History Literature / HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban

[[folder:0 – C]]

* AnalogyBackfire: Ron and Hermione defy the prospect of this. There are two {{Noodle Incident}}s they mention while reading for precedent to get Buckbeak acquitted. In both cases, the magical creature was found guilty at its trial.

* BittersweetEnding: In a departure from the unambiguously {{Happy Ending}}s of the first two books. [[spoiler:Sirius proves his innocence to Harry, Ron, Hermione, Lupin, and Dumbledore, but is forced to go on the run with Buckbeak when Pettigrew escapes. Additionally, Lupin is forced to resign when the school discovers he's a werewolf and Harry worries about Trelawney's prophecy and the consequences of sparing Wormtail and potentially bringing Voldemort back. Dispirited about the prospect of continuing to live with the Dursleys instead of his godfather, Harry cheers up when he gets a letter from Sirius and is glad that he now has someone who he can consider real family.]]

* CerebusSyndrome: Notably, this is the first book to go into detail about Lily Evans Potter's and James Potter's deaths. Additionally, the Dementors are in-universe {{Nightmare Fuel Station Attendant}}s par excellence, and the scene of a knife-wielding Sirius Black breaking into the Gryffindor boys' dormitory is pretty scary as well, [[spoiler:even though Black was after Pettigrew, not Harry or any of the others in his room]].

* ContemptCrossfire: Harry puts himself between Sirius Black and [[spoiler Peter Pettigrew when Sirius tries to murder Peter to avenge the murders of Harry's parents and Sirius's imprisonment]]. Harry does this not because he has any sympathy for [[spoiler:Pettigrew]] (he rejects his sniveling attempts at gratitude) but because he wants to think that his father wouldn't have approved of [[spoiler:his friends killing each other]] (besides which, leaving [[spoiler:Pettigrew]] alive to face trial is a CruelMercy).

[[folder:D – F]]

* DarkerAndEdgier: Although the previous novel had some darker elements, the series takes on a more serious and mature tone in this volume as it goes into detail about how Harry's parents died. It also explores Harry's darker emotions over his parents' deaths, as well as his darker side, when he attempts to murder Black. The Dementors are genuinely terrifying as they suck people's souls: a ''FateWorseThanDeath''. The Shrieking Shack encounter is rather intense with the aforementioned murder attempt, Harry and his friends disarming Snape at the same time, knocking him out, Snape's rather unhinged behaviour to the point where he was willing to have the Dementor's Kiss performed on Sirius due to their school rivalry (although it may have been down to him blaming Sirius for Lily's death, at that point still believing him to have been their secret keeper), and Sirius and Lupin nearly murdering Wormtail. And it concludes on a ''BittersweetEnding'', in which [[spoiler:despite Harry and Hermione rescuing Sirius and Buckbeak from the Ministry and the Dementors, Harry can't live with Sirius and leave the Dursleys because he is still on the run. Lupin is forced to resign when he is exposed as a werewolf, and Wormtail, who actually betrayed Harry's parents to Voldemort and killed those twelve Muggles, gets away with it -- so Sirius can't clear his name and Voldemort returns in the next book, thus fulfilling Trelawney's prophecy]]. Compared to the all-out happy endings of the first two books, this prepared the tone for the much darker later books.

* DeadpanSnarker: [=McGonagall=] kicks it up a notch from usual in this book, usually in regards to Divination and Professor Trelawney.

* DickDastardlyStopsToCheat: In the final Quidditch match between Gryffindor and Slytherin, the Slytherins start off with a huge points advantage -- they're far enough ahead on the scoreboard that Harry can't catch the Snitch until the Gryffindor Chasers score enough goals to close the gap, or else Gryffindor will win the game but lose the cup. But rather than utilize what is essentially free time for Malfoy to catch the Snitch and win the game, the Slytherins insist on repeatedly trying (and failing) to injure the Gryffindor players, causing Madam Hooch to award Gryffindor multiple free penalty shots. This enables Gryffindor to close the points gap and, once Harry grabs the Snitch, win the cup.

** Cedric Diggory is introduced as the Hufflepuff Quidditch team's Seeker. He'll become more important in the next book.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Rowling continues her trend of recounting basic lore from preceding books, presumably for new readers who were unaware of the first two; Harry is a wizard, he hates the summer holidays, the Weasleys are very poor, and so on. She stops doing this once the series becomes successful.

* EvilDetectingDog: Crookshanks. [[spoiler:It's no mere AnimalJingoism that has him going after Scabbers all year -- he knows the rat is a traitorous Animagus. Similarly, he trusts Sirius immediately, knowing he only has Harry's best interests at heart.]] At the end of the book, Ron {{invoke|dTrope}}s this with the owl Sirius buys him, by holding Pigwidgeon in front of Crookshanks's face and seeing if he reacts, and the cat's purring is taken as confirmation that the owl is perfectly normal. Creator/JKRowling later gave WordOfGod[[invoked]] that [[spoiler:Crookshanks is half-Kneazle, a magical cat-like animal that can tell if someone is untrustworthy]].

* ExtremeMeleeRevenge: When Harry first meets Sirius, Harry becomes so enraged that he forgets all about magic, forgets that Sirius is [[spoiler:supposedly]] a powerful Dark wizard trained by Voldemort himself, forgets that Sirius is holding three wands, ''and'' forgets that Sirius is also older, larger, and stronger. Harry charges Sirius down and nearly suffocates him.
* ExtremelyEasyExam: For the third years' Care of Magical Creatures final exam, Hagrid gives everyone a Flobberworm and tells them to keep it alive for one hour in order to pass the test. A Flobberworm is a boring and mostly useless magical creature that does best if left to its own devices. Unlike most examples of this trope, Hagrid isn't trying to reward the students; rather, he's so anxious and depressed about the thought of his beloved Hippogriff Buckbeak being executed that he can't prepare a proper exam.

* FakeOutTwist: When Lupin first appears in the Shrieking Shack and [[spoiler:helps Sirius Black in the climax, it appears as though Lupin was TheMole the whole time (paralleling the Quirrell reveal from [[Literature/HarryPotterAndThePhilosophersStone the first book]]). However, Lupin quickly explains that he hasn't been helping Sirius because he had believed, as the trio and the Wizarding World at large do, that Sirius betrayed Harry's parents and killed Peter Pettigrew... until he saw Pettigrew's name on the Marauder's Map. Lupin and Sirius go on to reveal that not only was Pettigrew alive and guilty of Sirius's alleged crimes, but he was in the room with them... as Ron's pet rat Scabbers.]]

[[folder:G – N]]

** Lupin forgets to take his Wolfsbane Potion on the night of Buckbeak's execution. In particular, Snape specifically mentions that he had come looking for Lupin ''because he forgot to take his potion'', and ''Lupin is present when Snape says this'', but even this isn't enough to jog Lupin's memory and make him go running back to his office to take it, or stay in the Shrieking Shack while the others return to Hogwarts. The consequences of this are pretty dire for all concerned: [[spoiler they lead to Pettigrew's escape, Voldemort's return, and Lupin's, Sirius's, and Snape's deaths]].

* JobsOnlyVolunteer: After the Fat Lady's portrait is attacked and shredded by Sirius Black when she refused to let him into Gryffindor Tower, Sir Cadogan is appointed to be the guardian of Gryffindor Tower until Black is caught. He proceeds to annoy the students by either challenging them to duels or frequently changing the password several times a day. When Seamus complains to Percy and asks if one of the other portraits can do it, Percy explains he was the only one brave enough to volunteer.

** [[spoiler:Draco also gets away with all the trouble he and his father caused to get Hagrid sacked and have Buckbeak executed. {{Justified|Trope}} since he's the son of a wealthy family and the Hogwarts staff can't punish him too harshly. Also {{downplayed|Trope}} in that Draco may not get punished for his plot to sack Hagrid, but, still, Harry humiliates him in a mud ball fight in front of the Shrieking Shack and Hermione slaps him hard.]]
** [[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire The next book]] reveals Walden Macnair, the Ministry's executioner, to be [[spoiler:a Death Eater.]] Despite [[spoiler:serving Lord Voldemort himself in the past, then responding to his post-summons resurrections, Macnair got himself a steady job at the ''Ministry of Magic'', as an ''executioner''. No doubt he chose/was given the job so he could sadistically enjoy putting down magnificent creatures guilty and innocent alike]]. While he doesn't get to [[spoiler:kill Buckbeak, he does presumably keep his job until Voldemort's public return [[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix two years later]].]] Fortunately, by the time ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows'' rolls around, [[spoiler:Hagrid issues a KarmaHoudiniWarranty and throws him into a wall during the [[FinalBattle Battle of Hogwarts]].]] Even then, he presumably [[spoiler:survives to be put in Azkaban for the rest of his despicable life, unlike many other Death Eaters.]]

