Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Books/Order of the Phoenix/Chapter 32
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Chapter 32 of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: Out of the Fire
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[edit] Synopsis
Harry is frantic about Sirius, and rushes to the infirmary to see the only member of the Order of the Phoenix that he can think of: Professor McGonagall. Madam Pomfrey says that Professor McGonagall has been transferred to St. Mungo's Hospital. Harry is unsure what to do; Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Hagrid are now gone. He runs to find Ron and Hermione. Convinced his vision is real, as the vision of Ron's dad had been real before Christmas, Harry wants to go immediately to the Ministry of Magic in London to save Sirius. Hermione warns him that the vision could be false, and suggests that Harry seems to "have a bit of a — a — saving-people thing". She urges him to verify if Sirius actually is in the Ministry and reluctantly suggests using Umbridge's fireplace to contact Grimmauld Place to see if Sirius is there. Ginny and Luna Lovegood, who had joined the conversation having heard Harry's shouting, volunteer to help.
Ron volunteers to distract Umbridge, while Ginny and Luna stand guard outside her office. Harry and Hermione, under Harry's Invisibility Cloak, sneak into the empty office. Harry uses Floo powder to contact Grimmauld Place. Kreacher, the Black family House Elf, answers and tells Harry that Sirius has gone out. Harry demands to know if Sirius has gone to the Department of Mysteries, and Kreacher says Sirius did not tell him, but adds gleefully that Sirius will never come back. Umbridge suddenly yanks Harry from the fireplace, demanding to know who he is speaking to. Ron, Luna, Hermione, Ginny, and Neville have been captured by Umbridge's Inquisitorial Squad.
When Harry refuses to answer Umbridge, she sends Malfoy to fetch Snape. Harry suddenly remembers that Snape is an Order member. Snape arrives, and Umbridge asks him to use Veritaserum on Harry. Snape says that he gave Umbridge his entire stock, reminding her that three drops would have been sufficient; it will take a month to brew more. Harry desperately yells, "He's got Padfoot at the place where it's hidden." Umbridge asks what this means; Snape coldly replies he has no idea what Potter is blathering about, and leaves.
Umbridge prepares to use the Cruciatus curse on Harry to extract information. She admits to having sent the Dementors to his home last summer. As she is about to curse him, Hermione bursts out "crying" and blurts that Harry was contacting Professor Dumbledore about a weapon he had the students build for him. They were trying to let him know it is ready, but hadn't reached him. Umbridge demands to see the weapon. Hermione agrees to lead her to it, but convinces her to leave the members of the Inquisitorial Squad in her office, guarding the other students.
[edit] Analysis
Hermione believes Sirius may not actually be in danger and warns Harry that he is possibly being lured into a trap. She is not being overly cautious; Harry often acts rashly and without considering the possible consequences. Hermione, with her mention of a "saving-people thing", is here verbalizing an aspect of Harry's personality which has been obvious to the reader throughout, but which Harry himself may not yet have recognized. Hermione has previously criticized him for often rushing in to be the "hero" whenever he believes friends are in danger, just as he did during the Second Task of the Triwizard Tournament when he attempted to "rescue" all the hostages, even though Ron, Hermione, Cho, and Gabrielle, who were tethered underwater, were magically protected and never in any danger. This trait has made Harry dangerously predictable to his enemies.
Kreacher tells Harry that Sirius is gone from Grimmauld Place, but the loyal (although not to Sirius) Black family House-elf is an unreliable source. It should be noted that Kreacher has chosen his words carefully, possibly coached by someone: while he does say his master has gone out, he never explicitly states that Sirius is at the Department of Mysteries.
Once again, Neville has been dragged in simply because he was at the wrong place at the wrong time. One might wonder if the author has something against Neville, as he always seems to be getting himself into trouble that is not of his own making, sometimes dragging others with him.
We see again something of Umbridge's personality in her treatment of Snape. When Umbridge's demand for Veritaserum is met with the simple fact that it will take a month to make more, Umbridge, in what might be best described as a fit of pique, says that Snape is on probation. If we assume that Snape is loyal to the Order, and that he is either concealing a stock of Veritaserum, or overstating the preparation time, then Umbridge's rage might be valid, but placing a teacher on probation for failure to perform extracurricular activities is unwarranted and laughable.
