Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Books/Order of the Phoenix/Chapter 25
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Chapter 25 of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: The Beetle at Bay
Contents |
[edit] Synopsis
Voldemort's joy is explained the next morning when the Daily Prophet reports a mass breakout from Azkaban Prison. Ten Death Eaters, including Antonin Dolohov, Augustus Rookwood, and Bellatrix Lestrange, looking much paler and thinner than the picture Harry had seen at Grimmauld Place, have escaped. Hermione suspects that the Dementors defected to Voldemort's side and aided the escapees. The Prophet, echoing Ministry rhetoric, suggests the Death Eaters have regrouped around Sirius. The Prophet also reports that a Ministry of Magic employee named Bode died while in St. Mungo's Hospital, apparently strangled by by a dangerous potted plant. Ron remembers seeing Bode in the same ward as Lockhart and wonders how someone could mistakenly send a Devil's Snare plant; Hermione suspects he was murdered. Harry says he met Bode at the Ministry just before his hearing. Ron says his father knew Bode, who worked in the Department of Mysteries. Looking at the front page again, Hermione says something cryptic about sending a letter, and dashes off.
As Harry and Ron head to class, they run into Hagrid, who sheepishly admits he is on probation. Harry wonders how much more bad news he can stand.
School gossip now centers around the Azkaban breakout. Many Wizarding families are nearly as fearful of Death Eaters as they are Voldemort. Susan Bones, who has lost an uncle, an aunt, and several cousins to Death Eaters, receives almost as much attention as Harry. She wonders aloud to Harry how he stands it. Professor Umbridge posts a new Decree banning all Hogwarts teachers from having anything but class-related conversations with students. While teachers are prohibited from discussing the breakout with students, they are obviously talking about it among themselves, away from the staff room where Umbridge might overhear.
Umbridge continues evaluating Professor Trelawney and Hagrid, leading students to speculate that she intends to sack them. Hagrid forbids Harry, Ron, and Hermione from visiting him after dark, fearing it will get them and him into trouble. With Umbridge taking away everything Harry cares about at Hogwarts, only Dumbledore's Army is left. Harry redoubles his teaching efforts, and is mildly surprised that the group has been spurred on by the breakout. Even Zacharias Smith is working harder. Most affected, though, is Neville. Rather than becoming fearful, the news that his parents' torturers escaped causes him to work even harder; only Hermione masters the Shield Charm faster. Unfortunately, Harry's Occlumency lessons are not proceeding nearly as well. He is still unable to block Snape's probes. His scar is prickling almost continually, and he sees small flashes of Voldemort's emotions. He dates this increased sensitivity to when Snape's lessons started. Ron's opinion is that Snape is making it easier for Voldemort by deliberately not helping Harry. Hermione reminds him that Dumbledore trusts Snape, and if Dumbledore is untrustworthy, who can they trust?
Valentine's Day weekend arrives. Hermione receives an owl message and tells Harry to meet her at the Three Broomsticks at noon, then rushes off. In Hogsmeade, Cho suggests that she and Harry go to Madam Puddifoot's Tearoom. The tearoom is filled with snogging couples, embarrassing Harry. He is further embarrassed when Cho mentions that Roger Davies asked her out but she turned him down. Harry mentions he has to meet Hermione at the Three Broomsticks, but Cho misunderstands and becomes offended. Harry tries explaining that they are only friends, but Cho departs in tears.
Harry arrives early at the Three Broomsticks and finds Hagrid sitting at the bar. Unusually morose, Hagrid talks about how he and Harry are both orphans and outsiders and how important family is. Brushing off inquiries about his injuries, he heads out into the rain. Looking around, Harry spots Hermione, who is sitting with Luna Lovegood and Rita Skeeter, the disreputable tabloid journalist who wrote sensationalistic and false articles about Harry and other students during the Triwizard Tournament. Rita mentions that she would like to interview Harry for publication, but that Hermione would not allow it. Hermione says that she would allow it, that is why she has asked Rita to the Three Broomsticks. However, she wants an honest interview, not one that is slanted to make Harry appear mad. To Rita's scornful question as to who would publish it, Hermione says Luna's father will publish the interview in his paper, The Quibbler.
[edit] Analysis
Harry continues to be baffled about girls and is taken aback when Cho Chang becomes upset and insulted over his plans to meet Hermione while on a date with her. His attempt to humorously explain that Hermione is only a platonic friend, and that Rita Skeeter's articles about their "romance" (in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire) were false, backfires and only makes matters worse. Harry, inexperienced in romance and female psychology, is simply unequipped to handle Cho's fragile emotional state, and her lingering grief over Cedric's recent death further strains their budding romance.