** When filling in for an absent Professor Lupin, Snape instructs the class to write an essay on the best ways to identify and kill a werewolf. [[spoiler:Later it's revealed Lupin is a werewolf. In other words, Snape was not only ordering the students to find the best ways to kill their own teacher (a teacher the class has come to greatly respect), Snape was going to have Lupin be the one to read and score the essay.]] No wonder Lupin tells them they don't need to finish the essay after he returns.
** Insulting Buckbeak against Hagrid's explicit instructions, faking the severity of his injury for sympathy points, getting Snape to give him potion ingredients which Gryffindor students had prepared well, trading them for his lackluster ingredients, and delaying a Quidditch match to gain more favorable weather conditions was one thing. Draco asking his father to bribe/threaten the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Magical Creatures into ''murdering'' an innocent Hippogriff (in a legally sanctioned way, mind you) for a mistake ''he'' made is another thing entirely. Even worse, he may have been doing it out of jealousy of Harry, who simply followed Hagrid's very clear and simple instructions and got a free ride on Buckbeak.

** The Knight Bus' somewhat reckless driver is named Ernie Prang. A prang is a British slang term for a vehicular crash.

* MomentOfWeakness: Harry blowing up Aunt Marge... not in the explosive sense.

[[folder:O – S]]

[[folder:T – Z]]

* TimeyWimeyBall: Hermione warns Harry against using [[spoiler:a Time Turner]] to change the past because other instances of time travel have resulted in people being [[TemporalSuicide killed by their alternate selves]] among other [[ButterflyOfDoom disastrous consequences]], which the book appears to take seriously... Until [[spoiler:Harry realizes he [[YouHaveAlreadyChangedThePast Already Changed the Past]], resulting in a StableTimeLoop in which the people he wanted to save [[TrickedOutTime have already been saved]] and his past self just didn't know it yet]].
* ToiletHumour: For Ron speaking out against Snape when he covers Lupin's class in Chapter 9, Snape gives him detention. Namely, he has to clean the hospital wing's bedpans, without magic. Understandably, [[TheChewToy Ron]] is furious.
* TomSwifty: "He's friends with that dog," said Harry grimly. (He's believed said dog to be a dog-shaped death omen called the Grim for most of the book.)
* TongueTrauma: Ron mentions that Fred and George gave him an acid pop while he was a kid that burned a hole through his tongue.

* TimeyWimeyBall: Hermione warns Harry against using [[spoiler:a Time Turner]] to change the past because other instances of time travel have resulted in people being [[NeverTheSelvesShallMeet killed by their alternate selves]] among other [[ButterflyOfDoom disastrous consequences]], which the book appears to take seriously... Until [[spoiler:Harry realizes he [[YouHaveAlreadyChangedThePast Already Changed the Past]], resulting in a StableTimeLoop in which the people he wanted to save [[TrickedOutTime have already been saved]] and his past self just didn't know it yet]].

** It turns out that Trelawney [[spoiler: was RightForTheWrongReasons, as Pettigrew, as Scabbers, was in Ron's pocket, making him the thirteenth person. And then Dumbledore stands up before Harry and Ron do.]]
* ActuallyPrettyFunny:

* TheAlcatraz: Azkaban, which was first mentioned in [[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheChamberOfSecrets Book 2]], is a prison for witches and wizards considered inescapable thanks to being patrolled by Dementors, ghostly jailors that feed on positive emotions, thus literally preventing prisoners from hoping to escape. [[spoiler: The titular prisoner is able to partially resist them by transforming into an animal.]]

* ArcVillain: Subverted. Sirius is built up as the main antagonist, but he's [[spoiler:a good guy]]. The real villains, ironically, are [[spoiler: the Dementors, the ones ''guarding'' the titular prisoner. And Pettigrew]].

* AssholeVictim: [[spoiler: Sirius]] claims that Snape deserved the nasty prank [[spoiler: that nearly [[DeadlyPrank got Snape killed]], namely seeing werewolf Lupin]]. Snape begs to differ.
** Plaid straight with Aunt Marge who, after a ''week'' of verbally abusing Harry and making the other Dursleys look like ''saints,'' Harry finally snaps when she ''literally'' calls Lily Potter ''a [[DoubleEntendre bitch,]]'' yells at her and, since his wand wasn't on his person at the time, his [[PowerIncontinence natural magic]] subconsciously causes her to inflate like a balloon, and Harry decides enough is enough and runs away.

* BadPeopleAbuseAnimals: [[TheBully Malfoy]] doesn’t physically harm Buckbeak, but insults the animal leading to Buckbeak attacking HIM. Later, this trope is played straight when Malfoy and his father (both unsympathetic characters) arrange for Buckbeak’s beheading.
** The executioner, Walden Macnair, takes delight in his job and [[spoiler: is unsurprisingly revealed to be a Death Eater in the next book.]]

* BewareTheNiceOnes: [[spoiler: Remus Lupin.]] At the climax of the book when he and [[spoiler: Sirius]] confront [[spoiler: Peter]] with the evidence of his betrayal, [[spoiler: Sirius asks him casually, "Shall we kill him together?" and Remus simply answers "Yes, I think so." He then tells Peter that he should have known the two of them would kill him if he were to betray James.]]
* BigBadEnsemble: The Dementors and [[spoiler: Peter Pettigrew]].

* CallingTheYoungManOut: Professor Lupin, one of the kinder teachers and an old friend of Harry's father, calls out Harry for using the Marauder's Map to sneak out of Hogwarts while alleged murderer Sirius Black is at large, supposedly looking for Harry. Lupin brings up that not only could the Map have aided in capturing Sirius Black the last time he was in the castle had Harry handed it in sooner, but that Harry undervalues his parents' sacrifice by being so reckless. He confiscates the Map, and Harry walks away feeling ashamed.[[spoiler: While Sirius turns out not to be the criminal everyone believes he is, it is only after Lupin confiscates the Map that he discovers the truth about the real murderer, Peter Pettigrew.]]

** Ron buys Harry a Sneakoscope, which is basically a [[DetectEvil Dark wizard-detector]]. Harry thinks it's broken as it's constantly going off, none of them realising that it only sounds when [[spoiler: Scabbers]] is around because [[spoiler:Scabbers is actually Peter Pettigrew, who divulged James's and Lily's whereabouts to Voldemort, in Animagus form]].

* CerebusSyndrome: Notably, this is the first book to go into detail about Lily Evans Potter's and James Potter's deaths. Additionally, the Dementors are in-universe {{Nightmare Fuel Station Attendant}}s par excellence, and the scene of a knife-wielding Sirius Black breaking into the Gryffindor boys' dormitory is pretty scary as well[[spoiler: even though Black was after Pettigrew, not Harry or any of the others in his room.]]
* ChekhovsClassroom: [=McGonagall=] mentions in the middle of a scene focused on Professor Trelawney's dubious oracular record the fact that there are wizards known as Animagi who can transform themselves into animals (of whom she is one of only seven registered in Britain in the last century). Towards the end of the book, we learn[[spoiler: that Sirius Black is an unregistered Animagus, as were Peter Pettigrew and James Potter]].

* ChekhovsGunman: This book marks the introduction of the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw Seekers, Cedric Diggory and Cho Chang, both of whom will go on to have important roles in the next two books.
* ChekhovsTimeTravel: When it is revealed that Time-Turners exist (upon Hermione taking all the possible electives in her third year), it suddenly becomes necessary to use them to disguise the group's actions, and [[spoiler:to deliver Harry to the lake, to save himself from the Dementors, though he'd thought it was his father]].
* ChewingTheScenery: Ron's reaction (an OverlyLongScream and a BigNo)[[spoiler: when he wakes up to find Sirius Black holding a knife and standing over him, trying to attack Scabbers/Pettigrew]].

