The Map of Hogwarts: journeys around the grounds in PoA

Contact:

Return to Map of Hogwarts top page Return to Journeys around the grounds top page This page uses images which re-size to maintain a constant appearance across all browsers and resolutions. Please allow scripts or ActiveX controls to run if asked.

The Map of Hogwarts and Surrounding Areas:
journeys around the grounds in
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

This section shows the likely routes around the grounds which the characters take in specific scenes, separated up by book.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
The first years cross the lake to the castle
Malfoy takes Neville's Remembrall during broom-training
Snape goes to meet Quirrel in the woods
Detention with Hagrid in the Forbidden Forest

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
The descent of the flying Ford Anglia
Harry and Ron follow the spiders into the Forest

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
The Hippogriff paddock
To the Shrieking Shack, via Hogsmeade
To the Shrieking Shack, doubled in time

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Hagrid, Maxime and Harry visit the Dragons
The Trio visit Sirius in his cave
The Second Task
Barty Snr is found in the woods
The Third Task

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Hagrid takes his students to see the Thestrals
Snape's worst memory
Hagrid takes Harry and Hermione to visit Grawp
The gang find Thestrals to ride to the Ministry

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Harry and Tonks walk from the station to Hogwarts
Katie Bell touches the cursed necklace
Dumbledore and Harry fly from Hogsmeade to the Astronomy Tower
Snape and the Death Eaters flee the castle

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Hagrid and Grawp cross the Forest
Harry goes to Voldemort in the Forest

The Hippogriff paddock

[cut] they went down the sloping lawns to Hagrid's hut on the edge of the Forbidden Forest. [cut]
       Hagrid was waiting for his class at the door of his hut. [cut]
       [cut] Hagrid strolled off around the edge of the trees, and five minutes later, they found themselves outside a kind of paddock. There was nothing in there.
       'Everyone gather round the fence here!' he called. [PoA ch. #06; p. 86]

'Oooooooh!' squealed Lavender Brown, pointing towards the opposite side of the paddock.
Trotting towards them were a dozen of the most bizarre creatures Harry had ever seen. They had the bodies, hind legs, and tails of horses, but the front legs, wings, and heads of what seemed to be giant eagles, with cruel, steel-coloured beaks and large, brilliantly, orange eyes. The talons on their front legs were half a foot long and deadly looking. Each of the beasts had a thick leather collar around its neck, which was attached to a long chain, and the ends of all of these were held in the vast hands of Hagrid, who came jogging into the paddock behind the creatures. [PoA ch. #06; p. 87]

Harry put his foot on the top of Buckbeak's wing and hoisted himself onto his back. [cut]
Without warning, twelve-foot wings flapped open on either side of Harry; he had just time to seize the Hippogriff around the neck before he was soaring upwards. [PoA ch. #06; p. 89]

'Good work, Harry!' roared Hagrid, as everyone except Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle cheered. 'OK, who else wants a go?'
Emboldened by Harry's success, the rest of the class climbed cautiously into the paddock. [PoA ch. #06; p. 90]

'I bet you're not dangerous at all, are you?' he said to the Hippogriff. 'Are you, you ugly great brute?'
It happened in a flash of steely talons; Malfoy let out a high-pitched scream [PoA ch. #06; p. 90]

Hermione ran to open the gate as Hagrid lifted Malfoy easily. As they passed, Harry saw that there was a long, deep gash in Malfoy's arm; blood splattered the grass and Hagrid ran with him, up the slope towards the castle. [PoA ch. #06; p. 90]

Very shaken, the Care of Magical Creatures class followed at a walk. [cut]
They climbed the stone steps into the deserted Entrance Hall. [PoA ch. #06; p. 91]

When the third-year Gryffindors and Slytherins (white dots) go to the Care of Magical Creatures class in which we first meet Buckbeak, they start from the Entrance Hall (0) and walk to Hagrid's hut (1). They are specified as walking downslope the whole way, so they go around, not over the mounds or swells of land which obscure the view of the main gates from the carriage track. Hagrid then walks them "around", not along the edge of the trees, so we can assume that the Forest bells out in a curve at this point.

