WMG / Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Students use a magical telescope during the Astronomy section of the O.W.L. exams.

The book has Harry looking for Orion in June at midnight (It's behind the sun in June, so you can't see it even if you wanted to), and also looking for Venus (which being the next planet near the sun is always close to the sun in the sky and therefore never visible at midnight). The students use a magical telescope which when pointed at the ground can see through anything blocking to the stars (the sun excluded) that would be there.

• Maybe that was the test...
  • We even have a muggle equivalent now with the Google Sky smartphone app!
• Alternately, the Astronomy Tower itself is enchanted so that people viewing the skies from its top can see the stars as they'd appear on a clear night at whichever time, season, and location has been selected by the Astronomy instructor. That way, the students' lessons can benefit them all year round, no matter where they wind up living and practicing magic in the future.

The Veil of Death...

• Is the Gleaming-bale, the curtains of Hell!
• Was originally an enchanted shower curtain that went horribly-horribly wrong.

Umbridge is part Hag

Is Umbridge of Hag heritage - she seems to dislike children and is even violent towards but maybe would shirk from actully eating one though so she may be half or less Hag and this would also explain her hatred of "half-breeds" as she is one herself and keeping it quiet from Fudge and Co.

• This...makes a disturbing amount of sense. Besides her general hatred of children and "half-breeds", it'd explain why she was empowered by one of the Horcruxes, rather than weakened (unless Hags aren't Always Chaotic Evil here), and why she seemed so profoundly ugly and intolerable.

The Department of Mysteries Level has another name.

What's right after the Atrium (eight-rium)? The Mezzanine! (I work security in a building with a mezzanine. I read OOP on shift when it came out and I pass the sign saying "mezzanine" a few times a night and often think this.)

The desk guard at the MoM was dead.

Harry notes that no one is manning the desk, but that's all. If they would have looked behind and under the desk they would have seen a body there.

Umbridge was raped by centaurs.

Actually pretty plausible: in the Order of the Phoenix Dolores Umbridge is carried off into the woods by centaurs after she insults them. Centaurs are associated with rape in a lot of Greek mythology, to the point where almost every single myth of them involves it. Hermione was probably aware of this, being the Badass Bookworm, but still let her get carried away with no attempt to stop them. When she comes back, we get this lovely bit:

Since she had returned to the castle she had not, as far as any of them knew, uttered a single word. Nobody really knew what was wrong with her either. Her usually neat mousy hair was very untidy and there were bits of twig and leaf in it, but otherwise she seemed to be quite unscathed.

“Madam Pomfrey says she’s just in shock,” whispered Hermione.

“Sulking, more like,” said Ginny.

“Yeah, she shows signs of life if you do this,” said Ron, and with his tongue he made soft clip-clopping noises. Umbridge sat bolt upright, looking wildly around.

“Anything wrong, Professor?” called Madam Pomfrey, poking her head around her office door.

“No… no…” said Umbridge, sinking back into her pillows, “no, I must have been dreaming…”

Hermione and Ginny muffled their laughter in the bedclothes.

Interpret as you wish, but the subtext is pretty clear.

• To be honest it seemed more likely (to me, at least) that they just dragged her around through the forest. If she had been raped, I doubt she would have simply been sent to the Hospital Wing, even if no one liked her they wouldn't have been so cruel as to ignore what happened to her. Also, I highly doubt anyone would let a horde of magical rapists near a school. Even if they didn't touch children there are still female staff who would be a target. When I first read about the Centaurs (in Philosopher's Stone) they seemed more like Chiron, the Centaur who trained Greek heroes. Chiron (according to the books and myths I've read) differed from the other Centaurs in that he was more intelligent and refined. I saw this in their constant reference to astronomy and divination, which made them appear less like the brutish centaurs who carried away brides.
  • I imagine that they are harmless to students in this regard, Umbridge managed to piss them off. I think both legends are in play here, they are intelligent and refined, but they do commit sexual violence, especially if annoyed. Read the quote above, and then compare it to what you know of sex scenes. The mussed-up hair, and fact she had obviously been on the ground (twigs and leaves), while she is "quite unscathed" and in shock with no apparent cause. Also, the complete panic after hearing hooves. Cracked essentially agrees with this one.
• Why would muggle mythology have any bearing on the behaviour of actual magical creatures?

Mark Evans is Harry's (and by extension Dudley's) fairly-distant cousin.

Though Word of God says he is an unimportant nobody, maybe Mark Evans and Lily Evans are connected, just so distantly no family member knows. Dudley beat up a cousin of his, and didn't know it. Maybe Petunia (also nee Evans) did know, and chewed Dudley out after Harry had left.

The Love chamber is the Ministry of Love.

We need a 1984 crossover fanfic.

Marietta eventually had her jinx removed.

Her parents took her to St. Mungo's and they got it off.

Marietta’s jinx wasn’t meant to be permanent, and is only that way due to her attitude.

The jinx stays on as long as the person remains a traitor to their cause. Once they admit their guilt and/or atone for their actions, it disappears. But as illustrated by Cho’s reaction towards Harry, even after everything that happened she still seemed to think her actions were justifiable. As long as she continues to make excuses and refuse to accept responsibility for what she did, her face will remain that way. After all, she’s still a sneak.

Nearly Headless Nick's exclusion from the movie was a conscious effort to Shoo Out the Clowns.

At first glance, it seems far-fetched, since Nearly Headless Nick is not a comic relief character. However, think about who portrays him. John Cleese. Because of his reputation as a comedic actor, his monologue about coming back as a ghost due to his fear of death could unfortunately lose all impact.

A great example of this is shown in Who Framed Roger Rabbit when he auditioned for the role of Judge Doom and was turned down due to fears he wouldn't be taken seriously.

Miriam Strout was placed under the Imperius Curse in order to remove the element of luck from Bode's murder.

There was a risk that she might have recognized the Devil's Snare. Afterwards, she would have been kept under the curse to keep her from blabbing. Why not disappear her altogether? Because Riddle's keeping a low profile at the moment.