OOP: Umbridge

[guardianapcelt]

No: HPFGUIDX 62162

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  Jennifer wrote: 

> I find myself torn between Umbridge as a pompous, slightly 
sadistic, 
> but non-evil beaurocrat and Umbridge as Death Eater.
> 
> Two main points lean towards DE, but they may be easily explained.
> 
> 1. Dementor attack on Harry.
> 
>    Her excuse for ordering the dementor attack is that she wants to 
> support Fudge in his quest to discredit Harry. My problem is that 
it 
> doesn't seem well-known or expected that Harry could produce a 
> Patronus. So, essentially, she had to know she was sending 
Dementor's 
> to give him a Kiss. To me, having his soul sucked would lead to 
> martyrdom and more people believing Harry's story, not to 
> discrediting him.
>    I don't think Fudge knew of Harry's Patronus in PoA. They all 
seem 
> to question why the Dementors just went away, and Snape takes all 
the 
> credit. No one saw Timeturner!Harry. Also, Lupin uses a question 
> about Harry's Patronus as something only Harry would know.
> 
> 2. Accusations about Sirius.
> 
>    If she still thought Sirius was guilty, why would she suspect 
> Harry of harboring him? If I was firmly convinced someone had 
> betrayed a boy's parents, then escaped from prison and attempted to 
> murder him, I certainly wouldn't expect the boy to help him hide. 
> 
>    True, Fudge knows that at the end of PoA Harry thinks Sirius is 
> innocent, but he implies that Harry and Hermione are under some 
kind 
> of Confundus charm and will come out of it any time. Aren't the DEs 
> the only ones who *know* that Sirius is innocent and in contact 
with 
> Harry?
> 
> Now, I know these are not enough to prove Umbridge a DE, but it was 
> enough to make me start wondering...


   Me: 
      On top of all this, we have Umbridge's near use of the 
Cruciatus Curse (pg 746-747, OotP, American Text). Granted, in the 
First War the use of Unforgiveables was authorized by Barty Crouch, 
but Fudge had authorized nothing of the sort - why would he, when he 
didn't think there was a Death Eater threat in the first place? Now 
granted, she did put on a show of being slightly hesitant about using 
the curse, but what got me was "What Cornelius doesn't know won't 
hurt him." Just another point to add on to your two...
                                  - Joe S