Chapter by Chapter: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

A continuation of my chapter by chapter journey through the Harry Potter series, following along with the podcast, "Through the Griffin Door"

Chapter One: Owl Post

Here we go! Prisoner of Azkaban is an interesting and rare case where I truly believe I prefer watching the movie to reading the book (credit to Alfonso Cuaron for creating a masterpiece), so I think I am extra skimpy on reading the details because the movie's cinematography sits so canonically in my head. I'll be extra on the lookout for details where the book and film deviate. What stood out to me most in this first chapter is the Monster Book of Monsters, which instead of being described as brown, is "green", and its walk is "crab-like." Fun little descriptions that stood out to me were Vernon dropping the phone like it was a poisonous spider (JKR loves her animal metaphors) and details about the Egyptian curses. Otherwise, this is another standard recap chapter that does not add much depth to the overall series and I'm eager to continue.

Chapter Two: Aunt Marge's Big Mistake

A general theme that I have yet to write about in the Harry Potter books is fatphobia. It's apparent from book one chapter one, though is probably its strongest yet in this chapter. I understand that it is a very Dickensian writing technique to use physical descriptors to imply something about a person's character. For instance, Aunt Petunia is very bony, which has implications of someone who is very harsh and unkind. A very common trope is for fat people to be highly unlikeable, greedy, narcissistic, gluttonous, and selfish. This summarizes Vernon and Dudley Dursley so well and is also seen with Aunt Marge. Dudley is described with five wobbling chins in this chapter. "Piggy", "porky", and "beefy" are adjectives used a lot. Vernon is also described often as puce and purple-colored. There is some truth to it because frankly, Dudley is spoiled and gluttonous. But he was crafted this way by an author who projects feelings of fat = bad. Also Aunt Marge has a mustache which also has implications about women and what = evil. Anyways, other than that, some other details are that ooohh Harry was feisty this chapter. He was really getting brave with his pushback against the Dursleys. Also, Sirius Black's hair was described as all the way down to his elbows, which makes sense and is interesting to picture.

Chapter Three: The Knight Bus

Poor Harry literally thinking he would have to live his life as an outcast. He's literally fantasizing about how to sneak into Gringotts and steal enough money to live out the rest of his life on the lam. It's so childishly ridiculous that it masks how sad it is. As far as descriptions go, it was funny to hear the Knight Bus referred to as not just purple (as it is in the films) but "violently" purple. I think the films it's a pleasant, dark purple. The bus appears to be able to "Apparate" rather than just travel quickly, as they suddenly find themselves in Wales. It's interesting then that it can't travel by water - I want to know the logic of the lore!! Everything seems so inconvenient for how much the bus jerks around (candles? hot chocolate? SLEEPING??) Sirius Black was also described as vampiric, Stan Shunpike is covered in pimples (as I remember), but when he is scared, "even Stan's pimples went white", Harry felt "a bucket of ice cascade into his stomach" when he saw Fudge, and Tom is apparently toothless? I hadn't remembered that. The Leaky Cauldron bed is described as looking very comfortable, which makes me happy for future Neville and Hannah.

Chapter Four: The Leaky Cauldron

Since these are young adult novels and I have a fairly expansive vocabulary, rarely do I come across words I do not know, and yet this chapter had me look up TWO words in the dictionary. The may feel fairly simple to others, but for some reason they were unfamiliar to me. Some wizards were described as "venerable" (respectable), and Harry's memories were described as "unbidden" (uninvited). Other than that, pretty much none of this chapter takes place in the film, so there's a lot of trivia material (the different animals in the Magical Menagerie, the different books at Flourish & Blotts, and all of the different stores he visits). Final note I will make is I don't recall any other scenes in which we see Molly and Arthur truly arguing in a heated manner. Arthur literally bangs his fist on the table in front of her. It is uncomfortable to read understanding how much is at stake and why emotions are running so high, but it colors their relationship.

