The Order of the Phoenix Re-Read: Chapter 12

[slowfox]

Harry's somewhat narked about how 'everyone' seems to think he's some 'lying, attention-seeking prat', but his temper's somewhat misdirected, as Hermione points out:

"... And it would be quite nice if you stopped jumping down our throats, Harry, because in case you haven't noticed, Ron and I are on your side."

I note in passing that again Gred and Forge refer to compatriots in their year by their full names - I'm suspecting, again, that it's mainly because Kenneth Towler and Patricia Stimpson have never been mentioned in canon before this point, but it's still very oddly formal. Especially for the Twins.

You'll note that Ron helpfully relays their timetamble for the day:

"History of Magic, double Potions, Divination and double Defence Against the Dark Arts..."

The implication, surely, is that 'double' Potions would be twice the length of History of Magic. And yet...

Today, they suffered an hour and a half's droning on the subject of giant wars.

Assuming that History of Magic was a single, then, that makes six lots of 1½ hour lessons per day - 9 hours. Plus homework. And Quidditch practice, which Angelina's scheduled for 5pm on the Friday. So either lessons start early, and there are no breaks through the day, or Fridays finish early or... JKR has problems with maths.

As it happens, since Snape gives them 1½ hours to brew their potions, after which it's lunch, it looks like either History of Magic was a 'double' (since Harry waits for Divination Studies after lunch) or else a double Potions is called such because it's twice as unpleasant as any other lesson on the curriculum.

Top bit of help from Ron on the Harry/Cho front at break :-)

...which gave Harry plenty of time to reflect that between Neville and Ron he would be lucky ever to have two minutes of conversation with Cho that he could look back on without wanting to leave the country.

Aw. And yes, as mentioned previously, I was a big Harry/Cho fan after GoF. Until I tried actually writing Harry/Cho, and discovered that I couldn't really get it to work. But then I'm not JKR, and I was definitely hoping, after the train and now the Tornados incident, that maybe this would start to work out for them.

The introduction of Professor Umbridge is good - treating the class like five-year olds certainly went down well :-)

It's never clear just how many people are in the class, is it? If it's just the Gryffindor fifths, which seems likely, then it's most probably eight students (they're the names we have). So a phrase like When more than half the class were staring at Hermione sort of over-eggs the pudding, methinks. Hermione can't stare at herself, so if you add the other five (which is 'more than half' of eight), that sort of implies that only two people weren't. ;-P

Does Dean get more speech in this scene than in the whole of canon to date??

"This is school, Mr Potter, not the real world," she said softly.

How truly doth Ms Umbridge speak :-)

Anyway, Harry gets sent to see McGonagall, who oddly isn't teaching (sorry to whine on and on about the Hogwarts timetable, but,logistically, it just doesn't add up). Anyway, loved this bit:

"Is it true that you shouted at Professsor Umbridge?"

"Yes," said Harry.

"You called her a liar?"

"Yes."

"You told her Hw Who Must Not Be Named is back?"

"Yes."

Professor McGonagall sat down behind her desk, watching Harry closely. Then she said, "Have a biscuit, Potter."

Comments

[aome]

and to have the teachers teaching solidly. Which means that there's no way that Snape could handily stand in for Moony

It also makes you wonder how Umbridge managed to assess all the teachers and still have time to teach. Or, er, not-teach. :P

Umbridge is the first DADA we see where the 'this person is BAD' colours are nailed firmly to the mast from the outset

And yet it's an interesting lesson in degrees of badness. I mean, there's no question that Umbridge is horrible ... and yet she's not on the side of the Dark Arts, either. Up until now, there's only been those two sides, the Good Side, and Voldemort's Side. And here, in this book, we learn that there is a third side as well.

[slowfox]

It also makes you wonder how Umbridge managed to assess all the teachers and still have time to teach. Or, er, not-teach. :P

Although she does end up looking rather ragged at the end of the day that Gred and Forge take their leave of Hogwarts :D