PoA Chapter Twenty-One

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Warning: Long chapter!

Yes, boys, she actually does have a secret!

We start with a discussion about how the kids could have been killed. If Dumbledore was really all about kids empowering themselves, they should all have gotten Patronus lessons.

Fudge admits that everyone should have a blind spot for Harry. Snape claims he tries to treat him like any other student. That whopping fib distracts from the rightness of his point, which is that Harry should be treated more like any other student and nobody does.

In Dumbledore’s mind treating Harry "like any other student" means arranging happy memories and victories for him. For Snape—in theory—it means punishing him when he does wrong just as any other student would be punished. (In practice for Snape it means harassing him.)

People won’t listen to Harry when he tells them Sirius is innocent. You know what that means. CAPSLOCK!

Harry and Hermione, the only witnesses to what happened, are told to shut up. It’s nice to know wizard investigations are biased from soup to nuts. Makes you wonder how many Muggle witnesses with video cameras they dismissed as confused after Peter’s murder.

Dumbledore announces they there’s not a shred of proof that Sirius is innocent. Because we’ve just seen again how important evidence and proof is to wizards when it comes to convicting people or finding them innocent.

There’s actually no reason that the word of two 13-year-olds (nitpick: Hermione’s 14) shouldn’t convince anybody. But it does work in children’s lit where the audience might assume they wouldn’t be listened to just because they’re kids.

Though it’s a bit hard to believe here given we just went over how everybody has a blind spot about Harry. If he said Peter was alive why wouldn’t he be believed? Particularly since he’s obviously got more reason than anyone to want the true murderer?

My personal canon is that Dumbledore just, as usual, doesn’t want anything going through a proper investigation that would clear everyone. Much better for him personally if he lets Hermione and Harry save Sirius in secret. Not only does it make him the hero for letting them do it and being on their side when no one else would be, it keeps Sirius on the run and so out of his hair and lets him know something other people don't. It solves all these problems and it’s totally in character for Dumbledore!

Dumbledore even reminds us that his own testimony, which was wrong and not even eye-witness, helped convict Sirius in the first place.

Meanwhile Remus won’t be listened to because he’s a werewolf. So not a single one of the many witnesses is able to tell what they saw. And Dumbledore’s hands are tied. Even though he’s at this point incredibly respected and nobody’s explained why most of these witnesses would want to lie. Pretty neatly done, actually.

Dumbledore laments that he has no power to make people see the truth. Actually, he does have that power up in his office, but we won’t be introduced to the Pensieve until the next book so…

No James Bond Exposition rule for Dumbledore, btw. No time for questions or explanations, just do what I say!

Turns out Hermione has a Time Turner. That she would never use for anything but going to class until the really important thing that comes up and makes Hermione throw out the rules she’s harped on through the whole book came up, right on schedule.

Rather than just putting their heads together and figuring out the quickest way to save Sirius now that they’ve got 3 hours to spare, Harry and Hermione go over Dumbledore’s cryptic remarks to figure out what his orders are so they can follow them to the letter. Can’t wait until they’re 18 and can think for themselves instead! Oh wait…

Really, this is where it gets weird. There’s no plot reason that Dumbledore has to be the one to give the kids the idea or the permission to free Sirius. The author’s just intentionally making it about Dumbledore as opposed to, for instance, having Harry say something that makes Hermione remember her Time Turner, but be reluctant, and then talked into it by Harry.

I mean, I get why she doesn’t have Dumbledore tell them what to do. That would ruin the suspense if he told us ahead of time what the plan was and then they just followed it. It doesn’t really seem wrong in this book when they’re still young. But it’s a bigger pattern in the series, that strange balance between the questioning of authority as a virtue and the total reliance on Dumbledore's authority as a bigger virtue. Iow, something fairly recognizeable as Christian ethics but invalidated replacing God with Dumbledore.

In fact, it’s the main difference between MWPP and the Trio—MWPP would have done it on their own and kept it secret from Dumbledore. Which is why they tend to seem older. And perhaps whey they all end up dead.

So they set off. Harry immediately has a dangerous moment of thinking for himself: Why don’t they just grab Scabbers? Luckily Hermione is there to remind him they can only follow Dumbledore’s orders.

Despite the logical problems Hermione’s frantic speech totally does its job: taking the reader firmly by the arm and yanking them in the right direction so they don’t spend too long looking at alternate possibilities.

As a side effect, though, we’ve got Harry is thinking independently and proactively for once and Hermione’s telling him to listen to Dumbledore through her instead.

Yet Harry’s plan actually was totally viable and they're already changing time just by being there.

Btw, from now on Buckbeak show no sign of understanding human speech.

Dumbledore’s all merry amusement at Buckbeak’s escape, which does suggest that his past self knows what happened. His omniscience is back just in time for him to be smug until the end of the book.

Harry bitterly says that Fudge would have told Macnair to murder Sirius on the spot had they come into the tunnel with them. And you would have been coldly satisfied with that Harry, remember?

I love that Harry’s smoothly slipped into resenting Fudge as the enemy here. He’s totally forgotten that Dumbledore hasn’t even tried to tell Fudge the truth so he can’t know for sure Fudge wouldn’t listen. After all, when has Fudge ever listened to Dumbledore?

