diff --git a/Python/compile.c b/Python/compile.c
index 60b4933a9f6..3ada52b3db5 100644
--- a/Python/compile.c
+++ b/Python/compile.c
@@ -296,8 +296,7 @@ PyCodeObject *
 PyNode_Compile(struct _node *n, const char *filename)
 {
 	PyCodeObject *co = NULL;
-        PyArena *arena;
-        arena = PyArena_New();
+        PyArena *arena = PyArena_New();
 	mod_ty mod = PyAST_FromNode(n, NULL, filename, arena);
 	if (mod)
 		co = PyAST_Compile(mod, filename, NULL, arena);
diff --git a/Python/pyarena.c b/Python/pyarena.c
index 6c99c641ba4..a262115bbf3 100644
--- a/Python/pyarena.c
+++ b/Python/pyarena.c
@@ -107,8 +107,8 @@ PyArena_Malloc(PyArena *arena, size_t size)
 int
 PyArena_AddMallocPointer(PyArena *arena, void *pointer) 
 {
-  assert(pointer);
   PyArenaList *tail = arena->a_malloc_tail;
+  assert(pointer);
   assert(tail->al_pointer != pointer);
   tail->al_next = PyArenaList_New();
   tail->al_pointer = pointer;
@@ -119,8 +119,8 @@ PyArena_AddMallocPointer(PyArena *arena, void *pointer)
 int
 PyArena_AddPyObject(PyArena *arena, PyObject *pointer) 
 {
-  assert(pointer);
   PyArenaList *tail = arena->a_object_tail;
+  assert(pointer);
   tail->al_next = PyArenaList_New();
   tail->al_pointer = pointer;
   arena->a_object_tail = tail->al_next;