* CompactInfiltrator: [[spoiler: Peter Pettigrew, as a rat animagus, was the only member of the Marauders able to weave between the Whomping Willow's attacking branches to open the passage to the Shrieking Shack when the Marauders were still at Hogwarts. It was also how Pettigrew was able to fake his death years later, since he cut off a finger and transformed, slipping down a sewer to let Sirius take the blame for the murders Pettigrew committed.]]
* ContemptCrossfire: Harry puts himself between Sirius Black and [[spoiler: Peter Pettigrew when Sirius tries to murder Peter to avenge the murders of Harry's parents and Sirius's imprisonment]]. Harry does this not because he has any sympathy for [[spoiler: Pettigrew]] (he rejects his sniveling attempts at gratitude) but because he wants to think that his father wouldn't have approved of [[spoiler: his friends killing each other]] (besides which, leaving [[spoiler: Pettigrew]] alive to face trial is a CruelMercy).

** [[spoiler: Had Buckbeak's execution not been scheduled for sunset during a full moon, Pettigrew would have been arrested and Sirius cleared, completely changing the arc of the next four books. Lupin probably would have also remained a teacher since Snape wouldn't have found Sirius while trying to bring Lupin his Wolfsbane Potion and ultimately outed Lupin as a werewolf out of spite. This is especially funny when it's revealed, [[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince three books later]], that Voldemort cursed the Defence Against the Dark Arts position. So, this curse ultimately enabled Voldemort to make a new body.]]
** Lupin happens to forget [[spoiler:his dose of Wolfsbane potion]] and there is a [[spoiler: full moon]] on the ONE night that shit goes down? [[spoiler: This despite him saying he must take the potion every day in the week ''preceding'' the full moon, so should one missed dose on the night ''of'' the full moon really result in such an egregious transformation?]]
** [[spoiler: The only reason that Sirius even breaks out of Azkaban in the first place is that: (A) the Weasleys win a Ministry lottery; (B) this is apparently front-page news to the editors of ''The Daily Prophet''; (C) Ron has Scabbers in the picture; and (D) Cornelius Fudge just happened to be carrying that exact issue of ''The Daily Prophet'' when he visits Black's cell.]]
** Harry just happens to get his hands on the Marauder's Map the very same year that one of its creators is teaching at Hogwarts. [[spoiler: The other three were his own departed father, Ron's rat, and lastly, the eponymous prisoner of Azkaban.]]
** If Harry hadn't [[spoiler: bumped into ''the Minister of Magic'']] of all people, he wouldn't have realized he wasn't in trouble with the law [[ItMakesSenseInContext for blowing up his Aunt Marge,]] and may have tried to live as a fugitive rather than return to Hogwarts. Later [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] when Harry overhears the Weasleys talking about [[spoiler: the theory that Sirius Black broke out of Azkaban to murder him, and he reasons that Cornelius Fudge was looking for him at the Leaky Cauldron because of this fear and acted extra leniently because he was glad to see him alive.]]

* CruelMercy: Harry asks [[spoiler: Sirius and Lupin]] to spare [[spoiler: Pettigrew]]'s life but not because he feels sorry for him; he just doesn't want them to become murderers. "He can go to Azkaban. If anyone deserves that place, he does."

* DamnedByFaintPraise: [[spoiler:Peter]] inadvertently does this to himself, begging Ron for mercy on the grounds that [[spoiler: "I was your rat ... I was a good pet." Sirius [[ShutUpHannibal retorts]], "If you make a better rat than a human, it's not much to boast about, Peter."]]

* DiabolusExMachina: [[spoiler: Everything seems to be headed for a happy ending. Harry learns that Sirius was ''not'' the one who betrayed his parents to Voldemort, they have the actual traitor Peter in their custody, and Sirius offers to let Harry live with him and escape the Dursleys after he has been cleared of the crimes against him. Then the clouds in the sky part, revealing a full moon, and Lupin hasn't taken the potion that allows him to keep his mind as a werewolf that night...]]
* DickDastardlyStopsToCheat: In the final Quidditch match between Gryffindor and Slytherin, the Slytherins start off with a huge points advantage — they're far enough ahead on the scoreboard that Harry can't catch the Snitch until the Gryffindor Chasers score enough goals to close the gap, or else Gryffindor will win the game but lose the cup. But rather than utilize what is essentially free time for Malfoy to catch the Snitch and win the game, the Slytherins insist on repeatedly trying (and failing) to injure the Gryffindor players, causing Madam Hooch to award Gryffindor multiple free penalty shots. The end result is that Gryffindor is able to close the points gap and, once Harry grabs the Snitch, win the cup.

** At the end of the previous book, Harry gave Ron and Hermione the Dursley's telephone number, telling them to call him over the summer. Neither Harry nor Hermione took into account that Ron had never used a telephone before in his life; when Ron actually does try to call, he ends up yelling into the phone, and, in another case of this trope, says that he's a friend of Harry's from school, forgetting that the other three people in the house ''hate'' magic.
** Hermione signs up for every single extra class offered in her third year but doesn't seem to have considered that she not only has to attend the classes, she'll need to do the homework, studying, and exams for each one as well. [[spoiler: Even when she's employing ''time-travel'' to meet all her deadlines, she gets incredibly stressed out and nearly has a breakdown.]]
* DirtyCoward: The Potters' SecretKeeper, [[spoiler: Peter Pettigrew]], betrayed them to Voldemort.

* DisproportionateRetribution: [[spoiler:When they were all at school together, Snape was always sniffing around the Marauders, looking to get them expelled. Sirius tried to get back at him by sending him into the crosshairs of a ''werewolf''; while Sirius is unrepentant, Snape correctly notes that if James hadn't stopped him from getting too close, Snape could very easily have been killed.]]

* TheDogWasTheMastermind: [[spoiler: Scabbers, Ron's pet rat, who has been around since the first book, who seems to be involved in a minor subplot regarding Hermione's new cat, is secretly a not-so-dead Peter Pettigrew, the real villain of the book.]]

* DragonTheirFeet: The wizarding public's general opinion of Sirius Black; the day after Voldemort's downfall, he was outed as a Death Eater, killed thirteen people (twelve Muggles, plus the wizard trying to apprehend him), then was caught. [[spoiler: It turns out that TheDragon was in fact Pettigrew, who ultimately goes on to help resurrect Voldemort.]]

** Sirius Black throughout the book. He's described as having been Voldemort's most dangerous follower who fooled and spied on the good side when Voldemort was powerful. We learn that he sold Harry's parents out to Voldemort, murdered thirteen people with one curse, wasn't affected by Dementors, became the first person to break out of Azkaban, and apparently knows how to sneak into Hogwarts undetected. [[spoiler: Until we learn that he was framed and had sympathetic motives for his actions throughout the book.]]

* DyingMomentOfAwesome: After Lord Voldemort killed James and Lily Potter, Peter Pettigrew exposed Sirius Black's treachery and attempted to duel him at the cost of his life. [[spoiler: Or so everybody thought until the events of this book. In fact, he [[FakingTheDead orchestrated what looked like his death]], lived as a rat for twelve years, and left Sirius to be ArrestedForHeroism.]]

** Walden Macnair, the Ministry's executioner of "dangerous" magical creatures, reappears in the next two books and briefly in the final one. [[spoiler: He was a Death Eater and returns to the fold after Wormtail resurrects Voldemort.]]
* EarlyInstalmentWeirdness: Rowling continues her trend of recounting basic lore from preceding books, presumably for new readers who were unaware of the first two; Harry is a wizard, he hates the summer holidays, the Weasleys are very poor, and so on. She stops doing this once the series becomes successful.

