Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Books/Order of the Phoenix/Chapter 7
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Chapter 7 of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: The Ministry of Magic
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[edit] Synopsis
Harry wakes early in the morning, too nervous to eat breakfast. He and Arthur Weasley depart for the Ministry of Magic, commuting in a "thoroughly non-magical fashion" to make a better impression. Upon arriving, Mr. Weasley and Harry cram into a broken telephone booth and are transported underground. They enter a huge, brightly lit atrium with a large fountain at its center (a wizard and witch surrounded by various magical creatures wearing servile expressions).
Harry passes through the security screening, then follows Mr. Weasley into a lift (elevator). Wizards and witches continually enter and exit, as do hovering paper airplanes. Mr. Weasley identifies these as interdepartmental memos, saying they had earlier tried owls, which had created an unbelievable mess. Harry notices that underground windows in the hallway have sunlight streaming through them. Mr. Weasley explains that they are controlled by Magical Maintenance, who, among other maintenance tasks at the Ministry, determine the apparent weather. They pass the Auror offices, which are covered with pictures of family, Quidditch, and Sirius Black. Kingsley Shacklebolt approaches, acting as though he and Mr. Weasley are on poor terms. He slips them a magazine in amongst some files, quietly saying that Sirius might be interested in it. Mr. Weasley equally quietly invites him to dinner, then he and Harry move on.
Mr. Weasley, whose office is noticeably tiny, mentions his work investigating exploding toilets caused by anti-Muggle pranksters. A co-worker, Perkins, runs in announcing that the hearing's time and location has been changed, making Harry late. The new location is in old Courtroom 10 in the building's basement. Because the lift does not descend that far, Harry and Mr. Weasley race down the stairs. Just outside the courtroom, Mr. Weasley stops; Harry must face the hearing alone.
[edit] Analysis
This is Harry's first time to the Ministry of Magic. Until now, he has had relatively little exposure to the adult Wizarding society, having only been to Diagon Alley, Hogwarts, and Hogsmeade village. The Ministry is the hub of the Wizarding community in the U.K., and it governs nearly all its activities. Unfortunately, Harry's first visit here is an unpleasant one.
We should take particular note of the Fountain of Magical Brethren in the Ministry atrium, as it represents how the power of the Ministry is wielded only by wizards, with all other magical creatures under their domain. Harry notes that the expressions of syrupy subservience seem out of place on all the sculpted magical races except the House Elf.
The sudden change in the hearing's time and location is an obvious ploy by certain Ministry officials to prevent Harry from testifying on his own behalf and to convict him in absentia. They likely know that he is innocent, but to prevent his making further claims that Voldemort has returned, they will use any means to censure and exile him from the Wizarding world. Whether Voldemort's Death Eaters are behind this, or it is merely corrupt Ministry officials who refuse to believe that Voldemort has returned or who do not wish the general population to know what is really happening, is still unclear. What is apparent is that this is a technique used by the author to reinforce what we have been told. Hermione has told Harry that the Daily Prophet is making Harry, and Dumbledore with him, into something of a laughing stock so as to "spin" their message of Voldemort's return into oblivion. This does not have much of an impact on the reader, because it does not happen directly to the viewpoint character (Harry). With the sudden rescheduling of the hearing, we are actually shown that there may be some ill-feeling against Harry, and some machinations within the Ministry may be going on to try and get Harry finally out of the Ministry's way.
[edit] Questions
[edit] Review
- Why would the time and location for Harry's hearing have been changed so suddenly?
- Why might Mr. Weasley be prevented from attending the hearing?
[edit] Further Study
- How might the Fountain of Magical Brethren represent an inaccurate picture of the wizarding world?
- What is the significance of holding a hearing for using underage magic in Courtroom 10?
[edit] Greater Picture
The question of whether the Ministry's ongoing denigration of Harry and Dumbledore is being driven by Voldemort, or simply by the Ministry following Fudge's plan to attempt to retain power, is never completely resolved. Fudge's need to retain power, though, would seem to be enough to explain the ongoing discrediting of Harry and Dumbledore.
Harry will feel a need to re-enter the Ministry at the end of this book. It is in this chapter that he learns where the Visitor's Entrance to the Ministry is located, and how one uses it to access the Ministry. This information, plus what Harry learns about the layout of the Ministry in the course of this visit, will be vital to his later visit and attempt to rescue Sirius.
The Fountain of Magical Brethren depicts, with almost uncanny realism, the way that the Ministry expects other Magical races to treat Wizards; though never stated, Ministry policy has always been to treat non-Human Magical races as second-class citizens. This fountain will be destroyed at the end of this book; Harry will not see a need to re-enter the Ministry until the final book, at which time we shall see the replacement. That replacement status, showing a Wizarding family seated on thrones made of tormented Muggles, will again echo the stated policy of the Ministry.
