Harry Potter and the First Time Readers

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: Ch 30-33

Episode Summary

Jon and Lizzy talk about the correct way to say O.W.Ls.

Episode Notes

Chapter 30 - Grawp

• Eventually the area was roped off and Filch, gnashing his teeth furiously, was given the task of punting students across it to their classrooms. Harry was certain that teachers like McGonagall or Flitwick could have removed the swamp in an instant but, just as in the case of Fred and Georges Wildfire Whiz‐bangs, they seemed to prefer to watch Umbridge struggle.

Q1 - What prank would you play on Umbridge now?

• None of the staff but Filch seemed to be stirring themselves to help her. Indeed, a week after Fred and Georgeʹs departure Harry witnessed Professor McGonagall walking right past Peeves, who was determinedly loosening a crystal chandelier, and could have sworn he heard her tell the poltergeist out of the corner of her mouth, ʹIt unscrews the other way.ʹ

Q2 - Should Harry be that serious about occlumency and going back to Snape?

Q3 - Hagrid mentions he’s going to help Dumbledore when he gets sacked…what is he going to do?

• ʹWhat are those ropes for, then?ʹ Harry asked. He had just noticed ropes thick as saplings stretching from around the trunks of the largest nearby trees towards the place where Grawp lay curled on the ground with his back to them. ʹYou have to keep him tied up?ʹ said Hermione faintly. ʹWell… yeah…ʹ said Hagrid, looking anxious. ʹSee ‐ itʹs like I say ‐ he doesnʹ  really know ʹis own strength.ʹ 

Q4 - Is Hagrid right to have his brother like this?

Q5 - What do you think about Centaurs?

• ʹOh, come off it, Harry!ʹ said Hermione angrily, stopping dead in her tracks so that the people behind had to swerve to avoid her. ʹOf course heʹs going to be chucked out and, to be perfectly honest, after what weʹve just seen, who can blame Umbridge?ʹ  There was a pause in which Harry glared at her, and her eyes filled slowly with tears. ʹYou didnʹt mean that,ʹ said Harry quietly. ʹNo… well… all right… I didnʹt,ʹ she said, wiping her eyes angrily. ʹBut why does he have to make life so difficult for himself ‐ for us?ʹ 

Q6 - Why is Hermione so mad here?

Q7 - What do you think about Ron having a good match?

Chapter 31 - O.W.L.s

Q1 - Have you ever had that moment of euphoria like Ron is at the moment?

Q2 - Were you guys studyers?

•  ʹBut I daresay the Ministry of Magic will track him down soon enough.ʹ  ʹI doubt it,ʹ shouted tiny Professor Marchbanks, ʹnot if Dumbledore doesnʹt want to be found! I should know… examined him personally in Transfiguration and Charms when he did NEWTs… did things with a wand Iʹd never seen before.ʹ 

Q3 - Who after Dumbledore is the best witch or wizard?

• The first question: a) Give the incantation and b) describe the wand movement required to make objects fly. Harry had a fleeting memory of a club soaring high into the air and landing loudly on the thick skull of a troll… smiling slightly, he bent over the paper and began to write.

Q4 - Is Harry going to get high marks?

• ʹWell, we were always going to fail that one,ʹ said Ron gloomily as they ascended the marble staircase. He had just made Harry feel rather better by telling him how he had told the examiner in detail about the ugly man with a wart on his nose in his crystal ball, only to look up and realize he had been describing his examinerʹs reflection.

Q5 - Why are they sacking Hagrid so late?

Q6 - What do you think of the whole sacking of Hagrid?

Q7 - In your opinion, did wand legislation contribute to, or lead to better control of, goblin riots of the eighteenth century?

Q8 - Harry mentions Legilimency for this exam, would that work?

