CHAPTER DISCUSSION: Chapter 15 (The Hogwarts High Inquisitor)

[Aesha Williams]

No: HPFGUIDX 94753

>1.  According to the Daily Prophet, the High Inquisitor position was the result of "surprise legislation" >passed by the Ministry on a Sunday night.  Who passed that legislation?  A legislative body?  If 
>so, who is it composed of?  How is it chosen?  Why wasn't it mentioned by name?

Well, I didn't really think that it was any body- I thought it was the Minister himself. Otherwise I would assume that it would be the Wizengamot that was involved, and perhaps Fudge rounded up those who were on his side at Harry's trial to pass some questionable legislation. But really, I just thought it was Fudge, maybe Percy and Delores that put it into effect.

>2. The Daily Prophet quotes Percy Wesley extensively.  How enthusiastic do you think his support really >is?  Does he honestly believe what he says, is he doing it to get ahead of the Ministry, or does he really >think he owes unquestioning obedience to his superiors?  How does the Percy we see here square with the >Percy we saw in PS/SS who admired Dumbledore's brilliance?

    I don't believe in Double Agent!Percy, and I think he truly is supportive of Delores and Fudge throughout the book, although some of him is brown-nosing. I think that Percy is blindly patriotic; he doesn't believe his government can do any wrong, especially those he's held in such high esteem for so long (Barty Crouch, Fudge). I think his problem is just that he doesn't believe the Ministry would truly put the entire Wizarding population (well, and the world) in there was a chance Voldemort was alive and well.
  
>4. Does it seem out of character for the grade-obsessed Hermione to be quizzing Fred and George (of all >people) about OWL grades?  Why didn't she research this like she researches everything else?  Do you 
>think JKR did this purposefully?  If so, why?

    Well, I didn't really think it was strange. My book is at home (and I'm 500 miles away at school) so I'm not exactly sure, but wasn't she asking what the letters meant? I don't know, maybe just because I didn't really expect that there'd be a lot of material written about OWLS, and their structure, and what everything meant... that's what the teachers are there to explain.

>5. What did Umbridge hoped to achieve through the inspections?  Has she targeted certain professors (we >learn that Flitwick's was "no big deal")?  Does she have a hidden agenda beyond discrediting Dumbledore, >and if so, what is it?  Is JKR using Umbridge to lampoon government interference in education?

    I think Umbridge's sole purpose with the inspections was to monitor what the children are learning in school. The Ministry needs to make sure that Dumbledore's anti-Ministry attitude isn't being passed on to the faculty and students at the school. She may have been looking for what she would deem inappropriate questions and stuff- to make sure that the other classes are being run like hers, and students aren't being allowed to question the teachers or the Ministry. I don't know about JKR making a statement about government interference, but I will say that I was uncomfortable (for lack of a better term) through the entire book because of the Ministry's actions, reigning in and punishing anyone who had the nerve to question the Ministry or the Minister... or believe in an alternative truth.

>6. How can Umbridge possibly have enough time to inspect so many classes *and* teach all the DADA >classes as well?

    I don't know, I wondered this too. She has 7 DADA classes, and how often throughout the week do they meet? Perhaps she went to classes on alternate days... or... yeah, I don't know.

>7. Did you guess after reading Trelawney's inspection that Trelawney's hiring had to do with her first >correct predicion?  And did anyone mark the fact that Trelawney's dire prediction for Umbridge came true >in the Forbidden Forest?

    No to both... I guess I"m a little dense. I wish I had the book here to read the prediction. Hmmm. 

>8. What, if anything, does the revelation of McGonagall's December starting date at Hogwarts signify?  Is >this a clue to a significant backstory, or a red herring?

    I don't think her hiring date means anything significant. Like many have said, maybe that's when Dippet died and they needed a new Transfiguration teacher. I wonder what McGonagall did before teaching Transfiguration. Did she teach another subject at the school? Did she have another career? Was she a housewife?

Aesha

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