Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Chapter Notes

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Chapter 11: The Sorting Hat’s New Song

• “Harry did not want to tell the others that he and Luna were having the same hallucination, if that was what it was, so he said nothing more about the horses as he sat down inside the carriage and slammed the door behind him. Nevertheless, he could not help watching the silhouettes of the horses moving beyond the window.” – Really though how likely is it two people would have the same kind of hallucination? After all those years in the Wizarding World Harry still hasn’t learned there is always a logical explanation to everything. If anything he should have told Hermione about it, who would have read about Thestrals (and maybe they are even mentioned in “Hogwarts: A History”), and would have told Harry what they are. But Harry being Harry rather keeps this to himself, and thinks it is just another weird thing that happens to him.

• ‘I’ll be quite glad if he has,’ said Luna, ‘he isn’t a very good teacher, is he?’ ‘Yes, he is!’ said Harry, Ron and Ginny angrily. Harry glared at Hermione. She cleared her throat and quickly said, ‘Erm … yes … he’s very good.’” – I mean Luna is not wrong, because they are probably people more qualified than Hagrid for the job. And Hermione, with all her love for Hagrid, knows that as well. And Harry to some degree as well, but he is loyal to a fault.

• “She looked, Harry thought, like somebody’s maiden aunt: squat, with short, curly, mouse-brown hair in which she had placed a horrible pink Alice band that matched the fluffy pink cardigan she wore over her robes.” – First of all how do you wear a cardigan over your robes? Second, Umbridge is described as someone who dresses overly feminine, even more like a young girl than an adult woman, and Harry describes her voice as girlish as well. This follows a theme where unsympathetic characters are described as vain and dressed in an overly feminine way: Lockhart, Rita Skeeter, and now Umbridge. Compared to positive female characters like McGonagall, Hermione, Ginny or Tonks, who either don’t particular care about their appearances or appear very tom-boyish. And Harry himself is annoyed by girls who cry, or want to talk about their feelings, or – God forbid – giggle. And Ginny in contrast is described as tough, as fierce, someone who doesn’t cry or openly show her feelings. And I am very conflicted about this, because for one it describes the whole crying and talking about your feeling thing as something typical feminine. But also as something negative. Harry constantly keeps things to himself, he doesn’t talk about his problems until someone forces him to, he doesn’t want to appear weak or that people worry about him. And he appreciates if others act like this as well. And it is not very healthy.

• “Said Slytherin, ‘We’ll teach just those Whose ancestry is purest.’ Said Ravenclaw, ‘We’ll teach those whose Intelligence is surest.’ Said Gryffindor, ‘We’ll teach all those With brave deeds to their name,’ Said Hufflepuff, ‘I’ll teach the lot, And treat them just the same.’ “ – Look, there is a reason why I think Hufflepuff is the best House, and it is not just because it is my house. It is based on what the Sorting Hat says here. Which is that all the founders only accepted students with certain qualities, all of them except Hufflepuff, who said she would teach everyone and treat everyone the same. Which, you know, is how it should be. Everyone should have the same right for education. And Hufflepuff’s poor reputation is based on the thinking that it is the house where everyone is sorted who is not good enough for the other house, whose ancestry is not right, who is not smart or brave enough. But Hufflepuff believed that you don’t have to special, you don’t have to be extraordinary in order to belong to Hogwarts. And despite Hufflepuff welcoming everyone, not everyone has what it takes to be a Hufflepuff. I believe the defining quality of a Hufflepuff is their kindness, and in a very competitive environment this quality is often overlooked and considered as a weakness.

• “And now the Sorting Hat is here And you all know the score: I sort you into houses Because that is what I’m for, But this year I’ll go further, Listen closely to my song: Though condemned I am to split you Still I worry that it’s wrong, Though I must fulfil my duty And must quarter every year Still I wonder whether Sorting May not bring the end I fear.” – I think nobody has thought as much about the sorting system as the Sorting Hat, because that is after all its purpose, and he does nothing else all year than to rhyme a new song. But even the Hat admits that the sorting system might be wrong, that it doesn’t do good to divide people into houses and to let them compete against each other. And that instead of being united it would only strengthen prejudices. And people like Voldemort will always use the already existing hate among people for their own goals.

• “For our Hogwarts is in danger From external, deadly foes And we must unite inside her” – Also Hogwarts presents as female.

