Pun Salad

Progress: book Three completed in my self-forced march through the series. As expected, the ratio of dark/scary stuff to the whimsical/amusing stuff is on the increase.

Harry's back at Hogwarts for year three. The Prisoner of the title is Sirius Black, who is (despite the title) no longer a prisoner, having escaped Azkaban, the pokey for misbehaving wizards. And Sirius is thought to have misbehaved very badly, having betrayed Harry's parents to Voldemort years back, and also bumping off a dozen odd folks himself. It's widely presumed that his goal is to finish off the destruction of the Potter family with the sole survivor, Harry.

In addition to this overriding menace, there's a lot of mysterious stuff going on. Lupin, the third Defense Against the Dark Arts professor in three years, is an odd bird with something to hide. The studious Hermione has a seemingly impossible courseload, but seems somehow to manage it. And Hermione's new cat, Crookshanks, has taken a decidedly hostile attitude to Ron Weasley's rat, Scabbers. The Azkaban Goon Squad known as the "Dementors" sent to "protect" Hogwarts have a decidedly negative effect on Harry.

Another dandy yarn; enjoyable, even though I'd seen the movie long before reading the book. I'm currently at work on book 4, the Goblet of Fire.