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deathtocapslock* So Montague still has to be spoon fed, and yet none of the good guys think to tell anybody what happened to him. I find this to be depressingly unsurprising.
* Professor McGonagall has been transferred to St. Mungo’s, whereas Montague is still in the Hospital Wing. Go figure.
* For those keeping track of Potterverse morality, launching four Stunners at a powerful witch = cowardly. Repeatedly hexing schoolchildren until they resemble slugs, OTOH, = hilarious and righteous.
* Apparently panic was “expanding inside [Harry] like poison gas.” That’s a really odd simile. I can’t say that I’ve ever experienced panic like that.
* Good on you Hermione, actually using reason and logic like that. A pity such concepts are alien to the average Gryffindor male.
* Also, note how violent Harry’s being – he’s shouting in his friends’ faces, wanting to shake Hermione, and Hermione herself is “looking positively petrified at the look on Harry’s face”. Harry’s relationship with Ron and Hermione often seems more like that of an abusive spouse/parent and their family than that of good friends.
* “Hermione, it doesn’t matter if he’s done it to get me there or not” – oh my God, somebody please save me from the stupidity! Harry, you utter flipping moron, of course it matters if Voldemort’s trying to lure you into the Department of Mysteries, because if he is, you’ll be walking right into his trap and playing right into his hands. Now I think I know why Harry was made Head Auror. It was to tie him down with a desk job and stop him ruining missions with his sheer idiocy.
* Luna raises a good point – how are they going to get to London? Especially since Sirius is apparently in such imminent danger that they can’t hang around a few minutes and discuss their plans. But not in such imminent danger that they can’t afford to take several hours at least to fly there. Logic? What logic?
* “OK… Now, we need to keep students right away from her office while we force entry, or some Slytherin’s bound to go and tip her off.” Not “some member of the IS”, that is, or “one of Malfoy’s cronies”, just “some Slytherin”. Because Slyterins are all the same, really.
* Also, note how once again it’s a Slytherins vs. everybody else situation. There’s no chance any Ravenclaws, Hufflepuffs or Gryffindors will help Umbridge; it’s just the Slytherins you have to watch out for.
* Fred and George have let Ginny in on their plans to set off Garrotting Gas in the corridor, showing how cool and rebellious she is. Although if Garrotting Gas has the sort of effects its name implies, “cool and rebellious” might not be such a good term as “worryingly sadistic”.
* I find it somewhat surprising that the Order HQ wouldn’t have anybody but Sirius there. Although I suppose they’re not a very big organisation, so maybe everyone’s busy somewhere else.
* Ginny’s still trying the kick the shins of the Slytherin who’s holding her, like a petulant child might try and kick its parents.
* Neville’s randomly here becauseJKR will want him to go to the Department of Mysteries later he tried to stop one of the Slytherins carrying off Ginny. Neville/Ginny FTW!
* The Slytherins are all evil for laughing at McGonagall’s illness. Unlike the twins, whose laughter at what happened to Montague shows that they’re merry tricksters with a rough-and-tumble sense of fun. IOIAGDI, clearly.
* “There was still a member of the Order of the Phoenix at Hogwarts – Snape.” Well done, Harry, you got there in the end. After having the answer practically shoved in your face.
* Harry still doesn’t get that Snape is on his side. Apparently subtlety is too much for our hero to cope with.
* Umbridge’s little “the ends justify the means” speech is rather creepy, made even more so by the fact that I could imagine Hermione saying something very much like it.
* Malfoy was watching “with a hungry expression on his face.” This is probably meant to indicate that he’s a sadist looking forward to seeing Harry get brutally tortured; I, however, will choose to interpret it as a sign that he’s had to skip lunch due to IS-related duties, and is, literally, hungry.
* “‘No!’ shrieked Hermione. ‘Professor Umbridge – it’s illegal.’” Yeah, because Hermione’s always been so concerned with not breaking the law. *rolls eyes*
* Umbridge has her Bond villain moment and randomly confesses to sending the Dementors after Harry, even though she’s got absolutely nothing to gain from doing so.
* I’m sure that Twinkly would be amused to hear Hermione described as “Little Miss Question-all”. She never questions Dumbledore.
* Hermione’s acting must be pretty poor if Mr. Unobservant notices something’s wrong. Luckily nobody else realises.
* The Slytherins are described as Umbridge’s “minions” now. That woman’s starting to look more like a Bond villain with every passing sentence.
* I think it’s interesting that Umbridge reserves her most suspicious look for Malfoy. Has he criticised or gone against her before? Is Lucius Malfoy opposing Fudge in certain areas, making Umbridge suspicious of the entire family? Does Umbridge sense the aura of great evil which hangs around young Draco?
* Professor McGonagall has been transferred to St. Mungo’s, whereas Montague is still in the Hospital Wing. Go figure.
* For those keeping track of Potterverse morality, launching four Stunners at a powerful witch = cowardly. Repeatedly hexing schoolchildren until they resemble slugs, OTOH, = hilarious and righteous.
* Apparently panic was “expanding inside [Harry] like poison gas.” That’s a really odd simile. I can’t say that I’ve ever experienced panic like that.
* Good on you Hermione, actually using reason and logic like that. A pity such concepts are alien to the average Gryffindor male.
* Also, note how violent Harry’s being – he’s shouting in his friends’ faces, wanting to shake Hermione, and Hermione herself is “looking positively petrified at the look on Harry’s face”. Harry’s relationship with Ron and Hermione often seems more like that of an abusive spouse/parent and their family than that of good friends.