• “‘And it wants all the houses to be friends?’ said Harry, looking over at the Slytherin table, where Draco Malfoy was holding court. ‘Fat chance.’” – I know Draco is a dick and all, but imagine the Potter books if at some point Harry had reached out to the Slytherins? It is implied that Harry changed his view on Slytherin (and the sorting system as well) to some degree as an adult, in the way that he reassures his son that being sorted into Slytherin is not a bad thing. But I would have loved to see more of Slytherin in the books, in the form of allies, not as the outsider house, which is something a lot of fan fictions explore.

• Umbridge constantly treats all students at Hogwarts like they are little children, who should not have a mind of their own, but are expected to follow the rules given by adults. Despite the fact that some of the students are already of age, therefore legally adults, and even those like Harry are no longer children. Of course you are not an adult once you reach a certain age; it is a process that takes some time. But most of the students are in this process. They are in the middle of becoming their own person, of taking responsibility over their lives and choices. And yet Umbridge belittles them and never treats them with the respect they deserve.

• “The rare gifts with which you were born may come to nothing if not nurtured and honed by careful instruction. The ancient skills unique to the wizarding community must be passed down the generations lest we lose them for ever. The treasure trove of magical knowledge amassed by our ancestors must be guarded, replenished and polished by those who have been called to the noble profession of teaching.” – The way Umbridge talks already shows her anti-Muggle attitude between the lines, something we will see in full bloom in book 7. She sees wizardkind as something special, as something superior, and that the knowledge of it should only be passed down to those worthy of it. She never directly says so in book 5, but it is already clear that she would consider Muggleborn wizard and witches as not worthy, and that she has a great dislike to everyone she considers not human. Umbridge is not a Death Eater, but she agrees with Voldemort’s philosophy. She is not a monster in the way Voldemort is, she even appears at first like a joke, a caricature. But that is why she is so dangerous, and that makes her such a good villain.

• “‘I’ll tell you what it means,’ said Hermione ominously. ‘It means the Ministry’s interfering at Hogwarts.’” – Thanks for Hermione and her expert reading skills. And obviously Hermione often functions as exposition character, explaining Harry (and therefore the reader) how to read a certain scene. And there is a small degree how much exposition you should use as an author. If you explain everything you underestimate the intelligence of your audience. In this case however it makes sense. Harry says Umbridge’s speech sounded like a lot of waffle to him (we don’t even hear the whole speech because his mind drifts away). If it sounds like waffle to Harry it will sound like this to a lot of the (teenage) audience as well. But it is important to know for Harry (and therefore the reader) what Umbridge’s arrival really means. And this why Hermione needs to explain the situation for us.

• “He knew that Seamus’s mother was a witch and could not understand, therefore, why she should have come over so Dursleyish.” – Durseyish is an official word now, I guess.

• In the whole encounter with Seamus Harry acts like a dick. Seamus asks what actually happened the night Cedric died, because he is of course curious and doesn’t know whom to believe: the Daily Prophet and his mother or Dumbledore and Harry. I don’t think he is to be blamed to be confused about that. But Harry, instead of trying to explain, attacks Seamus’s mother. Obviously Harry doesn’t want to talk about that night, but people need answers. He expects everyone to simply trust Dumbledore and himself, when all the evidence they have is their word.

• “‘My parents are Muggles, mate,’ said Dean, shrugging. ‘They don’t know nothing about no deaths at Hogwarts, because I’m not stupid enough to tell them.’” – Dean’s parents probably also don’t know that in his second year a giant snake tried to kill all Muggleborn students or that the year later a mass murderer had entered their school. And Dean’s decision not to tell his parents about all the dangers of the Wizarding World make me wonder if Hermione did the same thing and kept her mouth shut, fearing they would no longer allow her to return to Hogwarts if they knew half the stuff her daughter was involved in.

• “‘My gran says that’s rubbish,’ piped up Neville. ‘She says it’s the Daily Prophet that’s going downhill, not Dumbledore. She’s cancelled our subscription. We believe Harry,’ said Neville simply. He climbed into bed and pulled the covers up to his chin, looking owlishly over them at Seamus. ‘My gran’s always said You-Know-Who would come back one day. She says if Dumbledore says he’s back, he’s back.’” – It is never stated if Mrs Longbottom was a member of the Order, but she sure had been involved enough in the anti-Voldemort-movement to know to trust Dumbledore and to know that Voldemort would return one day. Considering how much she lost during the first war, it would have been hard to bear to know that there would be a second war one day, and that might explain why she always was so strict to Neville, in order to prepare him for what would come one day.