Friendship and Growing Up Theme Analysis

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban introduces the reader to two generations of friendships: those between Harry and his friends in the present day, and those between Harry's father, James, and James's crew while they were students at Hogwarts. By exploring the contours of the different friendship generations and how the friendships evolve over time, the book positions how a person treats their friends as an indicator of maturity and selflessness—or as an indicator of a lack thereof.

For much of the novel, Hermione finds herself at odds with Ron and Harry. Ron is understandably angry when Hermione chooses to adopt Crookshanks, an orange cat intent on murdering his rat, Scabbers, while both boys are beside themselves when Hermione tells Professor McGonagall about the Firebolt broom that Harry receives mysteriously at Christmas. For Hermione, particularly in the case of the Firebolt, her close friendships with Ron and Harry are worth sacrificing in order to keep the two safe and healthy (she suspects the Firebolt came from Sirius Black, whom they believe at that point is trying to kill Harry). This suggests that at times, being a good friend means going against a friend's wishes with the understanding that, eventually, the angry friend will appreciate the gesture and concern. However, for most of the novel, this concept is lost on Harry and Ron. Instead, they blame Hermione for their misery and refuse to speak to her, which means that Hermione is alone and effectively friendless at a time in her life when, thanks to her use of the Time-Turner, she could really use camaraderie. Eventually, Hagrid takes it upon himself to talk to the boys about Hermione and their treatment of her. He disappointedly tells them that he'd hoped they'd know enough to prioritize friendships over objects, which is the kick that Harry and Ron need to make up with Hermione and move in the direction of a more mature view of friendships and relationships.

The novel explores these ideas in a slightly different way in the case of James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew, who are adults or deceased in the present but attended Hogwarts a generation before the trio. Lupin was allowed to attend Hogwarts in spite of the fact that he's a werewolf--in the wizarding world, werewolves are shunned and experience discrimination, as they're believed to be subhuman and dangerous. The Shrieking Shack and an accompanying tunnel, guarded by the Whomping Willow, were constructed so he had a safe place to transform every month, and Lupin's true identity was kept secret from the student body. Lupin's friends, however, became understandably curious about where and why he disappeared every month. When they learned the truth, rather than shunning him, they set out to figure out how to turn themselves into Animagi, humans who can transform into animals at will.

Because of the dangers associated with turning oneself into an Animagus, Lupin sees this as the ultimate sacrifice on the part of his friends--they could've died or suffered permanent damage had things gone wrong, let alone the fact that attempting the transition without Ministry supervision is illegal. However, at the time, this also appeared to be the ultimate act of friendship. James, Sirius, and Peter weren't in danger around the werewolf Lupin in their animal forms, which enabled them to turn Lupin's horrifying monthly transformation into something exciting, fun, and, most importantly, something he didn't have to go through alone. With friends, the experience became bearable.

It's important to note that in the novel's present, Lupin and Sirius acknowledge that what they did as teens was shockingly dangerous and immature of them--their gallivanting could have easily resulted in Lupin biting someone, while becoming Animagi in the first place represented a similarly dangerous lack of judgment. In the present, Harry and Ron's choice to ignore and be mean to Hermione comes across as stubbornly immature to both the reader and the adults in the trio's lives. By offering the adults' mature perspective on their own teenage friendships, however, the novel offers the hope that Harry and Ron will one day recognize their immaturity at this point in time. In the same vein, the progress that the friends do make in this regard over the course of their third year acts as proof that they are well on their way to growing up, developing adult relationships, and acquiring increasingly more mature critical thinking skills.