Chapter Five: The Dementor

This is one of my favorite chapters because of how well the sickly, clammy feeling of being overrun by a dementor is described. I feel the presence of the dementor on a visceral level. The movie visuals are amazing, but also the descriptions of it being like something scabbed decaying in water - truly horrifying. This chapter also has the iconic, "Trouble usually finds me" line. Other details in this chapter worth discussing - There's not enough discourse on the relationship between love potions and consent. It seems as dangerous as the Imperius curse to me, which is unforgiveable. In this chapter the girls giggle while Molly discusses using a love potion when she was young, so I hope there are extreme rules and regulations around the strength and impact of them! The love potion discussion I believe does not come up again until perhaps Half-Blood Prince. Later in the chapter, because McGonagall is tending to Harry (probably as his Head of House), Professor Flitwick does the Sorting, and is described with a "shock of white hair", which means the first movie design of him was supposedly more book-accurate, though the younger, brown-haired version of him in the films is what is now considered to be more canon. Also, how dare Neville be the one to disclose that Harry had fainted to Malfoy! Finally, as this book continues to be the first of the series that offers some more challenging vocabulary, I'll keep track as I go along of words I looked up. A "furtive" wizard is someone who is secretive (a word I've heard before, but not enough in context to have deduced what that meant).

Chapter Six: Talons and Tea Leaves

Each of the scenes is so iconic - it's crazy how jam-packed each chapter is; I have a lot to say. Very early on in the chapter, Pansy Parkinson is described as looking like a pug (for not the last time), which again feeds into this ongoing trope of having "bad" or mean characters look physically "ugly" which is... not great. It happened in the last chapter as well with the descriptions of Crabbe and Goyle. My headcanon of Pansy is that she would have been more popular and reasonably conventionally attractive. This is also the chapter where Hermione begins using her Time Turner, which seems so bizarre to me that there is not a better system. She is just told not to tell anybody, including her friends, when it's so obvious? I can't see how that information wouldn't get out on its own. Somebody could easily just cross-talk about how they saw Hermione in their class this morning. To me it would make more sense to have it be transparent that students can use a Time Turner, just highly regulated. It puts Hermione in a very strange position to have to (badly) lie about her whereabouts all year. The hippogriff scene was great but I think done even better in the film with that beautiful flight around the castle (he does fly in the book, just around the paddock), plus Hippogriffs are described with giant orange eyes which is kind of off-putting. I do think Hagrid is more responsible in the book than in the film. In the film, Malfoy walks up to the Hippogriff from a great distance, when Hagrid was trying to control interactions and the safety of the students by practicing one by one. In the book, there are like a dozen Hippogriffs and they are all walking up close and touching them in a way that cannot truly be monitored? Someone could have easily gotten hurt. Malfoy kind of made an off-comment when he was already petting a Hippogriff as instructed. While drunk later (also not the most responsible sooo... I am putting some blame on Hagrid here), he is described with "beetle-black eyes".  And finally, as far as vocabulary this chapter - what the heck is a polecat? Apparently it's a ferret, which matches what he carries in the film. Polecat is a cute word for it, which is sad and disturbing that Hagrid's just swinging around a dead one. Also, a "scabbard" is a sword heath, "crinolines" are stiff petticoats for square skirts, and "sinew" is strong and holds together, all that come up in a singular interaction with Sir Cadogan (which, by the way, Harry asks the portrait 'All you alright?' which put me into a whole thought spiral about whether the portraits are capable of having emotions or pain and are worth our empathy). Hermione describes Divination as "woolly", here meaning vague. She also does that in the film, I just never knew what she meant.

