Prisoners of Azkaban: Editors’ Notes

III. Annotations for the individual entries

31 July 2009—Hermione Snape’s diary

This first entry in Hermione Snape’s diary was added in retrospect. Written in black ink on the fly-leaf of her diary, it can be dated at some time in winter 2009/2010.

“No bears, though; just thirteen squares to a dead wall, seven squares to a locked door, thirteen squares to a barred window, and seven squares to a narrow cot.” — The enigmatic comment about bears refers to a poem by Muggle author Alan Alexander Milne who was a favourite with Hermione Snape during her childhood.

For the symbolic and magical meanings of Hermione’s Beltane bouquet, we recommend Bardwood’s Dryads and Magical Properties of Wood and Anna Fraser’s The Tree.

1 August 2009—Hermione Snape’s diary

The probation of Hermione and Severus Snape actually consisted of five conditions, which were more or less standard probations procedure at the time of their release:

1. Within one month, they had to find a place to live.

2. Within one month, they had to find employment.

3. Within one month, they had to find a wizard or witch of good repute to vouch for each of them. This condition excluded both half-bloods and Muggle-borns, as well as anyone listed as suspect of any illegal act with the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.

4. During that first month, they were also kept under extremely close observation by the Ministry.

As a standard surveillance procedure, a Trace and Anti-International-Apparition wards were put on their wands when they registered them with the local Death Eaters’ office.

However, they were also forced to keep the probationary diaries published in this facsimile edition.

Each day, Hermione and Severus Snape had to use Veritaserum bloodquills to write a page about where they were, and what they were doing in their blood and without being able to write anything but the truth. Each word written in the ensorcelled diaries was instantly transmitted to the Parole and Probations Office in the Department of Magical Law Enforcements, where it was read and recorded by caseworkers.

Also, with each completed page, the letter “P” was etched deeper into the backs of their hands. At the end of the month those scars could not be removed by magical or Muggle means.

The orders for this unusual method of observation have been found in the archive of the Ministry of Magic, but they are only sealed, not signed. Who was responsible for these orders remains unclear. However, it must be assumed that both the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement Abbadon Yaxley and the head of the Parole and Probations Office Dolores Umbridge were at least aware of the probations conditions imposed on Hermione and Severus Snape.

5. Finally, after one year had passed, the Parole and Probations Office would review their case to ascertain that they still met the basic conditions of their rehabilitation (a place to live and a regular occupation). Only after that year, they were allowed to apply for international Portkeys, the Anti-International-Apparition wards were lifted from their wands, and they were given a password to be able pass the Dementors guarding the borders between the Muggle and the wizarding world.

We do not know why Hermione Snape left that condition off her list. It seems likely, however, that a revision date a year hence seemed simply too much for her to grasp at this point in time.

2 August 2009—Severus Snape’s diary

“The humiliation, the pain, the blood, the sores—all in vain.”—This refers to Severus Snape’s frequent attempts to send word to Hermione through the Azkaban guards and how he “paid” for services they never rendered.

“Your name is in the square below the window.”

“—the middle square, four out of seven—”

The placement of names in Hermione Snape’s cell in Azkaban:

Hermione Snape does not seem to have followed any logical pattern when she first filled in the names of those she presumed dead in the squares of her cell’s floor. When asked about it later, she said: “I started with Severus. For him I chose the one square that most often was touched by the rare rays of sunshine reaching my cell. Others, I added due to their connections—Albus, Harry, Ron, Draco. Or the Black-Tonks family. Some purely by instinct. The rest were filled in as randomly as they were killed.”

“Vehemently, I flung the Portkey into the grey-black floods of the North Sea. “We fly,” I announced.”—Self-levitation is one of the most arcane secrets Severus Snape learnt in his time as spy. Already talented on a broomstick, he excelled at this feat. However, in this case he overestimated his strength. He only turned towards the distant shore of the Shetlands because Hermione was so very much afraid of flying. That decision saved both their lives when they plummeted from the sky on Grunay.

3 August 2009—Hermione Snape’s diary

Hermione Snape’s half-kneazle Crookshanks is an often overlooked casualty of the fight in the Shrieking Shack on 2 May 1998.

