harry potter - What Were the Consequences of Saving Buckbeak?

One theme of Harry Potter is that it deals with life's unpleasant realities. Harry's parents cannot come back to life and Harry will never meet them, this side of death. And there's no simple way to defeat Voldemort. Whatever happens, people are going to get hurt and others will die. There are consequences for one's actions and there is a price to be paid for one's gain.

But this almost doesn't happen in the case of saving Buckbeakat the end of Prisoner of Azkaban. They use the time turner and break a few rules and basically avoid the law of cause and effect. Buckbeak's death, while unfair, was still a result of the choices made, and the results of those choices when nasty people can do what they want without checks and balances.

Is there a price they pay for saving Buckbeak? Are there negative consequences, or did those involved manage to pull this off without facing negative consequences?

Answer

Had they not saved Buckbeak, Sirius would have (again) suffered the Dementor's Kiss at the end of Prisoner of Azkaban (since they used Buckbeak as means of escape for him).

By Harry saving Buckbeak, Sirus gained a liability - having to take care of him and having him be a point through which he could be attacked.

And, as it turned out, that was a fatal vulnerability, in the end, not directly, but by what it enabled. In OoTP, Harry tried to contact Sirius in the Order Headquarters using Umbridge's fireplace. Sirius wasn't available, for he was tending Buckbeak (who Kreacher has injured) in another room.

Comments

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