Awesome / Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Book

• Sirius shows exactly why he was the right person to be Harry's godfather - he breaks out of Azkaban, a supposedly inescapable prison, because a murderer is going to be near his godson. This whilst being severely affected by the dementors, emaciated, out of practice magically, and something which required him to swim from an island in the middle of the ocean to the mainland while in the form of a dog.
• Harry (accidentally) inflating Aunt Marge after she insults his dead parents by calling them useless drunks.
• Harry reassuring Mr. Weasley that he accidentally overheard their conversation about Sirius Black, and he's not scared. After all, Voldemort's been trying to kill him for a while. He confusedly promises that he doesn't want to seek someone trying to kill him.
• While Harry doesn't appreciate it, Percy takes his duty to watch over Harry seriously at Hogwarts. The kid is dedicated to keeping someone safe if his mother asks.
• Snape calls Hermione "an insufferable little know-it-all" when she answers a question out of turn. Harry acknowledges almost everyone in the class thinks Hermione is indeed a know-it-all, but Snape was totally out of line for calling her that. Ron gets detention for calling him out on it, but it's the principle of the thing.
  "You asked us a question and she knows the answer! Why ask if you don't want to be told?”
• Hermione slapping Draco in the face for making fun of Hagrid, who was crying over Buckbeak being sentenced to death... and then driving Draco (who, remember, never hesitates to toss a taunt or racial slur her way) into full retreat by merely pulling out her wand. The little twat had it coming for a long time. It suddenly occurred to him that he's just pushed the most talented witch in the school one inch too far. And to make it better, she outsped Harry and Ron who were charging to do the same.
  • As revealed in Order of The Phoenix, when you make Hermione angry, you're going to pay. Draco has made Hermione angry and he realizes this and runs as fast as he can.
• Crookshanks’s active pursuit of Scabbers, a.k.a. Peter Pettigrew. He was the only one aware of who the rat was and was trying to get rid of him. He even allied with Sirius because he knew the wizard was after Pettigrew. Since Kneazles have a keen sense about people, he was actually trying to protect his owner Hermione and maybe trying to protect Ron by exposing Pettigrew as an Animagus.
• Ron has had his leg broken by Sirius and can basically be defeated by a stiff wind. So he tells Sirius, while standing on said broken leg, probably through excruciating pain, placing himself between them, if he wants Harry, he'll have to go through him. Steve Kloves can be safely ignored on this front: Ron is Harry's man, through and through. An easily missed example of this is when Sirius attacks Harry, Ron, and Hermione to get at Pettigrew. Out of the three, Ron has been the most superstitious about the Grim throughout the whole book. So what does he do when he sees a massive dog that looks like a Grim attack Harry? He instantly gets to his feet and pushes Harry out of the way, letting Sirius take him instead.
• Expecto Patronum! A lone, small, underfed 13-year-old boy against more than a hundred soul suckers. The lone, small, underfed boy wins.
• At least a hundred Dementors have invaded the Quidditch pitch, putting hundreds of students in danger, and Harry succumbs to their influence and plummets from his broom fifty feet in the air. What does Dumbledore do? Stop Harry mid-fall, then conjure a Patronus so powerful it drives every single Dementor from the pitch. And according to both Ron and Hermione, he's beyond furious as he does it, in a way that neither of them have ever seen. Not even the living embodiments of depression dare to mess with Albus Dumbledore.
• The second and third Quidditch matches. Oliver finally gets to hold the award he has wanted and been denied the last two years (due to Harry being in a coma and the season being called off due to students being petrified).
  • During the Ravenclaw match, Harry's Patronus flattening Draco and his cronies when they made the mistake of disguising themselves as Dementors to scare him.
• The Shrieking Shack scene. ALL of it.
  • Snape emerges from the invisibility cloak to interrupt Remus right as he's talking about Snape, determined to arrest Sirius.