Chapter Seven: The Boggart in the Wardrobe

Ooh, another iconic film scene that, admittedly, is better on screen than in writing! Snape is also unbearably MEAN throughout this chapter, and frankly abusive, for intentionally trying to murder Neville's toad in front of him and the whole class, and then taking away points when his toad survived. And he's just consistently verbally abusive to Neville as well. It's really trying to set him up to be Neville's worst fear for the Boggart scene, but man Snape, that's too far! I did like the little detail that I don't recall ever picking up before that, like in a science class, there's a little wash sink, but this time it's a little gargoyle that shoots out water to clean their hands and ladles. Once we get to the actual Boggart scene, I prefer the film for its ideas of turning boggarts comical. In the book, the descriptions are like, overtly not comical to me? The hand in the mousetrap sounds disturbing. Same with the mummy whose head lolls off. Or the spider without legs. Lupin's moon turning into a cockroach?? Yes, in all of these examples the Boggart is disempowered and becomes less dangerous, but it's not FUNNY if you want to kill it with laughter. No vocab to name this chapter.

Chapter Eight: Flight of the Fat Lady

This chapter was plenty eventful but I feel like less iconic somehow than past chapters. It's a lot of day-to-day classes (which I highly enjoy reading about for the worldbuilding) and then, at one point in the chapter, just Harry wandering aimlessly around the castle. Plus it takes the time to rehash all the rules to Quidditch again. The most iconic line is delivered by Lupin when he tells Harry that he is wise for fearing fear itself - yet I still find the movie even more iconic because of the beautiful bridge setting. Here we just have them in his office, which is still fascinating to see the adult-to-adult courteous interaction between Snape and Lupin. Last favorite little detail is the orange streamers at the Halloween feast being described as watersnakes. No vocabulary words this chapter.

Chapter Nine: Grim Defeat

People argue about population count at Hogwarts, but in this chapter there are hundreds of (squashy, purple) sleeping bags in the Great Hall, which gives us more of an estimation. Also, poor Percy Weasley for being unable to sleep all night long. They just expect him to pull an all-nighter?? Well, I guess he was eager to do so. Percy is also described later in the chapter as a "pompous guard dog". We get a lot of Percy air-time in this book (and not at all in a great light), which I often forget since he does not have much appearance in the remainder of the series. Harry also has a moment where he is not seen in a great light in this chapter - he grabs and drags Crookshanks by his tail?? So mean. Harry (and clearly JKR) are so NOT cat people throughout this series. Oh well, this is the series where Harry's dog-person nature will come to his advantage. Finally, as the chapter ends, we get the very stormy Quidditch match. I like the description of thunder as "fresh" - it really puts you in the moment. Along with the ice-cold weather, we continue to get fantastic descriptions of the impact of dementors, with "freezing water rising in his chest" and "cutting his insides", and "swirling white mist filling his brain". My very fitting vocabulary word from this chapter is "gale", which is used twice, to describe "a very strong wind". Also, Sir Cadogan uses some archaic language and uses the word "cur" to describe a coward or a mongrel.

Chapter Ten: The Marauder's Map

We're getting closer to Christmastime, and I just LOVE the lively and sharp descriptions of cold and winter. "Glittering frost", "opaline", and "a ray of winterly sunlight" are personal favorites here. I also like the description of the strips of moonlight on the ceiling. The Great Hall becomes decorated with the holidays as well (how do the fairies, as living creatures, feel about being used as decorations?). Hogsmeade is described as like a Christmas card. Before the holidays, Harry asks Lupin to learn to fight dementors. I remember a "Through the Griffin Door" comment joking about how Harry's sole purpose to learn to fight the dementors was so that he never would have to lose at Quidditch again. However, he also admits a deeper reasoning that he never wants to hear his mother dying again, which is so painful to hear. We get the introduction to the Marauder's Map (which in the book, the ink is green?? I'm just so in love with the movie aesthetic of the tan and black that I don't want to think of anything else). The secret passage is described like the "burrow of a rabbit" that poor Harry walked through for a freakin' long time with NO INVISIBILITY CLOAK. Here is another example of the movie doing it better, because why on earth was Harry there without an Invisibility Cloak and why were the teachers discussing private matters in a pub for all to hear? Even if Harry isn't supposed to be in Hogsmeade, anybody who knows him could have been sitting at a table nearby. It makes no sense. And finally, vocab words for the chapter. I wrote down "earwiggy flowers" and googled it but all that comes up is this exact passage from Harry Potter, so it must be an in-universe thing. The "mullioned windows" at Hogsmeade have vertical beams that divide the glass. And Fudge is "demurred" during the conversation, meaning showing reluctance.

