HARRY POTTER and the Prisoner of Azkaban CHAPTER 11

Chapter 11

THE FIREBOLT

Harry is back at Hogwarts. He thinks a lot about what he learned about Sirius Black and his parents. He is angry. Why did no one tell him the truth? Sirius Black was his father's best friend. But Sirius Black is also the one who told Voldemort where his parents were. He is the reason they died.

That night, Harry has bad dreams. He hears his mother scream. She is asking Voldemort not to kill her baby. The next morning, Harry wakes up and goes to the Gryffindor common room. Only Ron and Hermione are there. “Where is everyone?” asks Harry.

“It’s the first day of Christmas holiday,” says Ron. “Everyone is gone. It’s almost lunch. Are you okay?” “You don’t look good,” says Hermione. “I’m fine,” says Harry. “Harry,” Hermione says, looking worried, “I know it’s hard to hear about Sirius Black. But you won’t do anything dangerous, right? You won’t try to find him?” “Yeah,” says Ron. “He’s not worth it.” 

Harry looks at them. “Do you know what I hear when a dementor comes near me?” he asks. “I hear my mother scream. She begs Voldemort not to kill me. I can’t forget it. And now I know her friend gave her to Voldemort…” “There’s nothing you can do!” says Hermione. 

“Let the dementors take Black back to Azkaban!” she says. “But remember what Fudge said,” says Harry. “The dementors don’t affect Black like other people.” “What do you mean?” asks Ron. “Do you want to kill him?” “Don’t be silly!” says Hermione. “Harry won’t kill anyone. Right, Harry?” Harry does not answer.

Ron tries to change the subject. “Let’s go see Hagrid.” “That’s not a good idea,” says Hermione. “Harry should stay inside the castle.” “Let’s go,” says Harry. “I want to ask Hagrid why he didn’t tell me about Black and my parents.” Ron looks unhappy. He doesn’t want Harry to think about Black. Hermione looks even more worried.

They walk to Hagrid’s house. The ground is white with snow. They knock on the door. No answer. “Maybe he’s not here,” says Ron. But they hear a strange noise inside. “Hagrid!” yells Harry. He knocks hard. “Are you there?” The door opens. Hagrid is crying.

“Have you heard?” he asks. He hugs Harry very tightly. Hagrid is huge! Harry thinks he will be crushed! Ron and Hermione help Hagrid sit down. “What happened?” asks Hermione. Hagrid points to a letter on the table. “They’re going to kill Buckbeak!” he cries. “The school governors decided. I know Malfoy’s father made them do it.”

There is a sound in the back of the house. Buckbeak the hippogriff is there, eating. There is blood on the floor, all around him. “I couldn’t leave him outside in the cold,” says Hagrid. “Maybe Dumbledore can help,” says Hermione. “No. He’s too busy with the dementors and Sirius Black.”

“Don’t worry,” says Hermione. “We will help you. Everything will be okay.” “Thank you,” says Hagrid. “I’ve not been feeling right. I’ve been so worried about Buckbeak. And I’m scared people don’t like my classes.” “We love them!” says Hermione. She is not telling the truth. “Yes, they’re great,” says Ron. He crosses his fingers behind his back.

“And the dementors make me nervous,” Hagrid says. “I remember my time in Azkaban.” “But you were innocent!” says Harry. “Yes, but the dementors don’t care. They only want to take away your happiness. I never want to go back. But if I let Buckbeak escape, they might send me there again.”

Hagrid has never talked about Azkaban before. “We will help,” says Hermione. “We will protect Buckbeak.” With this new responsibility, Harry forgets about his problems for a while. They return to the castle and get ready to help Hagrid. The next day, they go to the library to find books about magical animals and court cases.

But they don’t find anything good. In most cases, the magical animals lose. There is only one story where the animal was too scary to punish. That doesn’t help. While they study to help Hagrid, the castle gets ready for Christmas. On Christmas morning, Ron throws a pillow at Harry. “Wake up, sleepyhead! Presents!”

Harry gets out of bed. There is a pile of gifts by his bed. Ron is already opening his gifts. “Another sweater from my mom!” says Ron. “Check if she sent you one too.” Harry did get a sweater from Mrs. Weasley. But there is also another gift. A long, thin gift wrapped in brown paper. “What’s that?” asks Ron. “I don’t know,” says Harry. He opens it. “I don’t believe it!” It’s a Firebolt!

The best broom in the world! “Who sent it to you?” asks Ron. “There’s no card,” says Harry. “Who would buy this for you?” “I know it wasn’t the Dursleys,” says Harry.

