Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Major Events/Inquisitorial Squad
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| Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter - Major Event | |
| Inquisitorial Squad | |
|---|---|
| Location | throughout Hogwarts |
| Time Period | Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, April |
| Important Characters | Draco Malfoy, Crabbe, Pansy Parkinson, Millicent Bulstrode, Montague, Warrington |
Contents |
[edit] Overview
The Inquisitorial Squad are a group of students given power to dock House points, supposedly to assist Professor Umbridge to perform her duties as Hogwarts High Inquisitor.
[edit] Event Details
Shortly after taking power as Headmaster of Hogwarts, Professor Umbridge institutes something she calls the Inquisitorial Squad, apparently intended to assist her in her duties as Hogwarts High Inquisitor. The members of this squad, consisting of "a few trustworthy students," is empowered to take House points, something which we are told Prefects are not granted.
The Inquisitorial Squad is introduced to us by Draco Malfoy, who shows us the powers he has been granted by penalizing Gryffindor House about forty points for no particular reason. We learn at that time that Montague is also a member of that squad, but had been pushed into an old, broken Vanishing Cabinet by Fred and George when he had tried to penalize them House points.
It is mentioned in passing that several members of the Inquisitorial Squad are attacked. Warrington is sent to the Hospital Wing with a skin ailment that makes him appear as if he had been coated in corn flakes, and Pansy Parkinson loses a full day of classes because she has grown antlers.
When Harry breaks into Umbridge's office to try to communicate with Sirius, to determine whether he has in fact gone to the Ministry, Umbridge is alerted by a spell she has set on her office. Umbridge sets the Inquisitorial Squad to round up the conspirators. Whether this is the entire Squad or not, we do not know, but the Squad members we see here are Draco Malfoy, Warrington, Crabbe, Milicent Bulstrode, and "several large Slytherins" who are not named.
[edit] Notable Consequences
By means of wide-ranging abuse of their powers, the Inquisitorial Squad manages to largely ensure that Slytherin House will have the largest number of House Points at the end of the year, and thus will win the House Cup. Professor McGonagall, by according Harry and the five students who accompanied him fifty points each for alerting the Wizarding world to the return of Voldemort, returns Gryffindor's total to something respectable, but apparently not sufficient to win them the House cup.
As mentioned, Montague, attempting to penalize Fred and George, is pushed into a broken Vanishing Cabinet. Montague, despite being left somewhat less than fully competent by the experience, learns where the other member of that pair of cabinets is, and is able to pass that information on to Draco Malfoy. This sets up a large part of the plot of the sixth book. If Montague had not been in the Inquisitorial Squad, it is unlikely he would have done anything that would have so aggravated the Twins.
The creation of the Inquisitorial Squad, rather than increasing Umbridge's control over the students, seems instead to increase the rebellion, with Squad members being targeted for direct retaliation. As the Squad is created at the same time as Dumbledore is removed as Headmaster, however, it is never certain whether it is the Squad's action or Umbridge being Headmistress that is the cause of the increase in rebellion.
[edit] Analysis
It is apparent that Umbridge has selected students only from Slytherin house. It is uncertain whether she actually considers them more "trustworthy", as she says to Fudge, or whether she rather believes that they can be bought and will stay loyal to the paymaster. One does gather that the characteristic of those Sorted into Slytherin, "those cunning folk use any means, to achieve their ends," is a clear view of the main chance and a willingness to do anything for personal gain.
Of course, Umbridge is not paying them in Galleons, but rather in power and influence, a coin that the Slytherin psyche seems designed to appreciate. The Squad, being placed even above the Prefects and Head Boy, clearly has the most power of any students in the school.
It is perhaps instructive to note how ineffectual the Squad, despite its additional powers, is in keeping order in the school. In fact, the constitution of the Squad seems designed to foster rebellion, as so many of Umbridge's measures seem to be. The Squad, having power and no apparent accountability, is seen to be abusing its power immediately it is formed, and there is no recourse; any appeal would have to be to Umbridge, who has already displayed a level of partiality to Slytherin greater even than that shown by Snape. The retaliation against the Squad, and the rebellion against them and the rules they are supposedly enforcing, shows that Umbridge has only amplified the ham-fistedness of her attempts at governance.