Chapter Eleven: The Firebolt

What a great chapter for getting up close and personal with teenagers with childhood trauma. His "hatred" was "coursing through him like a poison." The intrusive image of series is "pasted over his eyes" like a photograph. At the same time, it's also a comfy-cozy chapter full of what JKR did best back when she was a good person... writing feel-good Christmas chapters! Crookshanks is spread out like a "ginger rug" and has tinsel tied around his neck, there's "glittering, powdery snow", each tree in the forest is "smattered with silver", Hagrid's cabin looks like an "iced cake", the knights shone with "mysterious lights", and the Christmas trees were "glittering with golden stars". Trelawney's Christmas outfit made her look like an "oversized dragonfly." New vocab word is chipolata, a type of sausage that they eat at the Christmas dinner! A "flagon" is also a large drink container that Sir Cadogan celebratorily drinks out of.

Chapter Twelve: The Patronus

In comparison to the enticing way winter is described in the December chapter, it sounds awful in the January/February chapter, where the fun of the holidays are over but it's still just "bitterly" cold. The winter is described as "raw", though at least that makes the fire salamanders sound like such great refuge. With the familiar descriptions of dementors as scabbed, rotting, and now "piercing cold", the Patronus is also meant to be a warm refuge. It's funny that Harry's first picturing of what it looks like is a Hagrid-sized figure holding a club to protect him. The first description of it (non-corporally) is "silvery gas" and then a "huge silver shadow", whereas the films have it more whitish/bluish? The effect of the dementors as Harry passes out is described multiple times as "white fog", which is kind of like what the non-corporal Patronus looks like in the films. And poor Harry! Cold sweating, crying, drained, empty, legs shaking like water... his weakness is visceral, and he's willing to re-traumatize himself just for a glimpse of his parents' voices. Vocab words of the week - 1) Plinth (a heavy base around a statue), and 2) Yeomen (another old-timey word used by Sir Cadogan, this time meaning servants in a royal household).

Chapter Thirteen: Gryffindor vs. Ravenclaw

This is a chapter that so largely takes places outside of the films, which always makes for an interesting read. I get VERY sentimental and protective about my pets, so this chapter hits hard, but I did get a laugh at the line that Harry was pretty sure Crookshanks ate Scabbers. It's so graphic but so ridiculous. Most of the chapter relates to Quidditch. When Harry flies through the sky on the Firebolt, he describes the field as a "green-and-gray blur" and he rises "as fast as a bullet" (it is wild how many metaphors are used with Muggle references the closer you pay attention). The Snitch is aptly described as a "glint of gold" and "flutter of tiny wings." The last part of the chapter, when Sirius Black breaks into the Gryffindor common room, is depicted in a deleted scene. McGonagall is described as "white as chalk" with shock. I would love to see if Neville is wearing his fluffy slippers in the film too. No vocab words for this chapter.