** Before escaping, Sirius was heard muttering to himself in Azkaban "He's at Hogwarts" over and over again. When he escaped, everyone assumed he wanted to kill Harry, considering he was imprisoned for betraying Harry's parents to Voldemort. [[spoiler: He never planned to kill Harry -- if anything, he was planning to save Harry. The "he" that Sirius kept muttering about referred to Scabbers, Ron's rat, or rather Peter Pettigrew, an Animagus who could transform into a rat and was the one who ''really'' betrayed Harry's parents to Voldemort.]]
** When Lupin arrives in the [[spoiler: Shrieking Shack]] and embraces [[spoiler: Sirius]], Hermione immediately accuses him of being EvilAllAlong and that he has been helping Sirius break into the castle to kill Harry because he's a werewolf. Lupin tells her she only got one of three right. [[spoiler: While he is a werewolf, he has not been helping Sirius, and he certainly doesn't want Harry killed. He's actually realised that Sirius is after Peter Pettigrew.]]

* EvilFormerFriend: [[spoiler: Peter]], who was friends with [[spoiler: James, Sirius, and Lupin]] when they attended Hogwarts two decades before Harry.
* EvilDetectingDog: Crookshanks. [[spoiler: It's no mere AnimalJingoism that has him going after Scabbers all year -- he knows the rat is a traitorous Animagus. Similarly, he trusts Sirius immediately, knowing he only has Harry's best interests at heart.]] At the end of the book, Ron {{invoke|dTrope}}s this with the owl Sirius buys him, by holding Pigwidgeon in front of Crookshanks's face and seeing if he reacts, and the cat's purring is taken as confirmation that the owl is perfectly normal. Creator/JKRowling later gave WordOfGod[[invoked]] that [[spoiler: Crookshanks is half-Kneazle, a magical cat-like animal that can tell if someone is untrustworthy]].

** When Aunt Marge berates Harry about his "useless" parents, she asks Vernon what job Harry's father had. Despite clearly being nervous that Harry might get mad and use magic, Vernon can't help himself and states that James was unemployed, giving Marge more ammo that pushes Harry over the edge.[[note]]Technically, this is true -- James didn't have a proper job when he died -- but that's largely because he was committed full-time to ''the war against Voldemort'' and his family's inheritance was enough to keep his family going.[[/note]]
** Walden Macnair was clearly angry upon [[spoiler:Buckbeak's escape]] to the point of swinging his axe into a fencepost. He had no personal gain (other than his apparent friendship with Lucius Malfoy) and likely got paid for his services regardless. [[spoiler:This hints at his true allegiance and that his sinister nature goes beyond JustFollowingOrders.]]

* ExhaustedEyebags: Hermione develops shadows under her eyes due to the extreme workload she has.

* ExtremelyEasyExam: For the third years' Care of Magical Creatures final exam, Hagrid gives everyone a flobberworm and tells them to keep it alive for one hour in order to pass the test. A flobberworm is a boring and mostly useless magical creature that does best if left to its own devices. Unlike most examples of this trope, Hagrid isn't trying to reward the students; rather, he's so anxious and depressed about the thought of his beloved hippogriff Buckbeak being executed that he isn't able to produce a proper exam.
* FaceHeelDoubleTurn: Throughout most of the story, [[spoiler: Sirius Black is painted as an unrepentant mass murderer who betrayed Harry's parents and then killed his good friend Peter Pettigrew. Come the confrontation under the Whomping Willow, Black pulls a GoodAllAlong HeelFaceTurn by revealing that he only went to Hogwarts to protect Harry and played no part in his parents' murder. At the same time, Pettigrew pulls an EvilAllAlong FaceHeelTurn when it's shown that he's been hiding as Ron's pet rat Scabbers for years and that he sold Harry's parents out to Voldemort]].

** [[spoiler: He also faints when trying to defend his godfather, Sirius Black, from them, and casts his second proper Patronus to ward them off.]]
* FakeKillScare: At one point, Harry, Ron, and Hermione hear what they think is Buckbeak being executed. [[spoiler: It turns out to be the executioner driving his axe into the fence after time-travelling Harry and Hermione help Buckbeak escape.]]

* FantasticAesop: Don't use [[spoiler: time travel]] to take multiple classes at once or you'll exhaust yourself.
* FantasticTimeManagement: [[spoiler: Hermione uses multiple-times-daily time travel to take more classes than would be otherwise possible.]]

* {{Fingore}}: The largest part of Peter Pettigrew the Ministry found after [[spoiler: his presumed death]] was his right index finger. [[spoiler: Pettigrew performed this on himself before transforming into a rat. As a side effect of this, Scabbers has one toe fewer than he should.]]

* {{Forgiveness}}: At the climax of the story, [[spoiler: Remus and Sirius]] both ask for, and receive, forgiveness for suspecting each other of having been TheMole in the Order of the Phoenix.
* ForgotAboutHisPowers: [[spoiler: Pettigrew transforms back into a rat to escape at a convenient moment. Sure, the PowerTrio doesn't know [[SummonToHand Summoning Charms]] yet, but Sirius likely does. He could perhaps have found a couple of seconds to Summon Pettigrew and hand him off to Harry or Hermione if he tried.]]
* ForgottenPhlebotinum: ''Website/{{Cracked}}'' [[http://www.cracked.com/article_21025_5-reasons-harry-potter-wizards-are-huge-threat.html wondered why Sirius had to go to jail]] when Veritaserum, Pensieves, and Legilimency exist.[[note]]This would be explained in the next book where Sirius tells the trio that Barty Crouch Sr. had him imprisoned without a trial (and likely with no investigation into the incident). Furthermore, Rowling confirmed that a skilled-enough wizard can defend against Legilimency and Veritaserum.[[/note]]
* FoulMedicine: Professor Lupin must take a draught of medicine for his 'monthly condition' [[spoiler: (lycanthropy)]]. He drinks some in front of Harry and observes that it tastes disgusting, adding, "Pity sugar makes it useless."
* FridgeHorror: In-universe, [[spoiler: Ron has this reaction to discovering Scabbers' true identity as the EvilAllAlong Peter Pettigrew]].
-->'''[[spoiler:Ron]]:''' I let you sleep in my ''bed!''

** The purpose behind telling no one that [[spoiler: the Potters' Secret-Keepers were switched to Peter Pettigrew]] was to make sure [[spoiler: everyone went after Sirius Black]]. It worked.
** PlayedForLaughs earlier with regard to ''The Invisible Book of Invisibility''. They cost Flourish & Botts a fortune and were never found.

* GoodShapeshiftingEvilShapeshifting: The Marauders were a StudentsSecretSociety consisting of Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs - a werewolf and three unlicensed animagi. Prongs took the form of a stag, Padfoot a dog, and Wormtail a rat; not so surprisingly, [[YouDirtyRat Wormtail]] turns out to be a coward and traitor to the three heroic shapeshifters. [[spoiler: His real name is Peter Pettigrew, the man who sold out Harry's parents to Voldemort and left Sirius Black AKA Padfoot as the fall guy.]]

* GreaterScopeVillain: This is the only volume in the series where Voldemort doesn't make an appearance in any way and is only mentioned. The only other book in which Harry doesn't personally interact with him is ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince Half-Blood Prince]]'', though he appears in certain people's memories. He still ultimately drives the plot, since [[spoiler: Pettigrew gave up the Potters to ''him'' in the war he started]].
* HaveAGayOldTime: Aunt Marge, who is a dog breeder, says while insulting Harry and his parents: "You see it all the time with dogs. If there's something wrong with the bitch, there'll be something wrong with the pup—" before being interrupted in mid-word.
* HateSink: Snape is at his most detestable in this novel. With very little of the DeadpanSnarker on display, sadistically torturing Neville openly in class, insulting another teacher publicly in front of his students, and in the end [[spoiler: gleefully looking forward to feeding a man to Dementors even when he was willing to come quietly and requested a fair hearing. When it's clear that he won't listen to reason, the trio resort to knocking him unconscious. After the climax, he gets in one last act of spite by outing Lupin as a werewolf (which he had already tried, more subtly, at least once earlier in the year)]].