Harry again thinks for himself: what if he just dashed out and took his invisibility cloak? But Hermione hisses about being seen again. Yes, the fact that he’s grabbing an invisibility cloak makes it all the more risky that he’ll be seen. You just keep on spotting places where you could clear Sirius’s name, Harry. Hermione will keep pulling you back to Dumbledore’s plan which carefully avoids that.

Hermione looks frightened for Harry’s sanity because he thought he saw a guy with dark hair across the lake. Yeah, that's just crazy talk.

She must be thinking, "If you said your father came to cheer you on to your impending death while holding a magic rock that would be normal. But saving you from Dementors? You must be mad!"

Harry’s Patronus moment is pretty awesome. Prongs!

Hermione lets us know that Harry’s Patronus was very Advanced Magic. Because from where we sit it’s obviously just casting a spell he’s been working on throughout the book and in fact has less trouble with than Accio.

Snape conjures stretchers, which does seem like a contrast to Sirius’s more obnoxious treatment of Snape.

I think Snape’s really mellowed out here because he thinks he’s made up for a wrong to Lily in the past and that he’s going to get a fair hearing from an objective listener.

Really, what must Snape be thinking here? He thinks Sirius got Lily killed on purpose.

Hee! Just realized that Harry’s ride with Hermione is a lot like his ride out of the RoR on the broomstick with Malfoy. He squeezes him around the waist really hard too.

Btw, there was some big Harmonian theory about the hippogriff. That was real, right?

Sirius doesn’t bow to Buckbeak or anything, just climbs on his back and kicks it. No need for formalities, I guess. We're all friends here.

Are we sure hippogriffs just aren’t prone to attacking obnoxious Slytherins? Because several chapters ago this thing was able to detect an insult in a remark not even delivered in an insulting way, and now he doesn’t even seem to recognize his own impending death by axe.

Things used more than once:
Well, really most of the chapter is this, with Harry and Hermione narrating it for us.

Snape’s speech about Harry being punished like anyone else kind of points to a theme in the book. Harry doesn’t get punished for blowing up his aunt, Lupin gets him out of punishment for going to Hogsmeade. Sirius was convicted of a crime he didn’t commit. Crookshanks was blamed for a crime he didn’t commit. Hagrid immediately avoids blame for anything that happened in his class so the blame can be put on Buckbeak (unfairly!) or Draco (fairly!) Too bad a working justice system would interfere with the time honored "who you know and what have you done for me lately" tradition wizards hold dear!

Snape and Fudge conveniently have a discussion near Harry’s bed, just like Snape and Dumbledore did earlier by his sleeping bag.

Dumbledore drops some coded remarks to Harry and Hermione. They have to figure out what he wants them to do and do it. This would make a great plot for a much longer book, wouldn’t it?

Harry barely remembers how he used to feel about Sirius here, so he’s indignant at the idea of sending in Macnair to kill him. The transition is as smooth as his switch to Team Snape in DH. No reflection on how he’d thought previously. Which is fine for Sirius since he didn’t really know the guy, but a different story with Snape.

Harry and Snape’s Patronuses match.

Harry’s earlier ride on Buckbeak pays off.

And he gets squeezed around his middle like a big hero like in DH.


It’s a gun. No it isn’t! It’s Chekov! No it isn’t!
The ground’s littered with them
Harry points out gun after gun they could fire to clear Sirius’s name.
Status: Still lying on the ground as Hermione rushes him past.

Whose Patronus was that?
Status: Fired. By Harry himself!

What’s Hermione’s Secret?
Status: Fired, and it was very useful indeed. So useful it could solve a lot more problems later, so we better get rid of it!

Buckbeak
We’ve spent the whole book talking about this animal. Is it any use?
Status: Fired into the air with passengers. He’s already a hundred times more useful than Hagrid.






The Cricket Rule

Day-for-Night

Still in effect.

Exploitation Filmmakers’ Credo
Any better plan you come up with will be shot down in favor of doing exactly what Dumbledore allowed you to do, Harry. It will be a mark of maturity when you stop trying to think for yourself.

Foley Work
That’s us knocking on Hagrid’s door! That’s Macnair swinging his axe! That’s you scratching yourself in the bushes!

IITS
We can’t clear Sirius’s name, Harry. It’s not in the script Dumbledore gave us!

Idiot World
It doesn’t matter that there are three witnesses who saw what happened, Harry. The story the guy who was unconscious is telling sounds a lot better.

Informed Attributes
Patronus=Very Advanced Magic.

Ken and Andrew’s Rule of Plot Holes
"But why can’t we just…" "No, Harry! Doing any of those things you suggest, no matter how logical they sound, will lead to neither of us being born. Just trust me on this!"

Light Bulb Moment
Time. Get it, Hermione?

Monster Death Trap Proviso
We failed to catch Peter the first time. Therefore we are disqualified from catching him this time.

POV Shots
Looking in the window at Sirius in Flitwick’s room.

The Stealth Monster Rule
Let’s take a moment to picture Harry and Hermione sneaking across the grass followed by Buckbeak walking on tippy-toe.

Jabootu Score: 12—this could be record!