Rounding the edge of the curve, they come to a fenced paddock (2). Hagrid (gold dots) then goes into the Forest (3), collects twelve Hippogriffs and brings them into the paddock from the far side (4) to join the students at (2). The paddock is probably fairly large, as these horse-like creatures seem to be still trotting across it as Hagrid jogs in behind them - there is room for them to move across it at trotting speed for at least a few seconds.

Harry then successfully rides Buckbeak, and Draco cheeks Buckbeak and is slashed. Hagrid grabs Draco and runs with him to the castle. Because Hagrid is in a hurry and strong enough to overcome all obstacles, I've assumed both that he runs through the small protruding clump of trees which we find out is there when Harry goes to look at dragons in the same paddock in fourth year, and that he runs straight up the grounds, up and over any bushes and mounds he encounters en route.

I have surmised that there is a ground-level emergency entrance to the hospital wing (5), both because that makes practical sense (especially given that the internal route to the hospital wing seems to be long and winding) and because it would explain why there is an open gate into an enclosed area of lawn where the broomshed is also situated, as explained above. Hagrid runs in through this gate and takes Draco up to the hospital using some sort of lift.

The rest of the students (white dots again) trail back slowly to the Entrance Hall (0). Because they are in no hurry and feeling shocked, and they do not need to pass close to Hagrid's hut again, I have surmised that they join the carriage track (6) part way along, rather than ascending and descending the intervening mounds.

Return to contents-list

To the Shrieking Shack, via Hogsmeade

       They left Zonko's with their money bags considerably lighter [cut]
       The day was fine and breezy, and neither of them felt like staying indoors, so they walked past the Three Broomsticks and climbed a slope to visit the Shrieking Shack, the most haunted dwelling in Britain. It stood a little way above the rest of the village, [cut]
       [cut] they heard voices nearby. Someone was climbing towards the house from the other side of the hill; moments later, Malfoy had appeared, followed closely by Crabbe and Goyle [PoA ch. #14; p. 205/206]

       Malfoy looked up at the crumbling house behind Ron. [cut]
       The opportunity was too perfect to miss. Harry crept silently around behind Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle, bent down and scooped a large handful of mud out of the path.[cut]
       Malfoy's head jerked forwards as the mud hit him; his silver-blond hair was suddenly dripping in muck. [cut]
       Ron had to hold onto the fence to keep himself standing, he was laughing so hard. [cut]
       [cut] Malfoy was staring madly around at the deserted landscape.
       Harry sneaked along the path, where a particularly sloppy puddle yielded some foul-smelling, green sludge.
       [cut] Harry [cut] picked up a stick, and lobbed it at Crabbe's back. [cut] Harry felt a great tug, then the Cloak slid off his face.
       For a split second, Malfoy stared at him.
       [cut] Then he turned tail and ran, at breakneck speed, back down the hill, Crabbe and Goyle behind him. [cut]
       'See you later,' said Harry, and without another word, he tore back down the path towards Hogsmeade. [cut]
       Back into Honeydukes, back down the cellar steps, acros the stone floor, throught the trapdoor -– Harry pulled off the Cloak, tucked it under his arm, and ran, flat out, along the passage ... [PoA ch. #14; p. 206/207]

When Harry (white dots) joins the Hogsmeade visit by going through the tunnel from the castle to Honeydukes, he and Hermione and Ron end up in Zonko's (0). From there they go up the High Street past the Three Broomsticks (1), and turn off the main road to ascend a slope (2) to the Shrieking Shack (3). We know that they ascend via a path, because later we are told that Harry "tore back down the path towards Hogsmeade".

Meanwhile, Draco Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle (gold dots) are ascending by a different route - probably also on a path, although we're not told that - coming from the far side of the hill the Shack stands on (4). They are presumably coming from the castle side, since they later run back that way to get to the castle. Harry hears them as they approach the summit (5).

