Overview

In Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry finishes his summer with the Dursleys by running away, believing that he is in trouble with the Ministry of Magic for accidentally inflating his “Aunt” Marge who insulted his late parents while visiting for a few days. He is picked up by the Knight Bus, a triple decker bus for stranded witches and wizards and heads to the Leaky Cauldron Inn at Diagon Alley where he is met by the Minister of Magic himself. As it turns out, everybody is relieved to find Harry safe and he remains at Diagon Alley until the start of the new term at Hogwart’s.

Before he leaves for Hogwart’s, Harry finds out that an escaped wizarding criminal, Sirius Black, wants to kill him and he is warned not to take any unnecessary risks in the upcoming year. Harry and his friends find that this year Hogwarts is under extra security and is being guarded by the Dementors of Azkaban which are evil creatures that suck happiness and hope from people and can even take a human’s soul. Harry finds that he is particularly susceptible to the unpleasant effects of the dementors because of the horrors in his past and his new Defence Against the Dark Arts Teacher, Professor Lupin, teaches him an advanced spell to repel the creatures.

On a trip to the wizarding village of Hogsmeade, Harry finds out that Sirius Black is his godfather and was responsible for the death of his parents who he betrayed to Voldemort.

Later in the term, Ron is dragged away by a dog that has been haunting Harry over the course of the year, but it turns out that the dog is actually Sirius Black who is an animagus (he has the ability to take the form of an animal). Professor Lupin, who noticed the trouble, then arrives and helps Black who Harry had been attempting to overpower. Horrified at this apparent betrayal, Hermione tell Harry and Ron that Lupin is a werewolf. But it turns out that Black was actually framed by a man named Peter Pettigrew, who was really responsible for the death of Harry’s parents and who was friends with them, as well as Black and Lupin when they were all at school toegther.

Harry refuses to allow Black and Lupin to kill Pettigrew, saying that his father would not have wanted it, but on their way back to the castle, it turns out that Lupin has not taken the potion that stops him from fully transforming into a werewolf at the full moon, because of the evening’s events. While Black is trying to control the now dangerous Lupin, Pettigrew escapes.

The dementors around the perimeter of Hogwart’s sense Black’s presence and begin to swarm in around him and Harry. Though Harry had been learning how to cast a patronus charm to repel the dementors, he is not powerful enough to fight so many of them at once and fails to drive them away. Just as it looks like all hope is lost, Harry sees a figure who looks like his father a long distance away. The figure casts an extremely powerful patronus, driving away the swarm of dementors.

Harry then wakes up in the hospital wing, where Ron and Hermione are also recovering. He finds out that the dementors are going to suck Black’s soul out of him, on the orders of the Minister of Magic. None of the teachers or the Minister believe Harry when he tries to tell them that Black is innocent, except for Professor Dumbledore.

Dumbledore quickly gives some unclear instructions to Hermione and leaves. Ron is still not well enough to help with anything, so Hermione explains to Harry that she has been issued a time turner in order to get to all of her overload of classes. They leave Ron behind and use the time turner to go back three hours in time, breaking wizarding law in the process. The two start by rescuing a Hippogriff named Buckbeak. Buckbeak had been wrongly sentenced to be executed after giving minor injuries to one of Harry’s least favourite fellow students, Draco Malfoy, who had ignored the instructions on how to safely interact with hippogriffs in class.

Harry and Hermione then use Buckbeak to fly up to the tower where Black is being held and allow him to escape by flying away with Buckbeak. They then return to the Hospital Wing where nobody except for Dumbledore knows what they’ve done. The books ends with Harry, Ron and Hermione heading home on the Hogwart’s Express where they receive a letter from Black by Owl, telling them that he is safe and far away.

Published in 1999.