The Order of the Phoenix Re-Read: Chapter 30

[slowfox]

Y'know, it was only the end of GoF where Harry gives his Triwizard winnings to the Twins, but it feels as though it was a long time before now, when he finally tells Ron and Hermione that he's Weasleys Wizard Wheezes' anonymous backer.

Harry's not really feeling the lurve this chapter - he's needled by Hermione's nagging about Occlumency, and he has a go at Ron's lack of Quidditchability in retaliation for the latter's indiscretion over mentioning Harry's night-time mutterings to Hermione:

"I dreamed I was watching you lot play Quidditch," Harry lied brutally. "I was trying to get you to stretch out a bit further to grab the Quaffle."

Ron's ears went red. Harry felt a kind of vindictive pleasure; he had not, of course, dreamed anything of the sort.

Just how strong is Hagrid?

"Yeah," said Hagrid heavily. "Well, angry doesn' cover it. Ruddy livid. If I hadn' stepped in, I reckon they'd've kicked Firenze ter death -"

"They attacked him?" said Hermione, sounding shocked.

"Yep," said Hagrid gruffly, forcing his way through several low-hanging branches. "He had half the herd on him."

"And you stopped it?" said Harry, amazed and impressed. "By yourself?"

"Course I did, couldn't stand by an' watch 'em kill 'im, could I?" said Hagrid...

When Harry and Hermione finally get to meet Grawp, he's tied down by ropes, yet Hagrid explains that he's perfectly able to feed himself: Birds an' deer an' stuff.... Presumably in untethered fashion, 'cos I can't imagine too many animals walking obligingly close to a restrained giants' mouth.

It's Magorian who helpfully imparts to us the Centaurs' code that dictates that they don't slaughter 'foals'. This is scant consolation to Hermione:

"Calm down!" she said feverishly. "A giant! A giant in the Forest! And we're supposed to give him English lessons! Always assuming, of course, we can get pasy the herd of murderous centaurs on the way in and out! I - don't - believe - him!"

As compensation for missing out on the Grawp action with Hagrid, Ron does at least get to win the Quidditch Cup, which is one thing from the Mirror of Erised ticked off, at least.

I s'pose the important bit in this chapter is that Hagrid's no longer welcome in the Forest, and the only reason he escaped this time is because he had 'young' with him. Of course, to set up why he's no longer welcome in the Forest, we have Grawp, but I think that Grawp's mostly incidental in OotP, isn't he?

The story inches forward - we know that Harry's still having visions about the Ministry, and that the tide is turning against Umbridge within the school. Harry and Hermione have made a pact with Hagrid to try and look after Grawp in his absence, and one assumes they're going to rope Ron into that venture too.

But there's no real Umbridge news, no Voldemort threat, no Ministry action; Hagrid mentions 'doing stuff for the Order' in passing, but in terms of the book's overall plot, we move forward relatively little.

Comments

[aome]

I suppose Grawp is "incidental" in that he doesn't have much screen time, but his presence influences a lot of other events, including Hagrid turning up late, looking beaten for months on end (including his lame excuse to Umbridge for going into the forest a lot being that it's "good for his health" - with his injuries plainly on show), the reason why Hagrid happened to be in the forest the moment Firenze was attacked, and the means by which H/Hr escaped the centaurs' wrath two chapters from now. So - his presence actually has some significant effects over the course of the book. That doesn't mean I like him, or his story arc, however. I had to grit my teeth to get through this chapter. :P

As for Hagrid's strength - well, look how freakin' BIG he is. I'm not surprised he could fend off a bunch of Centaurs, especially if he had his crossbow with him. Listening to the description of Grawp - knowing, as well, that he's a relative runt - makes me wonder yet again a) how Mr Hagrid met the giantess b) how they communicated c) what they saw in each other for howeverlong the relationship lasted and d) how they ... uh ... consumated the relationship. She must've been one heckuva remarkable giantess. Either that, or Mr Hagrid had a helluva "big gal" kink. :P

Observe Hermione's behavior in the forest, btw. Again, I wonder how on earth she ended up in Gryffindor. It's not just her Ravenclaw-like tendencies, but her decided lack of bravery. Then again - I suppose the real definition of bravery is to be frightened but to proceed anyway, which she IS doing.

[carolanne5]

Maybe Mr Hagrid used magic to make them the same relative size during ... um ... intimacy? The discrepancy in size otherwise just seems impossible.

[slowfox]

Mr Hagrid used magic to make them the same relative size

Now there's a charm that would be ripe for abuse (no pun intended. Honest. Really)...

[(Anonymous)]

*blushes*

I'm so naive, that never occurred to me!

*laughs*

[slowfox]

Observe Hermione's behavior in the forest, btw.

Agreed, she is incredibly reluctant in this chapter, but as you suggest, bravery is possibly doing things fully aware of the dangers, whereas blindly wandering in is simply foolishness.

Well, yes, 'tis true that Grawp has implications for a number of points in the plot, but it would be possible to deliver OotP without him involved at all. Hagrid doesn't need to be beaten up, particularly, although dragging Grawp back with him does explain his tardy arrival at Hogwarts, and feeds into other areas... but still this chapter does feel like hard work for relatively little forward movement in terms of the story as a whole.

[cynthia_black]

This does seem a bit of a 'nothing' chapter in terms of the central plot, I agree.

[slowfox]

OTOH, we do get character interaction, a bit of incidental detail and the usual fleshing out of the wizarding world that we make such hay of. But still, when the book's this thick, and can at times be a bit of a slog to read, you sort of wonder if certain sections could not have been helpfully excised beforehand...