You think the dead we loved ever truly leave us?...Prongs rode again last night.

There's really not much for me to nitpick on this book, and but one major flaw with the film, but regardless, please find Year Three, book and film, below.

Those who know me well know that this is by far my favorite book of the series. It introduces not one, but three, of my favorite characters; Sirius, Lupin, and Buckbeak, with SIrius being my number one, of course. I love this book because it takes a character who is presumably a villain, Sirius, and though he is not our main enemy, Voldemort, we are still 100% terrified of him. Then, in a huge climax that lasts over a hundred pages, there is a twist in which we find out that Sirius is not a villain at all. A simple pet, who has offered no more than comic relief in the first two years, is in fact an even more murderous and deceiving villain than we assumed Sirius to be. It's sheer genius, and that would be enough, but what's more is in just a few short chapters, Sirius becomes a sympathetic character, one in which we see a deep bond form between him and Harry.

This book is a turning point for the series as many things begin to happen that will affect things to come. Harry, Ron, and Hermione become teenagers and we see the beginnings of a lot of teenage angst from Harry. We really get a sense of the wizarding world around them, from the creatures (Hippogriffs, dementors, and werewolves, oh my!) to the Ministry of Magic. We begin to see the corruption in the Ministry, when Lucius influences everyone to sentence Buckbeak to death without even a proper trial or appeal. This of course paves the way for all the ignorance that comes out of the Ministry in Year Five. Finally, we must come to terms with the fact that our heroines are just teenagers. Everything thusfar has been accepted by those around them, though it did not affect anyone outside Hogwarts, really, and therefore it was Dumbledore's opinion that mattered. However, as the three children argue for Sirius' innocence, we understand that Dumbledore believing them is no longer enough. Those outside of Hogwarts will not accept arguments from children, and will believe the adults who are misinformed instead. Once again, this is but the beginning of something that will get absolutely out of hand in Year Five.

I was delighted to hear that Alfonso Cuarón would direct this film as the previous two Columbus installments hadn't thrilled me and this story definitely needed a darker touch. Back then, I had not been treated to such pleasures as Children of Men and therefore didn't know the extent of his genius, but I got a pretty good idea when he turned out such a wonderful and visually amazing story. I only wish he'd come back to direct OotP, easily the darkest of the series so far, and I can only cross my fingers for the chance that he may return for the final installment. Regardless, even if this is the only film he directs in the series, I am confident that it will remain one of the best. He brings so much to the table; the transition of seasons using the Whomping Willow as a comedic device, the beauty of Buckbeak's flight, and the addition of the clock tower to Hogwarts to thoroughly illustrate the importance of time in the story. He even invents a wizarding candy that is not in the book, in a scene in which Harry, Ron, Neville, Seamus, and Dean all partake in a bit of "boys will be boys" fun by eating this candy that causes them to make various animal noises. This is bonding like we've never seen the boys do before, as Seamus and Dean are always drastically overlooked in the films, but in the books are good friends to Harry and Ron. It is little moments like this that make the whole film feel very complete.

It is therefore hard for me to nitpick this film, as it is such a standout in the series, but in the interest of this project, I must. There are a few minor discrepancies that I must point out, and one glaringly obvious one. First, Snape's behavior differs greatly from the book to the movie, most especially in the scene in the Shrieking Shack. I'll discuss this one further in my final paragraph on where Snape's loyalties might lie. Also, it is sad to see Quidditch so largely ignored in the movie when this is the only year (presumably, ever) that Harry and the Gryffindor Quidditch team will win the Quidditch Cup. There is only one match in the film, not even against Slytherin (the usual match up), but against Hufflepuff as that's the match in which Harry is attacked by dementors. It's just such a shame that Oliver Wood, who was a good supporting character in the first two films, isn't around for this one and doesn't get the glory of winning the Quidditch cup in his last year at Hogwarts, though I can see how they would have to cut it in the interest of time. My biggest gripe with this movie is one that disturbs many of the biggest fans, especially because it's so well visualized, and then blatantly ignored. Most especially because in order to fix this mistake, they need only add a few lines of dialogue, and maybe about 30 seconds on to the film. In the scene in the Shrieking Shack, when Sirius is revealed and Lupin and him tell the kids a bit of back story behind Peter Pettigrew, they never stop to explain why Sirius and Pettigrew are Animagi. Then later in the film, when Harry's Patronus takes the form of a stag, there is no explanation whatsoever. I thought that there must be a deleted or extended scene somewhere that would fix this mistake, but in fact there is not and they deliberately kept the audience in the dark. All that need be added would be a line of dialogue tacked onto Lupin's story. It may have gone something like this. "When I was at Hogwarts I had some very good friends. So good in fact, that they learned to become Animagi so that they could be with me on the full moon when I transformed. It made those nights all the more bearable when they were there. We went by, Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs. I was Moony, Peter was Wormtail, Sirius was Padfoot, and Harry, your father was Prongs." Harry starts, "What sort of animal...", but is then cut off by Sirius begging to get on with it, or Hermione getting angry, or something to that effect. This is a few lines of dialogue, taken almost directly from the book, to set up Harry's Patronus taking the form of a stag later. And when Harry realizes it, after actually conjuring the Patronus and after they've used the time turner, it would have been a beautiful scene directly from the book in which Harry is on the bank of the lake and his stag trots up to him and he reaches out to touch the antlers and mutters, "Prongs." It's beautiful, touching, and very sadly missing from the movie.

