OOP: Is Umbridge a Squib?

[mt3t3l1]

No: HPFGUIDX 66730

This sounds outrageous at first, but think about the evidence:

1. Squibs like Arabella Figg and Argus Filch have a very strong 
interest in cats. JKR makes frequent reference to the plates with 
pictures of kittens decorating Umbridge's office.

2. When Umbridge teaches Defense of the Dark Arts, she makes sure 
that no spells are actually performed. This makes sense if she 
herself is unable to perform spells.

3. Although Umbridge has lots of authority, she has very little 
magical power. For example:

   a. She was unable to keep nifflers out of her own office.
   b. She asked others to do things like put a Stealth Sensoring 
Spell around her doorway and to release Montague from a toilet.
   c. When Harry and Hermione led her into the forest, she tore her 
robe on a bramble and tripped over a sapling, but did not use the 
Lumos charm even when "they were so deep into the forest that the 
dense tree canopy blocked out all light."
   d. When she left Hogwarts, she did so on foot. This could have 
been more stealthy than leaving by broomstick, but she continued to 
walk even after Peeves attacked her.

It appears that Umbridge was able to use a stunning charm to set off 
Fred and George's fireworks. However, when Umbridge wanted to capture 
Hagrid, JKR makes a point of telling us that Umbridge took five 
people with her. One of these stunned Fang, and Hagrid threw him to 
the ground so forcefully he didn't get up again. When McGonagall came 
out to defend Hagrid, JKR mentions two times that McGonagall was shot 
with four stunners straight in the chest. If the group was united in 
its purpose, we would have expected five stunners. Was this a clue 
that Umbridge's stunning charm was basically ineffectual?

When Umbridge wanted to get information from Harry about why he had 
been in her office, it became evident that Umbridge didn't understand 
the proper dosage of Veritaserum nor how long it takes to make 
Veritaserum. Had she forgotten that lesson from her Potions class? 
When she realized that there was no more Veritaserum available, she 
made a big production of threatening to use the Cruciatus curse on 
Harry but never actually used it. Is it possible that this was only a 
very convincing bluff?

Finally, we can be certain that Umbridge did do one spell properly. 
When she was in the forest and surrounded by centaurs, Umbridge 
successfully performed the Incarcerous spell against the centaur 
Magorian. I would suggest that this is the instance JKR was referring 
to when she said, "There is a character who does manage in desperate 
circumstances to do magic quite late in life, but that is very rare 
in the world I am writing about."

So...what do you think?


"mt3t3l1"