Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban characters

Appears from the start

Now thirteen and entering his third year, Harry is a more confident wizard but still an unwanted guest at the Dursleys'. Learning that a dangerous prisoner has escaped and may be hunting him tests his nerve, and this year forces him to confront how little he knows about his parents' death and the people who were part of their lives.

First appears in chapter 4

Harry's loyal best friend, reunited with him at a wizarding pub before term. He is preoccupied this year with his ageing pet rat, Scabbers, who is sickly and terrified of Hermione's new cat, a running quarrel that strains the friends' good humour.

First appears in chapter 4

Harry and Ron's studious friend, who has taken on an impossibly heavy course load and seems to be everywhere at once. Fiercely responsible, she clashes with Ron over her new cat's hunting of his rat, but her cleverness and level head are decisive when the year's mysteries come to a head.

First appears in chapter 3

A convicted murderer and the first person ever to escape the wizard prison Azkaban. He was jailed for killing thirteen people with a single curse and is believed to have been a devoted servant of Voldemort. The authorities warn that he has broken out to find Harry, and his name spreads fear across the wizarding world.

First appears in chapter 5

The shabby, gentle new teacher of Defence Against the Dark Arts, whom Harry first meets asleep in a train compartment before the journey is interrupted by a terrifying creature. Kind, perceptive, and often unwell, he becomes the best teacher Harry has had and takes a particular, quietly protective interest in him.

First appears in chapter 3

The Minister for Magic, an anxious, well-meaning politician who smooths over Harry's accidental use of magic on his aunt and is consumed by the danger the escaped Sirius Black poses. He seems oddly determined to keep Harry safe and in the dark.

First appears in chapter 6

Harry's friend the gamekeeper, newly appointed as the teacher of Care of Magical Creatures and thrilled by the promotion. His fondness for dangerous animals gets his class off to a rocky start when a proud creature he introduces is provoked and injures Draco Malfoy, drawing the Malfoys' vengeance.

First appears in chapter 5

The Potions master, as hostile to Harry as ever and openly resentful of Lupin, whom he distrusts and eventually covers lessons for. He brews a mysterious potion for Lupin each month and watches the new teacher with a suspicion that seems personal and old.

First appears in chapter 6

Harry's rival, who exaggerates a minor injury from Hagrid's first lesson into a grievance his powerful father uses to threaten Hagrid's job and the offending creature's life. Spiteful and cowardly, he needles Harry about the escaped killer said to be hunting him.

First appears in chapter 6

The Divination teacher, a wispy, heavily bespectacled witch who trades in dramatic predictions of doom. Most of her prophecies are theatrical guesswork, and she foretells Harry's death almost as a matter of routine, though her woolly manner occasionally hides something stranger.

Also known as Wormtail, Scabbers

First appears in chapter 19

A wizard believed for twelve years to be dead, supposedly murdered by Sirius Black in a street explosion that killed a dozen bystanders. In truth he survived by transforming into a rat and hiding for years as a family pet, and it was he, not Black, who betrayed Harry's parents to Voldemort and framed his old friend for the crime.