So finally a book offers me evidence that begins to get to the meat of the ultimate question (according to Borders' promotion of the 7th book, anyways), is Snape friend or foe? I have a few things to point out from this book. First, after everything has gone down the first time in the Shrieking Shack, and Snape has brought Sirius, Harry, and the others back up to the castle, Harry wakes up to overhear Snape speaking to Fudge. He tells him that Sirius must have used a very good Confundus Charm on the children to make them attack him and believe that Sirius was innocent. This seems rather out of character for Snape to be sticking up for the children; it seems that he's always looking for an excuse for Harry to be expelled and the evidence that he attacked a teacher seems like it would be the best one he's come across so far, even if he truly believed that he hadn't been doing it on his own free will. Furthermore, because Snape is an accomplished Leglimens, it seems that he of all people would know if Harry really was being confunded or not. Additionally, after Harry and Hermione use the Time Turner and free Sirius, Snape immediately flies off the handle and does a complete 180 on Harry, accusing him of somehow being at fault, even though, to Snape's knowledge, it is quite impossible for him to have done anything at all (even though he did, hee hee). Is his grudge against Sirius that strong that when he is captured and about to be given the Dementor's Kiss, Snape will forgive Harry for attacking him and brush it off as a mistake, but then try to accuse him of everything once he learns that Sirius got away? Fudge says something to Dumbledore regarding Snape that resonates almost as a forewarning for what is to come three years later, "Fellow seems quite unbalanced...I'd watch out for him if I were you, Dumbledore." It seems near impossible to me that Snape's hatred alone, of Sirius, James, Lupin, and Harry, would cause him to get as angry as he does, and to be as malevolent as he is (in this case, letting it slip that Lupin is a werewolf to students). No childhood grudge, in my opinion, should be so long-lasting and run so deep as to affect the offspring of those you hated. Perhaps all of the things Snape did to "save Harry's life" in the first year (nothing more than muttering a counter-charm against Quirrell, in my opinion), was merely to save Harry, as Barty Crouch, Jr. will do in the fourth year, for Voldemort and not to repay the debt he owed to James. In the movie, however, you will notice that Snape's role in the final scene is very different than in the book. In the book, he is knocked out through Lupin's transformation, and upon waking up, finds Harry, Sirius, and Hermione next to the lake and brings them up to the castle. In the movie, however, Snape comes to as Lupin is transforming and throws himself in front of the students in what looks like a heroic act of him protecting them. It seems out of character for Snape, but perhaps in character for any decent being, especially a teacher. At this point in the game, would the filmmakers have known about Snape and what he would do in the sixth year? The movie incorporated a lot of things from the fifth book, that had come out one year before the film was released, but what did it know about the sixth which was still being written? Did they simply assume that because Snape is considered a member of the Order of the Phoenix in the fifth book that he must be good, and therefore have him perform this act that any decent human being would do? Or do they know something we don't know? This remains to be seen, of course, but I don't know if it is some sort of clue. I know that Rowling likes to keep the filmmakers aware of things that will become important so that they don't have to hastily incorporate something later, but I don't think she would give away something so big. I am concluding that this is simply a little gesture, like the many that Cuarón threw in, that can't be taken to mean that Snape is friendlier than we think he is. At this time, I'm still firmly on the side of Snape being a foe, but I'm excited to get to the other books in the series to see if there's any telling lines, such as those found in this book.