* {{Hellhound}}: The Grim, a giant dog Trelawney purports to read in Harry's tea leaves, is said to be an omen of death. Harry's first in-person sights of [[spoiler: Sirius Black]] also make him out to be this.
* HeroicSelfDeprecation: In the climax, Lupin acknowledges that what Snape said about him not being trustworthy was MetaphoricallyTrue. He noted that he was grateful to Dumbledore for giving him the chance to study at Hogwarts and could never admit that [[spoiler: his friends became illegal Animagi and risked their lives for him and lied to Dumbledore for over seven years. He says he hoped that Sirius had tried to get in via Dark Arts rather than his skills as an Animagus]].
* HijackedByGanon: {{Subverted|Trope}}. [[spoiler: Everyone said Sirius Black was a Death Eater, so an appearance of Voldemort was expected.]] It's the only book not to feature Voldemort in any way, shape, or form (although he only appears in memories in the sixth), replaced instead by Sirius Black, [[spoiler: or more accurately, Peter Pettigrew]].

* HonourBeforeReason: Oliver Wood refuses Cedric Diggory's offer to replay the Gryffindor-Hufflepuff Quidditch game. Note that Cedric is the one making the offer even though he won, and the outcome was affected by something outside the normal parameters of the game (Harry was incapacitated by a Dementor attack).
* HopeSpot: [[spoiler: After convincing Harry of his innocence in the deaths of James and Lily, Sirius offers to adopt Harry formally once he is officially acquitted, and Harry enthusiastically agrees. This marks a brief moment of happiness for Harry since it means that he won't have to return to the Dursleys anymore. Unfortunately, circumstances keep them from clearing Sirius's name, and he has to go on the run again. Tellingly, this is the "memory" that Harry uses to conjure a Patronus to protect himself and Sirius from the Dementors, [[{{Foreshadowing}} and fails]].]]
* HorrorDoesntSettleForSimpleTuesday: Sirius breaks into Hogwarts on UsefulNotes/AllHallowsEve, acting violently when the Fat Lady refuses to let him into Gryffindor Tower. This is the [[RuleOfThree third and final time]] something happens on Halloween that poses an existential threat to Harry while he is at Hogwarts (after the troll and Mrs. Norris being petrified). Hermione, presuming that Sirius lost track of time, even [[LampshadeHanging points out]] how lucky it is that he coincidentally broke in while all the students and professors were occupied with the Halloween Feast. [[spoiler: In light of TheReveal, it's likelier that it was entirely intentional -- Sirius picked that day ''because'' no students would be in the tower, only certain traitorous wizards posing as pets. And because Lupin would be confined to his office under Wolfsbane.]]
* HypnosisProofDogs: [[spoiler: Sirius is able to shift into his dog form to escape Azkaban because Dementors don't affect Animagi as much as they do humans. The Dementors themselves aren't able to notice this as they simply believe his dog mind is Sirius being driven mad]].
* HypocrisyNod: While Hagrid calls out both Ron and Harry for ostracizing Hermione because of the Firebolt and Scabbers [[spoiler: supposedly being eaten]], he also says wisely that people can get protective of their pets, sometimes to HonorBeforeReason levels. Buckbeak is spending time with him because Hagrid is trying to save his life.

** Lupin is appalled that Harry never told a teacher about the Marauder's Map, given how useful it would be to catch Sirius or how useful it would be to Sirius if he found it. Yet Lupin never bothers telling Dumbledore (or indeed, anyone except Harry, Ron, and Hermione) that [[spoiler: Sirius is an Animagus and knows about the tunnel from the Shrieking Shack onto Hogwarts grounds]]. In Lupin's defence, he [[spoiler: was using the Map to find and track Sirius, and, later, Peter Pettigrew]].
* HypocriticalHeartwarming: When Snape takes over Defence Against the Dark Arts for Professor Lupin when he's ill, Snape devotes the entire class solely to making Lupin look bad by asking them questions they aren't supposed to cover for several months in the hope that nobody will be able to answer them and ignores Hermione because she'd obviously know. When Hermione then speaks out of turn and starts trying to answer the question, Snape interrupts her and takes five points from Gryffindor "for being an insufferable know-it-all", an action that instantly enrages every single student in the class, even though ''all'' of them had called Hermione a know-it-all themselves at some point before. Compounding the effect, the angriest is Ron, who (the narration explicitly points out) calls Hermione a know-it-all at ''least'' twice a week. Of course, there is a world of difference between saying that to a peer and a teacher saying that to a student.

** Lupin forgets to take his Wolfsbane Potion on the night of Buckbeak's execution. In particular, Snape specifically mentions that he had come looking for Lupin ''because he forgot to take his potion'', and ''Lupin is present when Snape says this'', but even this isn't enough to jog Lupin's memory and make him go running back to his office to take it, or stay in the Shrieking Shack while the others return to Hogwarts. The consequences of this are pretty dire for all concerned: [[spoiler: they lead to Pettigrew's escape, Voldemort's return, and Lupin's, Sirius's, and Snape's deaths]].

* InUniverseFactoidFailure: Snape identifies the {{kappa}} as from Mongolia. Spinoff ''Literature/FantasticBeastsAndWhereToFindThem'' correctly identifies the Kappa as from Japan, with a note from Harry snarking that Snape hasn't read the book.

** Uncle Vernon voices some of his characteristic views when the Muggle news reports on the escaped prisoner Sirius Black, but he's not wrong to complain that the report never says from ''where'' this prisoner escaped. After all, Sirius could be approaching their neighborhood and everyone would be unaware of the threat [[spoiler: and indeed, he was just then in the neighbourhood in Animagus form]].

* JustInTime: [[spoiler: Harry and Hermione send themselves three hours into the past at the end to save Buckbeak and Sirius, but they need to get back to the hospital wing at just the moment they sent themselves back in time, otherwise Dumbledore will lock them out and the plan will be exposed. Luckily, they manage to get back there just as Dumbledore is closing the door to lock it.]]

** [[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire The next book]] reveals Walden Macnair, the Ministry's executioner, to be [[spoiler: a Death Eater.]] Despite [[spoiler: serving Lord Voldemort himself in the past, then responding to his post-summons resurrections, Macnair was able to get himself a steady job at the ''Ministry of Magic,'' as an ''executioner.'' No doubt he chose/was given the job so he could sadistically enjoy putting down magnificent creatures guilty and innocent alike]]. While he doesn't get to [[spoiler: kill Buckbeak, he does presumably keep his job until Voldemor's public return [[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix two books later]].]] Fortunately, by the time ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows'' rolls around, [[spoiler: Hagrid issues a KarmaHoudiniWarranty and throws him into a wall during the [[FinalBattle Battle of Hogwarts]].]] Even then, he presumably [[spoiler: survives to be put in Azkaban for the rest of his despicable life, unlike many other Death Eaters.]]

** Insulting Buckbeak against Hagrid's explicit instructions, faking the severity of his injury for sympathy points, getting Snape to give him potion ingredients which were well-prepared by Gryffindor students, trading them for his lackluster ingredients, and delaying a Quidditch match to gain more favorable weather conditions was one thing. Draco asking his father to bribe/threaten the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Magical Creatures into ''murdering'' an innocent hippogriff (in a legally sanctioned way, mind you) for a mistake ''he'' made is another thing entirely. Even worse, he may have been doing it out of jealousy of Harry, who simply followed Hagrid's very clear and simple instructions and got a free ride on Buckbeak.
* KnowNothingKnowItAll: Snape has a moment of this when substituting for Lupin, claiming that the Kappa is more commonly found in UsefulNotes/{{Mongolia}} when it's from ''UsefulNotes/{{Japan}}''. This gets followed up on in ''Fantastic Beasts'': "Snape hasn't read this."
* LargeHam: Sir Cadogan, the man whose portrait temporarily replaces the Fat Lady.
* LaughingMad: When Sirius was caught shortly after Voldemort's fall, he was found laughing next to a crater where he had killed Peter Pettigrew and many Muggles, apparently cracked after his master Voldemort was defeated. [[spoiler:Except we learn that Sirius was never a traitor. He had intended to kill Pettigrew, but that was because Pettigrew was the actual traitor who caused James and Lily's deaths. Then Peter faked his death, killing twelve Muggles in the process, and framed Sirius for it. His life having collapsed around him, all Sirius could do was sit there and laugh until the Ministry came to arrest him.]]