• But there was a shape on the floor at the very end, a black shape moving on the floor like a wounded animal… Harryʹs stomach contracted with fear… with excitement… A voice issued from his own mouth, a high, cold voice empty of any human kindness… Take it for me… lift it down, now… I cannot touch it… but you can The black shape on the floor shifted a little. Harry saw a long‐fingered white hand clutching a wand rise at the end of his own arm… heard the high, cold voice say ʹCrucio!ʹ  The man on the floor let out a scream of pain, attempted to stand but fell back, writhing. Harry was laughing. He raised his wand, the curse lifted and the figure groaned and became motionless. ʹLord Voldemort is waiting Very slowly, his arms trembling, the man on the ground raised his shoulders a few inches and lifted his head. His face was bloodstained and gaunt, twisted in pain yet rigid with defiance… ʹYouʹll have to kill me,ʹ whispered Sirius. ʹUndoubtedly I shall in the end,ʹ said the cold voice. ʹBut you will fetch it for me first, Black… you think you have felt pain thus far? Think again… we have hours ahead of us and nobody to hear you scream…ʹ  But somebody screamed as Voldemort lowered his wand again; somebody yelled and fell sideways off a hot desk on to the cold stone floor; Harry awoke as he hit the ground, still yelling, his scar on fire, as the Great Hall erupted all around him.

Q9 - What do you think is happening?

Chapter 32 - Out of the Fire

• ʹI donʹt wonder youʹre shocked, Potter,ʹ said Madam Pomfrey, with a kind of fierce approval in her face. ʹAs if one of them could have Stunned Minerva McGonagall face‐on by daylight! Cowardice, . thatʹs what it was… despicable cowardice… if I wasnʹt worried what would happen to you students without me, Iʹd resign in protest.ʹ 

Q1 - What should the teachers do here?

Q2 - Are Ron and Hermione wrong to be questioning Harry here? Has Harry proved himself untrustworthy?

• ʹOK,ʹ she said, looking frightened yet determined, ʹIʹve just got to say this ‐ʹ  ʹWhat?ʹ  ʹYou… this isnʹt a criticism, Harry! But you do… sort of… I mean ‐ donʹt you think youʹve got a bit of a ‐ a ‐ saving‐people thing!ʹ she said.

Q3 - Is she right here?

• ʹIʹm trying to say ‐ Voldemort knows you, Harry! He took Ginny down into the Chamber of Secrets to lure you there, itʹs the kind of thing he does, he knows youʹre the ‐ the sort of person whoʹd go to Siriusʹs aid! What if heʹs just trying to get you into the Department of Myst—?ʹ

Q4 - Is she right here?

• ʹWeʹll have to use Umbridgeʹs fire and see if we can contact him,ʹ said Hermione, who looked positively terrified at the thought. ʹWeʹll draw Umbridge away again, but weʹll need lookouts, and thatʹs where we can use Ginny and Luna.ʹ  Though clearly struggling to understand what was going on, Ginny said immediately, ʹYeah, weʹll do it,ʹ and Luna said, ʹWhen you say ʺSiriusʺ, are you talking about Stubby Boardman?ʹ

Q5 - Is this a good plan?

• ʹWhereʹs Sirius, Kreacher?ʹ Harry demanded. The house‐elf gave a wheezy chuckle. ʹMaster has gone out, Harry Potter.ʹ  ʹWhereʹs he gone? Whereʹs he gone, Kreacher?ʹ  Kreacher merely cackled. ʹIʹm warning you!ʹ said Harry, fully aware that his scope for inflicting punishment upon Kreacher was almost non‐existent in this position. ʹWhat about Lupin? Mad‐Eye? Any of them, are any of them there?ʹ  ʹNobody here but Kreacher!ʹ said the elf gleefully and turning away from Harry he began to walk slowly towards the door at the end of the kitchen. ʹKreacher thinks he will have a little chat with his mistress now, yes, he hasnʹt had a chance in a long time, Kreacherʹs master has been keeping him away from her ‐ʹ  ʹWhere has Sirius gone?ʹ Harry yelled after the elf. ʹKreacher, has he gone to the Department of Mysteries?ʹ  Kreacher stopped in his tracks. Harry could just make out the back of his bald head through the forest of chair legs before him. ʹMaster does not tell poor Kreacher where he is going,ʹ said the elf quietly. ʹBut you know!ʹ shouted Harry. ʹDonʹt you? You know where he is!ʹ  There was a momentʹs silence, then the elf let out his loudest cackle yet. ʹMaster will not come back from the Department of Mysteries!ʹ he said gleefully. ʹKreacher and his mistress are alone again!ʹ 

Q6 - Will Sirius not come back from the Department of Mysteries?