Chapter Fourteen: Snape's Grudge

Poor, poor Neville. Punished repeatedly for his actions here (which, yeah, were foolish, but the real blame should be put on the adult thought-to-be murder Sirius at this point, where Neville just fell victim). I like the description of him running out with the Howler as if holding a bomb. Harry is just cruel to Neville in this chapter, literally abandoning him mid-conversation with no explanation just to get away from him. Also, poor Hermione, as Ron and Harry continue to be cruel to her. I know she is incredibly stubborn too, but Ron literally gives the silent treatment and pretends like she is not there, and Harry is complicit. Early in the chapter, Harry and Ron visit Hagrid. This is the second time Buckbeak is described as inside Hagrid's cabin, so either the cabin is bigger than depicted in the films, or Buckbeak is smaller. I'm going to assume the latter if somehow Buckbeak is supposed to fit on a bed in the Knight bus. I think it's cute that Buckbeak's lying on a patchwork quilt. Hagrid's orange and yellow tie makes its first appearance (and carries over into the film!!). Then it's the whole Hogsmeade scene (which is such poor judgment and planning on Harry's part throughout). This the first glimpse at the Shrieking Shack, which is described as "slightly creepy" and "dank." Then Harry (naturally) gets in trouble with Snape. Harry describes it as "staring down a hippogriff", with Snape's "sallow" skin the color of "sour milk." He also grossly has "yellowish" teeth. Like, some of the things the Marauder's make fun of for Snape he can't help. But other things are just pure hygiene that Snape has some control over... Harry (still lacking judgment and being cruel this chapter) literally starts gaslighting Malfoy into thinking he was hallucinating. Snape almost BURNS the Marauder's Map (how different would the story be if he just threw it in the fire??) Finally, not so much a vocab word exactly, but I wanted to look up what "Bath buns" were that Hagrid makes. It looks like a yummy little roll that originates in Britain. 

Chapter Fifteen: The Quidditch Final

This was another chapter that was pretty much entirely eliminated from the books, as it focuses mostly on Quidditch. The descriptions I found most memorable were about Harry's nausea prior to the Quidditch final, with his stomach described as "writhing", like he had "eaten something wriggly for breakfast", and light "something incredibly large was fighting his way out of his stomach." I know that feeling when I'm so nervous it effects my stomach more than anything else. Maybe it was because I was more on the lookout for them this chapter, but there were a lot of vocab words! Hermione describes the committee that decided to execute Buckbeak as "doddery" (weak, slow, unsteady); the crystal ball has "portents" (signs or warnings of something momentous); Trelawney is wearing a "gauzy" shawl (which, naturally, just mean it looks like gauze...); Harry and Malfoy have "enmity" (actively opposed or hostile); and Crookshanks has a "bottlebrush" tail (referencing a plant that looks big and long and poofy). Last comment - we get more evidence of the population count at Hogwarts as there are described to be 200 Slytherins in the stands.

Chapter Sixteen: Professor Trelawney's Prediction

There is still a huge chunk of the book left and we are already in June - The rest of the book is such a rollercoaster of multiple climaxes. And honestly, the movie does this until the end of the book so well, that I often largely discard these book chapters. I just don't think they hold up, which is a rare comparison that I draw between the films and books. The summery days are described as "sultry", enough to be "baking hot" and cause sunburns (does this happen in Northern Scotland in June?) The end of the chapter beautifully describes the "purple-tinged grey" of the sky turning into the ruby sunset. The heat combined with the thick perfume smell of Professor Trelawney's classroom is so easy for me to imagine that I also feel somewhat sickly reading it, with nostrils "stinging". Then there is the rest of the chapter with traveling down to Hagrid's for Buckbeak's execution. Two key differences between the books and the films in these next string of chapters start to stand out - #1, Hermione is a lot more fragile and teary in the books in these chapters. Movie Hermione at the end of the film, in her iconic pink hoodie, is a determined badass. People have mixed feelings about the unrealistic expectations of women that movie Hermione portrays, but I found her to be an exhilarating inspiration as a child. #2 - The movie starts to lay out easter eggs for time travel starting now, the time which the Time Turner redirected them. The books have none of that, so it is just not as fun of a puzzle to put together. No vocab words this chapter. 

