Umbridge's Army

[ghinghapuss]

No: HPFGUIDX 86490

Carol wrote:
> The only classes that Gryffindor and the Slytherins have together 
are Potions and Care of Magical Creatures. (They have Herbology with 
the Hufflepuffs.) The best bit of evidence that they don't have DADA 
with the Slytherins is the class where Neville's boggart is Snape. 
Can you imagine Slytherins' reaction if they had been there? But if 
you count the number of boggarts, it's eight, not counting Lupin's. 
Harry and Hermione don't get to confront their boggarts but everyone 
else apparently does. That adds up to ten students: the five 
Gryffindor boys, Hermione, Lavender, Parvati, and two unnamed 
students that  assume are girls.


Mandy here:
You and Birit are absolutely right.  Damn that movie contamination! 
It really confuses me at times, not that that is unusual. ;-)  I 
suppose the films just like to have all the principle characters in 
class together to show their interaction within the limited screen 
time they have.

But back to the books: I don't think Umbridge would change her 
curriculum to suit the different houses.  The Slytherins would have 
received the exact same classes as everyone else.  Umbridge is not 
IMO working for LV and has no advantage in advancing the Slytherins, 
as a group, above all others.  

However, I can see her selecting a special group for her 
Inquisitorial Squad from the children who actively hate Harry Potter, 
her nemesis in the book.  Draco Malfoy and gang is the logical 
choice, the fact that they are Slytherins doesn't have anything to do 
with it, they could have just as easily been Ravenclaws IMO.  

Also I have always assumed that the Slytherins, or more accurately 
the children from Dark Magical families would have recieved training 
in Defense Against the Dark Arts as well as performing the Dark Arts 
at home.  Growing up in a Dark family it would have become a matter 
of survival for a kid who had brothers and sisters who would have 
delighted in hexing their siblings, and good defense skills would be 
a necessity.  Images of The Addams Family keep popping into my head, 
where one child is constantly trying to kill the other and he or she 
would spend their life creating wonderful ways of extracting 
revenge.  I imagine the Blacks, Malfoys and Lestranges must have a 
lot of time in St. Mungos when they were all young children. ;-) 

With the exception of the three Unforgivable Curses I don't think the 
Dark Arts themselves are illegal, it's the way they are used that 
makes them against the law. A lot of the magic used in Dark Arts is 
not Dark itself, it's the way it is used that taints it black. So I 
imagine, behind the closed doors of the Malfoy Mansion, Lucius and 
Narcissa have instructed Draco in numerous Dark Arts (as well as 
their defenses) that we have not yet seen because Draco is simply not 
powerful or old enough to use them effectively.  Many Magic spells 
require extensive training and the focus of thought, energy and 
intention. Harry demonstrated that with his ineffectual Cruciatus 
Curse on Bellatrix. As the books move the characters in to adulthood, 
at 16, 17 and 18 years of age, I think we will see a big shift in the 
scale and type of magic coming from Draco Malfoy and of course Harry 
Potter.

Mandy