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Grey Centaur: "What are you doing in our forest? Why are you here?"
Dolores Umbridge: "Your forest? I would remind you live here only because the Ministry of Magic permits you certain areas of land —"
Bane: "Whose forest is it now, human?"
Dolores Umbridge: "Filthy half-breeds! Beasts! Uncontrolled animals!"
— Dolores Umbridge foolishly insulting a herd of angry centaurs[src]

This skirmish was a conflict that took place in the Forbidden Forest on the grounds of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry on 18 June 1996.[1] The conflict began as a result of Ministry of Magic bureaucrat Dolores Umbridge (Senior Undersecretary to the Minister for Magic, Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, Hogwarts High Inquisitor, and Headmistress of Hogwarts School) angering a herd of centaurs in the forest.[1]

After Umbridge threatened to torture Harry Potter with the Cruciatus Curse in her office, Hermione Granger stopped her by telling her what she wanted to hear. Umbridge was led into the forest by the two students, on the pretence of showing her a 'secret weapon', meaning a weapon that would be supposedly used against the Ministry, developed by Albus Dumbledore. Upon viciously insulting the centaurs, they promptly attacked her, overpowered her, destroyed her wand and dragged her away into the forest, with Harry and Hermione barely escaping the centaurs' wrath.[1]

History[]

Background information[]

Dolores Umbridge: "I want you to write I must not tell lies."
Harry Potter: "How many times?"
Dolores Umbridge: "Oh, as long as it takes for the message to sink in."
— Umbridge's draconian discipline with the Black Quill[src]

Senior Undersecretary to the Minister for Magic Dolores Umbridge was appointed the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts School by the Ministry of Magic, as a means to spy on Dumbledore and his staff. As the teacher, she taught the students purely theory of defensive spells and not the real thing to destroy any chance that Dumbledore would have the students 'trained in combat' to take on the Ministry.[2]

Detention with Dolores

Harry in detention with Umbridge, being punished with the Black Quill

When Harry spoke up about seeing Lord Voldemort return, she severely punished him in detentions where he would be made to write with a Black Quill; that is, he would write in his own blood while the words were carved into the back of his hand.[3] Despite this, Harry, Ron, and Hermione found strength within. They formed the secret Defence Against the Dark Arts group known as Dumbledore's Army, lead and taught by Harry. The goal was to prepare the students that wished to join for the outside world and the dangers that waited, right under Umbridge's nose. A large number of students joined the group and helped the trio in opposing Umbridge.[4]

Umbridge's reign at Hogwarts[]

"She's been an immediate success — totally revolutionising the teaching of Defence Against the Dark Arts and providing the Minister with on-the-ground feedback about what's really happening at Hogwarts."
Percy Weasley's announcement in the Daily Prophet[src]
Umbridgehead

Umbridge's extended power over the school and it's inhabitants

Umbridge began to expand her power by means of becoming Hogwarts High Inquisitor, where she had the ability to inspect and fire other teachers,[5] and, after Dumbledore was forced to flee by taking credit for Dumbledore's Army when it was discovered, Headmistress of the school.[6] With enormous power over the teachers, students, and the whole school, Umbridge fired Sybill Trelawney and tried to fire Rubeus Hagrid at night so as not to make a scene, a skirmish that resulted in Minerva McGonagall being hit with four Stunning Spells in the chest when she went to help him.[7] Umbridge was held in contempt by most of the students, except for a select few who became her Inquisitorial Squad, and by most of the teachers as well.[8]

False vision - Voldemort tortures Sirius Black

Harry's false vision of Voldemort torturing Sirius in the Department of Mysteries

Harry was given a vision (planted by Voldemort as a trick) of his godfather, Sirius Black, being tortured by Lord Voldemort. Desperate to save him at the Department of Mysteries where he believed him to be captured, Harry first decided to check to see if Sirius was indeed held captive by using the Floo Network to visit 12 Grimmauld Place. The only Floo Network fireplace not under surveillance, however, was in Umbridge's office, and so he broke in using Sirius Black's knife while his friends were stationed as lookouts. He visited Grimmauld Place and was lied to by Kreacher, who said that Sirius was indeed at the Department of Mysteries (when he was really upstairs), but before Harry could react, he was caught by Umbridge.[9]

While Umbridge pulled him out of the fireplace and grabbed him by the hair, his friends and fellow D.A. members: Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, Ginny Weasley, Neville Longbottom, and Luna Lovegood were held in her office by Inquisitorial Squad members.[9]

Held captive[]

Dolores Umbridge: "Then ... where is it?"
Hermione Granger: "In there, of course, It had to be somewhere that students weren't going to find it accidentally, didn't it?"
Dolores Umbridge: "Of course, Of course ... very well, then ... you two stay ahead of me."
Harry Potter: "Can we have your wand, then, if we're going first?"
Dolores Umbridge: "No, I don't think so, Mr Potter. The Ministry places a rather higher value on my life than yours, I'm afraid."
— Umbridge being lured into the forest[src]
Order-of-the-phoenix-movie-screencaps

'He's got Padfoot at the place where it's hidden'

When Harry refused to tell her what he had been doing, Umbridge first attempted to dose him with Veritaserum, but Professor Snape told her he had no more. She then claimed that the Cruciatus Curse might 'loosen his tongue', responding that 'What Cornelius doesn't know won't hurt him' when Hermione said the curse was illegal. Hermione then spoke up, pretending to be revealing who Harry was contacting, and tricked Umbridge into following her and Harry into the Forbidden Forest in search of an alleged 'secret weapon' of the Order of the Phoenix.[9]

