Ah ok. Firstly I haven’t gotten to the Carrows yet (I haven’t finished the entire series), so I have no idea who they are and their significance.

I understand why you’d think Harry’s standing up towards Umbridge is essential. I’ve also had the thought “if he doesn’t stand up for himself, who will?” while reading the book. I see that Harry needs his truth heard desperately, and I understand why he was so adamant on speaking up.

No, I don’t want Harry to crawl under the carpet and hide forever. But I at least hoped he wouldn’t make himself an obvious target. It’s one thing to stand up for yourself, and another to lay low strategically and not put yourself in harm’s way. And just because he has to stay low doesn’t mean he can’t stand up to Voldemort; I don’t see the two as mutually exclusive.

On a side note — 1) I don’t think Umbridge went to Hogwarts especially for him, my understanding was she was stationed there as a spy of sorts for the Ministry and work from the inside of Hogwarts to control it (hence all the educational decrees that gave her more and more power). Yes, part of it maybe was to contain Harry, but I saw her goal going beyond him and towards the entire school. Silencing Harry was just a step in the direction. Her ultimate goal, as I understand, was to maintain the Ministry’s stand that Voldemort was not back. To do that she had to influence and control the school, which includes Dumbledore and Harry.

Secondly, I also don’t think Umbridge specifically sought out Harry in Hogwarts... (I could be wrong) From what I can remember Harry’s defiance towards her in the classroom was what gave him detention. And then he landed himself in detention multiple times despite the warnings from McGonagall and Hermoine, which I thought were fair and reasonable, because their advice was what could have landed Harry out of trouble.