Chapter Seventeen: Cat, Rat, and Dog

An iconic chapter name! The ruby sunset described in the last chapter picks up right where we left off as a "bloody light", which is a clever phrase. They were clearly all in such shock - Ron's face paper-white, teeth chattering, Hermione's breathing uneven. Then, also metaphorically, the "darkness settled like a spell around them." The chapter progresses into chaos as Scabbers, Padfoot, and Crookshanks all meet. The scene is quite horrific and the language used to describe Sirius lends itself to that - at this time we don't know that the dog is innocent, so he's described as this vicious "brute" (understandably with the force with which he bites Ron). Then the Whomping Willow smacks Harry so hard he has to blink blood out of his eyes (such a horrifying image and imagined sensation). The branches are described as whipping "lethally" (probably not an exaggeration - the tree could have killed them). And then finally, the sound of Ron's leg breaking is like the crack of a gunshot. How gory and awful. In the film, the rest of the scene with the Whomping Willow is kind of campy and fun. The books describe it is a truly unbeatable tree until Crookshanks comes along to save them, slithering expertly through the branches like a "snake." The effect on the tree is that it turns to "marble". They then walk through the Shrieking Shack and we get some villainous visual descriptions of Sirius Black (again, colored by our preconceived notions that he is guilty). We see waxy skin, dark eye sockets, looking like a "skull" or a "corpse", and yellow teeth. Sirius does not act innocent - he could easily go straight into being friendly and trying to explain himself. At one point when Harry is trying to fight him, I think Sirius literally puts his hand around Harry's throat?? And then unlike the movies, Crookshanks is very involved in this whole mess, and Harry kicks him at some point and considers murdering Crookshanks too. Lupin comes in, face described as "bloodless", and here we start to learn the truth... (No vocab words this chapter)

Chapter Eighteen: Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs

Here we get a lot of the thorough explanation that the film was missing. I understand they cut this story for time and to keep the action going. There is a bit of action at the beginning of the chapter - Peter is described as a "piglet" frantically scratching at Ron's face, Sirius literally falls on Ron's broken leg (ow). Then the rest of the chapter is almost entirely dialogue that I have read repeatedly. No comments or vocab words.

Chapter Nineteen: The Servant of Lord Voldemort

This chapter will always hold a special place in my heart because it is the chapter that I saw analyzed live on the Through the Griffin Tour! It is interesting whenever Muggle terms are used as descriptions for Muggle readers in ways that wizard readers would not understand (i.e. the crack of the gunshot sound of Ron's leg breaking, and now Harry's surprise described as "electric shock"). Snape is described as very "fanatical" this chapter, with glittering eyes, "deranged", "mad", "beyond reason", and literally screams at Hermione calling her a "stupid girl". It is a far cry from the calculated nature in which Alan Rickman plays him. Snape actually binds Lupin with "snake-like cords", a detail I often miss. Snape is then knocked out, we get into a lot of dialogue, and then we have Peter's transformation which is uniquely described as "watching a speeded-up film of a growing tree". Vocab word - Mirthless, as in when Sirius is laughing. "Mirthless" means "lacking real amusement", like an ironic laugh, at Peter's horrible excuses.

Chapter Twenty: The Dementor's Kiss

Generally, I tend to skim this chapter because I have such a strong attachment to how it is portrayed in the film. For instance, I tend to reject the idea that Hermione was present and that this was by the Black Lake instead of a small lake in the forest. The cinema of the film is just too beautiful to not be canon. So reading this in detail, it is interesting that once Lupin and Sirius transform, they are no longer referred to by name. Lupin is called "the werewolf" and Sirius is called "the dog." Lupin's pronouns become "it". The book alternates with calling Sirius by name or as a dog, though Lupin is consistently referred to as the werewolf. He literally become dehumanized in that moment. There are familiarly beautiful ways to describe the dementors' effect, like an "evil wind", though no words can capture the haunting nature of how they are portrayed cinematically in this scene. One clear difference is that, in the books, the dementor literally "lowers its hood" to perform the kiss, and you see underneath "thin, gray scabbed skin" over empty eye sockets. The dementor physically grabs him with "rotting hands" and pulls his face to theirs. That actually would be horrifying to see visually, and make more sense that people cannot bear to watch the dementor's kiss because in the film, Sirius's soul being sucked out was anti-climactic. No vocab words.

