PoA Section Eight: In Which Harry Wins The Cup

Section Eight: In Which Harry Wins the Cup

Chapter 15 – The Quidditch Final

The trio learns about the sad end of Buckbeak's trial. Hermione slaps Malfoy, misses Charms, and drops Divinations in just one afternoon. The students complain about the excessive school work over the holidays, while the Gryffindor Quidditch Team prepares for the upcoming game against Slytherin for the Cup. On the eve of the game, Harry gets a glimpse of the Grim at the grounds from his window, walking with Crookshanks. With the Firebolt and Harry's skill, the Gryffindor wins the game and the Quidditch Cup.

Chapter 16 – Professor Trelawney’s Prediction

Exam season comes. Ron notices that there are lapses in Hermione's schedule, with several subjects happening at the same time. Harry gets through the examinations just fine, until Professor Trelawney suddenly comes into a delirium, saying that "...THE DARK LORD WILL RISE AGAIN WITH HIS SERVANTS AID, GREATER AND MORE TERRIBLE THAN EVER HE WAS TONIGHT... BEFORE MIDNIGHT...THE SERVANT... WILL SET OUT... TO REJOIN... HIS MASTER..." Hagrid loses the appeal for Buckbeak, the persecution being set that afternoon. Under the invisibility cloak, the trio sets out to Hagrid's. Ron finds Scabbers there, squealing, as they hide Buckbeak persecutors. They hear the swish and thud of an axe.

Discussion Questions:

1. Based on what we hear on Buckbeak's trial and the way Harry got away at the start of the book, what do you think about the justice system in the Wizarding World? Relate it to local politics.
   
   
2. We know that amongst the Faculty, it was the prim and proper Professor McGonagall who doesn’t tolerate mischievous behavior. With Lee Jordan’s commentary, what can you say about her lenience on Lee Jordan’s biased statements on the megaphone?
   
   
3. The rivalry against Slytherin and Gryffindor, the other Houses seem to side with Gryffindor. Why is that so? Do you think that push-over behavior of Slytherins is caused by the discrimination that they feel from the other Houses first?
   

1.Based on what we hear on Buckbeak's trial and the way Harry got away at the start of the book, what do you think about the justice system in the Wizarding World? Relate it to local politics.


-If we will base on the local based politics, I think it was injustice on the decision they made to buckbeak, we're all know that animals were animal-like if you made them angry but if you didn't make them angry, do they will make damage to you,but that's the way Draco Malfoy acted to Buckbeak which is an animal which made Buckbeak be angry but I'm also feeling somehow that it was fairly judged because Hagrid also made somehow a mistake as he didn't controlled Buckbeak well...

2. We know that amongst the Faculty, it was the prim and proper Professor McGonagall who doesn’t tolerate mischievous behavior. With Lee Jordan’s commentary, what can you say about her lenience on Lee Jordan’s biased statements on the megaphone?

- Maybe she just keeping her temper because if she act not normally during that event, it may cause distractions of the game which made her forced to keep her temper.....

3. The rivalry against Slytherin and Gryffindor, the other Houses seem to side with Gryffindor. Why is that so? Do you think that push-over behavior of Slytherins is caused by the discrimination that they feel from the other Houses first?

- There's a lot of factor which made the other houses to be on Gryffindor's side....Yes, I think the push-over behavior of Slyhterins is only one of the main reasons that made the other houses been against them......

Based on what we hear on Buckbeak's trial and the way Harry got away at the start of the book, what do you think about the justice system in the Wizarding World? Relate it to local politics.
Though I'm not that privy to the intricacies of the justice system, I think there are some similarities. There's a court, or panel, that is tasked to judge on the accused and give out a sentence on him or her. There's someone tasked to defend the innocence of the accused or prove guilt. However, the difference is that there aren't exactly lawyer, unless maybe this was just a minor case that's why only Hagrid defended Buckbeak. Also, a powerful person may influence the judgement of the panel, regardless of guilt, which may or may not be similar to our justice system. We may never prove there is a similar process going on in our courts, but there's no proof there isn't. I guess it's more the same that different to ours.

We know that amongst the Faculty, it was the prim and proper Professor McGonagall who doesn’t tolerate mischievous behavior. With Lee Jordan’s commentary, what can you say about her lenience on Lee Jordan’s biased statements on the megaphone?
I don't think McGonagall was too lenient with Lee's comments, though she should have made more effort at the start. She did try to force Lee to be more fair in the later parts of the game. "Jordan, if you can't commentate in an unbiased way - !" said McGonagall (PoA ch. 15 p.308) 'Lee swore so badly that Professor Mcgonagall tried to tug the magical megaphone away from him' (PoA ch. 15 p.309) I guess in her heart, she wanted to win the cup so badly since they haven't won it for a long time. Yet she's a professor so she knows she should play fair. However, in the end her emotions got a hold of her. "Professor McGonagall didn't even bother to tell him off. She was actually shaking her finger in Malfoy's direction, her hat had fallen off, and she too was shouting furiously." (PoA ch. 15 p311) She's just being herself at the end supporting her house. And it's a Quidditch Game! She's not in class. Everyone is entitled to show their emotions in a game!

The rivalry against Slytherin and Gryffindor, the other Houses seem to side with Gryffindor. Why is that so? Do you think that push-over behavior of Slytherins is caused by the discrimination that they feel from the other Houses first?
We've read from the past books how, in general, the Slytherin House was percieved to be. "There's not a single witch or wizard who went bad who wasn't in Slytherin."(SS ch.5 p. 80). Moreover, students from other houses found them to be so annoying and arrogant because of their attitude inside and outside of classes. I guess it's the other way around. The Slytherins are discriminated because of their push over behaviour. If the Slyths tried to go against their heritage, maybe they wouldn't get this kind of discrimination, but I think that would have been next to impossible.

We know that amongst the Faculty, it was the prim and proper Professor McGonagall who doesn’t tolerate mischievous behavior. With Lee Jordan’s commentary, what can you say about her lenience on Lee Jordan’s biased statements on the megaphone?

I cannot let a question about my favorite Hogwarts Prof pass me by unnoticed

Prof. McG is, first and foremost, a fair educator. Sometimes, too fair to a fault. We've seen how she can punish Gryffindor students even if the punishment could mean the loss of the House Cup (see Book 1 and the discussions we've had last January). It wasn't a sign of leniency, what Minerva did in this chapter, when she didn't tell off Lee Jordan when the latter started cursing (and probably not of the magical kind) using the magical megaphone. When McG started doing what she did (shaking her finger and shouting furiously), she was within her rights as a fair witch. She was one of many who witnessed the Slytherin's dirty tactics and anyone in her /his right mind will agree with McG that such actions should not be tolerated, not at Hogwarts. So if you think about it, she was still being fair and just. Still the typical cat prof we all love and admire.