Dolores Umbridge
chapter twelve of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Harry’s first day of classes is a disaster, as Hermione confronts Fred and George about testing their products; Cho seeks him out but Ron drives her away; Snape unfairly gives Harry a zero; Binns and Trelawney are outrageously boring; and Umbridge informs her class that they will not be performing magic and that Harry is a liar – leading to a week’s worth of detentions for him, and a confrontation with McGonagall.
“Hi,” said Harry, feeling his face grow hot. At least you’re not covered in Stinksap this time, he told himself. Cho seemed to be thinking along the same lines.
“You got that stuff off, then?”
(by Michael Greenholt)
“What d’you reckon that means?”
“Probably that you’re going to be eaten by a giant marshmallow or something,” said Harry… without interest.
(by bluefooted)
When they entered the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom they found Professor Umbridge already seated at the teacher’s desk, wearing the fluffy pink cardigan of the night before and the black velvet bow on top of her head. Harry was again reminded forcibly of a large fly perched unwisely on top of an even larger toad.
(by Leela Starsky)
“As I was saying, you have been informed that a certain Dark wizard is at large once again. This is a lie.”
(by Laurence Peguy)
[McGonagall] stood up, nostrils wide and mouth very thin, and he stood too. “Have another biscuit,” she said irritably, thrusting the tin at him.
“No thanks,” said Harry coldy.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” she snapped.
He took one.
(by Heather Campbell)
Professor McGonagall eyed him closely for a moment, then sniffed, walked around her desk, and held open the door for him. “Well, I’m glad you listen to Hermione Granger at any rate,” she said, pointing him from her office.
(by deeterhi)
about the chapter
Some Things You May Not Have Noticed
It’s interesting that Cho is seeking Harry out to say hi to him even when he’s as unpopular as he’s ever been at Hogwarts. The previous year, when she seemed torn between Harry and Cedric, she seemed like she might be attracted to the glamour of the Triwizard champions. But now that she’s still seeking out Harry, it sheds new light on her interactions with him the previous year, too. For example, Cedric was much nicer to Harry than the other Hufflepuffs were, and even helped Harry out in the Tournament – I don’t doubt that he was a decent guy either way, but I can’t help but wonder if her influence might have had something to do with that?
Another thing I love about this chapter is the last line – when McGonagall tells Harry, “Well, I’m glad you listen to Hermione Granger at any rate.” On first read this sounds like an offhand, sarcastic remark intended to show her displeasure at the fact that Harry didn’t listen to Umbridge’s speech. But the more I think about it, the more I realize that McGonagall really does have a reason to be glad Harry’s listening to Hermione. Hermione’s much more analytical and thoughtful than Harry at this point in their lives, and she’s the one, more than anybody, helping guide Harry in the right direction from day to day. So while McGonagall may be speaking sarcastically, she definitely means what she’s saying.
The Power of Magic
I think of all the many, many lies that Harry hears this year, this one might be my favorite:
“Good-day,” said Professor Trelawney in her usual misty, dreamy voice…. “And welcome back to Divination. I have, of course, been following your fortunes most carefully over the holidays, and am delighted to see that you have all returned to Hogwarts safely – as, of course, I knew you would.”
This from the woman who’s spent the past two years predicting Harry’s imminent death. How does this woman take herself seriously? And for that matter, how can anybody else?
Life at Hogwarts
I can’t help but wonder sometimes what the Gryffindor girls’ dormitory in Harry’s year is like. Harry gets on well enough with Neville, Dean, and Seamus (well, usually anyway), but Hermione is so different from Lavender and Parvati, and we don’t even know who the other two Gryffindor girls are (though Rowling has said she intended them to exist). We get a slight glimpse into their culture when Hermione mentions here that she told Lavender to “keep her fat mouth shut” about Harry, but even when they aren’t at odds, the conversations they have must be interesting. Can’t you see Parvati and Lavender just annoying the heck out of Hermione with questions about boys, not to mention incessant giggling?
The Boy Who Lived
It’s funny that after Snape is extra cruel to Harry in Potions class, Harry bolts out the door by himself, and leaves Ron and Hermione to catch up to him in the Great Hall. It seems like a very rare occurrence indeed that he walks between his classes without his friends, and it’s certainly an indicator of his mood this year. But it’s not hard to envision the eye-rolling look that Ron and Hermione must give each other when he storms out – “ohhh, there he goes again. Guess we’d better go after him.” Harry’s got some pretty special friends to keep chasing after him, that’s for sure.