The lighthouse of Bound Skerry.

4 August 2009—Severus Snape’s diary

Obfustications explained:

Lord Voldemort is dead.

He died—how ironic!—on 21 June 2009, after ruling wizarding Britain as “Lord Protector of Magic” for eleven years.

[Longer than anticipated; I’ll have to grant him that]

Lord Voldemort died of a [curse-activated] progressive lactose-intolerance that one fine day resulted in deadly anaphylaxis.

He had one mug of Nagini’s milk too many.

[Thanks to Potter’s low-level lactose-intolerance; how ironic.]

…Lucius Malfoy is “Minister for Magic” now. “Minister”, not “Lord Protector”.

Nagini’s milk:

In 1997 Severus Snape managed to acquire a sample of what Voldemort called “Nagini’s milk”. The magical constituents analysis the Potions Master conducted yielded a surprising result. Although the pearlescent, milky substance contained various unidentifiable magical components, its main agent were casein protein micelles and lactoglobulin—carbohydrate lactose. Or, in other words: milk.

Narcissa Malfoy:

Narcissa Malfoy—Draco Malfoy’s mother—is not mentioned in this (or any other) entry because she had already passed away during Draco’s seventh year at Hogwarts, succumbing to the effects of a badly cast and broken Unbreakable Vow.

Bellatrix Lestrange:

Bellatrix Lestrange was killed by Nagini on 4 July 2009. (Her husband, Rodolphus Lestrange, was killed 2 May 1998.)

5 August 2009—Severus Snape’s diary

This first, half-dreamed sexual encounter constituted the beginning of a polyamorous relationship that lasted with more or less intensity for the rest of their lives.

6 August 2009—Hermione Snape’s diary

Obfustications explained:

His has ink-splotches—Veritaserum— [he Occludes so he must not write the truth; but the blood and the ink keep flowing, they drip, and form those splodges, while I—I rely on numbers once more, to keep from saying too much…]

The new wands:

Muggles believe the Holy Island of Eynhallow to be deserted. In truth it is the home of a small, secretive wizarding community. Master Manannan Lear’s wands have always been rare and extraordinary. As a Selkie-sorcerer, he uses exotic materials like driftwood and cores harvested from sea-creatures, or magical flotsam and jetsam.

“Mither’s hair” refers to the hair of a great sea-serpent that is revered as a sea-goddess (“mother of the sea”) in Orcadian folklore. She is the benign force of the summer sea, granting life to every living thing, bringing warmth to the oceans and calming the storms.

According to Norse mythology, the first humans were formed out of two pieces of driftwood, an ash and an elm. Elm is sacred to the Great Goddess and symbolises, among other things, healing, rebirth, and the passage from one life to the next. Ash is the wood of Yggdrasil, the Tree of Life, for protection, balance, justice, and the marriage of opposites.

It is undisputed that merely possessing those wands had healing effects on Severus and Hermione Snape.

Ibid., 7 August 2009

The wizarding money Severus and Hermione Snape had with them when they were sent to Azkaban was stolen to the last Knut. However, both of them also had Muggle money with them, Severus Snape a considerable sum. Luckily, the Azkaban guards never realised what those papers with those strange immobile pictures were and returned the full sums when Severus and Hermione Snape were released.

That way, Hermione and Severus could pay for room and board at the Three Broomsticks, and, after acquiring a house with the galleons from his inheritance that Draco gave them, continue to pay for food and necessities until they found paying jobs.

The Bloodmarks Legislation:

Bloodmarks were introduced in January 2000 and abolished in July 2009. Theoretically, these laws also applied to all magical prisoners incarcerated in Azkaban. The reason why Severus and Hermione Snape were never Bloodmarked has never been discovered. By now the most likely—and perhaps in its own way most devastating—explanation is that they were simply forgotten.

Ibid. 8 August 2009

Obfustications explained:

On the way to Amrita Agan’s house we passed the Shrieking Shack.

Where Voldemort seemingly— [won by killing Harry, when in truth Harry’s very death prepared Voldemort’s own demise]

—the Shrieking Shack, where He triumphed, is now a memorial, a museum, a small café, a little shop. Postcards and souvenirs. Toy-snakes, child-sized Death Eater masks, buttons flashing the Dark Mark.

