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by Dave Haber, Wizard News Wizard

A few weeks ago, following the release of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azakaban on DVD, I posted an article here on Wizard News about things in the movie that were related to an interview in which J.K. Rowling said:

"Alfonso [Cuaron] had very good intuition about what would and wouldn't work. He's put things in the film that, without knowing it, foreshadow things that are going to happen in the final two books. So, I really got goosebumps when I saw a couple of those things and I thought people are going to look back on the film and think those were put in deliberately as clues."

The original article described four moments I found in the movie that were added to the story by the director Alfonso Cuaron and the screenwriter Steve Kloves, which I thought could be the foreshadowing things that J.K. mentioned in the interview. Since then, Wizard News readers have found two good additional possibilities that I didn't notice.

Snape physically protects Harry, Ron and Hermione

In the scene when Professor Lupin wolfs out, when Snape is suddenly confronted by the situation, even though he is in the middle of being mad at Harry, Ron and Hermione, his immediate reaction is to put himself between Lupin and the kids to protect them.

Although Snape does things in previous books to prevent harm from coming to Harry, for instance, when he does the counter-curse to prevent him from falling off his broom in the first book, he's never done anything nice out in the open. Because of this, Harry still does not trust him. We readers know he's working against the death-eaters in secret for Dumbledore, but can we be sure?

This scene makes Erika Hill over at The Quibbler wonder if Snape's actions in this scene is foreshadowing some sacrifice Snape makes later on Harry's behalf. He might even be the character who dies in the future books, and he could do so by physically protecting Harry, allowing us to be sure once and for all that Snape was a good-guy, and forcing Harry to reappraise his feelings about Snape and his motives.

Was it something I said?

In the book and the movie, the second time we see Professor Trelawney's class is also when Hermione gets fed up with Divination and storms out of the class, the last straw being told by Professor Trelawney that she has no talent for this particular kind of magic. In the book, Professor Trelawney says,

"I am sorry to say that from the moment you arrived in this class, my dear, it has been apparent that you do not have what the noble art of Divination requires. Indeed, I don't remember ever meeting a student whose mind was so hopelessly Mundane."

However, in the movie, Professor Trelawney, wonderfully played by Emma Thompson, goes much further:

"My dear, from the first moment you step foot in my class, I sensed that you did not possess the proper spirit for the noble art of divination. No, you see, there. Oh, you may be young in years, but the heart that beats beneath your bosom is as shrivelled as an old maid's, your sole as dry as the pages of the books to which you so desperately cleave."

For Wizard News reader Jesse in Seatte, Washington, this scene triggered a question that Jesse's friends and I had never pondered, which is why is Hermione so smart, seemingly beyond her years?

What if Hermione's really a much older witch, taking the guise of a young girl to be closer to Harry while he's at Hogwarts? Perhaps she was sent there by Dumbledore, to protect him. But what if there are sinister motives involved? It's possible that Snape's not the only "double-agent" at Hogwarts! ©

Related articles:

•	Commentary: Foreshadowings in Azkaban movie (11/25/04)

Published December 12, 2004

This article is Copyright © 2004, David Haber, and may not be reproduced on other web sites or in print, in whole or in part, without expressed permission

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