Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Books/Order of the Phoenix/Chapter 13
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Chapter 13 of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: Detention with Dolores
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[edit] Synopsis
Over dinner, against a background of skeptical whispers about what Harry said in Professor Umbridge's classroom, Harry, Ron, and Hermione discuss Harry’s confrontation with her. Hermione suggests that most people doubt Harry’s story because there was so little concrete evidence. The trio heads to Gryffindor Tower to do homework where they find Fred and George using First Years to test Fainting Fancies for their Skiving Snackboxes line. Hermione chastises them and threatens to inform Mrs. Weasley, which stops their testing, but to her dismay, Ron refuses to support her. Upset, she goes off to bed, leaving knitted hats on the table, expecting house-elves to pick them up and thus be freed.
Harry is increasingly nervous; teachers are briefing students about upcoming Ordinary Wizarding Levels exams and piling on astonishing amounts of homework. Hagrid is still missing, and his class is taken by Professor Grubbly-Plank. Harry’s stress level only increases when team captain Angelina Johnson yells at him because his detention conflicts with Quidditch tryouts on Friday night.
Harry arrives for his first detention with Professor Umbridge. Her office is decorated with doilies and colored kittens on plates. Harry sits at a table and takes out a quill to write lines, but Umbridge instead gives him a black quill and says he will not need any ink. As Harry begins writing "I must not tell lies," a cut appears on the back of his hand in the same shape as the letters he writes. As it instantly heals over, he realizes that the words written on the parchment are in his own blood. Over and over, he silently writes the lines, each time carving them into his skin. When Umbridge finally allows him to stop, the back of his hand is raw and sore. Harry is so late getting back to the dormitory that he has to finish his homework the next morning. He is surprised to find Ron doing the same. Ron's excuse that he went for a walk causes Harry to suspect Ron is hiding something. Uncertain why, Harry decides to say nothing about his punishment.
Harry’s detentions continue every night. As he leaves on Thursday, the words are permanently cut into his hand. Heading to Gryffindor Tower, he runs into Ron, who tries hiding his broomstick. Ron admits he has been practicing to try out for Quidditch Keeper, which pleases Harry. Ron notices Harry’s hand and forces him to tell the truth. He encourages Harry to tell Professor McGonagall, but Harry feels it is a private battle.
As he leaves the final detention the next night, Umbridge grabs his hand to check his work, and his scar burns. He departs rapidly and returns to Gryffindor tower where a small party is underway: Ron has been chosen as Keeper. Harry tells Hermione about his scar hurting, and she urges him to tell Professor Dumbledore. Harry replies, "That’s the only bit of me Dumbledore cares about, isn’t it, my scar?" Harry decides to write Sirius instead, but Hermione reminds him about Moody's warning to avoid putting anything on paper that can be intercepted. With no solution, they both head for bed.
[edit] Analysis
Although Umbridge's cruel detention is likely illegal, Harry stubbornly refuses to report it, preferring to engage in a silent battle of wills. He is determined to prove he can take anything she metes out. His anger at Dumbledore over his ignoring him may also be a motivating factor, though as it is Professor McGonagall he would be discussing this detention with, this is not entirely likely.
Harry is surprised and suspicious that his scar burns when Umbridge touches his hand. The only time it has hurt previously is when there is some association with Voldemort. Hermione is unsure whether Umbridge is being controlled by Voldemort, but she advises Harry to tell Dumbledore about it. Feeling slighted by Dumbledore, who has apparently avoided face-to-face meetings since summer, is likely a partial reason for Harry's refusal to speak to him. The observant reader may have noticed that Umbridge touched Harry's hand after the first night's detention without Harry's scar reacting. It may be concluded that the painful twinge he felt during his last detention was merely a coincidence.
