Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is a fantasy novel written by British author J. K. Rowling and the third in the "Harry Potter" series. The book follows Harry Potter, a young wizard, in his third year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Along with friends Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger, Harry investigates Sirius Black, an escaped prisoner from Azkaban who they believe is one of Lord Voldemort's old allies. The book was published in the United Kingdom on 8 July 1999 by Bloomsbury and in the United States on 8
Legal disputes over the Harry Potter series legal injunctions to ensure the books' secrecy before their launch. These injunctions have drawn criticism from civil liberties campaigners over their potentially sweeping powers over individual freedoms. In 2003, in an attempt to maintain secrecy over the impending release of the fifth "Harry Potter" book, "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix", Rowling and her publishers sought and received a groundbreaking injunction against "the person or persons who has or have physical possession of a copy of the said book or any part thereof without the consent of the Claimants". The ruling obtained, for the first time in British