When he gets to the Shack, Draco insults Ron so Harry, under his Invisibility Cloak, throws mud at him. He goes slightly back down the path (6) to get more. We're not told whether he goes down the path he came up by or the one Draco came on, but when Harry's Cloak slips and Draco sees him and runs, it seems less likely that he would run towards and past Harry, as he would have to do if Harry was now on the path on the castle side of the hill (5).

At any rate, Draco and his friends run back down the path they came up by (5) (4), heading back towards Hogwarts (7). Knowing that they will report that he was seen in Hogsmeade, Harry hopes to get back to the castle before them. He hurries back down the path (2) to the High Street, and then along to Honeydukes (8) where he enters the tunnel which leads back to the Humpbacked Witch statue in the castle.

This scene tends to confirm that the Shrieking Shack is much nearer the village than the castle. There seems to be nothing stopping Harry from entering the school by the main gates under cover of his Invisibility Cloak. Entering via the tunnel has only small advantages in terms of his ability to lie about where he's been, so if the distance from the Shack to Honeydukes was longer than the distance from the Shack to the castle, it would be ridiculous for him to run back to the village and then use what we know is a long and winding tunnel, making it impossible for him to get to the castle until a long time after Draco does so, instead of just following Draco down the hill on the school side. He must be able to get from the Shack to Honeydukes fast enough that the slight detour involved doesn't outweigh the benefits of being able to turn up inside the castle without having to negotiate the Entrance Hall, so the Shack must be much closer to Honeydukes than to the castle.

Return to contents-list

To the Shrieking Shack, doubled in time

Walking very close together so that nobody would see them, they crossed the Hall on tiptoe beneath the Cloak, then walked down the stone front steps into the grounds. The sun was already sinking behind the Forbidden Forest, gilding the top branches of the trees.
They reached Hagrid's cabin and knocked. [PoA ch. #16; p. 240]

A group of men was walking down the distant castle steps. In front was Albus Dumbledore, his silver beard gleaming in the dying sun. Next to him trotted Cornelius Fudge. Behind them came the feeble old Committee member and the executioner, Macnair. [cut]
'I'll let yeh out the back way,' said Hagrid.
They followed him to the door into his back garden. Harry felt strangely unreal, and even more so when he saw Buckbeak a few yards away, tethered to a tree behind Hagrid's Pumpkin patch. [PoA ch. #16; p. 242]

Slowly, in a kind of horrified trance, Harry, Ron and Hermione set off silently around Hagrid's house. As they reached the other side, the front door closed with a sharp snap. [cut]
They started up the sloping lawn towards the castle. [PoA ch. #16; p. 242]

They set off back towards the castle, walking slowly to keep themselves hidden under the Cloak. Light was fading fast now. By the time they reached open ground, darkness was settling like a spell around them. [PoA ch. #17; p. 244]

       Too late – the rat had slipped between Ron's clutching fingers, hit the ground and scampered away. In one bound, Crookshanks sprang after him, and before Harry or Hermione could stop him, Ron had thrown the Invisibility Cloak off himself and pelted away into the darkness.
       'Ron!' Hermione moaned.
       She and Harry looked at each other, then followed at a sprint; it was impossible to run full out under the Cloak; they pulled it off and it streamed behind them like a banner as they hurtled after Ron; they could hear his feet thundering along ahead and his shouts at Crookshanks. [PoA ch. #17; p. 245]

The wand-light showed him the trunk of a thick tree; they had chased Scabbers into the shadow of the Whomping Willow and its branches were creaking as though in a high wind, whipping backwards and forwards to stop them going nearer.
And there, at the base of the trunk, was the dog, dragging Ron backwards into a large gap in the roots [PoA ch. #17; p. 246]

They covered the distance to the trunk in seconds, but before they had reached the gap in the roots, Crookshanks had slid into it with a flick of his bottle-brush tail. Harry went next; [cut] Seconds later, Hermione slithered down beside him. [PoA ch. #17; p. 247]