The episode with the Veritaserum should actually reinforce any belief Harry has in Snape's loyalty to the Order. This episode makes it very likely that Umbridge had, in fact, placed what she thought was Veritaserum in Harry's tea when she had her interview with him earlier, but that she had never used Veritaserum before; clearly unaware of its effects, she did not recognize that Harry was not showing the effects of Veritaserum as he answered her questions. She had also apparently used the entire vial in the process, making it so that even a tiny amount of the drugged tea would have affected Harry. From this, Harry should be able to guess that Snape had given Umbridge something other than Veritaserum. This would have been a way that Snape could have betrayed the Order without seeming to: he could have provided Umbridge with true Veritaserum, claiming that he had not known what she wanted it for, and then simply stood by as Harry betrayed Sirius to her. His providing fake Veritaserum to Umbridge certainly indicates more loyalty to the Order than Harry currently expects from him.
Snape's dismissal of Harry's plea concerning Padfoot, however, leaves Harry certain that Snape will not be informing the Order of Harry's fears. Harry has previously seen Snape and Sirius at wands' point with each other, and so has reason to fear that, given the chance to save Sirius, Snape would simply do nothing. It is extremely likely that Hermione shares this belief, which is why she concocts this risky plan to get Umbridge on her own.
[edit] Questions
[edit] Review
- What does Harry do after having a vision? Who does he go to for help?
- Why does Hermione want Harry to use the fireplace to contact Sirius at Grimmauld Place? Who does he talk to and what does Harry learn? Is the source reliable?
- What does Hermione tell Umbridge after she and Harry are caught? Why does Hermione tell her this?
[edit] Further Study
- Why does Harry forget that Snape is a member of the Order?
[edit] Greater Picture
Although Snape appears to coldly disregard Harry's plea about Padfoot, he is carefully maintaining his cover as Dumbledore's double agent. According to Dumbledore later, Snape had immediately checked on Sirius' safety, then alerted the Order of the Phoenix when Harry and Hermione did not return from the Forbidden Forest. Harry, informed of this, believes that Snape deliberately waited too long before summoning help. Although Snape does sound the alarm, it can be debated whether he acted quickly enough and if that affected the resulting consequences. Even assuming Snape is loyal to the Order of the Phoenix and Dumbledore, he was in an interesting position here. If he deliberately waited to warn Phoenix headquarters, he could have allowed his hated nemesis (Sirius) to possibly be killed by Voldemort without him (Snape) technically betraying the Order. However, Snape claims that he had checked on Sirius, though we have only his word for this, and he could have altered his story in light of circumstances. If Snape was still unaware whether or not Sirius was actually in danger, the temptation to delay warning the Order would certainly have been present. On the other hand, there is no indication that Snape did anything to endanger Sirius. Although Dumbledore later defends Snape's actions and reiterates his continued trust in him, Harry, and readers, will continue to doubt Snape's loyalty.
Harry's predictable behavior will be used against him again in the final book when he is recognized by using his signature Expelliarmus spell. However, he will deliberately exploit this predictability in his final confrontation with Lord Voldemort.
Kreacher's response to Harry may have been dictated in part or in full by Voldemort, acting through the Malfoy family. Interestingly, we will find out later that Voldemort has had direct dealings with Kreacher before, and will have believed that Kreacher died; if Voldemort had known that "the Black family house elf" that was talking to Narcissa was, in fact, the same elf that he had utilized before, he might have been more worried about his Locket Horcrux. Discounting other types of magic as much as he does, however, it is hardly surprising that he dismissed the possibility that the two Black family house elves were both Kreacher.
As mentioned, Kreacher's words are carefully chosen. Kreacher knows that the ultimate plan is to lure Harry to the Department of Mysteries and then send Sirius after him, thus disposing of Sirius who is, in his mind, a blood traitor and unfit to be his Master. So Kreacher is speaking truthfully when he says that Sirius will never return from the Department of Mysteries, and very carefully avoids saying that he is at Grimmauld Place when Harry asks. The only outright lie that Kreacher makes is when he says, "Master has gone out." "Nobody here but Kreacher," is shading the truth; Kreacher is the only one in the kitchen, certainly. But Kreacher does know that Sirius is upstairs tending to Buckbeak, who Kreacher injured.
Despite his carefully chosen words, though, Kreacher is lying to Harry to mislead him. In our interactions with Dobby, we have seen that deceptions like this will produce agitation in a House-elf if he is acting against instructions. That Kreacher seems quite cool about this aligns with what Dumbledore later tell Harry: "You are not his master, he could lie to you without even needing to punish himself."
While we wonder at Neville's inclusion in the group, he will be of some use in the upcoming battle in the Ministry. While his contribution there will be limited, we will see that it acts as something of a "baptism of fire", resulting in his being much more effective in later battles and in the guerrilla fighting at Hogwarts in the final book.
