Detention with Dolores (OP)
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Detention with Dolores is the thirteenth chapter of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.
Contents |
Monday, September 2nd
Rumours
News of Harry Potter's argument with Dolores Umbridge has spread around the school (OP12). When the boy goes to dinner, he overhears all sorts of rumours about him; no one seems to bother speaking low enough for him not to do so. The widespread reaction is one of disbelief.
Harry is shaking with anger and frustration, and can barely believe that people wouldn't pay attention to his story, considering that they all heard it from Albus Dumbledore's mouth at the end of the previous school year (GF36). Hermione points out that they probably didn't believe it then, either, and decides that the trio should leave the Great Hall.
She and Harry continue discussing the subject after walking out. Hermione tells him how odd it was to be on the outside of the third task of the Triwizard Tournament and suddenly have Harry appear with Cedric Diggory's body, having to believe Dumbledore's word that the two were attacked by Lord Voldemort (GF35).
"Before the truth could sink in," says Hermione, "everyone went home for the summer, where they spent two months reading about how you're a nutcase and Dumbledore's going senile!" (OP4).
They arrive at the common room (the password is still "mimbulus mimbletonia"), which is practically empty. Crookshanks was on an armchair, and snugs on Hermione's lap when she sits by the fire.
Suddenly, Hermione has an outburst, wailing over the presence of Umbridge as their teacher in their OWL year. She doesn't understand why Dumbledore let that happen. Harry points out that they have never had great Defence Against the Dark Arts teachers; nobody wants the job—they say it's jinxed.
Ron and Hermione almost begin yet another argument, but Harry stops them, convincing them to do homework instead.
Homework
The essay they are supposed to write for Severus Snape's Potions class is about the properties of moonstone and its uses in potion-making. Ron writes the title and looks expectantly at Hermione, waiting for her to give him the information.
Hermione, however, is far too occupied observing Fred, George and Lee Jordan, who are feeding innocent first-years some of their inventions—she doesn't know whether it's Nosebleed Nougat, Puking Pastilles or Fainting Fancies. Judging by the resulting knocked-out state of the young students, it's the latter.
She stands and bossily confronts the twins, who are taking notes on their clipboards. They pay no heed to her warnings that testing the novelties on unsuspecting first-years can be dangerous, claiming that the kids understand the risks and are being paid. Ron decides not to offer Hermione his support, choosing to sink low in his chair instead.
Lee puts the purple end of the Fainting Fancies in the unconscious students' mouths, and they start coming around. Harry notices that some of them look so shocked to wake up lying on the floor that it is impossible to believe that the twins actually warned them of the sweets' effects.
Hermione is still furious, but the twins mock her authority, almost daring her to put them in detention, or making them write lines. She narrows her eyes and draws herself up to her full height, saying, "No, but I will write to your mother."
In the twins' book, this threat is way below the belt; they seem shocked. Hermione casts them one last threateningly look and returns to her chair. There she acerbically thanks Ron for his support, and then decides that she is unable to concentrate and is going to bed.
Before she does, however, she pulls two woollen objects form her bag and leaves them on the desk, covered with bits of parchment and a broken quill: they're hats for house-elves, and she is trying to trick them into becoming free.
After she leaves, Ron clears the rubbish off the hats and leaves them visible. He gives up on the essay—it's pointless to do it without Hermione—and goes to bed. Harry does the same, since his headache won't diminish. On the way to the dorm, he passes by Seamus Finnigan, who opens his mouth to talk; Harry walks faster to avoid yet another confrontation.
Tuesday, September 3rd
Hermione's unusually happy at breakfast; when inquired as to why, she replies that the hats were gone. Ron retorts that the lopsided hats possibly don't count as clothes, considering their similarity to "woolly bladders". She doesn't speak to him all morning.
The schedule of the day is double Charms, followed by double Transfiguration. Both Flitwick and McGonagall spend the first fifteen minutes of their lessons lecturing the class on the importance of OWLs.
In Charms, they spend an hour revising Summoning Charms (which, according to the teacher, would certainly come up in the OWL), and were assigned the largest amount yet of homework.
Transfiguration was even worse. "I see no reason why everybody in this class should not achieve an OWL in Transfiguration as long as they put in the work," says McGonagall. "Yes, even you, Longbottom. There's nothing wrong with your work except lack of confidence. So ... today we are starting Vanishing Spells. These are easier than Conjuring Spells, which you will not usually attempt until NEWT level, but they are still among the most difficult magic you will be tested on your OWL."
