CHAPTER DISCUSSION: Chapter 13 (Detention with Dolores)

[pennylin]

No: HPFGUIDX 91834

Hi everyone ---

Surfacing only briefly from lurkdom probably ...... but here to give the
Chapter 13 summary and provide some questions for discussion.  :--)

SUMMARY

This chapter leads off at dinnertime in the Great Hall, right after Harry
has his first shouting match with Professor Umbridge.  Most of the students
are loudly expressing doubts about Harry's story of Voldemort's return, and
the Trio leave their dinner unfinished.  Hermione explains to Harry that
many of the students may not have believed Harry or Dumbledore at the end of
last term and then went home to read Daily Prophet articles questioning the
sanity of both Harry and Dumbledore.

Back in the common room, Hermione laments that Dumbledore has hired such a
horrible DADA teacher during their OWL year.  Hermione confronts Fred and
George about testing their joke shop wares on first-year students.  She is
very angry that fellow-prefect Ron fails to join her in rebuking the twins.
She stops them only by threatening to write to their mother.  Before
retiring for the night, Hermione sets out 2 hats for the house elves that
she made over the summer, announcing that now she's back in school again and
can use magic to knit, she plans to make many more.  She and Ron have an
argument about Hermione's attempt to hide the hats so that the elves will
mistakenly pick them up.  Ron brings the hats into clear view after Hermione
leaves.  Harry passes Seamus on the way up to his room, and thinks that
Seamus might have been about to say something.

The next morning, Ron refers to Hermione's hats as "woolly bladders" and
argues that the elves might not want freedom just because the hats are gone.
The Gryffindors & Slytherins study bowtruckles in Care of Magical Creatures
(still without Hagrid).  Harry ended up getting injured by a bowtruckle that
he was holding for Hermione, as he listened to Draco insulting Hagrid.  As
they leave the class (with Harry's hand bandaged in Hermione's
handkerchief), Luna Lovegood walks up to Harry and loudly declares that she
believes his story about Voldemort.  Ernie Macmillan shortly afterwards
makes his own proclamation of support.  Seamus looked "both confused and
defiant."  In the Great Hall, Angelina confronts Harry about landing up in
detention when there will be tryouts for the new Gryffindor Keeper later
that week.

Harry goes to Umbridge's office at 5:00 p.m.  He asks if he can do the
Friday detention another night, without success.  He is shocked when he
writes the first line and discovers that Umbridge's "special quill" is
simultaneously writing the words on the parchment with his blood and etching
them into the back of his hand.  Harry is determined not to show any
weakness and is there for hours, writing lines into his own hand.  Harry
doesn't even tell Ron and Hermione about what is really happening.  After
his 3rd night of detentions though, Ron sees Harry's hand and demands an
explanation.  Ron confessed to Harry that he was trying out for the Keeper
position, begging Harry "not to laugh."  Ron and Hermione, on separate
occasions, both urge Harry to go to Dumbledore about Umbridge's unusual
punishments.

Friday's detention with Umbridge is somewhat more bearable because he can
see part of the Quidditch tryouts from where he's sitting, until darkness
sets in.  When Umbridge touches his hand this time to see how deep the cut
has etched into Harry's hand, pain sears across Harry's scar.  She
mistakenly thinks he has finally shown pain in his hand, when Harry jerks
his hand away and leaps to his feet.  Pleased, she lets him go.  When he
reaches the common room, the celebration for Ron as Keeper is in full swing.
Angelina confronts Harry with the news that Ron isn't "great" and needs all
the help he can get.  Harry can hardly stand to not be telling someone about
his experience with his scar, and he seeks Hermione out at the earliest
chance (she woke up at the sound of him setting his bag down).    Hermione
thinks that Voldemort can't be controlling Umbridge as he did with Quirrell
since he's now "properly alive" again; she advises Harry that his scar pain
might have been coincidental with Umbridge touching him.  Harry is
unconvinced and is annoyed when Hermione tells him not to write to Sirius.
Harry says he is going to bed and asks her to tell Ron, but Hermione looks
"relieved" and says she is going to bed too.  As they leave the common room,
Hermione invites Harry to help her make elf hats the next day, but Harry is
unable to muster any enthusiasm and turns down the offer, leaving Hermione
looking disappointed.

QUESTIONS

1.  This is one of the first signs of how Ron will handle his
responsibilities as prefect.  Do you think it was merely his family
relationship with the Twins that kept him from being a rules-enforcer with
Hermione or would he have shirked his responsibilities if it had been Seamus
and Dean doing something questionable or something that clearly broke a
school rule?  Do you think Harry might have taken his prefect duties any
more seriously than Ron did?

2.  What do you think about Hermione's attempt to trick the house elves into
picking up clothing that will set them free?  Do you agree with Ron that
"they should at least see what they're picking up?"

3.  This is one of several instances where Seamus seems to be trying to talk
to Harry.  As in other cases, Harry often doesn't want to take the trouble
and/or risk the confrontation that might occur if he encouraged an
antagonist to discuss things with him.  You may recall that Rowling used
similar language to signal that Ron might have been amenable to making it up
with Harry sooner, but Harry's stubborn pride and unwillingness to engage in
anything emotionally "messy" always gets in the way.  Do you think it is
stubborn pride, emotional distance or perhaps inner protectiveness that
causes Harry to react this way?

4.  On first read, did you guess what Ron was up to (practicing for the
Keeper tryouts)?

5.  Is it possible that Harry was really there for 7 *hours* writing lines
that cut into his own hand, or is this another case of Rowling not being
very good with time details?

6.  Was Harry wrong to fail to alert even one Hogwarts professor about what
was going on with Umbridge's detentions?  He probably didn't know the extent
of her power at that exact point in time, so it was more likely Harry's
distrust of adults and authority figures (and dislike of "showing weakness")
that prompted his decision to stoically bear his ordeal and stay silent.
Even Ron thinks Harry's desire to avoid having Umbridge know that she "got
to him" is ridiculous, as he urges him to report the incidents to McGonagall
or Dumbledore.

7.  Does Ron have reason to think Harry would laugh at the idea of him
trying out for Keeper (i.e., is he a bad Quidditch player in general), or is
this just Ron's lack of confidence manifesting itself rather plainly?  Do
you think the Twins play an especially strong role in Ron's self-esteem
issues?  He seems to be particularly sensitive to their jibes and avoids
giving them reason to bother him.

8.  Were you convinced by Hermione's explanation that maybe it was
coincidence that Harry's scar hurt when Umbridge touched him?  Is Hermione
right so often in OoP that it might be a red herring in later books?

9.  Shipping question (of course!): what do you make of the fact that
Hermione seems anxious to get off to bed on a night when Ron will clearly
wanting to be celebrating and might even have confidence enough to make a
romantic gesture towards her?  If she knows he likes her and she likes him
back, why would she not take the chance to be alone with him when he's in
the best spirits ever before (and instead asks Harry to join her in knitting
the next day, looking "disappointed" at his answer)?  <g>

Penny

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