Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: Chapter Twelve Summary & Analysis

The next morning, Hermione comments on Harry's angry look before turning her attention to a notice on the bulletin board that Fred and George put up to find testers for their joke products. She pulls it down and tells Ron that they'll have to tell the twins to stop. As they head for breakfast, Ron explains what happened with Seamus, and Hermione sighs that Lavender feels the same way. Harry snaps at Hermione, but Hermione calmly tells Harry to stop losing his temper with her and Ron. She reminds him that both Dumbledore and the Sorting Hat said that students need to work together. Seeing a group of Ravenclaws looking scared of him, Harry sarcastically says they should make friends with them.

In the Great Hall, Harry, Ron, and Hermione notice that Hagrid is still absent. Hermione wonders if Dumbledore doesn't want to draw attention to Hagrid's absence. Angelina briskly approaches Harry; she says that she's holding tryouts for Gryffindor Keeper on Friday and Harry needs to be there. Hermione gets her Daily Prophet delivered by a barn owl and explains that it's best to be aware of what the enemy is saying.

As Hermione finishes reading, McGonagall hands out schedules. Ron groans: they have History of Magic, Potions, Divination, and Defense Against the Dark Arts. He says he wishes he had a Skiving Snackbox, and Fred and George offer to sell him Nosebleed Nougat for cheap, as the antidote doesn't work yet. Hermione tells the twins that they can't advertise for testers in the common room, but the twins insist that with it being O.W.L. year, Hermione will soon want a Snackbox for herself. They reminisce about the breakdowns their classmates had and say they almost didn't come back for their N.E.W.T.s, but they decided to use the year to conduct market research.

Harry and Ron play Hangman all through History of Magic, which annoys Hermione. In the courtyard after class, Cho approaches and greets Harry. As they begin to chat, Ron asks about the Quidditch team badge Cho is wearing. He accuses her of only supporting the team since they started winning, and Cho walks away. Hermione reprimands Ron and Harry thinks he'll be lucky to ever have a reasonable conversation with Cho. He reasons, however, that Cho is seeking him out, which seems like a good sign.

In Snape's dungeon, Snape reminds the class that he expects them all to achieve "Acceptable" results in their Potions O.W.L. He glares at Harry and says that most students won't continue on to the N.E.W.T. level. He then announces the potion for the day, the Draught of Peace. The potion is complex, and by the end of class only Hermione's looks correct. Snape stops in front of Harry's cauldron, points out that Harry clearly missed a step, and Vanishes Harry's entire potion. At lunch, Hermione admits that she thought Snape might be better this year since he's in the Order, but Ron says that he doesn't think Dumbledore should trust Snape. Annoyed by their bickering, Harry leaves early.

Harry is the first one up the ladder for Divination. Ron joins him a few minutes later and announces that he and Hermione have stopped arguing, but asks Harry to stop taking out his temper on them. Trelawney welcomes the class before Harry can reply. She mentions O.W.L.s, but says that grades don't matter for the "sacred art." The students work on interpreting dreams and Trelawney assigns a dream diary as homework. Ron complains about their homework load all the way to Umbridge's class.

The Gryffindors are silent as they sit down in Umbridge's classroom. She brightly makes the students answer her "good afternoon" with, "good afternoon, Professor Umbridge." She remarks that their previous education hasn't followed Ministry standards and lists the aims for the class, which focus on theory and understanding the legal uses of defensive magic. Umbridge then tells the students to read the first chapter of their textbook. Harry is shocked to see that Hermione isn't reading. Her hand is up, but Umbridge ignores her. Umbridge only acknowledges Hermione when most of the class is clearly not reading.

Hermione bluntly says that the course aims don't mention using defensive spells. Umbridge insists that there's no need to use spells, and Ron and Harry begin to blurt that that's pointless. Umbridge demands that students raise their hands as Dean, Hermione, and Parvati all defend Lupin's teaching and note that Umbridge's methods seem useless. Parvati is shocked when Umbridge says that with enough theory, students should be able to perform spells for the first time in the practical portion of the O.W.L. exam. Angry, Harry notes that theory won't help against Voldemort. At this, Umbridge says that Voldemort's return is a lie. She assigns Harry detention.

Harry stands and asks if Cedric Diggory died of his own accord. Umbridge says that Cedric's death was an accident. When Harry protests, Umbridge gives Harry a sealed note and sends him to McGonagall. McGonagall suspiciously takes Harry's note and asks him to confirm that he called Umbridge a liar. She sits and tells Harry to take a cookie. McGonagall says that Harry needs to be careful with Umbridge, as she reports to the Ministry. She also says that Harry has detention every day this week and snaps that this isn't about the truth; it's about Harry keeping his head down. McGonagall points Harry out of her office.