Harry Potter’s third year at Hogwarts proves to be the most stressful year of his life. J.K. Rowlings’s 1999 novel, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, follows Harry’s third year at Hogwarts as he interacts with familiar rivals, plays Quidditch, and faces new challenges. As a thirteen-year-old, Harry’s familiar rivals: the Dursleys, Professor Snape, and Draco Malfoy, upset him more than ever before. Quidditch, the game that usually allows Harry to both have fun and be great, stresses Harry in his third year. Finally, several new factors come into play in Harry’s life at Hogwarts that cause him grief. The new factors include real threats, perceived threats, and the departure of a beloved professor. Throughout the novel, words such as “ had never,” “highest point,” “had ever,” “dirtiest,” and “most” clearly indicate the extreme situations Harry encounters. Harry’s third year at Hogwarts becomes defined by extreme stress, as he experiences emotions like never before.

Relationships

Shortly after his thirteenth birthday, people who usually annoy Harry somehow manage to drive him into an exceptional fury. At home with the Dursleys just before school starts, Harry must endure not only Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia, and Dudley, but Aunt Marge as well. Vernon’s sister, Marge, treats Harry terribly. One evening at dinner, Marge begins to make slanderous comments about Harry’s father. Suddenly, “The table went very quiet. Harry was shaking all over. He had never felt so angry in his life” (p. 11). Everyone at the dinner table becomes quiet because everyone senses the gravity of the situation. Harry experiences an uncontrollable, physical response to Marge’s hurtful words. Marge’s lies about his father push him to a level of anger previously unknown to him. When Harry arrives at Hogwarts school, people continue to push him to extreme anger. One day, Professor Snape also begins to insult Harry’s father, and “Harry was suddenly on his feet. Rage such as he had not felt since his last night in Privet Drive was coursing through him. He didn’t care that Snape’s face had gone rigid, the black eyes flashing dangerously” (p. 115). Again, Harry seems to have a physical reaction. He stands, seemingly subconsciously, to confront Professor Snape about his comments. Similarly to his encounter with Marge, Harry is filled with tremendous anger. Harry does not care about the potential consequences of a fight with Professor Snape. The anger between Harry and Draco Malfoy also reaches a new level. During their third year at Hogwarts, “The enmity between Harry and Malfoy was at its highest point ever. Malfoy was still smarting about the mud-throwing incident in Hogsmeade and was even more furious that Harry had somehow wormed his way out of punishment. Harry hadn’t forgotten Malfoy’s attempt to sabotage him in the match against Ravenclaw, but it was the matter of Buckbeak that made him most determined to beat Malfoy in front of the entire school” (p. 122). Draco Malfoy feels angry with Harry because of a scuffle between Draco and his friends and Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Harry cannot forgive Draco’s tricks against him, and he particularly cannot forgive Draco in his attempt to organize the execution of the animal, Buckbeak. Around Harry’s third year at Hogwarts, tension with the Dursley family, Professor Snape, and Draco Malfoy, all reach a new high.

Quidditch

This year at school, Harry’s beloved Quidditch shows him the darker side of the game. For the first match of the season, Harry and his Gryffindor teammates play the Hufflepuff team. Harry competes in the match, but awakens in the school’s hospital wing. As he regains consciousness, “Harry lay there, not saying a word. They had lost…for the first time ever, he had lost a Quidditch match” (p. 73). This year, Harry experiences his first loss in a Quidditch match. Over the course of the season, Quidditch becomes a greater source of stress for the community. At the end of the season, just before the final match between Gryfindor and Slytherin: “Never, in anyone’s memory, had a match approached in such a highly charged atmosphere. By the time the holidays were over, tension between the two teams and their Houses was at a breaking point” (p. 122). The rivalry between Gryffindor and Slytherin grows to new levels of intensity not only for Harry, but for everyone at school. The tension is palpable beyond the Quidditch pitch, and the final match consumes people as they walk the halls of Hogwarts. After their Easter holiday, the tension reaches its highest point. When the two teams finally converge in the last match, Harry recognizes that “It was turning into the dirtiest game Harry had ever played in. Enraged that Gryffindor had taken such an early lead, the Slytherins were rapidly resorting to any means to take the Quaffle” (p. 125). For the players and spectators, physical and verbal aggression abound. Slytherin team becomes increasingly desperate to overtake the Gryffindor team, and seem to be willing to do anything. The first match, the last match, and the general energy around Quidditch this year prove to be unique for Harry.