       Sirius saw Snape up through the hole, then stood back for Harry and Hermione to pass. At last, all of them were out.
       The grounds were very dark now; the only light came from the distant windows of the castle. Without a word, they set off. [cut]
       Silently they tramped through the grounds, the castle lights growing slowly larger. Snape was still drifting weirdly ahead of Sirius, his chin bumping on his chest. And then -
       A cloud shifted. There were suddenly dim shadows on the ground. Their party was bathed in moonlight. [PoA ch. #20; p. 278]

As the werewolf reared, snapping its long jaws, Sirius disappeared from Harry's side. He had transformed. The enormous, bear-like dog bounded forwards. As the werewolf wrenched itself free of the manacle binding it, the dog seized it about the neck and pulled it backwards, away from Ron and Pettigrew. They were locked, jaw to jaw, claws ripping at each other -- [PoA ch. #20; p. 279]

       Too late. Pettigrew had transformed. Harry saw his bald tail whip through the manacle on Ron's outstretched arm, and heard a scurrying through the grass.
       There was a howl and a rumbling growl; Harry turned to see the werewolf taking flight; it was galloping into the forest –
       'Sirius, he's gone, Pettigrew transformed!' Harry yelled.
        Sirius was bleeding; there were gashes across his muzzle and back, but at Harry's words he scrambled up again, and in an instant, the sound of his paws faded to silence as he pounded away across the grounds. [PoA ch. #20; p. 279]

       But then, out of the darkness, they heard a yelping, a whining; a dog in pain ...
       'Sirius,' Harry muttered, staring into the darkness.
       He had a moment's indecision, but there was nothing they could do for Ron at the moment, and by the sound of it, Black was in trouble –
       Harry set off at a run, Hermione right behind him. The yelping seemed to be coming from near the lake. They pelted towards it, and Harry, running flat out, felt the cold without realising what it must mean –
       The yelping stopped abruptly. As they reached the lakeshore, they saw why – Sirius had turned back into a man. He was crouched on all fours, his hands over his head.
       'Nooo,' he moaned. 'Nooo ... please ...'
       And then Harry saw them. Dementors, at least a hundred of them, gliding in a black mass around the lake towards them. He spun around, the familiar, icy cold penetrating his insides, fog starting to obscure his vision; more were appearing out of the darkness on every side; they were encircling them ... [PoA ch. #20; p. 280]

And then, through the fog that was drowning him, he thought he saw a silvery light, growing brighter aned brighter [cut]
With every ounce of strength he could muster, Harry raised his head a few inches and saw an animal amidst the light, galloping away across the lake. Eyes blurred with sweat, Harry tried to make out what it was ... it was bright as a unicorn. Fighting to stay conscious, Harry watched it canter to a halt as it reached the opposite shore. For a moment, Harry saw, by its brightness, somebody welcoming it back ... raising his hand to pat it ... someone who looked strangely familiar ... but it couldn't be ... [PoA ch. #20; p. 281/282]

'I am going to lock you in. It is --' he consulted his watch, 'five minutes to midnight. Miss Granger, three turns should do it. Good luck.' [PoA ch. #21; p. 288]

       He was standing next to Hermione in the deserted Entrance Hall and a stream of golden sunlight was falling across the paved floor from the open front doors. [cut]
       'We've gone back in time,' Hermione whispered [cut] 'Three hours back ...' [cut]
       Hermione had her ear pressed against the cupboard door.
       'Footsteps across the hall ... yes, I think it's us going down to Hagrid's.' [PoA ch. #21; p. 289]

