timetable problem

[Carol]

No: HPFGUIDX 183146

Jerri wrote:
> <snip>
> We know that she [Umbridge] inspected several classes when Harry was
present, but as I recall she did Flitwick when the twins were in
class, and Harry and readers learned about it from her.  I can't see
her just 
> inspecting classes when Harry happened to be in the class.
> 
> There are other places in the book that caused me to feel that she had 
> more on her schedule that would fit.  But this was the straw that got 
> me.

Carol responds:
I always thought that JKR manipulated Umbridge's schedule so that
Harry (and therefore the reader) could witness the inspections that
would prove most important or most interesting: Snape's and
McGonagall's because both Harry and the reader would want to witness
them; Trelawney's and Hagrid's because those two were the weakest
teachers and most in danger. (We also got to see Grubbly-Plank's
because it was at the same time as Hagrid's and made an interesting
comparison. Apparently, Umbridge did actually recognize G-P's
competence (but, of course, she had no stake in going after her, either).

In contrast, we don't need to see Flitwick's or Sprout's or Binns's
(if she even bothered to inspect a ghost) or any of the classes that
Hermione took but Harry didn't. Still, to have Umbridge's schedule
overlap Harry's for four of the six or seven classes he's taking (I
suppose we should include Astronomy though we never see a single
Astronomy lesson) seems forced, a mere convenience related to the PoV
of the novel. It would have been more realistic, though less fun, to
omit Snape's or McGonagall's inspection.

But for Umbridge to have enough free periods to inspect more than two
or three of her fellow teachers (without providing a substitute for
her own students) is unrealistic in the first place. At least some of
the teachers will have the same periods free that she does, and she'd
need to spend the time she spends in Hagrid's and Trelawney's
classrooms inspecting someone else.

Oh, well. Maybe JKR didn't think we'd notice, but I thought that it
was done for her convenience from the first time I read it.

Carol, glad to have her computer back and very much behind on posting
and everything else