  • Harry, Ron, and Hermione actually physically subdue Sirius.
  • Later, they magically subdue Snape in order to hear Sirius out.
  • "The Marauder's Map never lies. Peter's alive, Harry. Ron's holding him."
  • "I want to finally commit the murder I was imprisoned for!"
  • "If you want to get to Harry, you'll have to go through me!"^note  Said while standing on a broken leg and staring down someone he believes to be a mass murderer, no less.
  • Harry (to Snape): "YOU'RE PATHETIC!"
  • "THEN YOU SHOULD HAVE DIED! DIED RATHER THAN BETRAY YOUR FRIENDS, AS WE WOULD HAVE DONE FOR YOU!"
• Boy scouts they weren't, but the Marauders — a bunch of teenagers not much older than Harry and his friends were at the time of this book — not only learned the highly advanced process of becoming Animagi for the sake of a friend, (to have an idea how difficult that is, registered Animagi in their century were less than twenty) but also created a detailed map of the near entirety of Hogwarts Castle that is also capable of tracking the location of any person that sets foot there. It's stated to work well enough that Harry can use it nearly twenty years after its creation... and implied to still work just as well after nearly another quarter-century, at which point Word of God says Harry's son (fittingly named for two of the Marauders) takes the map for himself. The fact that they innovated such a powerful magical artifact at probably around 14-15 years old (they completed their transformations in their fifth year which took them three years to prepare which meant they started in Year 2-Year 3) speaks to some great talent. Death can't see anyone under the Invisibility Cloak. The Marauder's Map can.
  • Normally, according to J.K. Rowling, it takes exceptionally powerful magic to keep working after the caster is dead (hence why Neville's parents are still insane after Bellatrix Lestrange dies). The Marauders are all dead by the end of the series, but the map is still working.
• Lupin's first class is a Moment of Awesome Teaching, simultaneously educating the students about a monstrous threat, giving all the Gryffindors a bonding experience, re-invigorating interest in a course that'd been sold woefully short by its last two instructors, and helping kick-start Neville Longbottom's developing self-confidence in future books.
• Though an Offscreen Moment of Awesome, Lupin driving off the Dementors and wandlessly conjuring fire is awesome in its own quiet way.
  • In hindsight, Lupin driving off a Dementor with an incorporeal Patronus. Harry produces what may be the most powerful Patronus of his class year, but even his initial one is useless against an imitation of a dementor in its incorporeal form. The teachers are appropriately on another level entirely. Becomes even more awesome when you remember everything Lupin's gone through and how badly Dementors would probably affect him.
    • There is also him mouthing off to the Dementor.
      None of us are hiding Sirius Black under our cloaks.
• Though it's barely noticeable, it should be remembered that many adult witches and wizards have trouble with wandless magic. Lupin? He pulls off wandless flames with, seemingly, no effort.
• Though there's no denying that his actions were loathsome, the fact that Peter Pettigrew was able to spy for Voldemort and the Death Eaters without suspicion is pretty awesome. Even Dumbledore himself didn't seem to suspect him.
• While it came to naught due to Aunt Marge's visit becoming a disaster, Harry straight-up blackmailing Uncle Vernon into signing his Hogsmeade form in exchange for sticking with the lies they have told her about him. It's extremely satisfying especially when you realize that this is one of the few times Harry on his own, without anyone else to assist, is getting back at the Dursleys for their abuse, and with just his wits and not magic. Vernon reluctantly agrees to sign the form if Marge's visit goes well, and we know he would have kept his word. This bit is extremely sweet:
  Harry: What if I accidentally let something slip?
  Vernon: You'll get the stuffing knocked out of you, won't you?
  Harry: Knocking the stuffing out of me won't make Aunt Marge forget what I could tell her.
• Harry terrifying the Dursleys by telling them he has a godfather who is a convicted murderer.
• Dumbledore giving Harry and Hermione the idea to go back in time and save Buckbeak.

