100 Fun Facts About Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Prisoner of Azkaban is which book in the Harry Potter series?

It covers Harry's third year at Hogwarts, the year without Voldemort.

On what date was the book published in the UK by Bloomsbury?

It went on sale at the odd time of 3.45pm so children would not skip school to buy it.

Why was the UK release timed for 3.45pm?

It sold 64,000 copies in three days, the fastest-selling British book at the time.

How many copies did the book sell in the UK in its first three days?

By 2012 UK sales stood at more than 3.3 million.

Prisoner of Azkaban was the first Potter book shortlisted for which science-fiction and fantasy prize?

It lost the 2000 Best Novel Hugo to Vernor Vinge's A Deepness in the Sky; Goblet of Fire won the following year.

Which relative does Harry accidentally inflate at the start of the story?

Pam Ferris wore prosthetic bodies that inflated at different rates; at her largest she was about four and a half feet wide.

What vehicle picks Harry up after he runs away from the Dursleys?

For long distances it leaps 100 miles at a time with a bang, invisible to Muggles.

Who plays Stan Shunpike, the conductor of the enchanted triple-decker bus, in the film?

Lenny Henry voices the shrunken head hanging in the bus.

Which Minister for Magic meets Harry at the Leaky Cauldron and tells him he will not be punished?

Robert Hardy plays him in the film.

What creatures board the Hogwarts Express searching for Sirius Black?

Rowling based them on her own experience of depression; chocolate is the standard remedy after an encounter.

Which spell repels the guards of Azkaban?

Lupin teaches it to Harry after he keeps fainting in the creatures' presence.

What is the name of the soul-sucking act performed by the guards of Azkaban?

Sirius is sentenced to it after being recaptured, before Harry and Hermione turn back time.

Which subject does Professor Lupin teach?

His boggart takes the form of a full moon.

Which werewolf bit Lupin as a small child?

Snape's Wolfsbane Potion lets him keep his mind during transformations this year.

Hagrid takes over which teaching post this year?

His first lesson goes wrong when Draco Malfoy provokes Buckbeak.

What kind of creature is Buckbeak?

Cuarón said capturing his feathers' movement had 'never been done before'.

Who gives Harry the Marauder's Map?

The four Marauders who made it were James Potter, Sirius, Lupin and Pettigrew.

Who created the Marauder's Map?

It shows secret passages and every person in the castle when activated.

In which pub does Harry overhear that Sirius Black is his godfather?

Julie Christie plays landlady Madam Rosmerta in the film.

What is the name of Ron's pet rat?

He turns out to be Peter Pettigrew in Animagus form.

What is the name of Hermione's cat?

Ron blames the cat when his rat vanishes, and the two friends stop speaking.

Ron is dragged by a large black dog through a passage under which tree?

The passage leads to the Shrieking Shack, built on a hydraulic platform for the film so it would creak and sway.

Where does the big reveal about Sirius, Lupin and Pettigrew take place?

Production designer Stuart Craig called it the hardest set of the film to build.

How many Muggles did Peter Pettigrew kill when he faked his own death?

He left a severed finger behind and framed Sirius for the massacre.

How many years did Sirius spend in Azkaban before escaping?

Gary Oldman said he took the part because he needed the money after years off to raise his children.

What causes Lupin to transform and lets Pettigrew escape on the way back to the castle?

Sirius, in dog form, fights the werewolf off and is badly injured.

What device do Harry and his friend use to go back and save Sirius and Buckbeak?

Dumbledore hints at the plan rather than ordering it.

Who exposes Lupin as a werewolf, forcing him to resign?

Snape blames Lupin for Sirius's disappearance.

What broomstick does Sirius send Harry after his Nimbus 2000 is destroyed?

The Whomping Willow smashed the Nimbus after Dementors knocked Harry off it at a Quidditch match.

Who directed the 2004 film?

He had not read the books when approached; Guillermo del Toro berated him and told him to read them.