Harry has great difficulty with Vanishing Spells, and so does Ron. Hermione, of course, vanishes her snail on her third attempt, earning a ten-point bonus for Gryffindor. She was the only student to whom no Transfiguration homework was assigned.
Ron and Harry spend their lunch hour in the Library researching for the moonstones essay. By the time they get to Care of Magical Creatures, Harry's head is aching again.
Bowtruckles
Professor Grubbly-Plank is teaching. She has set a long trestle table in front of her, with several twigs on it. Harry arrives, noticing Draco Malfoy's gang (Pansy Parkinson, Crabbe, Goyle and the others) sniggering at him. When the Professor asks what the twigs are, Hermione raises her hand, and Draco mocks her for it.
Pansy's laugh becomes a yelp when the twigs leapt into the air and showed their true form—pixie-like creatures with knobbly arms and legs, two twiglike fingers on each hand and a barklike face with beetle-brown eyes, all made of wood.
Parvati and Lavender seem amazed, and Harry irritably thinks that Hagrid often shows them interesting creatures, too: the Flobberworms (PA8) had been dull, but Salamanders (PA12) and Hippogriffs (PA6) were not that in the least; Blast-Ended Skrewts (GF13) were even a tad too lively.
Grubbly-Plank sharply orders them to keep their voices down. Hermione says that the creatures are Bowtruckles (earning five points for the House), which usually inhabit wand-trees. They eat woodlice and fairy eggs (by saying this, Hermione gets another five points). If angered, they will try to remove the attacker's eyes with their sharp fingers.
Each group of three students gets one Bowtrucle and a bowl of woodlice; their assignment is a sketch with labelled body parts. Harry deliberately positions himself near the teacher, so that he can ask her about Hagrid's whereabouts is. She dismisses him repressively, and Draco enjoys the opportunity to tease Harry about what could have happened to the gamekeeper. He appears, however, to know things the Gryffindor doesn't ("Maybe he's been messing with stuff that too big for him, if you get my drift.").
Harry feels sick with the thought that something bad may have happened to Hagrid unbeknownst to the Order of the Phoenix. When he shares his concerns with Ron and Hermione, she immediately cautions him that worrying Harry is Draco's sole intention.
Hearing Malfoy badmouthing Hagrid not far away breaks Harry's concentration, and he grips the Bowtruckle with too much strength; it deeply scratches his hand and runs to the Forbidden Forest. When he mutters a threat, Hermione reminds him that Draco is a Prefect now, and could make Harry's life difficult. "Wow, I wonder what it'd be like to have a difficult life," he snits, making Ron laugh.
He expresses once more how much he misses Hagrid. He warns Hermione not to call attention to the fact that Grubbly-Plank is a better teacher ("I wasn't going to."), even though he acknowledges to himself that her lessons are infinitely better.
Herbology
When the trio reaches the greenhouses, they ran into fourth-years. Ginny says hi to them as they pass by. Luna Lovegood emerges soon afterwards, a smudge of earth on her nose and a pair of orange radishes for earrings (Parvati and Lavender mock her for these); she makes an excited beeline towards Harry when she sees him, and says outright, "I believe He Who Must Not Be Named is back and I believe you fought him and escaped from him."
"You can laugh," she continues, "but people used to believe there were no such things as the Blibbering Humdinger or the Crumple-Horned Snorkack!" Hermione points out that, in those cases, people were right. Luna glares at her and walks off.
Hermione says Ginny has told her all about Luna: the girl, whose father runs The Quibbler, only believes in things as long as there is no proof at all. Harry remembers the Thestrals he saw when he arrived at Hogwarts (OP10) and that Luna could see them, too. His spirits sink when considering the possibility that she may have been lying.
Ernie Macmillan approaches Harry as well, declaring his support ("I want you to know, Potter, that it's not only weirdos who support you. I personally believe you one hundred per cent. My family have always stood firm behind Dumbledore, and so do I."). It's a pleasant surprise, and Harry appreciates it. He catches Seamus' eyes after Ernie walks away, and the boy looks both confused and defiant.
Professor Sprout begins their lessons with, unsurprisingly, a lecture on the OWLs. She assigned them yet another essay.
