Undersecretary

[Carol]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "potioncat" <willsonkmom at ...> wrote:
>
>    
> > William:  
> > I suspect JKR had her tongue firmly in cheek when she devised 
> > the pompous sounding titles that Umbridge had. I think it is 
> > more a jab at bureaucratic pomposity and self-importance than 
> > an attempt at an actual title.
> 
> 
> Potioncat:
> I agree. What was Percy's title? Seems it sounded very important for a 17 year old fresh out of school.
>
Carol responds:

In GoF, Percy would have been about eighteen (I think he has an August birthday; certainly he'd have turned eighteen before September 1 or he'd still be at Hogwarts). At the beginning of GoF, he had a job in the Department of International Magical Cooperation (no job title given), and later in that book, he acted as Crouch's personal assistant (essentially doing Crouch's job for him) while Crouch was incapacitated, but whatever his job title was apparently didn't change. Despite the inquiry following Crouch's murder, he was promoted to Junior Assistant to the Minister (OoP chapter 4) and we see him acting as Court Scribe (presumably part of his regular job) at Harry's hearing. Exactly how his job relates to Umbridge's position, I don't know. Clearly, she outranks him, but I think they both report directly to Fudge. At a guess, his job is clerical and hers is administrative.

I noticed that JKR uses similar terms for the Muggle Ministry. Herbert Chorley (the victim of a bad Imperius Curse who ends up quacking like a duck and trying to kill his own family) is referred to as one of the Prime Minister's "Junior Ministers." His exact job title isn't given, but he's probably an administrative assistant as opposed to a clerical one like Percy, who always seems to be taking notes or writing reports except when he's acting as Crouch's assistant.

BTW, I once had a job as an adjunct senior lecturer, but the title only meant that, unlike adjunct lecturers without a "senior" in the title, I had (have) a PhD. (It also meant that my position was temporary and they hired me to teach only when they needed me, a good reason to leave the university and go into editing!)

Anyway, judging from Umbridge's pre-DH title, I suspect that she's worked her way up through the Ministry and has been around long enough to have quite a bit of authority. She certainly views herself as important--and, IMO, her influence on Fudge (combined with Lucius Malfoy's) brings about his deterioration in OoP. I think she plays on and magnifies his fear of Voldemort and distrust of Dumbledore. (We see a return to Fudge's normal self at the beginning of HBP, wt which point, he's reduced to a mere advisory position.) 

Carol, wondering what happened to both Fudge and Umbridge during and after DH