Harry Potter A Few Years Early

[zerohour]

Blame zeebee1 for this. He mentioned the idea of replacing Snape with Umbridge after he gets his face melted in my fic, and that got me thinking. This is probably influenced by the fact that I just saw Goblet of FIre, and haven't read the book in awhile, but let's see how it plays out.

Umbridge is wholly dedicated to Fudge, and one of the primary reasons she was such a bitch was because Fudge was denying that Voldemort was back, and Harry and Dumbledore were stating that he was. Her poor teaching was due to the fact that they didn't want combat capable Dumbledore supporters.


So, what if she took the DADA position a few years early? At this point, Fudge is on good terms with Dumbledore, there's no looming threat, and everything is hunky dory as far as most people are concerned.

So, without all of those factors to push her beyond the standard actions, and without the position of High Inquisitor for her to get driuunk on power with, would Umbridge be different than canon? How different?


Possible fallout:

-Umbridge Sucking up to Harry, offering him extra tutoring and such, to make sure Fudge has his support.

-Umbridge being bigoted. If I remember the books correctly, she claimed to be a pureblood. I don't recall if Most likely, this would be like how Snape treats Harry, but directed at someone else, most likely Hermione.

-Umbridge is an unremarkable teacher. Nothing interesting happening here.

-What would happen when fifth year comes around, and Fudge has switched to paranoid mode? Will things proceed as canon, or will she have a bit more loyalty towards DUmbledore/Hogwarts?


What do you guys think? Should I invest in a straightjacket and padded room, or does this actually sound interesting?

 

[pidl]

Yes.

The problem is, you can only reasonably insert her in second year. The other DADA teachers are kinda important to the plot. But the second year has the whole Dumbledore gets sacked because of the basilisk thing. So he wouldn't be on a good standing with the Minister, but still better than in OotP. Of course, this means that Umbridge would still become Headmistress, and maybe this time the school will respect her authority and she'll stay Headmistress even after Dumbledore returns.

Conclusion: Write it, but invest in a padded room just to be sure.

 

[Chuckg]

We're talking about the same woman who had no problem sentencing Muggleborns to the Dementor's Kiss in year 7, right? Who cheerfully cooperated with the Death Eater administration? Who honestly believed that nothing except a pureblood witch or wizard was really human?

No, I can't imagine that she would have been much nicer if she'd shown up earlier. She would have been more circumspect in her activities, yes, but she was a malevolent conscienceless witch from the getgo.

 

[zeebee1]

We know that she views sentient magical creatures as vermin to be exterminated. The other problem is that the defense position has a curse on it. But there are other classes she could teach. You'd just have to find something that she'd be good enough at so she would count as a qualified teacher.

 

[Chuckg]

I'm remembering the courtroom scene in book 7 where she's cheerfully espousing the Death Eater rhetoric that any muggleborn in possession of a wand must have stolen it, because only purebloods (and maybe halfbloods) actually have magic. Muggleborns are just 'stealing' magic. She was menacing innocent muggleborns with Dementors for crimes that were complete fantasy. And no, that's not fanon, that's on the page in Deathly Hallows.

So, I can't buy any fic of her ever being benevolent. The woman is a psychopath. She's just too chickenshit to actually be evil on her own... unless the government is sanctioning, or at minimum turning a blind eye towards, her activities, she won't risk indulging in them because she doesn't want to go to Azkaban. But she likes to indulge in them. It makes her so happy!

Edit: As for something she'd be competent at teaching... well, she is a skilled bureaucrat, but Hogwarts doesn't have any courses dealing in administration or law.

 

[biigoh]

Why wouldn't Hogwarts have classes in law or bureaucracy (granted, the Golden Trio might not go to them or have to do with such classes, but they could exist)? After all, they must get the future bureaucrats for MoM trained somehow... unless it's not skills that actually matter? Or even knowledge?

 

[Oni_kawaii]

After all, they must get the future bureaucrats for MoM trained somehow... unless it's not skills that actually matter? Or even knowledge?

Well that would explain a lot about the MoM.

To get ahead in the MoM you need the favor of the Old boy network or a lot of luck.

