In the books and films of Harry Potter 3, there is a mistake that at first glance confuses the logic of the story. However, upon closer inspection, it becomes clear that it is necessary for a twist near the end to work at all.
Warning Spoiler: We reveal an important twist from Harry Potter 3 in the article.
In “The Prisoner of Azkaban,” the third part of Harry Potter, the Marauder’s Map is introduced. It is a magical map that shows the grounds of Hogwarts – and all the people who are on it.
The map allows one to not only see the location of a person. Even if someone moves, this becomes apparent. In other words: for those using the map, nearly nothing goes unnoticed.
Therefore, it seems all the more strange that Fred and George Weasley overlook the presence of an important figure at Hogwarts. For three years, a wanted murderer has been hiding in transformed form right next to the brother pair – it is not the only mistake in Harry Potter.
A twist that shouldn’t have been
Who is hiding? Like every student at Hogwarts, Ron also brings a pet in Part 1. Namely the rat Scabbers, which used to belong to Percy.
At the end of Part 3, it is revealed that Scabbers is an Animagus. That is, a wizard who disguises himself as an animal. It is Peter Pettigrew. He was a school friend of Sirius Black, James Potter, and Remus Lupin, but later joined Voldemort.
Ultimately, he was responsible for betraying the Potters to the dark lord – and thus also for the death of Harry’s parents. However, Peter Pettigrew faked his own death and ensured that Sirius Black was suspected of murder and brought to Azkaban.
Back to the Marauder’s Map: At the latest, when Ron comes to Hogwarts with Scabbers in Part 1, Fred and George should have noticed after looking at the map that this is a transformed wizard.
For the map shows the true name of everyone, whether Animagus or not. Fred and George should have seen that Peter Pettigrew is sleeping in Ron’s bed – a criminal whom everyone at that time believes to be dead.
Only when Harry receives the map does it eventually occur to him that Pettigrew’s name appears there. This ultimately leads to the twist in the story: Peter Pettigrew is alive, and Sirius was wrongly accused of betrayal.
The twist would not have worked if the Weasley brothers had noticed earlier that Scabbers is actually a transformed wizard.
How is this to be explained? Perhaps it is simply a mistake that J.K. Rowling made while writing. Another explanation would be that Fred and George did not know the name Peter Pettigrew. However, since he is very well known, this is rather unlikely.
And even if they did not know him, it seems strange that it was not questioned why a stranger was sleeping in Ron’s bed. Overall, it is a mistake that ultimately served the story and its twists. For this reason, it is easily forgivable. On the other hand, Rowling regrets other decisions: A couple from Harry Potter is still a big mistake for the author today