Which director, offered the job, was put off because the first two films were too 'bright and happy'?

Forster declined after Finding Neverland and Shyamalan was busy with The Village.

Michael Gambon took over as Dumbledore after which actor's death?

Gambon put on a slight Irish accent as a homage and shot his scenes in three weeks.

Which actor turned down Dumbledore partly because he had already played Gandalf?

He also noted Harris had once called him a 'dreadful' actor, so stepping in felt inappropriate.

Which American comedian wanted to play Lupin but was ruled out by the British-only casting rule?

David Thewlis, Cuarón's first choice, had earlier auditioned to play Quirrell.

Who plays Divination teacher Sybill Trelawney in the film?

Tilda Swinton was offered the part first and turned it down; Thompson sketched her own costume ideas.

Who plays Peter Pettigrew?

Pettigrew is said to have been murdered by Sirius but was the real traitor all along.

Which lead refused Cuarón's request for a character essay, saying 'Ron wouldn't do it'?

Watson wrote ten pages and Radcliffe exactly two.

Cuarón wanted Dumbledore to look like what?

Costume designer Jany Temime used tie-dyed silk that floated behind him.

Which Scottish location hosted three purpose-built sets, including Hagrid's hut, near the Clachaig Inn?

The Dementor-boards-the-train scene was shot on the Glenfinnan Viaduct opposite Loch Shiel.

Rowling let Cuarón add a sundial to the grounds but vetoed which addition, because of a later book?

A graveyard would matter in the then-unwritten sixth book.

To make the triple-decker bus look like it was doing 100 mph, how fast was it actually driven?

Other cars crawled at 8 mph and stunt pedestrians were trained to walk incredibly slowly.

Cuarón first tried to create the Azkaban guards using what, before switching to CGI?

Master puppeteer Basil Twist's slow-motion tests still shaped the final effect.

Which composer scored Prisoner of Azkaban, his last Potter film?

His new theme 'Double Trouble' sets Shakespeare's witches' chant to music.

The film received Academy Award nominations in which two categories?

It was also up for four BAFTAs, including Best British Film.

Where does the acclaimed Prisoner of Azkaban rank among the eight Potter films at the box office?

It still made $810 million and was 2004's number two film worldwide behind Shrek 2.

Which 2004 film beat Prisoner of Azkaban to the year's worldwide box office crown?

Internationally, though, Potter was number one with $558 million.

Prisoner of Azkaban was the first Potter film released in which format alongside standard cinemas?

It set a UK single-day box office record of £5.3 million on opening.

Who replaced Elizabeth Spriggs as the Fat Lady portrait in this film?

Warwick Davis, without Flitwick in the script, was given the role of choir conductor instead.

How long did J. K. Rowling say she took to write Prisoner of Azkaban?

She started it the day after finishing Chamber of Secrets and later called it 'the best writing experience I ever had'.

What is Harry secretly writing his History of Magic essay about under the bedcovers?

Uncle Vernon locked his school things in the cupboard, so Harry picked the lock to do his homework at night.

When the bus conductor asks his name, which classmate does Harry claim to be?

He assumes he is already a wanted fugitive for blowing up his aunt, so he borrows the first name that comes to mind.

How many Sickles is the fare on the purple triple-decker bus to take Harry to London?

Thirteen buys hot chocolate as well, and fifteen adds a hot-water bottle and a toothbrush in any colour.

How did the Weasleys pay for their summer trip to Egypt at the start of the book?

The newspaper photo of the family in Egypt is how a bored prisoner in Azkaban later recognises a rat with a missing toe.

What birthday present does Hagrid send Harry at the start of his third year?

It bites and scuttles around the room; the trick to taming it is to stroke its spine, which nobody works out until Hagrid's first class.

What does Uncle Vernon tell his sister Harry's school is called?

Marge approves, and asks whether they use the cane; Harry keeps to the story until her drunken insults about his parents make him snap.

What do Fred and George alter Percy's Head Boy badge to read?