Something to Remember
I find it a bit frightening that Umbridge is so convinced that Harry is a liar, that she pays no attention whatsoever to anything she says. She seems to simply think she’s infallable, and that sounds to me like a dangerous sort of person to be in a position of power….
Hi there,
First post! Great observations on Umbridge–for me, what makes her so frightening is that everything she says and does is more or less (she is, after all, a Ministry employee) on her own initiative. She’s not (as far as anyone knows) possessed by the heir of Slytherin, nor has she been Imperiused. It’s interesting that she (and a certain journalist) almost upstage Voldemort in active villainy!
It was good hearing what you had to say about Professor McGonagall too. I always assumed that she (probably all Heads of House) was a practicing Legilimens, and that Dumbledore may well have asked her to keep a mind on Harry in particular.
diligentdon said this on November 12, 2009 at 1:56 pm
diligentdon, welcome and thanks for posting! I’m curious as to why you “always assumed” the heads of houses were practiced in Legilimency – after all, it’s described as “an obscure branch of magic” and I haven’t noticed any references to Harry feeling x-rayed with McGonagall/Flitwick/Sprout, as is mentioned several times with Snape and Dumbledore. Any thoughts? Are there other folks that have suspected this?
John Kearns said this on November 12, 2009 at 2:40 pm
Heather Campbells “Have a biscuit dammit!!” is just hilarious.
One thing I hate is when people are mean to Cho. When Hermione describes how Cho is feeling after her and Harry kiss, I think Hermione is exactly right. (Mostly because JKR is probably trying to tell us that Cho is NOT ‘one of those girls.’)
As for the girls’ dormitory, I can only imagine what goes on. It must be incredibly akward to dorm with people for 6 years when you clearly just aren’t friends with them. I can envision them being over-polite and smiling at each other while not-so-secretly wanting to rip each other’s throats out, not to mention some very real arguments as well. 4th and 6th year would be horrible. 4th year would mean constant pestering about Krum and Rita Skeeter’s article. 6th year… well, that’s the worst. Poor Hermione was probably wanting to tear her ears off from squeals about “Won-won,” but that’s for another book.
Oh, how I wish I had friends like Ron and Hermione. Harry doesn’t seem to reailze how lucky he is at this point.
Mickey said this on November 12, 2009 at 2:54 pm
Oh, and I think McGonagal just knows that Hermione was smart enough to decipher Umbridge’s speech, and would tell Harry and Ron. The way Harry said it also made is sort of obvious that he didn’t understand the speech and someone had told him about it. No Legilimency required, even if she did know how.
Mickey said this on November 12, 2009 at 2:57 pm
Hermione’s relationship with Lavender & Parvati is very interesting. One would think that after sleeping in the same room for 5 years, they would know a lot about each other. This qoute from HBP proves the exact opposite:
“At once Lavender and Parvati put their heads together to discuss this new development, with everything they had ever heard about McLaggen and all they had ever guessed about Hermione”.
It seems they never even bothered to get to know Hermione and that they’d rather speculate about her than ask her anything. Of course, it’s not entirely their fault that they aren’t friends with someone thay are sharing so much time with.
Hermione was quite obnoxious during their first year, then she relaxed a bit but seemed to only need Harry and Ron as friends. In PoA, we see her bonding with Ginny during the holidays, at Hogwarts, she is quite lonely and stressed and she also insults Divination and Trelawney, which Lavender and Parvati take very seriously. During her fourth year, Hermione becomes actively interested in house-elves’ liberation, she probably had a few arguments with her more frivolous room-mates, who can’t believe she is dating Krum (or that she even could get a date) or that she can be “pretty”. In OotP , besides Lavender not believing Harry, they seem to be in good terms, Hermione considers them both trustworthy enough to join DA. Of course, in HBP, all the romantic issues didn’t help their developing friendship and in DH, there is no time for them to be an issue.
Note that Lavender didn’t know what a Grim was in PoA, so either she is a muggle-born, or a half/pure-blood who, for whatever reason, was raised outside the wizarding world. The magical world is as new to her as it is to Hermione, they could have bonded over their common muggle background early on.
Martin said this on November 12, 2009 at 4:39 pm
Martin, interesting points for sure – the thing that jumped out at me about what you said, though, was this:
“In OotP , besides Lavender not believing Harry, they seem to be in good terms, Hermione considers them both trustworthy enough to join DA.”
Parvati and Lavender may not be best buddies with Hermione, but they certainly seem to respect her opinion. Why else would Lavender do a total about face over the course of a month or two, from buying every word in the Daily Prophet to trusting Harry enough to join the D.A.? It’s an interesting hint at the relationship there.
