22/07/2026
One detail the films never explain is that Crookshanks, Hermione Granger's cat, was key to Sirius Black's ability to enter Hogwarts several times during *The Prisoner of Azkaban*.
Far from distrusting Sirius, Crookshanks understood from the beginning that he wasn't the real enemy.
Thanks to his intelligence, Crookshanks discovered that Peter Pettigrew was still alive, hiding as Scabbers, Ron's rat. At the same time, he recognized Sirius when he transformed into a dog and began to cooperate with him, something that baffled everyone because it seemed the cat simply wanted to catch Ron's pet.
The most important help came when Crookshanks stole the Gryffindor Tower password list that Neville Longbottom had lost. He then took it to Sirius, allowing him to enter the castle without forcing the entrance. This moment is never explained in the films, where it appears that Sirius simply manages to sneak into Hogwarts.
This detail demonstrates that Crookshanks was far more intelligent than an ordinary cat. His ability to recognize people's true nature was crucial to the story, and without his help Sirius would have had a much harder time getting close to Pettigrew and ultimately proving his innocence.