* LickedByTheDog: After the fiasco that arose from [[spoiler: Crookshanks chasing down Pettigrew in rat form]], Ron invokes this by testing the new owl that [[spoiler: Sirius]] sent him on the cat. Crookshanks approves.
* LockedOutOfTheLoop: Retroactive example after ''Deathly Hallows''. [[spoiler: While Snape was a Death Eater, he was unaware Pettigrew was the spy inside the Order of the Phoenix -- and thus the one who sold out Lily over to Voldemort. This can be justified between Voldemort's favoritism and compartmentalization of the Death Eaters.]]
** Also, Snape [[spoiler: gets double Disarmed by Ron and Hermione, knocking him out.]] Because of this, he [[spoiler: sleeps through TheReveal about Sirius, Pettigrew, and the Marauders' Animagus transformations.]] Accordingly, he [[spoiler: tries to get Sirius [[FateWorseThanDeath kissed by a Dementor]] and theorizes to Fudge that Harry and Hermione were Confounded.]] That is, [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation if]] Snape [[spoiler: didn't already know the truth about Sirius and Pettigrew.]]
* LoopholeAbuse: To Harry's dismay, once Vernon [[spoiler: refuses to sign his Hogsmeade permission slip, Cornelius Fudge and Professor [=McGonagall=] both refuse to sign it since they aren't Harry's parents or legal guardians.]] So after a year of [[spoiler: simply staying in Hogwarts Castle and using the Invisibility Cloak and Marauder's Map, Sirius Black mails Harry a piece of paper recording his desire for Harry to be able to visit Hogsmeade [[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire in]] [[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix subsequent]] [[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince books.]]]] This works because. Sirius [[spoiler: is in fact Harry's godfather,]] and as such has the power to [[spoiler: sign the permission slip,]] despite the fact that he's wanted for thirteen counts of murder. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] by Dumbledore [[spoiler: being the only character outside the trio and Lupin confirmed to know the truth about Sirius at this point.]]

* LongLived: Scabbers has lived with the Weasleys for twelve years as of this book, several times longer than the average lifespan of a rat. Justified as [[spoiler: he's the human wizard Peter Pettigrew in disguise]].

** The somewhat reckless driver of the Knight Bus is named Ernie Prang. A prang is an informal British term for a vehicular crash.

* MirthlessLaughter: When people are telling Harry about Sirius Black's crime of having killed a street full of Muggles, they make sure to point out the fact that he stood there laughing afterwards as further proof of just how off-the-rails he is. As we learn by the end of the book, [[spoiler:it was actually Peter Pettigrew who killed all those people, then used his Animagus power to transform into a rat and flee the scene, leaving Sirius to take the blame. J.K. Rowling has clarified in interviews that Black's laughter was this type of laughter, evoked by the sheer insanity of the situation]].

** Harry assumes that Snape's complete freak-out in the climax is because Sirius and James bullied him at school. However, it's really more because [[spoiler:Snape assumes like everyone else that Sirius betrayed Lily and James]], so he thinks he's coming to face with the man who he thinks [[spoiler: directly caused Lily's death with their old animosity only coming second after this]]. This is the first implication of [[spoiler:Snape's feelings for her]] in the story, which are later further implied in ''Order of the Phoenix'' and then outright confirmed in ''Deathly Hallows''.

--->"D'you know what that--" ''(he called Snape something that made Hermione say "''Ron!''")''

** Crookshanks was attacking Scabbers because [[spoiler:he realized that the rat was an Animagus, and an untrustworthy one at that. He made a bad first impression on Ron by attacking his pet while the latter was getting a medical exam, and clawing Ron up in his attempt to grab the rat. Sirius reveals that Crookshanks was able to talk to him, enough to convey the gist of the situation. Rather than try to tell Professor [=McGonagall=], who's also an Animagus and able to turn into a cat, Crookshanks spends most of the year trying to catch Scabbers, with Ron noting that Crookshanks definitely has a vendetta and it ''isn't'' normal cat behaviour]].

* ObviousJudas: InUniverse, [[spoiler:Sirius]] considers himself and the rest of those fighting against Voldemort to be idiots for not realizing that [[spoiler:Pettigrew]] was the spy, since he was [[DirtyCoward a coward who always sought protection from those stronger than him]].

** [[spoiler:After Ron wakes up to find Sirius Black standing over him with a knife in hand, [=McGonagall=] finds out that Sirius was able to get into Gryffindor Tower because he had a piece of paper with that week's passwords on it. In a shaking voice of TranquilFury, [=McGonagall=] asks who wrote down the passwords for that week and mislaid them. There's a small squeak from a terrified Neville as he raises a shaking hand. (As it's later revealed that Sirius used Crookshanks to filch the list from Neville's bedside table, this is quite unjust, but as Neville ''is'' always mislaying things, even ''he'' assumes that he really did lose it.)]]

** Usually whenever Snape gets angry, he speaks in a TranquilFury that instantly shuts people up. After Sirius escapes on Buckbeak the hippogriff, he's ENRAGED, and it's quite possibly the first time we see him shouting. [[spoiler:As far as he knows at this point, the man who betrayed Lily to her death has escaped again.]]

*** On a related note, Harry, who has learned how to survive abuse from Petunia, Vernon, and Dudley, struggles to stick to Vernon's story when Aunt Marge is verbally abusing him, and when she starts [[SpeakIllOfTheDead badmouthing his parents,]] "he had never felt more angry in his life.'' He ignores Vernon's advice to go to bed, tries to correct her, [[PowerIncontinence blows]] her [[ItMakesSenseInContext up]] like a balloon, [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere packs his Hogwarts bags]], ''threatens Vernon'' and ''runs away from home'' in "a reckless rage.'' After seeing [[AbusiveParents what he was able to tolerate in previous books]], and [[AllLovingHero how kind and understanding he is capable of being]], seeing him snap, ''threaten a family member,'' and ''dip'' is a horror to behold.
* OurGryphonsAreDifferent: Buckbeak is the hippogriff variant with the front legs, wings, and head of a giant eagle and the body, hind legs and tail of a horse. Can be ridden as a steed if approached respectfully but will attack anyone who insults them as Malfoy finds out.

* PacifismBackfire: Harry doesn't want James' two surviving best friends to murder (i.e. commit violence on) their EvilFormerFriend. So, he convinces them to stand down and help him take the traitor to the Dementors (which is their raison d'être). [[spoiler:Peter escapes.]]

** Push Away the Cat. When [[spoiler:Sirius]] tries to prevent Crookshanks' TakingTheBullet for him.

* PlayingSick: It's strongly hinted that Draco's arm has healed by the time of the lead up to the first Quidditch game of the year, given how performatively he complains about its condition and that he finally dispenses with his bandages after Hufflepuff beats Gryffindor, engaging in UnsportsmanlikeGloating about the outcome.
* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: InUniverse. Sirius silenced Peter Pettigrew by blowing him up...and ''twelve random Muggles who happened to be on the street at the time.'' [[spoiler: [[ZigZaggedTrope Zig-Zagged]] by the reveal that Peter Pettigrew was a [[ANaziByAnyOtherName Death Eater]] and the true killer.]]
* PoorCommunicationKills: At the end of the book, [[spoiler:things might have gone better if Sirius would have bothered to state whom he planned to kill. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were sure he meant Harry, and his vague wording about being there to kill someone certainly didn't help. Though it's a bit justified considering he was certainly a bit unhinged from his time in Azkaban and his {{revenge}} was so close at hand. In the same vein, Lupin might have calmed the situation down if he hadn't danced around why Sirius was there for so long, though he did at least convince Sirius that the kids needed to know why he was really there]].

* RewatchBonus: [[spoiler: Snape behavior throughout the entire book -- especially his insane hatred of Sirius -- gets recontextualized after ''Deathly Hallows''. At this point in the overarching narrative, Snape still thinks Sirius was the one who betrayed Lily to Voldemort. He won't find out it was actually Wormtail until after Voldemort's return in the next book.]]
* RightForTheWrongReasons:

** The Shrieking Shack is revealed to be [[spoiler: not haunted, as legend would have it, but was used as a safe place to hide Remus Lupin in werewolf form, when he was a student at Hogwarts. His wolf-like howls were believed to be the shrieks of ghosts, and the Whomping Willow was planted over the entrance to the passage leading to the Shack to deter anybody from entering.]]