• Snape gave her an ironic bow and turned to leave. Harry knew his last chance of letting the Order know what was going on was walking out of the door. ʹHeʹs got Padfoot!ʹ he shouted. ʹHeʹs got Padfoot at the place where itʹs hidden!ʹ  Snape had stopped with his hand on Umbridges door handle. ʹPadfoot?ʹ cried Professor Umbridge, looking eagerly from Harry to Snape. ʹWhat is Padfoot? Where what is hidden? What does he mean, Snape?ʹ  Snape looked round at Harry. His face was inscrutable. Harry could not tell whether he had understood or not, but he did not dare speak more plainly in front of Umbridge. ʹI have no idea,ʹ said Snape coldly.

Q7 - Is Snape good or bad?

Q8 - What do you think about the reveal that she was the one who sent Dementors to little whinging?

Q9 - She was going to use the Cruciatus curse?!

Q10 - What is Hermine leading them to?

Chapter 33 - Fight and Flight

• ʹCan we have your wand, then, if weʹre going first?ʹ Harry asked her. ʹNo, I donʹt think so, Mr Potter,ʹ said Umbridge sweetly, poking him in the back with it. The Ministry places a rather higher value on my life than yours, Iʹm afraid.ʹ 

Q1 - If you were leading Umbridge into the woods, where would you take her?

• But as he stretched out a hand towards it, a centaurʹs hoof descended upon the wand and it broke cleanly in half. ʹNow!ʹ roared a voice in Harryʹs ear and a thick hairy arm descended from thin air and dragged him upright. Hermione, too, had been pulled to her feet. Over the plunging, many‐coloured backs and heads of the centaurs, Harry saw Umbridge being borne away through the trees by Bane. Screaming non‐stop, her voice grew fainter and fainter until they could no longer hear it over the trampling of hooves surrounding them.

Q2 - Is this the end of Umbridge magical journey?

Q3 - Will she be back in this book?

• He opened his mouth even wider. ʹHagger.ʹ  Harry did not know what ʹhaggerʹ meant, or what language it was from.

Q4 - Is Harry the dumbest person in this book?

• ʹExcuse me, but I care what happens to Sirius as much as you do!ʹ said Ginny, her jaw set so that her resemblance to Fred and George was suddenly striking. ʹYouʹre too ‐ʹ Harry began, but Ginny said fiercely, ʹIʹm three years older than you were when you fought You‐Know‐Who over the Philosopherʹs Stone, and itʹs because of me that Malfoyʹs stuck back in Umbridgeʹs office with giant flying bogies attacking him ‐ʹ  ʹYeah, but ‐ʹ  ʹWe were all in the DA together,ʹ said Neville quietly. ʹIt was all supposed to be about fighting You‐Know‐Who, wasnʹt it? And this is the first chance weʹve had to do something real ‐ or was that all just a game or something?ʹ  ʹNo — of course it wasnʹt ‐ʹ said Harry impatiently. Then we should come too,ʹ said Neville simply. ʹWe want to help.ʹ  Thatʹs right,ʹ said Luna, smiling happily. Harryʹs eyes met Ronʹs. He knew Ron was thinking exactly what he was: if he could have chosen any members of the DA, in addition to himself, Ron and Hermione, to join him in the attempt to rescue Sirius, he would not have picked Ginny, Neville or Luna.

Q5 - Who is your starting three from the DA?

Q6 - Have your thoughts on Thestrals changed?