I take it Umbridge is the one who has told Filtch that Harry is planning to order Dungbombs, in an attempt to have him watched. And that she deliberately dropped Quirrel's name in class to provoke a reaction from Harry. Devious bitch.

It is a little shocking that none of the trio land on the Imperius curse as a possible cause of Podmore's actions at the Ministry. I suppose it is an indication that the sinister power of the Ministry is much more clearly felt at this point than the sinister power of Voldemort.


Umbridge's grip is tightened. Not only is she established as evil, she is given extended powers to be evil. While I enjoy the inspections she does of the various teachers (especially Trelawny and McGonnagall), she goes from being a nuisance to a full blown massive threat in these three chapters. And, as it must be, we get the ferment of reaction in the idea of Dumbledore's Army being formed. I like it.


Trelawny's prediction does hold true again. Well, more or less. I am not sure Umbridge is in grave danger at the moment, but she will meet a rather unpleasant "end". Although I suppose you could argue that she is in constant danger now that Voldemort has returned; of course, that is true of all of them.


Regarding themes, the house-elf issue shows up again, with Hermione displaying a very problematic attitude, which parallels that of the witches and wizards who have traditionally spoken on behalf of and felt they could dictate the destinies of house-elves.

The bigotry-theme suffuses the whole section (and the whole book). It hovers like a cloud around Umbridge, and shows up regularly in the Prophet. The casualness of the position, as if it were the most natural thing in the world, is very well written.

The "abuse of power" theme, which is closely connected to the bigotry one, is also out in force.