Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban: Chapter 10 Summary
The Marauder’s Map
Chapter 10 of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, titled The Marauder’s Map, deals with Harry’s recovery from the Dementor attack, his struggle with fear, and the unexpected discovery of a magical item that reveals more than just secret passages.
In the Hospital Wing
Madam Pomfrey insists that Harry stays in the hospital wing for the rest of the weekend. Despite his reluctance, he complies but refuses to let her discard the broken remnants of his Nimbus Two Thousand broomstick.
Although he understands the broomstick is beyond repair, the loss almost feels like losing a close friend. Harry receives visitors throughout his stay. Hagrid sends a peculiar bunch of flowers resembling yellow cabbages, and Ginny shyly brings a singing get-well card that won’t stop shrieking unless it is shut under a fruit bowl. On Sunday, the Gryffindor Quidditch team visits again, accompanied by a somber Oliver Wood, who reassures Harry in a hollow tone that he does not blame him for the match’s outcome.
Although his friends try to cheer him up, Harry remains deeply troubled. He has not shared his sighting of the Grim with anyone, fearing Ron would panic and Hermione would dismiss it. The Grim has appeared twice now, both times followed by near-fatal accidents. Once he nearly got run over by the Knight Bus, and then with his recent fall from the broomstick. He starts wondering if the Grim is going to haunt him until his death and if he will spend the rest of his life looking over his shoulder.
Then, there is the matter of the Dementors. Harry feels humiliated every time he thinks about them, because nobody apart from him fainted around them. Further, Harry now knows who the screams belong to. It had been his mother, in her attempts to protect him during the last few seconds of her life. The laughter had, of course, belonged to the person who killed her; Lord Voldemort.
Lupin’s return
Returning to classes on Monday is a relief for Harry. Now he has other things to think about, even if just the taunts of Malfoy. Malfoy who was finally out of his bandages, relishes Gryffindor’s defeat. He mimics Harry’s fall repeatedly and continues making snide remarks.
During Potions, Malfoy goes as far as to do Dementor imitations, resulting in Ron losing his temper and throwing a large crocodile heart at him. Professor Snape punishes Gryffindor by taking away fifty points.
After lunch, they head to Professor Lupin’s classroom, where they are relieved to find him back and teaching again. He certainly looked ill, with his old robes hanging looser than ever, and the dark shadows underneath his eyes were ever more visible.
The class erupts into complaints about the excessive homework Snape assigned on werewolves. Lupin promises to handle it, to everyone’s delight, except for Hermione, who has already completed the essay.
Lupin’s return is marked by an enjoyable lesson on hinkypunks. At the end of the class, Lupin asks Harry to stay behind to talk privately.
Lupin expresses sympathy for Harry’s loss in the match and his broomstick. He recounts how the Whomping Willow, planted the year Lupin joined Hogwarts, injured many students who tried to approach it. He then asks about the Dementors.
Defense Against Dementors
Harry admits that the Dementors caused him to fall, and voices his concern about his repeated fainting in their presence. Lupin explains that the Dementors affect Harry more severely because of the horrors of his past, and not due to any weakness on his part. Harry is slightly reassured but remains uneasy for the most part.
Lupin further explains that Dementors feed on despair and hopelessness, amplifying the worst moments of someone’s life. They are amongst the foulest creatures on the planet, who are now getting hungry. Perhaps when they sensed the large crowd in the Quidditch Field, they couldn’t resist themselves and hence flooded in. It was their idea of a feast.
They talk about how horrid of a place Azkaban must be. Before Sirius Black did the impossible, it was believed that nobody could possibly escape the prison.
Harry asks Lupin how he made the Dementor on the train back off, to which he replies there are certain defenses one can use against these foul creatures. Upon Harry’s insistence, Lupin promises to give him some anti-dementor lessons in the next term.
The Marauder’s Map
Two weeks before the end of the term, another Hogsmeade weekend is announced. Everyone except Harry is excited, and starts to make plans aboo
He bids goodbye to his friends and heads back gloomily to the Gryffindor Tower. Suddenly, Fred and George approach him and pull him into a nearby empty classroom. There, they present Harry with a mysterious, old, and worn piece of parchment: the Marauder’s Map, calling it the secret of their success.
The twins reveal the map’s magical properties by tapping it with their wands and saying, “I solemnly swear that I am up to no good.” Thin ink lines spread across the parchment, transforming it into a detailed map of Hogwarts. It shows every room, passage, and person within the castle grounds. The knowledge of all the new pathways surprises him, and he realizes that some of them lead to Hogsmeade.
The twins explain that the map is their secret to navigating Hogwarts’ many hidden passages. They also highlight a particular passage that leads directly into the cellar of Honeydukes in Hogsmeade. Fred and George decide to pass the map on to Harry, believing that he needs it more than they do. They thank the makers of the map, Moony Wormtail Padfoot and Prongs, and praise them for their hard work.
Before leaving, they warn Harry to erase the map’s contents by tapping it again and saying, “Mischief managed,” to avoid detection. With this, they leave, hoping to see him at Honeydukes.
A Conversation at Hogsmeade
Using the passage shown on the Marauder’s Map, Harry sneaks into Hogsmeade and surprises Ron and Hermione at Honeydukes. Due to the sheer number of Hogwarts students in the shop, nobody gave him a second look.
Harry tells Ron and Hermione about the Marauders Map. Ron nearly bursts with excitement, but Hermione seems concerned. She suggests that Sirius Black could have used one of the hidden passages to enter Hogwarts, but Harry explains that only the Honeydukes passage was actually useful. Moreover, Dementors heavily patrol Hogsmeade and Black wouldn’t have risked it.
The trio decides to visit the Three Broomsticks for a butterbeer. They choose a quiet corner, and Ron gets the drinks. A few minutes later, Professors McGonagall and Flitwick, along with Hagrid and Cornelius Fudge, enter the pub.
Harry quickly ducks under the table to hide from them. Hermione casts a spell that silently picks up a Christmas tree nearby and places it in front of their table, hiding them from view.
Madam Rosemerta the bartender brings drinks for them, and upon Fudge’s insistence, sits along with the group. They discuss Sirius Black, and how he is probably nearby right now. Rosemerta says she remembers Black at Hogwarts, him with his best friend James Potter. James and Sirius were so close, that James named him Harry’s godfather after he was born.
When Voldemort started hunting for the Potters, they used a Fedlius Charm to protect themselves. It is an immensely complex spell, that hides information inside a single living soul; the secret keeper. As long as the secret keeper doesn’t reveal it, nobody can come to know about it. Naturally, James chose Black as his secret keeper. However, a week later, Black betrayed the Potters, and Voldemort murdered Harry’s parents.
Hagrid growls about how he met Black when he went to retrieve baby Harry from the scene. Black had told Hagrid that he would look after Harry. Hagrid argued that Dumbledore had asked for him to stay with his aunt, and left with the baby. Hagrid hadn’t known then that Black had betrayed the Potters, but felt he should have figured it out.
The adults also discuss Peter Pettigrew, another member of James’ gang who hero-worshipped his friends. After James was killed, Pettigrew confronted Black, only to be blown up to smithereens in the middle of a road. Fudge recounts how little of an effect the Dementors had on him, even though he was one of the most heavily guarded prisoners in Azkaban.
The chapter ends with the adults leaving The Three Broomsticks. Harry has to bear the weight of overhearing this conversation, and has no idea how to deal with it; setting up foundation for the next chapter.