Umbridge's decree banning teachers and students from conversing with one another is a desperate (and ridiculous) act showing how quickly she is losing her authority and credibility with staff and students, not that she had much to begin with. The more she attempts to exert her power on the school, the more everyone becomes united against her, effectively diminishing her power.
Neville Longbottom, meanwhile, has finally broken free from the fog that has clouded his mind since early childhood. Under Harry's influence and Neville's determination to avenge his parents, his magical power, which many thought he lacked, is quickly emerging, although he still struggles to control it.
Rita Skeeter, who has fallen on hard times, has little choice but to comply with Hermione's demands that she write a truthful story about Harry and Voldemort. While it is not mentioned directly in the Three Broomsticks, readers will be aware that at the end of the previous book, Hermione had discovered that Rita was an unregistered Animagus, who took the form of a large beetle, and was able to eavesdrop on her subjects while in that form. All Animagi are legally required to be registered with the Ministry of Magic, failing to do so is a serious crime. Hermione is controlling Rita by threatening her with revelation of her Animagus status; by this means, she has prevented Rita from writing further damaging stories about Harry since the end of the last school year. Although Hermione's actions seem out-of-character here, she never hesitates to break rules or use somewhat unethical means if it serves an altruistic purpose, in this case, providing the public with the truth and rehabilitating Harry's reputation.
The Daily Prophet has published the Ministry story about the Death Eaters escaping from Azkaban, but has been unable, apparently, to come up with an explanation for one large problem: why did the Dementors not prevent this escape? The published story says that they have escaped and are rallying around Sirius, but in Hermione's relaying of the story, offer no explanation for how the escape was made. It is likely the appearance of this large and unfilled hole in the Ministry's story that inspires Hermione to contact Rita. Hermione detests Rita and what she stands for, but is aware that Rita is a capable journalist, and so when she determines that she needs a story written professionally, she thinks first of Rita.
[edit] Questions
[edit] Review
- Why does Hermione blackmail Rita Skeeter? What does Hermione threaten to do if Rita fails to comply?
- Why does Cho become upset with Harry on their date in Hogsmeade? Is she overreacting or did Harry behave inappropriately?
- Why might Umbridge be focusing so much attention on Hagrid and Trelawney during her teacher evaluations?
- How is it believed the Death Eaters escaped from Azkaban?
[edit] Further Study
- Why is this chapter titled, "The Beetle at Bay"?
- Could Hagrid have avoided being placed on probation by following Hermione's advice? Explain why or why not.
- What might have caused Neville Longbottom's inability to use magic properly? How has Harry's teaching changed him?
- Why does Umbridge's new Decree restrict discussions between teachers and students?
- Why would Animagi be required to be registered with the Ministry of Magic? What happens if they don't?
- Why have there been so few Animagi?
[edit] Greater Picture
It will shortly turn out that Bode had been put under the Imperius curse by Lucius Malfoy, and forced to try and retrieve the Prophecy for Voldemort. The attempt had resulted in Bode's insanity, but it would be necessary to eliminate Bode if it looked like he was regaining the power of speech, as it would then be likely that he would be asked why he had done it, and would answer honestly. While we don't ever find out that Bode's death was a murder, it seems extremely likely.
Umbridge will, in fact, manage to find or generate enough "malfeasance" to fire both Trelawney and Hagrid, but in neither case will she quite manage the effect she is looking for. Trelawney, though fired, will remain resident in Hogwarts at Dumbledore's request, and will be replaced by a teacher competent enough to avoid examination, but absolutely hateful to Umbridge on personal grounds. And the attempt to fire Hagrid will require multiple Aurors, and will badly disrupt the Astronomy O.W.L. exam.
The rift created between Harry and Cho here in Madam Puddifoot's will be closed by the publication of Harry's interview in a few days, but this will be the last date they will ever go on. While both Harry and Cho will have meetings of Dumbledore's Army which they attend, publication of the interview will result in Umbridge canceling all further Hogsmeade weekends for everyone, and before that is rescinded, Harry and Cho will have had their final fight and their romance will have ended.
Hagrid's musing about "family", and about his and Harry's similarities, is largely here triggered by his struggles to civilize his half-brother, Grawp, coupled with the awareness that he may shortly be fired and forced to leave Hogwarts. Hagrid will later force Harry and Hermione to promise to continue this process, "just visitin' now and again", should Hagrid be fired.
Harry's interview will appear in The Quibbler very quickly. As a result, Harry will suddenly start getting huge amounts of mail, and much of it will seem to note "holes in the official Ministry story". Hermione, it will appear, had not been alone in her noticing pieces of the story that did not add up.