* “Hermione, it doesn’t matter if he’s done it to get me there or not” – oh my God, somebody please save me from the stupidity! Harry, you utter flipping moron, of course it matters if Voldemort’s trying to lure you into the Department of Mysteries, because if he is, you’ll be walking right into his trap and playing right into his hands. Now I think I know why Harry was made Head Auror. It was to tie him down with a desk job and stop him ruining missions with his sheer idiocy.
* Luna raises a good point – how are they going to get to London? Especially since Sirius is apparently in such imminent danger that they can’t hang around a few minutes and discuss their plans. But not in such imminent danger that they can’t afford to take several hours at least to fly there. Logic? What logic?
* “OK… Now, we need to keep students right away from her office while we force entry, or some Slytherin’s bound to go and tip her off.” Not “some member of the IS”, that is, or “one of Malfoy’s cronies”, just “some Slytherin”. Because Slyterins are all the same, really.
* Also, note how once again it’s a Slytherins vs. everybody else situation. There’s no chance any Ravenclaws, Hufflepuffs or Gryffindors will help Umbridge; it’s just the Slytherins you have to watch out for.
* Fred and George have let Ginny in on their plans to set off Garrotting Gas in the corridor, showing how cool and rebellious she is. Although if Garrotting Gas has the sort of effects its name implies, “cool and rebellious” might not be such a good term as “worryingly sadistic”.
* I find it somewhat surprising that the Order HQ wouldn’t have anybody but Sirius there. Although I suppose they’re not a very big organisation, so maybe everyone’s busy somewhere else.
* Ginny’s still trying the kick the shins of the Slytherin who’s holding her, like a petulant child might try and kick its parents.
* Neville’s randomly here because
* The Slytherins are all evil for laughing at McGonagall’s illness. Unlike the twins, whose laughter at what happened to Montague shows that they’re merry tricksters with a rough-and-tumble sense of fun. IOIAGDI, clearly.
* “There was still a member of the Order of the Phoenix at Hogwarts – Snape.” Well done, Harry, you got there in the end. After having the answer practically shoved in your face.
* Harry still doesn’t get that Snape is on his side. Apparently subtlety is too much for our hero to cope with.
* Umbridge’s little “the ends justify the means” speech is rather creepy, made even more so by the fact that I could imagine Hermione saying something very much like it.
* Malfoy was watching “with a hungry expression on his face.” This is probably meant to indicate that he’s a sadist looking forward to seeing Harry get brutally tortured; I, however, will choose to interpret it as a sign that he’s had to skip lunch due to IS-related duties, and is, literally, hungry.
* “‘No!’ shrieked Hermione. ‘Professor Umbridge – it’s illegal.’” Yeah, because Hermione’s always been so concerned with not breaking the law. *rolls eyes*
* Umbridge has her Bond villain moment and randomly confesses to sending the Dementors after Harry, even though she’s got absolutely nothing to gain from doing so.
* I’m sure that Twinkly would be amused to hear Hermione described as “Little Miss Question-all”. She never questions Dumbledore.
* Hermione’s acting must be pretty poor if Mr. Unobservant notices something’s wrong. Luckily nobody else realises.
* The Slytherins are described as Umbridge’s “minions” now. That woman’s starting to look more like a Bond villain with every passing sentence.
* I think it’s interesting that Umbridge reserves her most suspicious look for Malfoy. Has he criticised or gone against her before? Is Lucius Malfoy opposing Fudge in certain areas, making Umbridge suspicious of the entire family? Does Umbridge sense the aura of great evil which hangs around young Draco?
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Date: 2011-12-19 05:01 pm (UTC)To give the Gryffindors someone to rule over, of course!
"Moments like these are just weird. On the one hand, you had people arguing that Draco really is a sadistic bigot. This scene, as well as the scene in GoF when he’s described as being “totally relaxed” when the Roberts are assaulted by the Death Eaters, could be used to support that view. On the other hand, you have JKR abruptly changing her mind for some reason and portraying Draco as somebody who cannot stand seeing others in pain or inflicting pain."
We're probably still supposed to view him as a sadist, just a cowardly one, who doesn't have the guts to inflict suffering himself. Harry, on the other hand, is superior because he can both enjoy his enemies' pain and torture them himself, rather than getting other people to do his dirty work.
"I don’t even remember what her reason was. Was she trying to shut Harry up about seeing Voldemort come back again? This revelation was just random and bizarre."
It goes:
"The Minister wouldn't want you to break the law, Professor Umbridge!" cried Hermione.
"What Cornelius doesn't know won't hurt him," said Umbridge, who was now panting slightly as she pointed her wand at different parts of Harry's body in turn, apparently trying to decide where it would hurt most. "He never knew I ordered Dementors to go after Potter last summer, but he was delighted to be given the chance to expel him all the same."
"It was you?" gasped Harry. "You sent the Dementors after me?"
"Somebody had to act," breathed Umbridge, as her wand came to rest pointing directly at Harry's forehead. "They were all bleating about silencing you somehow -- discrediting you -- but I was the one who actually did something about it... only you wriggled your way out of that one, didn't you, Potter? Not today, though, not now--" And taking a deep breath, she cried, "Cruc--"
"NO!" shouted Hermione in a cracked voice from behind Millicent Bulstrode. "No -- Harry -- we have to tell her!"
So yes, it is a bit random, especially admitting it in front of all those IS members, and especially given that she apparently doesn't trust Malfoy at least. Maybe she just got carried away by the prospect of torturing Harry? If I were being unkind, I'd suggest that JKR couldn't think of a realistic way for us readers to find out what happened.