Percy has just been made Head Boy and is more pompous than ever, mimicked by the twins throughout the Leaky Cauldron dinner.

What does Professor Lupin hand out after the hooded creature leaves the train compartment?

Madam Pomfrey later approves of the treatment; chocolate is the standard remedy for Dementor exposure in the series.

Which portrait character guides Harry and Ron to Divination and later guards Gryffindor Tower?

He is the only portrait brave enough to replace the slashed Fat Lady, and he changes the password several times a day.

What death omen does Professor Trelawney claim to see in Harry's tea leaves?

It looks like a giant dog, which is awkward given that Harry has just seen a large black dog twice.

Which two subjects besides Divination does Hermione's timetable list at nine o'clock on day one?

Ron asks whether she plans to be in three classes at once; she says it is all worked out with Professor McGonagall.

What does the Transfiguration teacher turn herself into to demonstrate how Animagi change shape?

The class is too shaken by Trelawney's death prediction to be impressed, which nettles her considerably.

In Lupin's boggart lesson, what does Neville's boggart become?

Riddikulus puts Snape in Neville's grandmother's clothes; Snape hears about it and bullies Neville mercilessly for weeks.

Which house beats Gryffindor in the storm-lashed Quidditch match in which Harry falls off his broom?

Their new captain and Seeker, Cedric Diggory, catches the Snitch and then asks for a rematch, which Wood refuses.

Which teacher confiscates Harry's anonymous Christmas broomstick so it can be checked for jinxes?

Hermione tipped her off; Hooch and Flitwick strip it down for weeks and find nothing wrong.

How many diners are at the Hogwarts Christmas table when Trelawney warns the first to rise will die?

Harry and Ron get up together two hours later, so nobody can say who rose first.

Which memory finally works for Harry during his first private anti-Dementor lesson with Lupin?

His first two tries, using older memories, ended with him fainting to the sound of his mother screaming.

Who is Ravenclaw's new Seeker in Harry's third year, riding a Comet Two-Sixty?

Harry notices she is pretty, then blows past her on the Firebolt to take the Snitch.

Which Slytherin captain joined Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle disguised as Dementors at the Ravenclaw match?

Draco and Goyle shared one robe to look taller; McGonagall gives all four detention.

How did Sirius get past the portrait into Gryffindor Tower the night he slashed Ron's bed curtains?

Neville had written down a week's worth of Sir Cadogan's ever-changing passwords; he is banned from Hogsmeade and gets a Howler.

Which sweet shop does the secret passage behind the One-Eyed Witch statue lead to?

The spell to open the witch's hump is Dissendium, one of seven passages the Marauder's Map shows.

What phrase makes the Marauder's Map go blank again?

'I solemnly swear that I am up to no good' opens it; Fred and George nicked it from Filch's office in their first year.

How many secret passages out of Hogwarts does the Marauder's Map show?

Filch knows about four; one has caved in and one starts under the Whomping Willow, so only the Honeydukes route is safe.

Which pub landlady does Ron have a slight crush on in Hogsmeade?

It is at her table in the Three Broomsticks that Harry, hidden under a table, first hears that Sirius was his godfather.

Which Marauder nickname belonged to Peter Pettigrew?

His Animagus form was a rat; Lupin was Moony, Sirius was Padfoot and James was Prongs.

According to Hermione, how many registered Animagi were there in the twentieth century?

Pettigrew was not on the list; Lupin admits there were three unregistered Animagi running loose at Hogwarts in his day.

How long did it take James, Sirius and Peter to become Animagi to keep Lupin company?

They perfected it in their fifth year; James and Sirius managed it alone, but Pettigrew needed their help.

According to Lupin, why was the 'most haunted building in Britain' outside Hogsmeade actually built?

The howls the villagers heard were his; the Whomping Willow was planted to guard the tunnel entrance.

How does Hermione's cat still the violent tree guarding the tunnel out of the grounds?

The half-Kneazle cat has been working with Sirius for months and even stole Neville's password list for him.

