Book 3- Some thoughts 2

Friendship in its various forms is the mainstay of the HP books. Here, we are confronted with what happens when there is betrayal in friendship. The tentacles of a betrayal can reach out far and ensnare the innocent bystanders along with the guilty. These things can destroy lives. It is brought to us keenly in the destinies of the four erstwhile friends: James, Sirius, Remus and Peter.

Here is a prequel J K Rowling wrote, for a short story competition, and she chose to highlight the camaraderie between the teenage James and Sirius. Click on the link to read it in Rowling's own handwriting, followed by a typewritten copy.

*****************************************************
In my opinion, HP 3 is the second best book in the series, the first being HP 7. The last few chapters, after Professor Trelawney's prediction, are a masterpiece. I am speaking of the whole Time-turner sequence, beginning with the trio going down to Hagrid's hut.It is wonderful how Rowling has crafted the whole sequence, where two separate time zones intersect, and she has to follow the rule of not being noticed by anyone.

"Don't you understand? We're breaking one of the most important wizarding laws! Nobody's supposed to change time, nobody! You heard Dumbledore, if we're seen...Professor McGonagall told me what awful things have happened when wizards have meddled with time- loads of them ended up killing their past or future selves by mistake."

We are entering here into the realm of science fiction. We claim that time is immutable. There have been studies, though, on alternate universes, that incorporate the idea of the fourth dimension, time, the bending of time and the concept of wormholes, kind of portals through which we can travel across time. Sci-fi books like The Time Machine and L'engle's Wrinkle in Time Series have tried to explore this concept.

This is also one of those portions of the series that have been filmed so wonderfully.

**********************************************************
Sirius Black. One of the main characters, but very under-explored. Black's character comes forth more because of all that is unsaid about him, than what is said. Something like the negative of a photograph. He is also that tragic figure- a promising life gone wrong. We shall speak more about him in HP 5.