Dinner
Harry was starving, so he went to dinner instead of heading towards the Gryffindor Tower after Herbology. Angelina Johnson caught up with him as soon as he entered the Great Hall. She lectures him for missing Keeper tryouts because of his detention. Angelina had warned him that she wanted the whole team to be present that evening, and she'd booked the Hogwarts Quidditch pitch especially for the occasion.
Harry defends himself by pointing out that he didn't choose to be in detention, to which Angelina retorts, "Well, you can just go straight to her and ask her to let you off on Friday, and I don't care how you do it. Tell her You-Know-Who's a figment of your imagination if you like, just make sure you're there!"
After she stalks off, Harry muses to Ron that they should check with Puddlemere United whether Oliver Wood has died recently; Angelina seems to be channelling his spirit. Harry is sceptic about his chances of getting off detention on Friday; he'll be lucky if he doesn't get off too late tonight, considering he has a huge load of homework piling up already.
Ron moans, somewhat randomly, that it's going to rain. That has nothing to do with homework, and Hermione and Harry don't understand his comment.
I must not tell lies
At five o'clock, Harry's detention starts. He arrives punctually at Umbridge's office on the third flood, and observes what she's done to the place. He's seen how three of the office's last occupants had decorated it, and Dolores' taste shocks him (CS7, PA22, GF20).
"The surfaces had all been draped in lacy covers and cloths. There were several vases full of dried flowers, each one residing on its own doily, and on one of the walls was a collection of ornamental plates, each decorated with a large technicolour kitten wearing a different bow around its neck."
The teacher greets him and, naturally, denies his request to reschedule his Friday detention ("This is your punishment for spreading evil, nasty, attention-seeking stories, Mr. Potter, and punishments certainly cannot be adjusted to suit the guilty one's convenience."). Harry barely manages not to snap in response to her statement.
She instructs him to do some lines—but not with his quill. She hands him a special black quill with an unusually sharp point, and no ink (she says he won't need it). He has to write "I must not tell lies" as many times as it takes for the message to sink in.
When Harry begins writing, he feels intense pain in his hand, and notices that he's written in blood. The words are carved on his right hand, but the cut heals instantly, leaving behind only slight reddening. He writes his lines several times, refusing to check his watch or display any other sign of weakness.
By the time Umbridge calls him to her, the skin on the back of his hand is red raw, but he doesn't wince when she touches it. She seems disappointed, but vows to continue the following day.
He walks out of her office, presuming it to be well past midnight, and only starts running to the Tower when he's made sure that he is outside Umbridge's hearing range.
Wednesday, September 4th
Harry does nothing of the homework that has piled up. He hurriedly scribbles some dreams in his journal a little before class, and is surprised to see Ron doing the same. The Weasley tells him he did "other stuff" the previous night, and was therefore unable to work on his homework.
On their way to the North Tower, Ron asks Harry in how his detention with Umbridge was. Harry replies simply, "Lines". He believes that his friend's look of horror if presented with the truth would make the situation more difficult to handle than it already was. He also did not want to give Umbridge the satisfaction of hearing that he had complained about his detention.
During Transfiguration, Harry's spellwork suffers because of his lack of practice. He finishes the drawing of the Bowtruckle during lunch. The class is assigned even more homework for both McGonagall and Grubbly-Plank's lessons, and also for Astronomy.
At dinner, Angelina Johnson finds Harry once more, and expresses her disappointment at his inability to keep up with his Quidditch obligations. Hermione tries to comfort him with the reminder that at least his punishment consists solely of lines. All this only furthers Harry's depression.
Ron continues acting shifty and avoiding questions about his night-time activities.
The second detention is as bad as the first, and the back of Harry's hand is red and inflamed. He still doesn't express his pain until leaving the office—once more after midnight.
When Harry gets to the common room, he finishes Snape's moonstone essay for fear that he would otherwise get detention with the Slytherin Head of House as well. He then does the Transfiguration and the Care of Magical Creatures homeworks and staggers up to bed.
Thursday, September 5th
Both Harry and, inexplicably, Ron were exhausted on Thursday. Harry's third detention was similar to the others, but after two hours the words no longer fade from the back of his hand, but remain there, bleeding.
Hearing him stop writing, Umbridge looks up and examines the hand herself. She at last seems satisfied, but still she orders him to return the following night.
On his way back to the Gryffindor Tower, Harry ponders that he has at last found a teacher who can compete with Snape when it comes to hatefulness.