New Arrivals

While people and games that Harry knows test him in unexpected ways in his third year, he also faces a host of new challenges. Aboard the train bound for Hogwarts at the beginning of the year, Harry encounters dementors for the first time. The dementors incite a unique fear in Harry. When Professor Lupin prompts Harry to think of the thing that frightens him more than anything else, Harry thinks: “What scared him most in the world? His first thought was Lord Voldemort…But…a horrible image came floating to the surface of his mind…A rotting, glistening hand, slithering back beneath a black cloak…a long, rattling breath from an unseen mouth…then a cold so penetrating it felt like drowning” (p. 54). His first and second years at Hogwarts, Harry fears Voldemort most. However, upon his first encounter with a dementor at the beginning of his third school year, Harry realizes he finds dementors more frightening even than Voldemort. The thought of a dementor consumes Harry’s senses. In his mind, he can see the dementor perfectly, hear its breath, smell its rotting body, feel its freezing presence. Mentally, dementors depress people more than anything. Throughout his third year at school, the entire wizarding community worries about the recently escaped prisoner, Sirius Black. Harry learns that he has a special reason to fear Sirius Black. People that Harry trusts lead him to believe that Sirius Black is not only his parents’ killer, but that Sirius Black wants to kill Harry as well. As Harry lies in bed, “A hatred such as he had never known before was coursing through Harry like poison. He could see Black laughing at him through the darkness, as though somebody had pasted the picture from the album (p. 86). Harry thinks that Sirius Black is worse than Voldemort because Sirius is a traitor, a person who pretends to be a friend before he betrays. Harry’s negative feelings about Sirius seem to infect him, like poison. Just like Harry can imagine a dementor, he sees Sirius Black perfectly in his mind. At the end of the school year, many Harry feels grateful for many happy resolutions, but not everything concludes the way he would like: “Though the weather was perfect, though the atmosphere was so cheerful…Harry had never approached the end of a school year in worse spirits. He certainly wasn’t the only one who was sorry to see Professor Lupin go. The whole of Harry’s Defense Against the Dark Arts class was miserable about his resignation” (p. 173). The new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Lupin, leaves Hogwarts after only a year.

During his lifetime with the Dursleys, they upset him never so much as they do one evening shortly after his thirteenth birthday. Aunt Marge’s insults about Harry’s father pushes Harry over an edge, and he leaves the Dursley home that night. At Hogwarts the same year, Professor Snape insults Harry’s father too. Professor Snape’s words bring Harry’s anger to the same level as Aunt Marge’s words. Harry’s feelings of hostility for Draco Malfoy also reach a new high. More than ever before, Aunt Marge, Professor Snape, and Draco Malfoy infuriate Harry. Another stressor in his third year at Hogwarts, ironically proves to be Quidditch. The sport that Harry loves causes him more trouble than he has reason to anticipate. For the first time, Harry loses a Quidditch match. The shocking loss comes at the very beginning of the season, and seems to set the tone for the season. Tension between the Gryffindor and Slytherin Quidditch teams rises to an unprecedented point, which causes the players and fans to exhibit their worst behavior. Throughout his third year, Harry also endures the presence of dementors, his new greatest fear, and endures the constant threat of Sirius Black. At the end of the year, Harry must say goodbye to a professor that he loves. Aunt Marge, Professor Snape, Draco Malfoy, Quidditch, dementors, the rumors about Sirius Black, and Professor Lupin’s departure, all combine to make Harry’s third year at Hogwarts his most stressful.

References

Rowling, J.K. (1999). Harry Potter and the prisoner of Azkaban. Scholastic.