* ShoutOut: "Cockroach Cluster" originally comes from a Creator/MontyPython sketch.
** Dean's boggart, described as a "severed hand, which flipped over and began to creep along the floor like a crab" is arguably one to ''Franchise/TheAddamsFamily''.

* SignificantNameShift: Throughout most of the novel, the narration, which is presented from Harry Potter's point of view, refers to Sirius Black as "Black." Harry believes Sirius Black to be a dangerous criminal who was working under Voldemort and who betrayed his parents. [[spoiler:After Harry learns the truth, the narration becomes somewhat inconsistent. By the final chapter, it refers to Sirius exclusively by his first name and this continues throughout all remaining novels.]]
* SkewedPriorities: Wood is more concerned about Harry being able to use his new ''Firebolt'' broom in their next Quidditch match than the possibility that Harry might die using a cursed broom.

* ThirteenthBirthdayMilestone: On his 13th birthday, Harry Potter receives birthday cards and presents from his friends for the first time (since Dobby the House Elf withheld his friends' letters the year before in ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheChamberOfSecrets''). He also receives a letter from Professor [=McGonagall=], the deputy headmistress of Hogwarts, stating that as a third year he'll be allowed to go to Hogsmeade Village on weekends, if he can get the Dursleys to sign his permission slip.

*** Later on it is played hilariously straight, as he feels an urge to go looking for Sirius after he finds out [[spoiler:some of]] the AwfulTruth. He ends up hating Sirius so much that, when they meet at the end of the book, Harry charges at him and tries to choke him with his bare hands, forgetting that he was unarmed, much weaker than Black, and that Black had several wands on him at the time. [[spoiler:Luckily for him, Sirius is there to ''protect'' Harry, not kill him.]] (In all fairness, Harry has so many people after him that if he wants to go looking for someone who wanted to kill him, he doesn't have to go very far.)

* TrickedOutTime: The climax comes with Dumbledore tasking Harry and Hermione (Ron broke his leg) with doing this to save Buckbeak (executed earlier that day) and Sirius (imprisoned) despite [[YouAlreadyChangedThePast their interference already having happened]] and needing to remain hidden so as not to scare their past selves. [[spoiler:They lead Buckbeak into the Forbidden Forest before the executioner came out of Hagrid's hut; because their past selves had to run away before the officials saw them, they didn't ''see'' Buckbeak's death and only heard what they thought was the executioner cutting off Buckbeak's head, when what actually happened was the executioner taking out his frustrations on an inanimate object.]]

* UndisclosedFunds: The new bleeding-edge Firebolt racing broom is listed as "price on request", which Harry interprets as 'more than he can realistically afford' -- he speculates that he ''could'' pay for it, if he emptied his Gringotts vaults completely, but then he'd have nothing left to pay for schooling.

* WhatDoTheyFearEpisode: Lupin gives the class a practical lesson in dealing with the shape-shifting Boggart. He does not let Harry try it for fear of it turning into Voldemort and causing a panic.
** Hermione is also, albeit not as consciously, denied the same opportunity. She reveals her own fear after succumbing to the Boggart in her exam: failure.

* WreckedWeapon: "Weapon" isn't the exact term, but this is roughly what happens to Harry's prized Nimbus 2000. After he falls off, it flies into the Whomping Willow. It's returned to Harry as a small pile of splinters.
* WritersCannotDoMath: Originally in the first book, it was said that Marcus Flint was a sixth-year, which means he should have graduated in the second book. He’s still at school and on the Slytherin Quidditch team here. However, the math goof has been edited in newer editions, by making Flint a fifth-year in the first book instead.

* TimeyWimeyBall: Largely {{averted|Trope}}, but there is one slight inconsistency. [[spoiler:Hermione mentions that many wizards who have abused {{time travel}} ended up "killing their past or future selves." The immutable timeline model used should logically preclude killing your '''past''' self (although not killing your future self). Perhaps Hermione is mistaken, or exaggerating. Or she's referring to the very first time someone goes back in time. Being a stable time loop, there has to be a time where they go ''back''. Then they panic and kill their past self, since there are two of that person in the time period. Someone else could easily see someone kill themselves, then see the killer vanish and report it.]]
** Harry and the Dementors have a perfect StableTimeLoop. We don't know if the gang had stuck around to watch Buckbeak's execution if they'd have seen [[spoiler:him being rescued by Harry and Hermione from the future or [[SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong if there was an original timeline where he died]]]]. It's worth noting that ''Theatre/HarryPotterAndTheCursedChild'' shows Time-Turners changing the past fairly easily.

* YouAlreadyChangedThePast: [[spoiler:The StableTimeLoop. Which renders all those fanfics in which the characters PeggySue themselves back in time to fix things all the more incompatible with the canon.]]

* LoopholeAbuse: To Harry's dismay, once Vernon [[spoiler: refuses to sign his Hogsmeade permission slip, Cornelius Fudge and Professor [=McGonagall=] both refuse to sign it since they aren't Harry's parents or legal guardians.]] So after a year of [[spoiler: simply staying in Hogwarts Castle and using the Invisibility Cloak and Marauder's Map, Sirius Black mails Harry a piece of paper recording his desire for Harry to be able to visit Hogsmeade [[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire in]] [[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix subsequent]] [[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince books.]] This works because. Sirius [[spoiler: is in fact Harry's godfather,]] and as such has the power to [[spoiler: sign the permission slip,]] despite the fact that he's wanted for thirteen counts of murder. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] by Dumbledore [[spoiler: being the only character outside the trio and Lupin confirmed to know the truth about Sirius at this point.]]

* LockedOutOfTheLoop: Retroactive example after ''Deathly Hallows''. [[spoiler: While Snape was a Death Eater, he was unaware Pettigrew was the spy inside the Order of the Phoenix -- and thus the one who sold out Lily over to Voldemort. This can be justified between Voldemort's favortism and compartmentalization of the Death Eaters.]]

* BreatherEpisode: Can be considered this compared to ''[[ActionizedSequel The Chamber of Secrets]]''. Apart from the threatening presences of the Dementors and Sirius Black around the school, the stakes this time aren't quite as high as they used to be. It helps that this is the only book where EverybodyLives. It helps even more that unlike the previous two, Harry actually decides he's had enough of [[AbusiveParents the Dursley's bullshit]] and runs away and, thanks in part to a chance encounter with ''the Minister of Magic,'' of all people, he realizes he isn't in trouble for [[ItMakesSenseInContext blowing up his Aunt Marge,]] he is free to buy school supplies, hang out in the Leaky Cauldron, and freely do homework for ''two entire weeks,'' all relatively independently. The tradeoff, however, is that this book delves into the characters' darker sides (such as Snape's increasingly unhinged behaviour, corruption in the Ministry, and Harry's grief over his parents), which carries over to the other books.

** When Aunt Marge berates Harry about his "useless" parents, she asks Vernon what job Harry's father had. Despite clearly being nervous that Harry might get mad and use magic, Vernon can't help himself and states that James was unemployed, giving Marge more ammo that pushes Harry over the edge.[[note]]Technically, this is true -- James didn't have a proper job when he died -- but that's largely because he was committed full-time to the war against Voldemort and his family's inheritance was enough to keep his family going.[[/note]]

* InflatingBodyGag: In the beginning, Harry accidentally casts a spell that makes Aunt Marge inflate and fly away. Fudge solves the matter by sending out the Accidental Magic Reversal Squad to deflate her and Obliviate her memory.

** If Harry hadn't [[spoiler: bumped into ''the Minister of Magic'']] of all people, he wouldn't have realized he wasn't in trouble with the law [[ItMakesSenseInContext for blowing up his Aunt Marge,]] and may have tried to live as a fugitive rather than return to Hogwarts. Later [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] when Harry overhears the Weasleys talking about [[spoiler: the theory that Sirius Black broke out of Azkaban to murder him, and he reasons that the Minister was looking for him at the Leaky Cauldron because of this fear and acted extra leniently because he was glad to see him alive.]]