Harry suddenly runs into Ron, who is lurking behind a statue of Lachlan the Lanky, clutching his broomstick. The Weasley boy is startled by Harry's arrival and attempted to hide his Cleansweep Eleven.
Questioned by Harry, Ron at first attempts to lie, but after growing increasingly redder he confesses that he's been out practicing in order to try out for the position of Keeper in the Gryffindor Quidditch team.
Harry is surprised, and asks Ron if he is any good; the teenager replies that he is not bad, and always played with his brothers during the holidays. He's been practicing alone since Tuesday, trying to bewitch Quaffles to find at him, but he's still insecure. He knows Fred and George will mock him endlessly when he shows up for tryouts.
In the middle of the conversation, Ron catches a glimpse of Harry's hand, and is startled to see what Umbridge has done to it. Harry finally tells him the whole story; Ron calls her an "old hag" and encourages Harry to go to McGonagall, or Dumbledore. The suggestion bothers the boy, who has not spoken to the Headmaster since June.
Friday, September 6th
Like the previous days, Friday was sullen and sodden. Hagrid still hasn't shown up, but at least the day has two somewhat positive aspects to it: one, it's almost the weekend; two, he had a distant view of the Quidditch pitch from Umbridge's office, and he might see something of Ron's tryout.
At five o'clock he goes to detention for what he hopes is the last time. He manages to shift his chair a little so that he can see the pitch, daring to glance at it every once in a while. He writes his lines as usual, and the cut on his hand bleeds profusely.
After it darkens, he can no longer see the pitch, and the pain in his hand is maddening. Umbridge approaches him, claiming to wonder whether he's gotten the message yet. The moment she takes hold of his hand to examine it, he feels a sudden and extreme pain across the scar on his forehead, and also an odd feeling somewhere around his midriff.
He yanks his arm out of her grasp and leaps to his feet, staring at her. Umbridge seems satisfied, and smiles. She concludes that she has made her point, and excuses Harry.
Harry tries to calm himself down, reminding himself that what's just happened doesn't necessarily mean what he thinks it could mean. He gasps the password (mimbulus mimbletonia) to the Fat Lady, and enters the common room.
Celebration
Ron, holding a goblet of Butterbeer, is the first to greet Harry when he comes in. He announces that he did manage to get the position; he is the new Gryffindor Keeper. Harry makes an effort to appear happy despite his thumping heart and his throbbing, bleeding hand.
Harry notices that Hermione has drifted off to sleep on an armchair. George begs him to let her sleep, the boy notices several first-years with signs of recent nosebleeds.
Katie Bell calls Ron to go see whether Oliver Wood's old robes fit him. Angelina approaches Harry and apologises for her harsh behaviour from before. She bluntly adds that even though Ron is okay, he's not fabulous; she's betting that he will reveal an undiscovered talent at some point, based on the skills that his brothers have shown (PS8).
Angelina goes on to say that both Vicky Frobisher and Geoffrey Hooper flew better that day, but the latter is a whiner and Vicky's involved with far too many societies; she has stated that if Quidditch conflicts with her Charms Club, she'll put Charms first.
There will be a practice session the following day at two o'clock, and she hopes Harry will make it this time. Angelina turns to continue her conversation with Alicia Spinnet, and the boy goes to sit next to Hermione, who wakes up.
She tells him that she is extremely tired, having stayed awake until one o'clock making hats for the house-elves—the items are disappearing very fast, and she keeps hiding them in places where unsuspecting elves may pick them up.
Harry tells Hermione about what happened in Umbridge's office, and she at once understands that he is afraid that Umbridge is being controlled by Voldemort in a manner similar to what happened to Quirrell (PS17). She is, however, doubtful, pondering that Voldemort is properly reborn now (GF32) , but offers the idea that Umbridge might be under his control with the use of Imperius.
Hermione also remembers what Dumbledore said the previous year: sometimes Harry's pain has to do with feelings Voldemort is experiencing at the moment (GF30). She believes he should go tell Dumbledore; he doesn't appreciate the idea any more when Hermione says it, and retorts, "That's the only bit of me Dumbledore cares about, isn't it, my scar?"
Despite her protests, Harry refuses to consider it, and decides to write to Sirius instead. Hermione reproaches him; what if the letter is intercepted?
He irritably leaves to go to bed, and Hermione is relieved to have an excuse to do the same. Before she goes, she invites him to make house-elf hats, which he refuses, truthfully claiming to have too much homework.
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