Yeah, it's one of the advantages of being generally even-tempered and calm - when he does lose it, he makes quite the impression. It does highlight the additional risks to children that magical families face, though... on the other hand, I suppose for most of them things like traffic accidents aren't really a factor, so maybe it evens out.

Indeed. I like how he has a more mixed view of Snape now, too.

It's how it always goes, really... the revolutionaries use dangerous and violent people until they are in power, then liquidate them when they don't need them anymore.

And you were right about the Wolfsbane potion, seems it does indeed help people control lycanthropy (funny how there's an actual Greek word for "being a werewolf"...).

Yeah. And we'll see later on in the book that it's a rather understandable reaction. Greyback really is one of the scariest Death Eaters in the whole series.

She's doing it on purpose, surely. That can't just be her being clueless. Either way it's really awkward for Bill, though. I remember someone - Seriana? - saying in the Phlegm chapter that Fleur was quite innocent of all the charges against her, but I couldn't agree there, and certainly not here. Ginny and the others fail to see her good sides, certainly, but she does give them reason to dislike her.

He'll arrive penitent at some later point, not sure where... in book seven, presumably.

Yeah. I do like how Scrimgeour is more direct and forceful than Fudge, though - you can see how this is a man of action with not much talent for politics, more than a career politician like Fudge. And Harry is certainly shining here, confident and mature.

Dumbledore's self-deprecating reaction ("How very rude of him" is great there, too.

I'm wondering if they really know how bad things got, though. Umbridge made clear enough in the previous book that Fudge didn't know about some of the darker things she did, and I'm not sure that they'd really have found out all of that afterwards.

It is surprising to the reader, though. Umbridge's exit last book really did feel like a permanent one, so we're shocked quite as much as Harry when hearing that she's back at the Ministry and apparently in close contact with the Minister. The extent of Scrimgeour's bad judgement about her will become clear in book seven, when she continues to work for the Dark Ministry even after Scrimgeour himself has been killed on the job.