See Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban for the movie adaptation or Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban for the game adaptation.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is the third book in the Harry Potter series of children's books by J. K. Rowling. A film based on the book was released on May 31st, 2004, in the United Kingdom (released early due to popular demand) and June 4th in the United States and many other countries.

Plot of the book

Harry's life at the Dursleys takes a horrible turn when his Aunt Marge comes to stay. Harry grows so angry at her insulting his parents that he "blows her up" (makes her expand in size) and she floats away on her own hot air.

Harry runs away from the Dursleys and is picked up by the Knight Bus; en route to London he learns that a criminal named Sirius Black has escaped from Azkaban. Harry is found but—to his bewilderment—not punished by the Ministry of Magic for blowing up his aunt.

Harry soon learns why: Sirius Black is after him, and the Ministry of Magic seems more concerned about his safety. The school is now protected by the Dementors of Azkaban to prevent Black from getting onto the grounds. The mystery deepens as Harry discovers that Black has mysterious ties with his own parents and their death at the hands of Lord Voldemort.

The story takes an unexpected turn when Harry finds that Sirius Black was innocent and wrongly sent to Azkaban. The real criminal is Peter Pettigrew, who is believed dead at the hands of Sirius Black. It was Pettigrew who betrayed Harry's parents to Lord Voldemort, and later killed a number of Muggles in an incident for which he framed Sirius Black and faked his own death. Pettigrew is an animagus, a wizard who can take the form of a particular animal at will, and has really spent the last twelve years disguised as Ron's rat, Scabbers.

Pettigrew gets away and the Ministry refuses to believe Harry, Ron and Hermione's tale. Dumbledore does, and they sneak Sirius to freedom on the back of a hippogriff.

Rumours

One of the many rumours on the internet relating to points brought up in this book is the possibility of time travel recurring, on which J. K. Rowling has declined to comment[1].

This theory is often mentioned together with an old speculation regarding a curious statement in earlier editions of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets which describes Voldemort as the last remaining ancestor of Salazar Slytherin, rather than descendant, thus implying a quite convulted scenario of Voldemort having travelled back in time to give birth to his own lineage. This oddity has been corrected in almost all subsequent editions, however, and is probably just a misprint that slipped past the editors.

Editions

• ISBN 0747546290 UK child paperback
• ISBN 0747542155 UK hardcover
• ISBN 0439136350 US hardcover