How did Sirius recognise Pettigrew in the Weasleys' newspaper photo?

Fudge had handed him the paper during an inspection of Azkaban; Pettigrew cut off his own finger to fake his death.

How many turns of Hermione's tiny hourglass does Dumbledore say should be enough?

Each turn is an hour; they land in the Entrance Hall three hours earlier and have to hide from their own selves.

Which teacher's office is Sirius locked in before Harry and Hermione fly Buckbeak up to rescue him?

Hermione charms the window open from the back of the hippogriff and Sirius climbs out onto it.

What animal shape bursts from Harry's wand when he saves Sirius at the lake?

It is the shape his father took as an Animagus, which is why James was called Prongs.

Who is the executioner sent to behead Buckbeak?

Hagrid says he is a friend of Lucius Malfoy; the man later reappears in the graveyard as one of Voldemort's Death Eaters.

How many true predictions does Dumbledore say Trelawney has made after her exam-day trance?

The first, years earlier, was the prophecy about Harry and Voldemort that only surfaces in Order of the Phoenix.

What is enclosed with Sirius's letter to Harry on the Hogwarts Express home?

He also confesses he sent the Firebolt, and tells Ron to keep the tiny Scops owl that delivered the note as compensation for the rat.

Which subject does Hermione tell Ron and Harry she has dropped, letting her hand back the hourglass?

She had already stormed out of Divination for good, so with both gone she no longer needs to be in two places at once.

Which actor, cast as Sirius Black, admitted he accepted the part because he needed the money?

He went on to become one of the most beloved pieces of casting in the series; Spall played Pettigrew.

Cuaron asked the three young leads for essays on their characters. How many pages did Emma Watson hand in?

Daniel Radcliffe wrote exactly two, and Rupert Grint delivered nothing on the grounds that Ron wouldn't have done it either.

The choir piece 'Double Trouble' in the film takes its words from which Shakespeare play?

John Williams wrote it during production for a children's choir; it was his third and last score in the series.

How many tweed suits of increasing size were used to film the inflation of Harry's aunt?

Pam Ferris's largest prosthetic body was about four and a half feet wide and weighed 50 pounds, so she could not walk or eat in it.

How much did the Prisoner of Azkaban film make in its opening weekend in the US and Canada?

It was the first Potter film released in both conventional and IMAX cinemas, and audiences gave it an 'A' CinemaScore.

Harry's flight on Buckbeak over the school's waters was filmed at which Surrey location?

The Black Lake itself was also filmed at Loch Shiel, Loch Eilt and Loch Morar in the Scottish Highlands.

How fast was the Knight Bus really driven to fake its 100 mph dash through London?

Other cars crawled at about 8 mph and even the pedestrians were stunt performers trained to walk incredibly slowly.

The Shrieking Shack set was built on what so it would creak and move as if buffeted by wind?

The Defence Against the Dark Arts and Divination classrooms, by contrast, were shot on the very same set.

The Honeydukes sweet-shop set was a redress of which shop set from Chamber of Secrets?

That bookshop had itself been redressed from the Ollivanders set built for the first film.

Why did Warwick Davis play the conductor of the Hogwarts choir in Prisoner of Azkaban?

The new look he adopted for the conductor became Flitwick's appearance for the rest of the series.

Which comedian provides the voice of the shrunken head on the Knight Bus?

Paul Whitehouse voices the painting subject Sir Cadogan in the same film.

Which actor took over as Tom, the Leaky Cauldron innkeeper, replacing Derek Deadman from the first film?

Dawn French likewise replaced Elizabeth Spriggs as the Fat Lady in the same film.

Which visual effects house created the film's minute-long time-travel shot?

The main action was shot on a Steadicam against bluescreen, with four minutes of background footage sped up and composited behind it.

How much did Prisoner of Azkaban take in the US and Canada, only the sixth-best of 2004?

Internationally it was the year's number one film with $558.3 million, ahead of Shrek 2.