The reaction of Padma and Parvati Patil to Amrita Agan:

Padma and Parvati Patil believed that Amrita Agan was Nagini, and as human witch and snake Animagus much more than just his pet, therefore deadly and dangerous. This impression was only heightened by the instinctive reaction of their own Animagus form—the mongoose—towards snakes.

9 August 2009—Severus Snape’s diary

Obfustications explained:

The Patils seem to be part of (or at least in contact with) [the Order of the Phoenix]. Or what remains of it today. . .

(I wonder if they know what [really] happened in the Shrieking Shack.)

. . .

Parvati Patil is an Auror now. I wonder how deeply the Ministry and Hogwarts are infiltrated by [the Order of the Phoenix].

Padma and Parvati Patil were indeed jointly the heads of the Order of the Phoenix at that time. The Order had infiltrated both Hogwarts and the Ministry, but their number and influence was only slowly rising after Voldemort had killed or imprisoned nearly the whole Order and all its direct supporters in 1998. They also had no idea about what really happened in the Shrieking Shack—their concern for Severus and Hermione Snape’s safety was based on assumptions regarding the timing of Voldemort’s death and their release from Azkaban.

10 August 2009—Hermione Snape’s diary

The Lake House, seen from the east (picture from 2158).

11 August 2009—Severus Snape’s diary

Natalie McDonald was a Gryffindor three years below Harry Potter. After Voldemort’s victory she emigrated to the United States of America and never returned to Britain.

Ibid. 12 August 2009

Obfustications explained:

“For one night, just for one night,” you whispered, “let us pretend.”

Let us pretend that Potter was not killed. That you did not use Potter’s death to [activate components of his immune system] that [killed] the Dark Lord [eventually.]

Let us pretend we won the war.

The state of Hermione Snape’s hair:

If hair has been Charmed off completely, it cannot be re-grown magically. Using a potion or a spell would have rendered Hermione permanently bald. Her shaved head set Hermione apart at first glance during her probation and made it even more difficult for her to fit back into wizarding society, which has always valued long hair of head and beard. This casual cruelty of authorities can be regarded as typical for Voldemort’s reign and at least the first ten years after Voldemort’s death.

13 August 2009—Hermione Snape’s diary

The presence both Severus and Hermione Snape felt that day was Amrita Agan watching over them.

This incident serves as an excellent example of Severus Snape’s heightened senses. He could not see, smell, or hear Agan. But he sensed her presence and her true nature, “alien”—not human.

14 August 2009—Severus Snape’s diary

Obfustications explained:

I already knew they wouldn’t do that. Clearly, they are much too [involved in the Order of the Phoenix] to vouch for us. And I hoped that Padma would have the sense not to cater to your obsession.

. . .

I tell myself they are wiser than Albus Dumbledore not to trust prisoners on probation with any [incriminating] details.

15 August 2009—Hermione Snape’s diary

Inigo Pince is indeed a distant relative of Irma Pince, a cousin’s son on her father’s side.

Ibid. 16 August 2009

Excellent magical recipes for all soups mentioned in the probationary diaries may be found in Goody Gostelow’s Sovereign Recipes and Remedies; this is also the book Eileen Snape used when she taught Severus Snape how to cook when he was a child.

Hermione saved Millicent Bulstrode’s cat in the early stages of the Final Battle, shortly after the Death Eaters had breached the wards of Hogwarts and had entered the Great Hall.

17 August 2009—Severus Snape’s diary

Obfustications explained:

Like I failed you. You were just a child when you were caught up in this war. Barely an adult when I declared my doomed love for you, when you [activated your curse on] Him. And it [worked] Just as Potter promised.

Meeting Amrita Agan:

Severus Snape remembered the Animagus form of the Patil twins from before the war. One of his suspicions concerning Amrita Agan at that time was that she was a Death Eater whose Animagus form was a snake, which would have explained the particularly fierce attitude of the Patils towards her. But the fact that he felt he knew Amrita Agan from before, although he could not remember her face at all, never stopped bothering him.

