Quick Links
- What’s Sirius Black Got To Do With Harry Potter?
- Sirius Black Remains Harry’s Godfather
- The Actual Encounter
- Exiting The Shack
The third movie in the Harry Potter franchise – The Prisoner of Azkaban is the rite of passage to Harry’s adulthood. He is in his third year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and at an age when he has started to interact differently with those around him and grieve intensely over the loss of his parents. His closest friends and aides, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, have developed maturity too.
Ron, in particular, is affected by the great revelation scene that takes place at the Shrieking Shack, which is situated in Hogsmeade. This abandoned house is where the key characters come together, and the events of the First Wizarding War are revisited. Known as the Encounter at the Shrieking Shack in Harry Potter lore, here is the said event’s significance.
What’s Sirius Black Got To Do With Harry Potter?
No sooner does thirteen-year-old Harry run away from the Dursleys than he is informed about a certain someone named Sirius Black breaking out of Azkaban. He boards the emergency transport for stranded magic folks – the Knight Bus, whose conductor, Stan Shunpike, breaks the news. Sirius’ prison break is talk of the Wizarding World and has made the headlines in the Daily Prophet, as well. Shunpike says in The Prisoner of Azkaban:
He [Sirius] is a murderer. Got himself locked up in Azkaban for it.
When Harry asks how the prisoner escaped, Shunpike replies:
Well, that’s the question, isn’t it? He is the first one that done it. He was a big supporter of… You-Know-Who.
The Knight Bus drops Harry at the Leaky Cauldron where the Minister for Magic, Cornelius Fudge, admonishes him from running away during dangerous times:
We have a killer on the loose!
Ron’s father, a staffer at the Ministry, is the next person to warn Harry about Sirius because he thinks that the young wizard needs to know the facts:
Thirteen years ago, when you stopped… When you stopped You-Know-Who… Black lost everything. But to this day, he still remains a faithful servant. And in his mind, you are the only thing that stands in the way of You-Know-Who returning to power. And that is why… he has escaped from Azkaban.
These “facts,” are half-truths, as Sirius is neither a killer nor a supporter of Voldemort. He does have unfinished business with a Marauder named Peter Pettigrew, and by extension, Ron.
Sirius Black Remains Harry’s Godfather
Dumbledore warns his students, the Ministry stations Dementors on Hogwarts’ grounds as a protectionist measure, and a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher – Remus Lupin, joins the school. An alumnus, Professor Lupin, used to be a close friend of Harry’s parents and Sirius back in the day. The boys organized themselves into a mischief-making group at Hogwarts known as the Marauders in Harry Potter lore. They came from different backgrounds, remained a tightly-knit group, and were brilliant from the start. Peter Pettigrew was an exception in the group, as he was neither talented nor brilliant, but he followed James and Sirius everywhere. In other words, Peter worshiped the ground the star pupils, James and Sirius walked on.
Halfway through The Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry, beneath his Invisibility Cloak, eavesdrops on Madam Rosmerta, Fudge, and Minerva McGonagall at the Three Broomsticks. Through McGonagall, he learns that Sirius was his parents’ friend and that the man remains his godfather to the present day:
Years ago, when Harry Potter’s parents realized they were marked for death, do you remember? They went into hiding. Few knew where they were. One who did was Sirius Black.
While these parts of the conversation are true, the conversation misinforms him about Sirius’ role in James and Lily’s deaths. Fudge explains, “Not only did Black lead You-Know-Who to the Potters that night, he also killed one of their friends, Peter Pettigrew!” Harry, livid with rage, rushes out of the Inn and tells Hermione:
He was their friend, and he betrayed them. He was their friend! I hope he finds me. Because when he does, I’m gonna be ready! When he does, I’m gonna kill him!
The Actual Encounter
The Shrieking Shack is where Sirius clears the air in The Prisoner of Azkaban. He drags Ron inside to get his hands on his pet rat, Scabbers and Harry and Hermione follow behind. Upstairs, they learn that the Black Dog who dragged Ron by his leg down the Whomping Willow is Sirius’ Animagus. Hermione stands up to Sirius:
If you want to kill Harry, you’ll have to kill us too!
Harry lunges at Sirius and points his wand at him, but Remus arrives in the nick of time and disarms the young wizard:
Expelliarmus!
Sirius and Remus hug, leading the Trio to believe their Professor was helping this Azkaban escapee all this while. Hermione reveals the truth about Remus’ Werewolf affliction, and Sirius gets impatient. He wants to kill Peter Pettigrew, who remains hidden in his Animagus rat form, but Remus would much rather that Harry learn the truth about the betrayal:
No, Harry, it wasn’t him! Somebody did betray your parents, but it was somebody who, until quite recently, I believed to be dead.
Snape is the seventh and final character to enter the Shack. He disarms Remus, but Harry attacks him and knocks him unconscious. Sirius points to the fact that Ron’s pet is missing a toe, and all of them watch it transform into a human. Thirteen years ago, when Sirius learned Peter sold the Potters to Voldemort, he went to confront him. Peter, in response, had put on an act and cast an explosive spell. He’d killed twelve Muggle bystanders and cut off his finger to fake his death. Sirius says in The Prisoner of Azkaban:
The dirty coward cut it off so that everyone would think he was dead! And then he transformed into a rat!
Exiting The Shack
At the Shack, Peter tries to seek Harry’s sympathy, but Sirius and Remus stand in his way. Harry suggests they take him to the Castle and let the Dementors take care of him. Instead, they are forced to deal with Remus’ Werewolf transformation outside the Shack. Meanwhile, Snape regains consciousness and hurries out, looking for Harry. While he guards the Trio, Sirius is badly injured in a tussle against Lupin the Werewolf. This disturbance provides Peter with an opportunity to escape in his rat form. Shortly after, the Dementors revisit Sirius on the shores of a frozen lake. A mysterious Stag Patronus drives off the Dementors and Harry and Sirius fall unconscious next to each other towards the end of the third Harry Potter movie.
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