John Kearns said this on November 12, 2009 at 4:59 pm
I love bluefooted’s depiction of the divination classroom.
As always, Heather Campbell has exceptional skill in paraphrasing a scene to get to the heart of the matter. XD
Inky Squirrel said this on November 12, 2009 at 5:03 pm
I think the artowkr in this chapter is my favorite out of all the chapters you’ve posted, it’s all so good! Particularly love “have a biscuit” – it made me burst out laughing. I think that Hermione and Lav/Parvati have a live-and-let-live policy most of the time – HBP being the obvious exception (kinda feel sorry for Parvati during that one).
As for McGonagall’s comment, she knows Harry and hse knows Hermione, and she’s intelligent. I think it was fairly obvious, though that line makes me laugh each time.
hpboy13 said this on November 12, 2009 at 6:28 pm
First post – I love this site!
I remember that in their first DADA class of this year, Parvati expresses the concern that she’ll be going to her OWL exam without having practiced any of the spells. Hermione probably remembers this when she invites Parvati and Lavender to the meeting. (In the Hog’s Head, Michael Corner also mentions OWLs as a reason for learning more defensive magic.)
Billie said this on November 13, 2009 at 8:00 pm
I noticed that the Astronomy professor was shortly mentioned in this chapter, which got me thinking. We know that the trio takes Astronomy, but we never hear much about that class. Of course the Astronomy Tower plays an important part in both this book and the next, but the class itself must not be very important.
Kim said this on November 14, 2009 at 6:36 am
Astronomy seems to be the only academic, non-magical subject offered at Hogwarts. (Astrology is taught as part of Divination, but not as part of Astronomy.) Since the students don’t seem to use any of the material they learn in Astronomy, I wonder why the subject is taught at all.
Billie said this on November 14, 2009 at 10:28 am
Hi John (and hi to all others who commented),
Thanks for your comments! It took me a little while to organize myself to respond, but here ’tis–it’s actually Occlumency described as an “obscure branch of magic”(Chapter 24). I don’t think anything is said about Legilimency. I just thought it seemed like a good skill for the Heads of House to have, strictly for their own students.
As for McGonagall, my theory about her possible use of Legilimency was guesswork. More likely she used it on Hermione, and then she recognized Harry’s using a (slightly mangled) synopsis of what Hermione said. My theory there was that each Head of House would be responsible for knowing the essentials of how their portion of the student body was coping during the year. Another possibility was that Dumbledore parcelled out the responsibility of knowing Harry’s thoughts (admittedly a big one) between himself and Professor McGonagall.
I was rather sickened with how Snape (outside of the Legilimency/Occlumency “classes” later on) used his abilities to his own embittered ends, to put Harry down. Reminded me of some toxic teachers in my past… Thanks for reading, and THANKS TO JO ROWLING FOR THIS SERIES–it’s the LORD OF THE RINGS of the new millenium.
Diligent Don said this on November 14, 2009 at 8:33 pm
Hi,
a quick PS to my last–please see Chapter 17, p. 359 (hardcover); this is another plank in my “Professor-McGonagall-is-using-Legilimency” platform.
Of course, she could just be guessing what’s going on, too. :)
Diligent Don said this on November 14, 2009 at 8:54 pm
Diligent Don, I don’t think I have the same edition as you, what moment are you referring to with McGonagall?
I guess I just don’t buy Legilimency as being a commonly used thing. It would totally change the nature of the wizarding world in a way that I just don’t see much evidence for. Dumbledore and Snape both have much more than circumstantial evidence indicating that they’re using Legilimency – frequent descriptions of “x-raying” and things like that that Harry never feels from any other character.
Also – I know it was Occlumency that was described as “obscure,” but if Legilimency were as common as you’re suggesting, surely lots more people would learn Occlumency to combat it, right?
John Kearns said this on November 14, 2009 at 10:51 pm
It’s funny you mention the girls Dormitory: The question that immediately sprung up in my mind was: “can you imagine the Dormitoy of the girls in their 6th year, when Ron starts to date Lavender??” Mickey and some others seem to have the same idea :)
Love Heather Campbell. Her art is hilarious: she manages to make fun out of a chapter that isn’t even that funny. (no offence to JK, you can’t have only fun-chapters)
kim said this on November 15, 2009 at 3:40 pm
For that matter, I wonder what the Gryffindor girls’ dormitory must have been like once third-year and the Divination classes came around, in light of Hermione’s conviction that Divination is absolute rot and Lavender and Parvati being keen on that class!
Todd said this on April 25, 2010 at 6:56 am