Harry Potter Read-Along/Discussion [20]

RECAP - Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - Chapters 23-29

Harry is convinced he is being possessed by the Dark Lord until Ginny points out that she has been possessed by the Dark Lord and she doesn't particularly think Harry is being possessed. That just about snaps Harry out of his sulking and things are looking up, but then Snape informs Harry that the Headmaster
wishes for Harry to take private lessons with Snape - Occulmency lessons - to learn to shut his mind to the probing of Voldemort.

Source

The horrible Occlumency lessons have left Harry exhausted and so mentally weak that he dreams of  the Department of Mysteries almost every night. However, once again, even with the craziness all around him, Harry finally asks Cho out to spend Valentine's Day with him in Hogsmeade and she gladly says yes. The mass breakout of Death Eater's from Azkaban does put a damper on things though. It doesn't help either that Hermione has asked Harry to meet her halfway through his date with Cho, and Cho does not take that very well. It seems she thinks there is something else going on between Hermione and Harry, and doesn't quite give Harry a chance to explain before she storms out of their date, crying.

Thankfully Harry's meeting with Hermione quite takes his mind off of that. She's brought him to meet Rita Skeeter who interviews Harry and publishes an entirely truthful account of what really happened the night Voldemort returned - not that anyone would believe something printed in the Quibbler... or would they?Things start to look up at Hogwarts when a few of Harry's acquaintances begin treating him a little better as if they might believe him, but of course Umbridge bans all students from reading the Quibbler.

To add to her list of atrocities, Umbridge sacks Professor Trelawney, and Dumbledore hires Firenze the Centaur as the new divination teacher and lets Trelawney stay on as a guest at Hogwarts. Things don't seem to be able to get any worse, but then somehow, Umbridge finds out about the D.A. Meetings! Harry is brought in to be questioned by Umbridge and Cornelius Fudge and finds out that Cho's friend Marietta snitched on them. Harry pretends he knows nothing and Dumbledore tells Umbridge and Fudge that the whole thing was his idea and he has plotted to overthrow Fudge. Before he can be arrested though, Dumbledore knocks everyone out, disappears, and Umbridge is crowned the new Headmistress of Hogwarts to everyone's dismay. Things only get worse, if that's even possible, with Umbridge naming Malfoy and a bunch of his Slytherin friends as the Inquisitorial Squad that do her bidding. On top of that, Harry accidentally intrudes on a memory of Snape's of Harry's dad and his friends bullying Snape back in the day, and Snape ends all future Occlumency lessons with Harry.

As the students of Hogwarts have about had enough, Fred and George decide to go all out in terrorizing Umbridge, set off fireworks and other tricks they've invented and leave Hogwarts behind to open up Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, leaving Umbridge to deal with the aftermath of their pranks.

DISCUSSION

Here we are with Cho once again, and boy am I glad she she's done and over with. After that fiasco on their Valentine's Day date, yikes! I don't know who would want to date Cho. Little snot. But I won't get into that again considering I spent a fair amount of time bitching about Cho anyways.

I wanted mainly, today, to see who could help me clarify something on Legilimency and Occulmency. Maybe I should just look it up because there are enough wiki-pages with tons of Hogwarts info. In the book, Snape has to say (or think) the spell "Legilimens", cast it on Harry, then proceed to look through his thoughts. Seems straightforward enough except that the characters make it seem as though Voldemort can basically read minds using legilimency, that he can tell when people are lying. Does he cast the spell too? Is he so powerful that he doesnt have to? He is described as a gifted Legilimens, but I just wish I knew more about this, how Voldemort uses this 'gift' of his. Anyone else have any better ideas than I do?

Oh and that little witch (no pun intended) Marietta Edgecombe who snitches on the D.A.... if she didn't get what she deserved with that permanent acne advertisement on her face, I'd say I'd like to smack her myself. What's worse is that Cho even defends Marietta, saying her mother works for the ministry and thought she was doing the right thing. That's all fine and good, but when they all realize Voldemort has actually returned, Marietta is going to be sorry she ruined her face for a bit of tattling!

...well anyways, on another note, after having skipped a week of my Harry Potter discussions, I realize that I am dealing with a bit of a slump as far as reading and posting goes, and these HP posts take a lot out of me. I am not going to end them altogether, no, but I am going to make them less frequent. Instead of every week, I'll be doing every other week. I know I'll still see you guys around.

Talk to you all soon!

A.