
Ron: A bit? A bit? You almost tore my leg off!

More quotes from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Trivia: In order to acquaint himself with his three lead actors, director Alfonso Cuaron had each of them write an essay about their characters, from a first-person point of view. Emma Watson, in true Hermione fashion, went a little overboard and wrote an 16-page essay, Daniel Radcliffe wrote a simple one page paper, and Rupert Grint never even turned his in, as he said that is what Ron would have done.

More trivia for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

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