Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban Chapter 16 Summary

How It All Goes Down

Professor Trelawney's Prediction

  • It's everyone's favorite time of year: finals!
  • Hermione is completely stressed out due to the huge number of finals she has.
  • On top of all their school work, Buckbeak's appeal is approaching.
  • Hagrid sends a note that says the Ministry is sending an executioner to the appeal.
  • We think the Ministry is trying to tell us something.
  • So finals begin and everyone's anxious and tired from all the work they have.
  • Finally, the day of Buckbeak's appeal arrives.
  • But first, the boys have their last final: Divination.
  • Hermione heads off to her Arithmancy final.
  • All the kids have to go in separately and read the future from a crystal ball for their exam.
  • Harry ends up being the last one to go in.
  • He makes up a story about seeing Buckbeak flying away and Trelawney seems bummed out – she was hoping for more blood and gore, clearly.
  • Harry thinks the exam is over, but then Trelawney starts acting weirder than usual.
  • She goes into a sot of trance and starts talking in a very harsh voice.
  • She says that "The servant will break free and set out to rejoin his Master. The Dark Lord will rise again with his servant's aid, greater and more terrible than before" (16.2.68).
  • Harry is stunned.
  • Trelawney snaps out of it and has no memory of what she just said.
  • So Harry makes a run for it, but he doesn't have time to tell Ron and Hermione about what Trelawney said.
  • Hagrid lost his appeal and Buckbeak is going to be executed at sunset.
  • The trio want to sneak out to be with Hagrid, but Harry doesn't have his Invisibility Cloak.
  • He left it in the passageway after he dashed back from Hogsmeade during his last disastrous visit – you know, the one in which he threw some mud at Malfoy.
  • So Hermione sets off and gets it, impressing both the boys.
  • The trio gather under the cloak and sneak off to Hagrid's, just like the good old days.
  • They go inside Hagrid's cabin and try to console him.
  • Buckbeak is tied up outside so he can get some fresh air in his final moments.
  • Hagrid is devastated.
  • Hermione starts to make him some tea, when suddenly she finds a rat in Hagrid's milk bottle.
  • Oh no, Hagrid's going to get slapped with a citation from the Health Department!
  • But this isn't just any old rat: it's Scabbers.
  • Consider our minds blown.
  • The gang doesn't have time to stand around looking shocked, though; the executioner approaches and Hagrid hustles the trio, plus Ron's rat, out of the cabin.
  • They set off slowly and make little progress because Scabbers keeps trying to get away.
  • Finally the three hear an ominous thud and they're horrified to realize that Buckbeak is now dead.