Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban | Chapter 7 Summary

Chapter Seven:  The Boggart in the Wardrobe

The students struggle through Potions class taught by the ominous Professor Snape while Harry worries about Sirius Black being sited not far from school. Malfoy plays up his hippogriff injury as the students flock to their Defense Against the Dark Arts class. All of the Hogwarts students thoroughly enjoy Defense Against the Dark Arts this year with Professor Lupin’s practical method of teaching. (This particular class has had a different, and often ill-fated, teacher for each year that Harry has been at Hogwarts.) Here Professor Lupin explains that there is a creature called a boggart trapped in a wardrobe and that each student will have a chance to defeat it. Boggarts take on the shape of the thing each person fears the most.  The students take turns reciting a simple spell that finishes off the boggart with lots of laughter.  For Neville, the boggart turns into an ominous Professor Snape who quickly wears Neville’s grandmother’s clothes thanks to the spell. For Parvati, the boggart turns into a blood-stained and bandaged mummy that quickly  unraveled and fell face-first as a result of Parvati’s spell. For Seamus, the boggart turns into a green woman with floor-length black hair and a green, skeletal face, but she loses her voice as a result of Seamus’ spell. Professor Lupin allows everyone to take a turn except Harry. Lupin immediately intercepts the boggart.  The boggart suddenly takes the shape of a “silvery-white orb” for Lupin before disappearing while Harry wonders why he wasn’t allowed to have a turn to defeat the creature.