The skirmish[]

"Nooooo! Noooooo... I am Senior Undersecretary... you cannot... unhand me, you animals... nooooo!"
— Umbridge's horror at being taken seized by the centaurs[src]
Normal 260ootp umbridge potter granger

Hermione Granger, Harry Potter, and Umbridge into the forest

In the forest, Harry wasn't sure if Hermione had a plan or if she was making it up as she went along. Hermione made sure to make a lot of noise, as she wanted to be overheard. Soon the party was confronted by a herd of centaurs. Umbridge, though frightened, shamelessly insulted the centaurs with racial slurs and her wizarding arrogance, calling them 'filthy half-breeds' and 'creatures of near-human intelligence'.[1]

Incarcerous

Umbridge binding a Centaur with Incarcerous

When the centaurs made threatening moves, Umbridge cast the Incarcerous Spell on the centaur Magorian. The ropes bound him tight and started strangling him. The centaur Bane then picked her up and carried her away deeper into the forest screaming (what happened to her beyond that, during her time with the centaur herd until she was rescued, is unknown). When Harry dived to pick up her wand, it was snapped in half when one of the centaurs stepped on it.[1]

Grawp arrives[]
Grawp: "Hagger!"
Magorian: "Get away from here, giant! You are not welcome among us!"
— Grawp entering the conflict[src]

As the centaurs turned on the students, Hermione protested, saying that centaurs did not hurt foals (young humans) and that they meant no harm, unlike Umbridge, and were not from the British Ministry of Magic like her. Hermione accidentally insulted the centaurs by saying that they had wanted the centaurs to drive Umbridge off for them, as the centaurs took this as wizards thinking that centaurs existed to do their bidding.[1]

The centaurs, deciding that they were arrogant wizards as well and that Harry was not a foal but nearing manhood, prepared to attack them but then Grawp, Rubeus Hagrid's giant half-brother, arrived, wanting to know where Hagrid ("Hagger") was. The centaurs attacked him instead, shooting him with arrows in the face. Grawp chased away the centaurs, howling with pain, as blood from his face poured down on Harry and Hermione. As they left the forest, Hermione expressed worry that Grawp would kill the entire herd, but Harry said he would not care too much if he did.[1]

Aftermath[]

Thestral on air

The six D.A. members that accompany Harry to the Ministry on the backs of the D.A. Thestrals

Harry and Hermione were joined in the forest by Ron, Ginny, Neville, and Luna, who escaped the Inquisitorial Squad's capture with a combination of Disarming Charms, Stunning Spells, Impediment Jinxes and a particularly good Bat-Bogey Hex from Ginny. The group decided to use Thestrals to fly to the British Ministry of Magic in London (attracting them because Harry and Hermione were covered in Grawp's blood).[1]

In the Ministry of Magic, they navigated themselves down to the Department of Mysteries, only to discover that it had been a trick and that Sirius wasn't there.[10] Instead, the Death Eaters were waiting for them for Harry to give them a prophecy Voldemort desired, and the Battle of the Department of Mysteries began.[11]

Rescue[]

Horace Slughorn: "I might have been in hiding, but some funny rumours have reached me since Dolores Umbridge left! If that's how you treat teachers these days —"
Albus Dumbledore: "Professor Umbridge ran afoul of our centaur herd. I think you, Horace, would have known better than to stride into the forest and call a horde of angry centaurs filthy half-breeds."
Albus Dumbledore and Horace Slughorn talking about the results of Umbridge's actions[src]

Umbridge was ultimately rescued by Dumbledore, although she was apparently left with a significant fear of centaurs afterwards, reacting violently at even the sound of hoof-beats.[12] How Dumbledore managed to rescue her from the human-hating centaurs without suffering any injury himself remained a mystery, though it is likely that the centaurs had respect for Albus, based on their salute at his funeral.[13]

When Dumbledore informed Horace Slughorn about how Umbridge had insulted the centaurs later that year, he referred to Umbridge as an 'idiotic woman', and that he 'never liked her', considering the foolishness and ignorance of her actions towards the centaurs.[14]

Behind the scenes[]

LEGO Forbidden Forest

The Skirmish in the Forbidden Forest as a LEGO Harry Potter set

  • In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Bane solely carried Umbridge off into the forest, but in the film adaptation, she was carried off by two Centaurs, neither of which seemed to be Bane.
    • Also in the film, when Grawp appears, he picks up Umbridge from the ground and throws her over to the centaurs, and there is no conflict between Grawp and the centaur herd.
    • Also in the film, none of the centaurs speak to Umbridge or the students. The centaurs do not threaten or attack Harry and Hermione in the film, but just leave them.

Appearances[]

Notes and references[]

  1. 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 1.18 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Chapter 33 (Fight and Flight)
  2. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Chapter 12 (Professor Umbridge)
  3. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Chapter 13 (Detention with Dolores)
  4. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Chapter 18 (Dumbledore's Army)
  5. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Chapter 15 (The Hogwarts High Inquisitor)
  6. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Chapter 27 (The Centaur and the Sneak)
  7. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Chapter 31 (O.W.L.s)
  8. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Chapter 28 (Snape's Worst Memory)
  9. 9.0 9.1 9.2 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Chapter 32 (Out of the Fire)
  10. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Chapter 34 (The Department of Mysteries)
  11. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Chapter 35 (Beyond the Veil)
  12. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Chapter 38 (The Second War Begins)
  13. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Chapter 30 (The White Tomb)
  14. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Chapter 4 (Horace Slughorn)
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