OOP: Umbridge's observation of O.W.L.'s

[Marie Jadewalker]

No: HPFGUIDX 66243

"Barclay, Maggie" 
> <mbarclay at l...> wrote:
> 
>  after Harry completes his Defense against the Dark Arts O.W.L. 
> Umbridge had a slight smile on her face.  Harry is so pleased with 
> himself that he chooses to ignore it.  As far as I'm concerned, 
> Umbridge CANNOT be pleased with his performance, and thus must have 
> thought of some way of changing Harry's grade or some other equally 
> dastardly deed.  Any ideas?  If this has been discussed, please 
> direct me.
> 
> Ali replies:
> 
> I've got a very nasty feeling about this. In JKR's Albert Hall 
> reading, she read the passage relating to Harry's careers talk. She 
> hinted that a grade would be the problem in his desire to become an 
> Auror. I naturally assumed that the problem would be regarding 
> Potions. But, suppose that Umbridge managed to jinx Harry's exam 
> paper - or his examiner in the practical section - of DADA? 
> Perhaps, Harry has actually failed DADA because of Umbridge. I 
> think we now know, that if she could cause him to fail, she would. 
> Poor Harry, I now think he might be shocked about his DADA grade, 
> and for all the wrong reasons.

Marie replies:  

Oh, how awful!  Poor Harry is right.  He would be initially crushed 
if it were his DADA grade that kept him from becoming an Auror.  And 
I agree with you that it sounds very much like something the horrible 
Ms. Umbridge would do, if she possibly could.  Not only does she get 
to squash Harry's desires, but she also gets to pay McGonagall back 
for her "competent teacher" slam.  Yikes.  

It would be truly ironic for the Boy Who Lived to get a sub-par grade 
on his DADA OWL.  However, I'm not sure that a low grade on this OWL 
(especially if it were through fraud and Dumbledore or anyone could 
prove that) would keep Harry out of NEWT level DADA class.  I thought 
it was clear at the end that Dumbledore wanted Umbridge out of his 
school, and Fudge had to comply, so I'm guessing that finding a new 
(competent) DADA teacher will be close to the top of Dumbledore's 
priority list for the coming summer.  Unless there are Ministry-
imposed requirements for who's admitted into the NEWT DADA class, I'd 
guess Dumbledore's hand-picked teacher would let Harry in (unless 
Snape finally gets his wish!)  

So while I think former-Professor Umbridge is a dangerous woman who 
should be watched, I'm not sure she'll be able to keep Harry out of 
DADA for the next year.  As others have said, her pleasure could 
simply be attributed to thinking her "method" worked.  Or, she could 
think Harry's performance was proof that he and/or Dumbledore really 
did hold DA meetings throughout the year and she's planning to use 
that to get Harry expelled.  

As for Harry actually becoming an auror, I'll feel bad for him if 
he's denied it because of a grade, but somehow I don't think that 
position feels right for him anyway.  (And while potions would be the 
logical place for his grade to fall through, I can't imagine being 
without the Snape/Harry interaction in books 6 and 7, so either Harry 
has to make it into Advanced Potions somehow, or Occlumancy under 
Snape will have to continue.)  Perhaps Charms will be the failing 
point, since he didn't think he had to worry about that test as 
much.  We'll see, though, since JK said she thinks Charms is a softer 
subject than Transfiguration.  I don't know what other careers Harry 
has considered, but I think he's shown that he'd make a terrific DADA 
teacher and I'd love to see him take that route.  

~Marie, who is wondering whether Neville will turn out to be a 
Healer, since he's very good at Herbology and is much better at 
Potions without Snape breathing down his neck.  He certainly has 
compassion and his parents' case might well be inspiration.