       'We'll run for it,' said Harry determinedly. 'Straight into the Forest, all right? We'll have to hide behind a tree or something and keep a lookout –'
       'OK, but we'll go around by the greenhouses!' said Hermione breathlessly. 'We need to keep out of sight of Hagrid's front door, or we'll see us! We must be nearly at Hagrid's by now!'
       Still working out what she meant, Harry set off at a sprint, Hermione behind him. They tore across the vegetable gardens to the greenhouses, paused for a moment behind them, then set off again, fast as they could, skirting around the Whomping Willow, tearing towards the shelter of the Forest ...
       Safe in the shadows of the trees, Harry turned around; seconds later, Hermione arrived beside him, panting.
       'Right,' she gasped. 'We need to sneak over to Hagrid's. Keep out of sight, Harry ...'
       They made their way silently through the trees, keeping to the very edge of the Forest. Then, as they glimpsed the front of Hagrid's house, they heard a knock upon his door. They moved quickly behind a wide oak trunk [cut] [PoA ch. #21; p. 290/291]

They crept through the trees until they saw the nervous Hippogriff, tethered to the fence around Hagrid's pumpkin patch. [PoA ch. #21; p. 291]

       But Hermione nudged him, and pointed towards the castle. Harry moved his head a few inches to get a clear view of the distant front doors. Dumbledore, Fudge, the old Committee member, and Macnair the executioner were coming down the steps.
       'We're about to come out!' Hermione breathed.
       And sure enough, moments later, Hagrid's back door opened, and Harry saw himself, Ron and Hermione walking out of it with Hagrid. It was, without a doubt, the strangest sensation of his life, standing behind the tree, and watching himself in the pumpkin patch. [PoA ch. #21; p. 292]

There was a knock on Hagrid's front door. The execution party had arrived. Hagrid turned around and headed back into his cabin, leaving the back door ajar. [PoA ch. #21; p. 292]

As Fudge's voice started again, Harry darted out from behind his tree, vaulted the fence into the pumpkin patch and approached Buckbeak. [PoA ch. #21; p. 293]

Careful not to blink, Harry stared up into Buckbeak's fierce orange eye once more, and bowed. Buckbeak sank to his scaly knees and then stood up again. Harry began to fumble with the knot of rope tying Buckbeak to the fence. [PoA ch. #21; p. 293]

Harry tugged harder on the rope around Buckbeak's neck. The Hippogriff began to walk, rustling its wings irritably. They were still ten feet away from the Forest, in plain view of Hagrid's back door. [PoA ch. #21; p. 293]

Buckbeak broke into a grudging trot. They had reached the trees ... [PoA ch. #21; p. 294]

'We're going to have to move,' said Harry, thinking hard. 'We've got to be able to see the Whomping Willow, or we won't know what's going on.'
       'OK,' said Hermione, getting a firmer grip on Buckbeak's rope. 'But we've got to keep out of sight, Harry, remember ...'
       They moved around the edge of the Forest, darkness falling thickly around them, until they were hidden behind a clump of trees through which they could make out the Willow.
       'There's Ron!' said Harry suddenly.
       A dark figure was sprinting across the lawn and its shout echoed through the still night air. [cut]
       And then they saw two more figures materialise out of nowhere. Harry watched himself and Hermione chasing after Ron. [PoA ch. #21; p. 294/295]

       The moment they disappeared, the tree began to move again. Seconds later, they heard footsteps quite close by. Dumbledore, Macnair, Fudge and the old Committee member were making their way up to the castle. [cut]
       They watched the four men climb the castle steps and disappear from view. For a few minutes the scene was deserted. Then –
       'Here comes Lupin!' said Harry, as they saw another figure sprinting down the stone steps and haring toward the Willow. Harry looked up at the sky. Clouds were obscuring the moon completely.
       They watched Lupin seize a broken branch from the ground and prod the knot on the trunk. The tree stopped fighting, and Lupin, too, disappeared into the gap in its roots. [cut]
       [cut]Just then, they heard a burst of song. It was Hagrid, making his way up to the castle, singing at the top of his voice, and weaving slightly as he walked. A large bottle was swinging from his hands. [cut]
       [cut]They watched Hagrid meander tipsily up to the castle. He was gone. [cut]
       Barely two minutes later, the castle doors flew open yet again, and Snape came charging out of them, running towards the Willow.
       Harry's fists clenched as they watched Snape skid to a halt next to the tree, looking around. He grabbed the Cloak and held it up. [PoA ch. #21; p. 295/296]