 

[Prince Charon]

After all, they must get the future bureaucrats for MoM trained somehow... unless it's not skills that actually matter? Or even knowledge?

Well that would explain a lot about the MoM.

To get ahead in the MoM you need the favor of the Old boy network or a lot of luck.

This, pretty much.

We know there are law books or similar at Hogwarts, because Hermione used them in Book Three, but actual classes in law and bureaucracy seem unlikely. Wizarding Britain seems to still go for apprenticeships for higher learning than what is available at Hogwarts, and lawyers and bureaucrats learning on the job would fit.

 

[David Alan Abramczyk]

Oh ho ho?

Now I want to see Sir Humphrey Appleby and Bernard Woolley doing to Wizarding Britain what they did to Jim Hacker...

 

[zeebee1]

There is such a thing as being too British.

 

[shakeval]

pip pip cheerio, fancy a scone zeebee1 lovey?

 

[zeebee1]

No.

 

[shakeval]

well tough, eat the fucking scone and enjoy it *forces a scone down zeebee1's throat* now be happy you bastard.


anywho, year two would work, you could have plenty of classroom episodes involving this or that animal or thing.
possibly some classes on general law and order as detailed by the ministry.

without the issue of harry loosing his arm bones you could mess with some stuff.
i'm sure aurors would be on the scene very quickly after the first incident, afterall umbitch is undersecretary and all.
more scrutiny on the whole thing could cause more difficulty for tom.

if umbridge came along slightly better then lockhart well......word of harry defeating a basilisk could get out and reinforce his fame.

i'm sure you could think of more things.

 

[zeebee1]

*zeebee1 spits the poisonis pastry back at shakeval.*

 

[mandrke]

zeebee, A scone (in UK) is like a biscuit (South USA) except that we serve with jam(jelly) and cream and not gravy

anyway, want some Fish-n'-Chips? or some Chicken Tikka Masala
and some deep-fried Mars Bars

 

[zeebee1]

I know what a scone is, they're terrible.

 

[mandrke]

Zeebee, would you like roast beef and Yorkshire Pudding?

 

[shibosho]

I know what a scone is, they're terrible.

It appears that you do not know how to eat a scone properly.

They're awesome when they have cream and jam on top and eaten with milk.

 

[GiantMonkeyMan]

The question is; do you pronounce scone 'gone' or 'bone'?

 

[Mercsenary]

The question is; do you pronounce scone 'gone' or 'bone'?

I've always thought it is scone that rhymes with bone

 

[zeebee1]

If it isn't decent raw it shouldn't be eaten at all.

 

[Leonite]

If it isn't decent raw it shouldn't be eaten at all.

Steak, Lamb, Broccoli and stuff along those lines taste terrible raw, do you eat any of them?

 

[zeebee1]

If god wanted people to eat broccoli he wouldn't have made it green.

 

[biigoh]

I eat broccoli and I enjoy it. I think the main issue people have is that they were FORCED to eat it when young and they never had someone who knew what they were doing cooking it. That's why so much hate. B)

 

[SoftRogue]

Getting back to the original idea, I could somehow see her being inserted into Hogwarts durning Harry's 3rd year in such a way that could actually make things interesting. Not necessarily as the DADA teacher, but I cold easily see her being there.

When the Dementors attack Harry on the train, the news apparently didn't get out (or was repressed) that the Boy-Who-Lived was almost kissed. However, if the news did get out then Fudge would have to act somehow; and since Sirius Black is such a 'threat' and since Harry is obviously his target, Fudge is unwilling to remove the Dementors but he has to do something (to save his own hide), so he decides to install a Ministry Representative at Hogwarts.

And if Umbridge was the one who originally suggested the idea of sending Dementors to Hogwarts, the I could see Fudge sending her there as a punishment with orders to 'take care of it'. She doesn't want to be there, but since she has her head so far stuck up the Minister's ass, she sucks it up and does her job since, with such an important figure to the Wizarding World almost getting kissed (Harry), if any student got/almost gets kissed (even a muggleborn), then the political fallout would be tremendous and she would be the first person everyone will be looking at.