Prophecies:
Since I have been noting all the inadvertent prophecies of Trelawny's, I should probably mention Harry's prophecy of Buckbeak flying off free as well. Yet another accidentally true one.

Trelawny's own (bona fide) prophecy should probably also be mentioned: it is another excellent misdirection, of course. We are meant to assume that the "chained these twelve years" refers to Sirius in Azkaban.

And I like her reaction to Harry's confronting her with her own prophecy: "I would certainly not presume to predict anything quite as far-fetched as that".

I also like how the prophecy is driven out of Harry's (and thereby the reader's) mind by the distraction of Buckbeak. And that misdirection, as a central tendency of Rowling's narrative is also a major motif: Scabbers faking his own death. Twice.

It is also interesting that they never see Buckbeak being executed. It makes possible an ambiguity of Rowling's time travel, keeping open the possibility that they are changing the past while in reality it would seem that the past is fixed and that their travelling is simply a part of it. But that comes later.

The scene in the Shrieking Shack is so different on a re-read. Everything Sirius says and does is ambiguous, as is Lupin's behaviour. But things only make sense when you know the truth. It was a perfectly written "what on earth is going on" scene the first time, and now it is all touching and lovely.

In fact, that whole chapter is perfectly written. The buildup, the reveal... Three thumbs up.

We are given the harmonising explanation for the ambiguity of the two version of James' saving Snape, the importance of the story of Pettigrew's finger, the Whomping Willow...

While I can see the reason for it, Rowling's compulsion for writing out the explanation for all her clues is a little annoying on the 100th reread (I've lost count), however. But I can forgive that.


Also, the end of chapter 18 has a very good cliffhanger.