[At this point Harry and Hermione have quite a lengthy conversation, taking maybe ten to fifteen minutes, about what Harry had seen earlier when the Dementors were driven off by the stag Patronus.] [PoA ch. #21; p. 297/298]

The moon drifted in and out of sight behind the shifting clouds. Hermione sat with her face turned towards the Willow, waiting.
And then, at last, after over an hour ...
'Here we come!' Hermione whispered. [PoA ch. #21; p. 298]

       The moon slid out from behind its cloud. They saw the tiny figures across the grounds stop. Then they saw movement –
       'There goes Lupin,' Hermione whispered. 'He's transforming –'
       'Hermione!' said Harry suddenly. 'We've got to move!'
       'We mustn't, I keep telling you –'
       'Not to interfere! Lupin's going to run into the Forest, right at us!' [cut]
       'Back to Hagrid's!' Harry said. ''It's empty now – come on!'
       They ran, fast as they could. [PoA ch. #21; p. 298/299]

The cabin was in sight; Harry skidded to the door, wrenched it open, and Hermione and Buckbeak flashed past him; Harry threw himself in after them and bolted the door. Fang the boarhound barked loudly. [PoA ch. #21; p. 299]

       Harry stepped outside again and edged around the cabin. He could hear yelping in the distance. That meant the Dementors were closing in on Sirius ... he and Hermione would be running to him any moment ...
       Harry stared out towards the lake, his heart doing a kind of drum-roll in his chest. Whoever had sent that Patronus would be appearing at any moment.
       For a fraction of a second he stood, irresolute, in front of Hagrid's door. You must not be seen. But he didn't want to be seen. He wanted to do the seeing ... he had to know ...
       And there were the Dementors. They were emerging out of the darkness from every direction, gliding around the edges of the lake ... they were moving away from where Harry stood, to the opposite bank ... he wouldn't have to get near them ...
       Harry began to run. [cut] On the opposite bank, he could see tiny glimmers of silver – his own attempts at a Patronus –
       There was a bush at the very edge of the water. Harry threw himself behind it, peering desperately through the leaves. On the opposite bank, the glimmers of silver were suddenly extinguished. [cut]
       Harry flung himself out from behind the bush and pulled out his wand.
       'EXPECTO PATRONUM!' he yelled. [PoA ch. #21; p. 299/300]

Together they peered around the bush at the other bank. Snape had regained consciousness. He was conjuring stretchers and lifting the limp forms of Harry, Hermione and Black onto them. A fourth stretcher, no doubt bearing Ron, was already floating at his side. Then, wand held out in front of him, he moved them away towards the castle. [PoA ch. #21; p. 301]

'Right, it's nearly time,' said Hermione tensely, looking at her watch. 'We've got about forty-five minutes until Dumbledore locks the door to the hospital wing. We've got to rescue Sirius and get back into the ward before anybody realises we're missing ...' [cut]
'D' you reckon he's up there yet?' said Harry, checking his watch. He looked up at the castle, and began counting the windows to the right of the West Tower. [PoA ch. #21; p. 301/302]

       'Look!' Hermione whispered. 'Who's that? Someone's coming back out of the castle!'
       Harry stared through the darkness. The man was hurrying across the grounds, toward one of the entrances. Something shiny glinted in his belt.
       'Macnair!' said Harry. 'The executioner! He's gone to get the Dementors! This is it, Hermione –' [PoA ch. #21; p. 302]

Harry urged Buckbeak forwards. They were gliding quietly towards the upper floors of the castle ... Harry pulled hard on the left-hand side of the rope, and Buckbeak turned. Harry was trying to count the windows flashing past – [PoA ch. #21; p. 302]