Movie

EXPECTO PATRONUM!!^note And this is nothing compared to his second successful attempt.

• Harry arrives at the Leaky Cauldron and Tom, the Innkeeper, mentions that Hedwig arrived "not five minutes before yourself"; as far as we're aware, Hedwig was in a cage the last time we saw her. So, she's gotten herself out of the cage, out of a room with a closed window and all the way to London in a period of about fifteen to twenty minutes. Who's a good owl?
• Unlike in the book, if you ignore the Adaptation Induced Plothole, Lupin saw the boggart turn into a Dementor and Harry freezing in terror. He immediately goes Papa Wolf and dives in front of Harry, risking his werewolf status being out when the full moon appears instead, or the boggart Dementor affecting him.
• Instead of slapping Draco, Hermione straight-up punches him.
  • "You foul, loathsome, evil little cockroach!"
  • Even more awesome considering Harry and Ron had just talked her out of hurting Draco (she had him at wandpoint). She calms down and turns away, Malfoy almost immediately starts snickering, and then she wheels right back around and cold-cocks him. The only thing that stops him from ending up on his back is the brick wall behind him; his head even seems to bounce off it, knocking him awake.
    Hermione: That felt good.
    Ron: Not good...brilliant!
  • What's more awesome is that the punch fazes Malfoy so much, that he and his colleagues immediately book it. Malfoy then looks back at Hermione donning an expression, and this isn't his normal "My father will hear about this!" look. This is a look of genuine terror. If that's not awesome, what is? This moment is now easily one of the most iconic of the films.
• Snape gets one he never got in the books. Runs out of the Whomping Willow, fuming about Harry's unprovoked attack on him, sees a werewolf about to eat them, and his first gut response is to stand between the kids and the wolf. Not bad, Snape, not bad at all. It no doubt reminds him of what happened when he was at Hogwarts, and all he's thinking is "there go the bloody Marauders putting students in danger again."
  • If you pay attention to his face the moment he shields Harry, Ron and Hermione, you can see he's almost as alarmed as they are by the werewolf. The last time he was this close to a fully-transformed werewolf he was only a few years older than the students and it probably was just as frightening an experience. Yet he doesn't move, even when the werewolf is almost right on top of him.
• When Buckbeak attacks the werewolf to defend Harry and Hermione and quickly scares it off! In the novel Hagrid worries out loud about whether Buckbeak encountered the werewolf during its escape. It turns out Hagrid had nothing to worry about.
• And not long before, Hermione piecing together three or four small bits of information not once, but twice, both in the span of seconds, to create a Stable Time Loop and ensure that what needs to happen happens.
  • Once, when she beans Harry with a snail she remembers seeing to make him realize that they're about to get caught so they'll leave Hagrid's hut.
  • And then distracting the werewolfed-out Lupin with a fake call to get him to come towards them instead because they're in exactly the right place at the right time and a werewolf only responds to the call of its own kind.
    Harry: What are you doing?
    Hermione: Saving your life!
• Like the novel it's based on, the scene where Harry realizes that he is the caster of the Patronus that saves himself is a pretty awesome moment for him. It solidifies for him that he doesn't need his parents to be heroic; he can be heroic all by himself like a true Gryffindor. The accompanying John Williams score, a soothing choir, and the pulsating glow of his Patronus certainly help as well as a triumphant delivery of the spell.
  Harry: EXPECTO PATRONUM!!!
• Hermione using the spell 'Bombarda' to dramatically break open Sirius's cell. Bonus for accompanying awesome music.
• Sirius whooping as he, Harry, and Hermione fly away from his cell on Buckbeak.
• The entire time-travel sequence. Not only do they save Sirius, not only do they save Buckbeak, but they save themselves — Harry by using a Patronus to protect himself and Sirius from Dementors, and Hermione by distracting a transformed Lupin (with a wolf call) from attacking Harry, Ron, Snape and herself. All without being seen. More than one innocent life spared, indeed!
• Unlike in the book, Harry doesn't blackmail Vernon to get his form signed. He asks politely. Vernon shows an Everyone Has Standards moment and agrees, if to keep his nephew quiet for the evening.
• Harry delivering a Big "SHUT UP!" to Aunt Marge, who cruelly badmouths Harry's dead parents right in front of him. Laser-Guided Karma kicks in when Harry causes her to inflate like a Zeppelin and send her floating into the skies above!
  • What makes it even more awesome is that Harry doesn't even lift a finger to do this. He gives his aunt exactly what she had coming to her through nothing but raw anger.
  • Bonus points for telling Vernon straight to his face that he won't restore her to normal and frightens him when he whips out his wand. Harry has made clear he's no longer taking their abuse sitting down, and he spells out to them Screw This, I'm Outta Here.
    • This is especially juicy considering what happened the previous summer where Vernon basically put Harry under unlawful imprisonment. Vernon even reminds him that he'll face legal action if he uses any magic, but Harry just challenges his uncle to "try [him]."
  • To note that this was awesome, Petunia says nothing about Harry casting magic on Aunt Marge, and Dudley takes it in stride to finish up his dessert. Remember that only she can insult Lily; anyone else who does it earns a Death Glare. It says something that neither Harry's magic-scared cousin nor his witch-hating aunt protested his decision.
• Harry's flight on Buckbeak. Especially the moment when they're flying over a lake and Harry sits up, spreads his arms out, and whoops in joy! Considering all that Harry goes through, it’s always nice to see him happy and enjoying himself.
• As Sirius is explaining to Harry, Ron, and Hermione that Pettigrew is alive, he points at Scabbers and says "Right there!" Before Sirius has even said it, Lupin is giving one very scary look at said rat.

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