History of Azkaban
Along with Nurmengard in Austria, Azkaban in the North Seas was one of the most notorious prisons in the wizardry world. Its origins aren’t revealed precisely, yet the first person to occupy Azkaban was a dark wizard Ekrizdis in the 15th century.
Ekrizdis would lure muggles and experiment dark magic onto them or just torture them for fun.
Azkaban was heavily concealed covered with so much concealment magic that it wasn’t discovered until the 18th century after Ekrizdis’s death possibly because the concealment spells worn off. However, even when Azkaban was revealed, no one dared to explore it as it was infested with dementors.
Azkaban and dementors
After a while since the discovery of Azkaban, the British Ministry of Magic planned to use Azkaban as a prison while negotiate terms with the dementors as the guards and wardens of Azkaban.
Azkaban itself was heavily fortified and located in the middle of the rough and freezing cold North Sea. But the dementors that massed up in Azkaban was the true terror to the inmates.
Dementors agreed with the Ministry of Magic to manage Azkaban and even offered security services for the Ministry of Magic. Many were against the alliance with dementors as dementors were one of the most horrific magical beings that ever existed.
For their services at Azkaban, dementors once again prove their viciousness. Dementors prey on the emotions of humans. They were allowed to prey on the inmates of Azkaban.
Prisoners of Azkaban even hoped to die as they were left with their most miserable memories, depressed and energy deprived by the dementors every day. However, dementors wouldn’t even let their food source die. Dementors were blind but they could sense the emotions of humans so this particularly made the escape from Azkaban even more difficult.
Dementors would notice even the slight glimpses or hopes of escape easily and drain the emotions and will from the inmates right away. However, dementors couldn’t detect the emotions of animals as much as they could sense humans.
Sirius Black – Harry Potter’s godfather and guardian
Sirius Black or Sirius Black 3rd was from the Black Family which was one of the radical pure-blood supremacy associated families among the Sacred Twenty-Eight.
Sirius Black, however was an outlaw from his family as he refused pure-blood supremacy and he was even the first person of the Black House to get into Gryffindor House.
On his first trip on the Hogwarts Express, Sirius Black meets with James Potter who would become his best friend ever. James Potter and Sirius Black made friends with Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew forming the Marauders.
However, the friendship between James Potter and Sirius Black was exceptional. Sirius Black’s animagus form was a black hound which was referred as padfoot or even snuffles. James Potter appointed Sirius Black as Harry Potter’s guardian and godfather.
After threats of Lord Voldemort and his death eaters intensified, the Order of the Pheonix appointed Sirius Black as a Secret-Keeper of the location of the Potter family. Lord Voldemort and the death eaters were after James Potter, Lily Potter, and young Harry Potter because of a ‘prophecy’.
However, Sirius Black thought this was too obvious switches roles secretly with Peter Pettigrew. However Peter Pettigrew betrayed everyone and Sirius Black was imputed to Azkaban.
Affiliations of the Black family with pure-blood supremacy, Sirius Black known as the Secret-Keeper while his role switch with Peter Pettigrew unknown, and Sirius Black himself turning insane due to the betrayal of Peter Pettigrew, and Peter Pettigrew faking his death were enough circumstantial evidence to Sirius Black’s sentence to Azkaban.
Sirius Black’s imprisonment to Azkaban
Sirius Black was devastated by the death of the Potter family. Nobody from the Order of the Pheonix knew that Sirius Black switched his role as Secret-Keeper with Peter Pettigrew(Until the time of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban).
He seeks revenge and gives Hagrid his motorcycle(motorbike) to carry Harry Potter. So Hagrid’s motorcycle’s original owner was Sirius Black.
Peter Pettigrew faked his death and imputed all the crimes including the treachery onto Sirius Black. Nor did Remus Lupin, nor did Albus Dumbledore thought Sirius Black was innocent until Sirius Black escapes Azkaban and reveals Peter Pettigrew from him hiding as Scabbers. Sirius Black was marked and branded Prisoner number ᛈᛉ390.
Sirius Black’s escape from Azkaban
Sirius Black went almost insane barely able to keep his mind only by the obsession of his innocence. However, Sirius Black notices Scabbers or Peter Pettigrew on the first page of the Daily Prophet after the Weasley family won the Daily Prophet Annual Galleon Draw. Sirius Black knew it was Peter Pettigrew as Scabbers had an unusual life-span and missed a toe(a finger for Peter Pettigrew).
Sirius Black transforms into a black dog as he was an animagus and escapes Azkaban. Dementors were blind and couldn’t sense animal emotions as well as they sense humans. Sirius Black was also an unregistered animagus(which itself is a crime for a sentence to Azkaban) so nobody could suppose how he escaped Azkaban.
Sirius Black simply slipped through the doors when the dementors opened his cell for food. By this moment, Sirius Black was known as the only wizard to ever escape Azkaban.
Sirius Black swam the rough North Sea to the British mainland. Sirius Black first visits Privet Drive, Little Whinging to see how his god-son Harry Potter was. Harry Potter notices Sirius Black in his black dog form before he took the Knight Bus.
After Divination classes, Harry Potter became cautions of the ‘Grim’, the black dog which he witnesses unusually a lot. This was actually Sirius Black hiding in Hogsmeade and the Forbidden Forest.
Sirius Black and Crookshanks – How Sirius Black could trespass Hogwarts
Sirius Black befriended Crookshanks, Hermione Granger’s cat which was half-kneazle. Crookshanks was already suspicious of Scabbers and recognized he was a wizard hiding as a rat in an animagus form. Crookshanks was right as Scabbers was Peter Pettigrew so Crookshanks was obsessed with Scabbers and constantly attacked Scabbers.
Ron Weasley strongly protected Scabbers and scolded Hermione to keep her cat. Crookshanks helped steal the password written note by Neville Longbottom and traveled together with Sirius Black in the search of Scabbers which Sirius Black made a mess.
Sirius Black was watching over Harry Potter the whole time even the Quidditch match where Sirius Black was touched by how similar Harry Potter was to his father James Potter as he saw Harry’s flying skills.
Harry Potter and Sirius Black
After the truth of Sirius Black was revealed at the Shrieking Shack, Sirius Black was able to greet his old friend Remus Lupin and his god-son Harry Potter although shortly, Lupin transformed to a werewolf and Sirius had to protect Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger from Lupin. Sirius was weakened and the dementors swarmed after they’ve sensed Sirius Black.
Surrounded by hundreds of dementors, Sirius Black was too weak to act but Harry Potter from the future who came by Hermione’s time-turner performed a powerful patronus charm summoning a stag just like James Potter’s Patronus repelling all the dementors.
Severus Snape recaptured Sirius Black and Sirius Black was sentenced to a Dementor’s Kiss. However, Hermione and Harry were able to save Sirius and Buckbeak with the help of the ‘Time-Turner’.
Sirius Black, James Potter, and Harry Potter
Many other of the characters of Harry Potter mentioned how much Harry Potter’s eyes and personality reminded them of Lily Evans or Lily Potter, Harry Potter’s mother. However, Sirius Black who was the best friend of James Potter, was touched and amazed by how much Harry Potter inherited from his father James Potter. Sometimes, Sirius Black was disappointed that Harry Potter wasn’t as reckless as James Potter.
Sirius Black actually cut ties with his family due to the conflicts of pure-blood supremacy, and over Sirius Black’s affiliates with muggles and muggle borns(possibly Gryffindor House either).
However, the Potter family took Sirius Black as their foster child. For Sirius Black, James Potter’s son Harry Potter was just as important as his own son.