The Hippogriff gave one sweep of its mighty wings and they were soaring upwards again, high as the top of the West Tower. Buckbeak landed with a clatter on the battlements and Harry and Hermione slid off him at once. [cut]
[Sirius] squeezed Buckbeak's sides with his heels. Harry and Hermione jumped back as the enormous wings rose once more ... the Hippogriff took off into the air ... he and his rider became smaller and smaller as Harry gazed after them ... then a cloud drifted across the moon ... they were gone. [PoA ch. #21; p. 303]

'We've got exactly ten minutes to get back down to the hospital wing without anybody seeing us -- before Dumbledore locks the door --' [PoA ch. #22; p. 304]

This particular scenario is extremely complex, with multiple groups and individuals criss-crossing each other in time and space. To save some typing-time, therefore, for present purposes R+HH1 means Ron plus Harry and Hermione the first time around, and HH2 means the three-hours-older Harry and Hermione who have re-inserted themselves into the earlier timeline using the Time Turner.

Starting at five to midnight, HH2 use the Time Turner to go back three hours to five to nine (dusk) and hide in a cupboard off the Entrance Hall (0). R+HH1 (white dots) then unknowingly pass them, set out from the Entrance Hall and walk slowly to the front door of Hagrid's cabin (1).

Immediately behind them HH2 (gold dots) then also leave the Entrance Hall (0) and go around the northern end of the castle, dashing across part of the vegetable patch (2) until the end of the castle cuts them off from the line of sight from Hagrid's cabin (1). They very much do not want Hagrid to glance out of his window and see them at the far end of the grounds, when in a minute or two their earlier selves will be chapping at his door, and he might mention to those earlier selves that he has just seen them by the vegetable patch a few minutes ago, and so create a temporal anomaly.

They then cut round behind the greenhouses (3). Coming to the end of the greenhouses, they sprint across open ground past the Whomping Willow (4) to the edge of the Forest, hidden from Hagrid's view for at least part of this dash by a low mound (5) which partially cuts off the line of sight from the greenhouses to the Whomping Willow, and therefore also from Hagrid's hut to the green houses. Gold dots delineated with red rather than black mark the parts of their route during which they could potentially have been seen from Hagrid's cabin,

They then follow the edge of the Forest round (silently, so no longer sprinting) to a point near the back of Hagrid's hut (6), keeping within the tree-line the whole way. They must be going very fast, and R+HH1 very slowly, because they arrive at Hagrid's place at the same time even though HH2 have gone by a route which is four times longer.

R+HH1 then spend some time talking to Hagrid, and collect Scabbers/Pettigrew, while HH2 lurk nearby. Both groups, R+HH1 and HH2, then see a party containing Dumbledore, Macnair, Fudge and a Committee member (blue dots) walking down from the Entrance Hall (0) to Hagrid's hut (1). R+HH1 leave by the back door and garden of Hagrid's hut (7), passing Buckbeak who is tied to a tree forming part of a hedge behind Hagrid's pumpkin patch. Immediately after they leave, HH2 dart out, untie Buckbeak and walk him into the trees at (5). His reluctance to come with them may be the result of having just seen two iterations of them, and suspecting that this lot may be fake,

R+HH1 walk slowly back towards the castle, passing through some sort of scrub or bushes before coming into open land. Partway across the grounds (8) Scabbers breaks loose and runs towards the Willow (4), and R+HH1 run after him. Meanwhile HH2 walk Buckbeak back round the edge of the Forest to a clump of trees (9) overlooking the Willow but fairly close to the castle. They arrive in time to see R+HH1 reach the tree. Ron is seized by Padfoot-Sirius and dragged off into the tunnel under the Willow, and HH1 follow. Immediately afterwards HH2 hear the footsteps of Dumbledore, Macnair and co. pass quite nearby (which is how we know the clump HH2 are hiding in isn't very far from the route between Hagrid's cabin and the main doors) (10) en route back to the castle, having just gone out to Hagrid's garden to execute Buckbeak, and found that he was missing. The ground may be muddy, which would make the party's footsteps more audible, and perhaps Dumbledore has bells on his shoes - even so, the scale of the grounds is such that if this party is close enough to HH2 for them to hear their footsteps, and HH2 are close enough to the Willow to see what's going on, the party must have come round in a wide curve rather than going direct from Hagrid's place to the main doors. That still leaves HH2 more than a hundred yards from the Willow - but we know the full moon was out.