Hermione's plan to free House-elves is noble and just, however it is also poorly thought out and possibly harmful. A house elf, we have learned, is freed if it receives clothing from its master. Though the house elves at Hogwarts do serve the students, including Hermione, it is unlikely that she would be considered their master to a sufficient degree to free them. Even if a House-elf was freed by taking her "gifts", she has little consideration about what would happen to them after being liberated. While Dobby and Winky were employed by Dumbledore out of kindness, Dobby's experience after leaving the Malfoy household indicates that it is unlikely many wizard families or businesses would hire a "free agent" elf, leaving newly independent House-elves with few resources or the means to earn a living. Changes must first be made within the wizarding society, and then the resources provided for elves to survive and prosper in a new order. Even then, many wizards will be resistant to change and will likely discriminate against these newly equal citizens. Hermione is also forgetting that many House-elves, like Winky, have no wish to be free. Being enslaved for centuries has warped and reshaped their perceptions, and their identities and social status are strongly tied to the families they serve; their beliefs will need to be readjusted as well.
When Ron admits he has been secretly practicing for Quidditch tryouts, Harry is surprised but supportive. That Ron never told Harry what he was doing nor asked for his help may indicate that he is independently attempting to develop his own abilities and identity. Ron has been overshadowed by his talented older brothers, and also by his association with Harry, making it difficult for him to set himself apart.
[edit] Questions
[edit] Review
- What does Hermione believe is the reason people are skeptical of Harry's story about Voldemort?
- Why does Hermione become angry with Ron for what Fred and George are doing? What does she threaten to do that gets the Twins to stop?
- What is Ron secretly doing and why doesn't he tell anyone? What is Harry's reaction when he finds out?
[edit] Further Study
- Why would Harry's scar hurt when Umbridge touches him? What does Harry think?
- Why does Harry refuse to report Umbridge's cruel detention?
- Why is Harry angry with Dumbledore? What might be the reason for Dumbledore's odd behavior towards Harry?
[edit] Greater Picture
Harry's scar will hurt again after a Quidditch practice later in the story. When that happens, he remembers it hurting when Umbridge touched his hand while they were in her office. At that time, he concludes that in Umbridge's office, his scar had hurt because Voldemort was happy about something. It is possible that Voldemort had either just determined how to retrieve the Prophecy from the Ministry, or had just discovered that one stage in the plan had been successful. He has either decided to use the Imperius curse on someone in the Ministry to force them to bring the Prophecy to him, or has heard that someone has been so cursed. That plan originated with Avery, who will suffer when it fails. We will shortly discover that Sturgis Podmore, who had been expected as one of Harry's guards for the trip to King's Cross Station, had been arrested trying to get through a sealed door at the Ministry. While it is possible that it was Sturgis' attempt at the Prophecy that Voldemort was happy about, Sturgis had gone missing a week before, and it is unlikely that he would have been cursed, arrested, tried, convicted, and had the news reach the Daily Prophet in the roughly eight hours between Harry's scar paining him and the arrival of the Prophet at breakfast the next day. Given the timing, it is much more likely that Voldemort had received news that the Unspeakable, Broderick Bode, had been placed under the curse, for a second attempt at the Prophecy.
Before this revelation is granted to us, though, Sirius will speak with Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Sirius will pass along the Order's belief that, though she is a bad bit of work, Umbridge is not directly under Voldemort's control. Sirius will be of the opinion that the pain that occurred when Umbridge touched Harry's hand was merely a coincidence, and later events in the story will bear out his statement.
As is so often the case, the detention, and the pain that Harry suffers, will not change his beliefs; nor will the second round of detentions that he suffers when he speaks out again in Umbridge's classroom. It will, however, drive his rebellion against her and her teaching underground, and will to a large extent be an impetus towards his acceptance of Hermione's idea that he should head an extra-curricular Defence Against the Dark Arts group.
Hermione's attempt to free the House Elves will be an utter failure, as the result will be that the only House Elf willing to work in Gryffindor Tower will be Dobby. When Harry next sees him, he will be wearing a large quantity of Hermione's knitted hats, and will tell Harry that the other house elves will not work in Gryffindor tower because of them. "They finds them insulting, sir." Out of consideration for Hermione's feelings, Harry will not pass this information on to Hermione, and Hermione will continue to knit elf hats throughout the year.
