Mayhem at the Ministry

Calendar and Dates

The action of this chapter begins on the morning after the Quidditch World Cup, and ends the evening before the Hogwarts-age students catch the Hogwarts Express. Since the Quidditch World Cup was held on a Monday in late August, the morning after was a Tuesday. Since the Hogwarts Express was caught on 1 September, the chapter ends on 31 August.

Interesting facts and notes

The chaos at the Ministry resulting from the Quidditch World Cup riot takes place off-stage, mostly; we see only the ripple effect on life at the Burrow, as Mr. Weasley and Percy have disrupted work schedules, and talk a little about what's going on at work.

There’s something I haven’t told you,’ Harry said. ‘On Saturday morning, I woke up with my scar hurting again.

Harry tells Ron and Hermione about the dream/vision he had of Voldemort and Wormtail in GF1. He is very worried that he hasn't heard back from Sirius. To take his mind off it, Ron suggests they go and play Quidditch so that Harry can try out the Wronski Feint move on his Firebolt.

"Sometimes, when a person's memory's modified, it makes them a bit disorientated for awhile...and that was a big thing they had to make him forget."

We have already seen evidence at this point in the story that Memory Charms - at least when misapplied - can have long term effects, as in the case of Gilderoy Lockhart. We're being informed here that even a correctly applied Memory Charm can have side effects on the victim's mind.

“Dark wizards running unchecked... national disgrace. . . Who wrote this? Ah. . . of course. . . Rita Skeeter.”

This is the first time, but certainly not the last, that we encounter the reporter in this series.

"Last week she was saying we're wasting our time quibbling about cauldron thickness, when we should be stamping out vampires! As if it weren't specifically stated in paragraph twelve of the Guidelines for the Treatment of Non-Wizard Part-Humans -"

Interesting. From this remark, it appears that vampires are not considered to be a threat per se by the wizarding community - they have rights and are protected by Ministry guidelines, although they're not considered to be completely human.

Of course, later on we meet a vampire at a Hogwarts teacher's Christmas party (HBP15).

Whether this statement will be enough to quash the rumours that several bodies were removed from the woods an hour later, remains to be seen.

At first glance, of course, this sounds as though Rita Skeeter is making this rumour up out of whole cloth. Only later do we learn that one body was smuggled out of the woods after the incident - the Stunned body of Barty Crouch, junior.

In spite of this one instance of truth, Rita Skeeter's reports in the Daily Prophet should always be taken with a grain of salt.

"They want compensation for their ruined property. Mundungus Fletcher's put in a claim for a twelve-bedroomed tent with en-suite jacuzzi, but I've got his number. I know for a fact he was sleeping under a cloak propped on sticks."

We last heard of Mundungus two years ago, when he tried to hex Mr. Weasley during a Ministry raid (CS3). We will meet him properly about a year from now (OP2). We can gather from Percy's observation about Mundungus' sleeping arrangements at the Quidditch World Cup that Dung did not pay much (if anything) for a ticket. It is perfectly possible that Mundungus was at the World Cup campgrounds not to watch the match, but to pursue various business opportunities - although we have no evidence on this point as yet, other than Mundungus' character and apparent financial status.

Consider how convenient any Quidditch World Cup campground or gathering would be as a cover for illegal activity. Any witch or wizard could meet quite openly with any other witch or wizard and it could be passed off as an innocent, accidental encounter rather than a prearranged rendezvous.

...the grandfather clock in the corner...It was completely useless if you wanted to know the time, but otherwise very informative. It had nine golden hands, and each of them was engraved with one of the Weasley family's names. There were no numerals around the face, but descriptions of where each family member might be. 'Home,' 'school,' and 'work' were there, but there was also 'lost', 'hospital', 'prison', and, in the position where the number twelve would be on a normal clock, 'mortal peril'.

The 'clock' clearly doesn't just track physical location, since 'mortal peril' is one of the positions on the face. 'Lost' depends on the family member's mental state - does that person know his/her location? It would be interesting to know how the clock would read if, say, Ron in his dormitory at Hogwarts had a dream about being back at the Burrow. Would it read his location as being at school, or would it read his belief that he was at home?

Possibly what fuelled Molly Weasley's distress at the beginning of the chapter was the clock indicating that her family attending the Quidditch World Cup were in "mortal peril".

Apart from The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 4 by Miranda Goshawk...

Since the year-appropriate The Standard Book of Spells is the only new textbook Harry needed for the coming school year, we can deduce that fourth-year Transfiguration classes use Intermediate Transfiguration as the required textbook (the book Harry needed to buy the previous year).

...he had a handful of new quills, a dozen rolls of parchment...

A dozen rolls of parchment seems to be on the low side for an entire year's worth of essays. Professor Binns (to name one) will be assigning weekly essays during the coming year, for instance.

...and refills for his potion-making kit - he had been running low on spine of lionfish and essence of belladonna.

Consequently, we know that these are potion ingredients, although we don't yet know what specific potions require their use. (spine of lionfish and essence of belladonna are real substances, and poisonous, as it happens.)

"Mum, you've given me Ginny's new dress," said Ron, holding it out to her.
"Of course I haven't," said Mrs Weasley. "That's for you. Dress robes."

The analogy here is with "dress uniform" - that is (as Mrs. Weasley explains), robes for formal occasions.

Ron's robes are second-hand and very old-fashioned.

Exceptional character moments

Mrs Weasley, who has been worried sick ever since seeing the morning paper.

Hermione Granger becoming militant about house-elf conditions.

Percy Weasley defending Mr Crouch's treatment of Winky, while still complaining about other wizards' misdemeanors.

Bill Weasley, who plays chess.

Fred Weasley deflecting their mother's suspicions about what he and George are working on by gently making fun of the way she greeted them after the Quidditch World Cup disaster. Mrs Weasley recognising this about herself and laughing.

Mrs Weasley's snappy comeback to Ron when he complains about his lace-edged dress robes.

Memorable lines

"What if You-Know-Who had got you, and the last thing I ever said to you was that you didn't get enough O.W.L.s? Oh, Fred...George..."

"Now, Mum," said Fred, looking up at her, a pained look on his face. "If the Hogwarts Express crashed tomorrow and George and I died, how would you feel knowing that the last thing we ever heard from you was an unfounded accusation?"

"Now, look here, Hermione!" said Percy. "A high-ranking Ministry official like Mr Crouch deserves unswerving obedience from his servants –"
"His slave, you mean!" said Hermione, her voice rising shrilly. "Because he didn't pay Winky, did he?"

"I'm never wearing them," Ron was saying stubbornly. "Never."
"Fine," snapped Mrs Weasley. "Go naked. And Harry, make sure you get a picture of him. Goodness knows I could do with a laugh."

Words and phrases

• Balaclava
• Post
• Queue

Characters Introduced

• Rita Skeeter