A few minutes later they see Lupin (orange dots) sprint across the lawn from the Entrance Hall (0) to the Whomping Willow (4). Shortly afterwards Hagrid (puce dots) staggers drunkenly from his cabin (1) to the castle (0). Two minutes later Snape (mint-green dots) sprints after Lupin and also disappears under the Willow.

A point some hours later is established as being ten past eleven. Working back from that point and counting the elapsed time which is mentioned, when Snape enters the tunnel under the Willow it is around twenty to ten. The events since R+HH1 set out from the Entrance Hall to this point have taken just under forty-five minutes.

For about ten minutes HH2 then discuss the appearance of the stag Patronus (which in their timeline is in the past, although for R+HH1 it hasn't happened yet). Over an hour then passes, and at about five to eleven a party consisting of R+HH1, Sirius, Lupin, Pettigrew and unconscious!Snape emerges from the tunnel under the Willow and begins to walk towards the castle. They get partway across the grounds (11) when the moon comes out from behind a cloud and Lupin transforms. HH2 with Buckbeak run for Hagrid's cabin, knowing that after Lupin and Sirius have sparred Lupin will run into the Forest right through the clump (9) where they had been standing.

Ron is knocked out. Pettigrew then transforms into a rat and runs for it and Sirius (purple dots) follows as a dog, running around the far side of the lake and ending up at a point (12) far enough along to face, and be quite close to, the point on the opposite shore where the beech tree and bushes are (13).

HH2 in Hagrid's hut see Dementors (red dots) coming from many directions towards Sirius. Since we were told earlier in the book that the Dementors were guarding the entrances of Hogwarts, they have probably come from the main gates (14), the station (15) and various entrances around the side of the Forest. For the sake of clarity I have just shown the station and main gates groups, but there will be others coming in from other directions. Some of them head off around the southern end of the lake away from Hagrid's hut (16) (but not across the water, apparently): to see this HH2 may have to look through the Quidditch stadium but I picture it as quite a spidery, open structure, so it would be like looking through scaffolding.

Hearing Padfoot whine in distress, and not yet having realised that the Dementors are out in force, HH1 leave unconscious!Ron and unconscious!Snape becalmed in the middle of the lawn at (11) and run after Sirius, whom they find beset by Dementors at (12). They must swing quite wide of the water because they don't reach the lake-side until they reach Sirius himself, so I have assumed that there are thick bushes (17) along the edge of the lake before that point.

Meanwhile, HH2 and Buckbeak run to the bushes (13) and Harry 2 steps out into the open and sends his Patronus (grey dots) across the lake to Sirius and HH1 on the far side of the lake (12). It drives off the Dementors and then returns to HH2, leaving HH1 and Sirius alive but unconscious. At the same time, Snape (mint-green dots) regains consciousness and follows the sounds of combat, arriving (with unconscious!Ron in tow) at (12) just after the Dementors leave. Taking R+HH1 and Sirius with him on stretchers, he retraces his steps back to the front of the castle and thence to the hospital wing (18). At the point at which he starts back towards the castle, it is now ten past eleven.

HH2 and Buckbeak then remain in the bushes for about twenty-five minutes until they see Macnair (blue dots) setting off from the castle (0) to fetch the Dementors (19), probably by going down the carriage track to the main gates (15). HH2 then fly on Buckbeak up to Flitwick's office (20), bearing left as they approach the wall it is set in, and Sirius then flies away on Buckbeak (not shown since we have no idea which direction he goes), while HH2 re-enter the castle via the West Tower (21). It is now a quarter to midnight and they have ten minutes to get back to the hospital wing before Dumbledore locks the door.

Return to contents-list