OOTP Chapter Thirty-Three: "Fight and Flight"

[for-diddled.livejournal.com]

* A mercifully short chapter, this – only eleven pages long.

* Umbridge’s breathing is “ragged” now. Is this meant to be another example of Sadist!Umbridge? Like getting a thrill of pleasure at the prospect of using the weapon on the students?

* It “seemed incredible to Harry that twenty feet away there were people enjoying dinner, celebrating the end of exams, not a care in the world…” Meanwhile, it seems incredible to me that JKR has to keep resorting to this sort of contrast to emphasise Harry’s emotional state. Couldn’t she try something new once in a while?

* What’s with this emphasis on Umbridge struggling to keep up with Hermione? It’s been mentioned twice now on the first two pages (“Hermione marched purposefully across the grass – Umbridge jogging to keep up” and “She… plunged straight into the trees, moving at such a pace that Umbridge, with her shorter legs, had difficulty in keeping up”). Is it just meant to belittle Umbridge even more by making her seem physically weak and weedy, since constantly comparing her to a toad just isn’t enough?

* Umbridge isn’t doing a very good job controlling Harry and Hermione, is she? You’d have thought that as the person with the wand and no moral scruples about using it, she’d be able to force Hermione to slow down and tell her what exactly the weapon is.

* Also, how does the school make sure that no animals ever run out of the Forest and endanger pupils? There don’t seem to be any physical fences or other boundaries which could prove a hindrance, and we’re never told of any invisible magical field either. What if the Acromantulas (say) grow too numerous to support themselves off what they can catch in the Forest, and decide to spill over into the Hogwarts grounds?

* Maybe the plan is to just keep feeding them Hufflepuffs so that they’re too full to go after any of the more important students. That’s why the school authorities keep Hufflepuff as a sort of rag-bag House with no real distinguishing characteristics; it’s so that they know who can be sacrificed without real loss.

* In the finest tradition of HP villains, Umbridge suddenly has an attack of stupidity and angers the centaurs enough to make them all go after her.

* “Nooooo!” shouts Umbridge as the centaurs drag her off. Is it just me, or is that the sort of dialogue you’d expect in a comic book rather than a (supposedly grown-up) novel?

* Hermione’s worried lest Grawp kill the centaurs. Personally my money would be on the centaurs winning: they’re faster, more intelligent, more numerous, and their bows give them greater range.

* Now Harry’s started spitting at Hermione, who’s just saved Harry from being tortured and got rid of Umbridge for them. What a charming boy he is.

* Harry and Hermione’s friends appear, and say that Ginny was the best out of all of them at fighting off the Slytherins. As if we needed to be told.

* Ginny’s set her jaw “so that the resemblance to Fred and George was suddenly striking.” There is a striking resemblance, but probably not in the way JKR thinks.

* Ginny’s acting “coolly” again, a sure sign of danger.

* So Harry was all upset a few pages back because he and Hermione supposedly didn’t have enough time to go back to Hogwarts and retrieve their wands, but now they’ve got enough time to fly all the way to London? Seriously? Isn’t there a better plan they could think of? Like, I don’t know, going back and trying to convince Snape? Or using Umbridge’s fireplace to try and contact the Weasleys? Are they really stupid enough not to think of any alternatives? On second thoughts, don’t answer that last one.

Comments

[oneandthetruth.livejournal.com]

True, but that wouldn't be as exciting and the kids wouldn’t get to do anything. It would look far more boring in the OotP movie for the kids to be waiting around to hear news from the adults instead of taking an exciting ride on cool winged horses! Also, if Harry and Co. had actually done the useful thing, then they wouldn’t have blundered into Voldemort’s obvious trap, Sirius wouldn’t have died one of the most nonsensical deaths ever, Harry wouldn’t have gotten to angst about him for the rest of the book and then conveniently remember the mirror that Sirius had given him that he could have used to contact him instead of gallivanting into Voldemort’s trap, and Harry wouldn’t have gotten to smash the prophecy which would later prove to be mostly irrelevant anyway. See? It all makes sense!

I LOL'd when I read this. Thank you for the laugh. Don't forget Harry also wouldn't have been able to blame Snape for Black's death, instead of say, himself (for not communicating with Sirius) and/or the twins (for baiting Sirius by calling him a coward. See, it doesn't matter if a cowardly Slytherin like Snape calls him a coward, but if a fellow Gryffindor does it, that's the grossest of insults.)

[borg-princess.livejournal.com]

Ugh, don't remind me about that. I love how Harry blames Snape for sniping at Sirius over staying in the house and not doing anything, when it's not like anything Snape says even MATTERS to Sirius. I'd imagine hearing something like that from people you like and are used to having a good opinion from would have far more impact. Doesn't he turn white or visibly react in some way when one or both of the twins says he's a coward? Harry may as well blame THEM.

[urbanman1984.livejournal.com]

You are forgetting - It's Okay If A Gryffindor Does It.

[nx74defiant.livejournal.com]

And what kind adult stays home where it is safe while a child they love is in danger?

Do they really think Sirius could just stay where it was safe while Harry is in danger? Everything we know about Sirius is that he is not the kind of guy to play it safe.