18 August 2009—Hermione Snape’s diary

Schroedinger’s cat is a thought experiment concerning a cat that is put into a sealed box wherein the cat’s life or death was dependent on the state of a subatomic particle. Until the box is opened, the cat has exactly the same chance of being alive and dead: 50%.

The Kneazle Hermione Snape called Schroedinger remained her faithful companion for twenty-three years. It particularly enjoyed sleeping in boxes.

The book Millicent Bulstrode gave Hermione Snape had been her favourite book at school. However, this particular edition was Voldemort’s Hogwarts, A Revised History, and Hermione Snape needed several days to be able to put her emotional reaction to this into words.

Ibid. 19 August 2009

Like Millicent Bulstrode’s case, the marriage of Blaise Zabini to Gabrielle Delacour presents yet another instance of secret resistance to the ideals of Voldemort’s reign. Naturally in both cases very personal interests were at stake, but the fact remains that they subverted Voldemort’s laws and principles.

Amrita Agan treated Hermione’s inflamed hand with “amrita”, naga’s milk, also known as “elixir of immortality”.

Ibid. 20 August 2009

The splodges and smudges in Hermione Snape’s entry on 20 August 2009 do not represent any intentional obfustication. Detailed analysis show that those marks were caused by tears and mucus dripping on wet ink.

Minerva McGonagall was the victim of numerous curses during the Final Battle that eventually shattered the connection between her mind, soul, and body. Due to her infirmity, her wealth, and her pureblood status, she was not imprisoned in Azkaban but sentenced to life-long house arrest. Annie Maddock, the house-elf that was formerly attached to the Lovegood family was assigned Minerva McGonagall to take care of her.

The Tower House (picture taken 2156)

“Limites Revelio” means “Show the Borders” (of a property). It is an obscure version of the Revelio spell used by owners of large properties.

21 August 2009—Severus Snape’s diary

It has never been discovered who leaked the details concerning the whereabouts and occupations of Severus and Hermione Snape to the Daily Prophet. Rumour has it that it was either Aberforth Dumbledore or Mundungus Fletcher, both of whom survived the war against Voldemort unscathed and miraculously unprosecuted.

22 August 2009—Hermione Snape’s diary

Obfustications explained:

Voldemort’s victory?

Voldemort victorious?

That he

[died at long last.]

[That my curse—made up of Muggle medical knowledge and arcane magic— was ultimately successful, that we managed to fulfil Albus Dumbledore’s mission]

in the end…that doesn’t seem to matter when I look at the remnants of Albus’ grave.

In the anthology Memories of Harry Potter (Hermione Snape, ed.), Draco Malfoy relates Harry Potter’s description of Albus Dumbledore’s funeral: “Bright, white flames erupted, white smoke spiralled into the air and made strange shapes. And then I saw a phoenix fly off into the blue sky. The next second the fire had vanished and in its place was a white marble tomb.”

23 August 2009—Severus Snape’s diary

Mithridates:

Mithridates VI of Pontus, who fought not just one, but three prominent generals of the late Roman republic (Sulla, Lucullus, and Pompey the Great), and who is legendary for immunizing himself against poisons by consuming small amounts of them on a daily basis.

“… world enough nor time” is a quote from the old magical poem His Coy Mistress by Andrew Marvell.

24 August 2009—Hermione Snape’s diary

“He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named”—before 2 May 1998 “He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named” was a euphemism for Voldemort, just as “The-Boy-Who-Lived” was a title bestowed upon Harry Potter. After Voldemort won, Harry Potter’s name was decreed taboo and he became either “He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named” or “The-Boy-Who-Died”.

Today, just as Hermione Snape already believed in her second year at Hogwarts, when she famously said, “Fear of a name only increases fear of the thing itself”, both Voldemort and Harry Potter are referred to by their real names once more.

25 August 2009—Severus Snape’s diary

Obfustications explained:

But I will not. I will not [give up without a fight no matter the cost—even be it casting an Unforgiveable]

However… the Dementors have become the prison guards of the whole wizarding world, and I cannot produce a Patronus anymore, so I [cannot simply escape into the Muggle world]

Besides, you need me.