“Maybe it was Dumbledore,” says Ron. “He gave you the invisibility cloak.” “But the cloak was my dad’s. Dumbledore just gave it to me.” “Maybe it was Lupin,” says Ron. “Lupin?” says Harry. “If he had money to buy a Firebolt, he would have money to buy better clothes!” They all laugh.

“Lupin likes you,” says Ron. “And he wasn’t at school when your old broom broke.” “He said he was sick,” says Harry, confused. “He wasn’t in the hospital. I was there, cleaning floors for Snape. Detention…” Hermione walks in with her cat, Crookshanks.

“What are you talking about?” she asks. “Don’t bring him in here!” Ron says, hiding Scabbers, his rat. Hermione doesn’t listen. She sees the broom. “Oh, Harry. Who sent it?” “I don’t know. There was no card.” Hermione looks worried. “It’s strange. This is a very expensive broom. Why no name?”

“Who cares?” says Ron. “Can I try it, Harry?” “No one should try it yet,” says Hermione. Harry and Ron stare at her. “What should he do with it, then?” asks Ron. “Clean the floor?” Suddenly, Crookshanks jumps at Ron’s pocket. Scabbers tries to escape. Ron tries to stop Crookshanks and kicks Harry’s trunk by mistake. 

The trunk falls. Something starts to whistle. “It’s the Sneakoscope,” says Harry. He picks it up. It spins and whistles. Crookshanks hisses at it. “Hermione, get that cat out of here!” yells Ron. Harry puts the Sneakoscope away. Hermione picks up Crookshanks and leaves. The cat still looks angry at Ron.

Ron picks up Scabbers. “He doesn’t look good,” says Harry. Scabbars is very thin and he looks sick. “He’s very stressed!” yells Ron. “He’s afraid of that cat!” Harry thinks about Scabbers. Rats don’t usually live longer than three years. Scabbers is thirteen. Maybe he has magic. If not, he will die soon, and Ron will be very sad.

Christmas morning is not going well. Hermione is angry at Ron. Ron is angry at Hermione. They are not talking. Later, Harry brings his broom to the common room. He wants to look at it more. Hermione gives him a mean look. But Harry ignores her. He thinks about how fast he will fly in his next Quidditch game.

That night, there is Christmas dinner in the Great Hall. Only a few students and teachers stay at the school. There is one big table. There are twelve seats. Some of the teachers are wearing party hats. Dumbledore is wearing a funny hat with a big bird on it. It looks like Neville Longbottom's boggart Snape! Professor Snape, who is sitting next to Dumbledore, does not laugh.

Then Professor Trelawney arrives. She says she cannot sit at the table. “There are thirteen people now, with me sitting at the table” she says. “That brings bad luck!” Dumbledore uses his wand to magically create a chair. She sits down anyway. The dinner begins. The food is very good.

After dinner, Harry and Ron start to leave to go back to the common room. Hermione stays. “I’ll stay a little longer," she says. “I need to talk to Professor McGonagall.” Harry and Ron go back to Gryffindor. They want to look at the broom again.

Later, to their surprise, Professor McGonagall enters the common room with Hermione. Professor McGonagall almost never comes into the common room. But when she does, she has bad news for everyone. She looks at the broom in Harry’s arms. “So, that’s it, is it?” she asks. 

Hermione is sitting on a chair. She pretends she is reading a book. She hides her face behind the book. “Miss Granger told me that you received this broomstick as a gift, Potter,” says McGonagall. “May I see it, please?” McGonagall asks, pointing to the broom. 

But she does not wait for an answer. She takes the broom out of Harry’s hands. She examines it carefully. “Hmm. And there was no card or note with it? No message of any kind” she asks. “No,” says Harry.

“I have to take it,” she says. “What?” says Harry. “It must be checked for Dark Magic. Madam Hooch will take it apart and look at each piece.” “Take it apart?” Harry yells. “It won’t take more than a few weeks,” says McGonagall. “If there’s no Dark Magic, you will get it back.”

“But there’s nothing wrong with it!” Harry shouts. “You don’t know that,” says McGonagall. “You cannot fly on it yet.” She leaves with the broom. Harry watches her go. He feels terrible. Ron is angry. “Why did you tell her?” Ron asks Hermione, angrily.

Hermione throws the book down. She stands up quickly. She stands right in front of Ron. “I told her because I thought, and Professor McGonagall agrees with me, that that broom was probably sent to Harry by Sirius Black!”