Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban | Chapter 17 Summary

Chapter Seventeen:  Cat, Rat, and Dog

The three lament what seems to be a bloody end to Buckbeak’s life as Scabbers completes his squirming and bites Ron in order to escape. The grim is spotted as well, while Ron goes pelting after Scabbers. The three are in hot pursuit. Ron captures Scabbers and pockets him just before the large black dog attacks, dragging Ron away “as though he were a rag doll.”  Feeling a loud thud, Hermione and Harry realize that they are at the base of the Whomping Willow tree and notice the dog dragging Ron through a gap between the tree’s roots. The two risk life and limb by avoiding the Whomping Willow’s “whomps,” and end up through the root gap as well. The two find themselves in a long tunnel that winds slowly upwards. As they emerge, they find themselves in a dusty room of the Shrieking Shack of Hogsmeade. Just as Harry and Hermione find Ron, he reveals the trap. The dog was not a dog at all, but an Animagus (a wizard able to turn himself/herself into an animal). The dog, of course, is none other than Sirius black who disarms Harry and Hermione with a simple spell. Black reveals that there would only be one murder there tonight. Harry loses all control, thinking that Black was the one who was responsible for Harry’s parents’ deaths. A large fight ensues with Harry ending up pointing a wand at Black, who says that Harry does not know the whole story.  Before Harry can act on his impulses, Lupin appears and disarms Harry. Lupin and Black embrace and search for Scabbers as Harry, Ron, and Hermione scream in disbelief that the two have been in league all along. Lupin begs them to listen, but Hermione reveals Lupin’s true nature:  Lupin is a werewolf. Lupin finally reveals that, after confiscating the Mauraders Map, he saw that Sirius Black was roaming about Hogwarts. Lupin now confiscates Scabbers, who we find out is not a rat at all. Scabbers is really Peter Pettigrew, whom everyone thought dead by Sirius Black’s hand.