* BreatherEpisode: Can be considered this compared to ''[[ActionizedSequel The Chamber of Secrets]]''. Apart from the threatening presences of the Dementors and Sirius Black around the school, the stakes this time aren't quite as high as they used to be. It helps that this is the only book where EverybodyLives. The tradeoff, however, is that this book delves into the characters' darker sides (such as Snape's increasingly unhinged behaviour, corruption in the Ministry, and Harry's grief over his parents), which carries over to the other books.

** [[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire The next book]] reveals Walden Macnair, the Ministry's executioner, to be [[spoiler: a Death Eater.]] Despite [[spoiler: serving Lord Voldemort himself in the past, then responding to his post-summons resurrections, Macnair was able to get himself a steady job at the ''Ministry of Magic,'' as an ''executioner.'' No doubt he chose/was given the job so he could sadistically enjoy putting down magnificent creatures guilty and innocent alike]]. While he doesn't get to [[spoiler: kill Buckbeak, he does presumably keep his job until Voldemor's public return [[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix two books later]].]] Fortunately, by the time Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows rolls around, [[spoiler: Hagrid issues a KarmaHoudiniWarranty and throws him into a wall during the [[FinalBattle Battle of Hogwarts]].]] Even then, he presumably [[spoiler: survives to be put in Azkaban for the rest of his despicable life, unlike many other Death Eaters.]]

[[folder:0 - C]]

** Sirius Black's last crime before being imprisoned was the murder of thirteen people. [[spoiler: Fridge Brilliance kicks in when you think of the thirteenth "victim", Peter Pettigrew.]]

* ArcNumber: 13; Harry turns thirteen-years-old at the start of the novel, Sirius Black [[spoiler:supposedly]] murdered thirteen people, and during the Christmas feast, thirteen people are seated together until Professor Trelawney arrives and lampshades that ThirteenIsUnlucky.

[[folder:D - F]]
* DamnedByFaintPraise: [[spoiler: Peter]] inadvertently does this to himself, begging Ron for mercy on the grounds that [[spoiler: "I was your rat ... I was a good pet." Sirius [[ShutUpHannibal retorts]], "If you make a better rat than a human, it's not much to boast about, Peter."]]
* DarkerAndEdgier: Although the previous novel had some darker elements, the series takes on a more serious and mature tone in this volume as it goes into detail about how Harry's parents died. It also explores Harry's darker emotions over his parents' deaths, as well as his darker side, when he attempts to murder Black. The Dementors are genuinely terrifying as they suck people's souls: a ''FateWorseThanDeath''. The Shrieking Shack encounter is rather intense with the aforementioned murder attempt, Harry and his friends disarming Snape at the same time, knocking him out, Snape's rather unhinged behaviour to the point where he was willing to have the Dementor's Kiss performed on Sirius due to their school rivalry (although it may have been down to him blaming Sirius for Lily's death, at that point still believing him to have been their secret keeper), and Sirius and Lupin nearly murdering Wormtail. And it concludes on a ''BittersweetEnding'', in which [[spoiler: despite Harry and Hermione rescuing Sirius and Buckbeak from the Ministry and the Dementors, Harry can't live with Sirius and leave the Dursleys because he is still on the run. Lupin is forced to resign when he is exposed as a werewolf, and Wormtail, who actually betrayed Harry's parents to Voldemort and killed those twelve Muggles, gets away with it -- so Sirius can't clear his name and Voldemort returns in the next book, thus fulfilling Trelawney's prophecy]]. Compared to the all-out happy endings of the first two books, this prepared the tone for the much darker later books.

** Walden Macnair was clearly angry upon [[spoiler: Buckbeak's escape]] to the point of swinging his axe into a fencepost. He had no personal gain (other than his apparent friendship with Lucius Malfoy) and likely got paid for his services regardless. [[spoiler: This hints at his true allegiance and that his sinister nature goes beyond JustFollowingOrders.]]

[[folder:G - N]]

** James, [[spoiler: Sirius]], and Lupin not realising that [[spoiler: Peter]] was TheMole for Voldemort and his followers despite being the perfect suspect. Lampshaded by [[spoiler: Sirius]], who says he'll never understand why he didn't realize it from the beginning.

** Sirius doesn't deny that he got Harry's parents killed, [[spoiler: since he convinced them to make Pettigrew the Secret Keeper, which no one else knew, and led to Voldemort finding the Potters. As he puts it in a choked voice, "I as good as killed them."]]
** Harry is depressed when he realises that [[spoiler: due to his CruelMercy to Pettigrew, the latter escaped and is likely going to find Voldemort. Although Dumbledore tells him that prophecies are inexact, he's still confused about it.]]
* ItWasAGift: [[spoiler: The Firebolt and Pigwidgeon, to Harry and Ron respectively, both from Sirius Black.]]
* IWillTearYourArmsOff: Hagrid says that had he known of Sirius's [[spoiler: apparent]] role in the Potters' death, he would have ripped him limb from limb. Considering how huge and strong Hagrid is, a threat like this should be taken ''very'' seriously.

** [[spoiler: Peter.]] At no point during the story is he in Azkaban, where by rights he should be for his crimes. In the climax, Hermione, Harry, Ron, Lupin, and [[spoiler: Sirius]] are about to deliver him to justice, but [[spoiler: he exploits the distraction caused by Lupin's werewolf transformation to escape and start his search for Voldemort, which he does in a matter of weeks as revealed at the beginning of ''Goblet of Fire'']].
** [[spoiler: Draco also gets away with all the trouble he and his father caused to get Hagrid sacked and have Buckbeak executed. {{Justified|Trope}} since he's the son of a wealthy family and the Hogwarts staff can't punish him too harshly. Also {{downplayed|Trope}} in that Draco may not get punished for his plot to sack Hagrid, but, still, Harry humiliates him in a mud ball fight in front of the Shrieking Shack and Hermione slaps him hard.]]

** Also Sirius Black ([[spoiler: Sirius is known as the 'dog star', and Black's Animagus form is a shaggy black dog]]) and Remus Lupin ([[spoiler: 'Lupin' from 'Lupus', Latin for wolf. Guess what Remus turns into come the full moon?]]).

[[folder:O - S]]

[[folder:T - Z]]

* KickTheSonOfABitch: [[spoiler: Sirius]] claims that Snape deserved the nasty prank [[spoiler: that nearly [[DeadlyPrank got Snape killed]], namely seeing werewolf Lupin]]. Snape begs to differ.

* DickDastardlyStopsToCheat: In the final Quidditch match between Gryffindor and Slytherin, the Slytherins start off with a huge advantage — they're far enough ahead on the scoreboard that Harry can't catch the Snitch until the Gryffindor Chasers score enough goals to close the gap, or else Gryffindor will win the game but lose the cup. But rather than utilize what is essentially free time for Malfoy to catch the Snitch and win the game, they insist on repeatedly trying (and failing) to injure the Gryffindor players, causing Madam Hooch to award Gryffindor multiple free penalty shots. The end result is that Gryffindor is able to close the points gap and, once Harry grabs the Snitch, win the cup.

** It turns out that Trelawney [[spoiler: was unintentionally right, as Pettigrew, as Scabbers, was in Ron's pocket, making him the thirteenth person. And then Dumbledore stands up before Harry and Ron do.]]

* RightForTheWrongReasons: When Harry gets a Firebolt broomstick for Christmas with no card saying who it's from, Hermione assumes Sirius Black sent it and jinxed the broom so it would kill Harry when he rides it. [[spoiler:Sirius was the sender, but he didn't jinx it. He sent it to Harry to make up for the thirteen years' worth of Christmas and birthday gifts he didn't get from Sirius since he was locked up in prison.]]

* DickDastardlyStopsToCheat: In the final Quidditch match between Gryffindor and Slytherin, the Slytherins start off with a huge advantage — they're far enough ahead on the scoreboard that Harry can't catch the Snitch until the Gryffindor Chasers score enough goals to close the gap, or else Gryffindor will win the game but lose the cup. But rather than utilize what is essentially free time for Malfoy to catch the Snitch and win the game, they insist on repeatedly trying (and failing) to injure the Gryffindor players, causing Madam Hooch to award Gryffindor multiple free penalty shots. The end result is that Gryffindor is able to close the points gap, allowing Harry to catch the Snitch and the team win the cup.