Chapter Twenty One: Hermione's Secret

This is the ULTIMATE Harry Potter sequence in the films. Of all the chapters where I have more attachment to the film than the book, it's this one (and the one prior), but I am enjoying going through the descriptions throughout this very long chapter. Looking through this chapter in detail, I liked the descriptions of Harry coming slowly back into consciousness, with the words he was hearing traveling "slowly from his ears to his brain", limbs feeling heavy like "lead", and wanting to lie in a cozy bed forever. It's phrasing like this that just cuts deep into a universally relatable experience. Maybe I'm just extra impressed because I just woke up from a nap and this was exactly what it felt like. And then the gnawing sensation as his stomach slowly catches up to him. It is now nighttime, and "moonlight was falling across her [Hermione's] bed". There is a piece of chocolate described as a small boulder that is broken apart with a literal hammer. Another very visceral description is Harry feeling like the ground was falling away from beneath him, as he realized how dire Sirius's situation was and that Dumbledore could not fix it. It's like his literal secure foundation is being upended. The description of moving through time was like flying very fast backwards, with a blur of colors and shapes, and yelling but being unable to hear his own voice. The moment they arrive back in time, he describes a "stream of golden sunlight" in sharp comparison to the moonlight that was just falling across them. The book describes their shadows "lengthening", and the Forbidden Forest once again "gilded with gold", as the sunset was described in previous chapters. In the book, Harry, Ron, and Hermione are wearing their Invisibility Cloak as they come out of Hagrid's, and Harry describes this as watching the "grass flatten in patches" as invisible feet walk across. Then Harry has to VAULT A FENCE to get inside Hagrid's pumpkin patch, unseen. Buckbeak again is described with orange eyes, which I always forget. Once the Ministry realizes that Buckbeak is gone, it surprises me that they got away with it. I would think the first place there would be a thorough search would be the forest, and they're not that deep in it, especially if they can still hear everything going on. The sun is now setting with "darkness falling thickly around them", adding to the list of great descriptions to continue to orient us in time. Lupin is able to walk freely because clouds were obscuring the sky completely (so does he just not transform unless it's a clear night? That doesn't sound that bad...). It's risky for Lupin especially because later the book describes the "shifting clouds" where the moon comes in and out of sight, and then the moon "slid out" from behind a cloud. The closer we get to the final Patronus moment, it's described that Harry feels a "drumroll" in his chest, also specifically visceral as he awaits the hope of seeing his dad. His Patronus is described as "blinding" and "dazzling" that shined "brightly as the moon above." Lots of descriptions of moonlight (aptly) in this chapter, as they see the "moving clouds" reflected onto the lake. They fly on Buckbeak, who moves them up and down several feet in the air just by beating his wings. There is no heartfelt moment between Sirius and Harry like in the books. We just see Sirius fly out into the "open sky", becoming smaller and smaller in their vision, as finally another "cloud drifted across the moon." Another thing the movie did right was STUNNING use of moonlight. And pheeeww, that was a LONG chapter with a lot of great nighttime descriptions. Vocab words are the committee member speaking with a "reedy" voice - which means "shrill or piping" (like a reeded instrument). Also Buckbeak lands on the "battlements", which is a part of a castle that has the teeth-like indentations that you always draw in the pictures but I never knew what they were called.

Chapter Twenty Two: Owl Post Again

A straightforward way to end this book. Unlike the last, highly descriptive chapter - this chapter's goal is to get through the final days to wrap up the year and tie loose ends. I will say there is a lot of dialogue between Harry and Dumbledore that is more divvied up in the film between Sirius and Lupin - some of the most iconic lines were Dumbledore's first. As the year comes to an end, the word "cheerful" or "cheer" is used several times. We are introduced to Pigwidgeon here who is described as a "fluffy Snitch". When he reads his Hogsmeade permission letter, Harry feels "warm" and "contented" like he "swallowed a bottle of hot Butterbeer." It's a very light way to end the book - perhaps the last book that ends this way? No vocab words.