Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Books/Order of the Phoenix/Chapter 12
From Wikibooks, the open-content textbooks collection
Chapter 12 of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: Professor Umbridge
Contents |
[edit] Synopsis
The next morning begins nearly as frustratingly as the previous night ended. Seamus leaves the room as quickly as possible without speaking to Harry. Hermione says Lavender Brown is skeptical about Harry’s story, as well.
At breakfast, there is still no sign of Hagrid. Hermione suggests that Professor Dumbledore has not mentioned it to avoid drawing attention to Hagrid's absence. Harry is braced by Angelina Johnson, who has been made Quidditch captain. With Oliver Wood gone, they need a new Keeper, and will be having try-outs on Friday. Angelina wants everyone there. Professor McGonagall hands out class schedules, which seem particularly strenuous this year. Fred and George offer their defective Skiving Snackboxes for a discount, then discuss their lack of concern for school. George mentions that they considered not returning to Hogwarts and says they will spend their last year doing market research for their joke shop. George hints that they have financial backing, sidestepping questions about where the money is coming from.
During a break in their morning classes, the Trio run into Cho Chang. She apparently wants to talk to Harry, but Ron insults her favorite Quidditch team, which causes her to leave, and earns him a scolding from Hermione. Harry’s spirits are further dampened, both by the loss of the chance to talk to Cho and by his friends' bickering, as they head to Snape’s dungeon for Potions. Snape gives them a particularly difficult potion. When Harry misses part of the instructions, Snape singles him out and Vanishes his entire mixture, earning him no marks for the entire lesson. Luckily, the following Divination lesson is uneventful.
In Professor Umbridge’s classroom, students are instructed to put away their wands and take notes. Professor Umbridge announces that they will be learning a "Ministry-approved course of defensive magic this year." After giving the course aims, she instructs the class to read the first chapter of their textbooks, but Hermione sits defiantly with her hand raised until Professor Umbridge is forced to call on her. Hermione notes that there are no course aims concerning the actual use of any defensive spells, to which Umbridge replies, "I can’t imagine any situation arising in my classroom that would require you to use a defensive spell." Instead, students will study the theory and perform the spells for the first time at their examinations in the spring.
This leads to a heated discussion about the necessity of learning practical Defence Against the Dark Arts, in which Professor Umbridge says that Harry’s claims that Voldemort has returned are a lie. Harry reacts angrily, telling the class that Cedric Diggory was murdered, not accidentally killed as Umbridge stated. Harry is sent to Professor McGonagall’s office with a note detailing his detention. McGonagall sternly warns him to tread carefully around Dolores Umbridge—the Ministry of Magic is interfering at Hogwarts.
[edit] Analysis
Although this is Fred and George's final year, there is little left for them to learn. Despite their poor academic achievements, they are extremely powerful, talented, and resourceful wizards who, much like Harry, learn best independently when in an unstructured environment and for their own interest. Readers should remember that Harry donated his Triwizard winnings to them to finance their joke shop enterprise, and the Twins have hardly been idle. They now have the necessary funding, have developed the magic, and produced the products; now they are only biding their time until school ends and they can open their own shop in Diagon Alley.
A few other events of note happen in this chapter. Harry is again reminded of Hagrid's absence, and is once again drawn to wonder exactly what mission Dumbledore had set him and Madame Maxime. We once again see Snape's hatred of Harry; it is particularly interesting that the instruction that Harry misses seems to be written to be confusing. We learn of Professor Umbridge's horrible teaching style, her useless planned curriculum, and her hatred of Harry and Hermione in particular. And we see that Cho now is trying to talk to Harry, and is being served as ill by Harry's friends as Harry was, before the Yule Ball the previous year, by the convoys of giggling girls that seemed to surround Cho when Harry was trying to invite her to the Ball.
[edit] Questions
[edit] Review
- Why does Hermione believe that Professor Dumbledore does not want to draw attention to Hagrid's absence?
- How does the "Ministry approved" course of defensive arts compare to how former classes were taught? Why has it been changed?
- Why would the Ministry claim Cedric Diggory's death was an accident?
[edit] Further Study
- Why might the Ministry of Magic prevent students from learning defensive spells?
- Should Harry have spoken out in class? How else could he have handled the situation?
- Why does Professor McGonagall ask Harry, "Do you really think this is about truth or lies? It's about keeping your head down and your temper under control!" During troublesome times, is it wiser to protest early on or wait for a more opportune time?
- Why does Harry ignore McGonagall's advice, and what will likely result from that? What could Harry have done instead?
[edit] Greater Picture
It is immediately clear that Dolores Umbridge is at Hogwarts for some reason other than teaching Defensive Arts. That she was personally appointed by the Ministry strongly indicates that she is Fudge's spy. Although there is no indication that either Fudge or Umbridge are Death Eaters or even Voldemort sympathizers, they likely share a paranoid belief that Dumbledore is training students to build a secret wizard army to take over the Ministry of Magic. Her job is to prevent students from learning real defensive magic, although she probably has a personal agenda for Hogwarts. She and Harry immediately clash over how the class will be taught and the Ministry's stance that Cedric Diggory's death was a "tragic accident." Umbridge's claims regarding Diggory are laughable, but demonstrates how far the Ministry will go to discredit Harry and Dumbledore and to protect the Ministry. Unfortunately, Harry is unable or unwilling to accept McGonagall's advice to remain quiet, and instead provokes Umbridge, earning him detention and giving her fodder for imposing even stricter rules. Harry, however, has yet to realize just how severe his punishment will be and how evil Umbridge likely is.
While we only see Umbridge teaching Harry's class, we will shortly find out that she teaches many other classes as well. Fred and George, in year 7, apparently have her as a teacher as well, as they had earlier asked "who had assigned the Slinkhard book" for the course; and later, Lee Jordan will get into trouble in her class and serve detention. This also allows some speculation on exactly which courses Fred and George managed to get decent OWL marks. In the previous year, the first after the Twins' OWL results were available, the Defence Against the Dark Arts instructor was the false Professor Moody. Moody was clearly a very stern, though fair, teacher, and as such he would have probably required at least Exceeds Expectations at OWL-level before he would accept a student into NEWT-level Defence Against the Dark Arts, all the more so as he was likely to be training them in more dangerous jinxes and curses. We can guess, then, that the Twins must have managed to achieve Exceeds Expectations in Defence Against the Dark Arts, this being one of their three passable OWL marks apiece.
We should mention that there is widespread dissatisfaction with Umbridge's teaching. Hermione will later suggest that Harry should start teaching a more practical Defence course; the resulting organization, much to Harry's initial dismay, will attract some twenty-five or more students. This organization, called Dumbledore's Army, being a rebellion against Umbridge, will at times be Harry's one cheering influence in what could arguably be the worst year he will have at Hogwarts.
