The Dementors' Kiss

Calendar and Dates

The entire action of this chapter takes place later on the same evening (6th June) as that of the previous chapter.

• Time Line: The End of PA - essay by Hollydaze
• Chart showing the events of the evening of 6th June (NB the chart shows this date as 9th June in error):

Interesting facts and notes

In this chapter, Harry is about to see what lies beneath a Dementor's hood when the Dementors "guarding" the school attempt to Kiss him and those with him.

Sirius’ gaunt face broke into the first true smile Harry had seen upon it. The difference it made was startling, as though a person ten years younger was shining through the starved mask; for a moment, he was recognisable as the man who had laughed at Harry’s parents’ wedding.

While they are in the tunnel, Harry's hopes of escaping the Dursleys and living with someone who wants him are raised. It is heartbreaking how Sirius is transformed by this shared hope with what is about to happen after they exit the tunnel.

There was a terrible snarling noise. Lupin’s head was lengthening. So was his body. His shoulders were hunching. Hair was sprouting visibly on his face and hands, which were curling into clawed paws.

It would have been horrifying for Harry, Ron and Hermione to actually see Professor Lupin turning into a werewolf and then fighting with Sirius after he has transformed himself into the large dog.

Pettigrew had dived for Lupin's dropped wand.

Lupin, not surprisingly, had let go of it when he began to transform.

Lupin's wand flew high into the air and out of sight

Unfortunately, an Animagus doesn't need a wand to transform (Sirius is living proof).

And then Harry saw them. Dementors, at least a hundred of them, gliding in a black mass around the lake towards them. He spun around, the familiar, icy cold penetrating his insides, fog starting to obscure his vision; more were appearing out of the darkness on every side; they were encircling them …

One hundred Dementors is a lot for one just one young wizard to be fighting. It is not surprising that Harry's attempt to cast a Patronus fails.

Exceptional character moments

Sirius, covering the younger wizards' retreat from the werewolf - particularly Ron, who at this point is unconscious and isn't going anywhere. It's a question whether Sirius or Snape would have been more outraged at the fact that Sirius also saved Snape from the werewolf in the confusion.

Harry, resisting the Dementors to very nearly his last breath to protect Sirius, clinging to the idea of leaving the Dursleys forever as the happiest thing he can think of.

Memorable lines

"Are you mad? Of course I want to leave the Dursleys! Have you got a house? When can I move in?"

What would happen when he told the Dursleys he was going to live with the convict they’d seen on television?

...his mother was screaming in his ears...she was going to be the last thing he ever heard -