The inability to produce a Patronus must be attributed to the effects of incarceration. Later in life, Severus Snape’s Patronus turned into a Kneazle with tiger stripes and leopard spots.

26 August 2009—Hermione Snape’s diary

Draco’s interpretation is correct. The Parole and Probations Office informed the Minister for Magic as soon as Draco’s name was mentioned in the probationary diaries. But Lucius Malfoy chose not to act on this information.

After eleven years of near certainty that his son was dead—spontaneous Apparitions resulting from instinctive attempts to escape emotional turmoil end, in the vast majority of documented cases, with life-threatening and often deadly Splinching—Lucius Malfoy was content to know that Draco was alive. That was more than he had hoped for a long, long time.

27 August 2009—Severus Snape’s diary

Obfustications explained:

Now, eleven years later, I realise that maybe he [saved us after all]

Maybe there was no other way.

At least, in the end [the curse worked and Voldemort died]

Though none of us, neither you nor I (nor Harry or Draco) thought that [it would take more than eleven years for him to die]

In any case, I have forgiven him.

Expecting that he would be sent back to Azkaban, Severus Snape briefly entertained the option of giving Hermione into Draco’s care. Due to his Occlumency, Severus Snape knew that he could ensure a comfortable death for himself. However, when it became clear that Hermione refused to live without him, even though she understood his motivations, Severus abandoned that notion and devised an alternative plan of escape for both of them.

28 August 2009—Hermione Snape’s diary

Obfustications explained:

Somehow I doubt that.

They left at noon. Draco Apparated home, I think. And Severus is making preparations for—

[our escape, should we not, through some miracle or other, both be able to fulfil the conditions of our probation]

Severus Snape’s plan for their escape was more than daring. He intended to use the Imperius curse on Minerva McGonagall to make her free her house-elf. After that, he intended to bind the house-elf to himself and to order it to take Hermione and himself to another continent, where they would abandon a magical life and hopefully remain undiscovered for the rest of their days.

Should that plan fail, he had procured a fast acting, deadly poison that would grant him and Hermione certain escape from all attempts to bring them back to Azkaban alive.

When Amrita Agan met Draco at the Lake House, she did not just introduce herself to him. She told him that he could safely return to his father, who had grieved for him for eleven years and was more than ready to forgive him all past and future transgressions.

29 August 2009—Hermione Snape’s diary

Hannah Abbott’s offer to bankrupt her business for the sake of Severus Snape’s freedom has been rightly praised as one of the outstanding examples of Hufflepuff loyalty.

Thankfully, she never went bankrupt. Today the Three Broomsticks belongs to her grandson Neville Abbott and is still counted among the top ten wizarding public houses of Britain.

30 August 2009—Severus Snape’s diary

Many experts have tried to interpret the splodges in Severus Snape’s entry for 30 August 2009 over the years. But to this day these marks only yield an (understandably) undecipherable emotional turmoil that cannot be put into words.

The name of the most distinguished patron who requested Severus Snape’s presence in the guestroom, as well as the name of the wizard of excellent standing and impeccable repute who would vouch for him the next day, he omitted on purpose.

As Hermione Snape later said: “It was the day when he got his smirk back.”

31 August 2009—Hermione Snape

This entry is written in black ink; the writing is noticeably clearer and straighter, not as cramped and frantic as the other entries.

Draco Malfoy’s deed of bravery:

On 28 August 2009 Draco did not Apparate back to Bound Skerry, but to London. He met his father and they reconciled. In return Draco asked his father to save Severus Snape from Azkaban by vouching for him in person.

Lucius Malfoy—who still regarded Severus Snape as a friend—agreed. On Sunday, 30 August 2009, he Apparated to Hogsmeade. Accompanied by reporters from the Prophet and the Quibbler, he went to the Three Broomsticks where he ostentatiously enjoyed a soup for lunch.

And on Monday, 31 August 2009, Lucius Malfoy waited for Severus and Hermione Snape at the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.

He kept the promise he’d given Draco and vouched for Severus. Although their friendship never grew as close again as it had been in their youth, Severus Snape’s and Lucius Malfoy’s enmity ended that day and they remained on cordial terms until Lucius Malfoy’s death on 13 April 2053.