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Finally, it’s time for The Order of the Phoenix! It’s the thickest yet at over seven hundred pages, but well worth it! And remember after this, there’s only the Half-Blood Prince and then……well, you should know what I mean by now.
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The story opens with Harry trying to find out whether there’s any news about Lord Voldemort on the news. However, he is quickly distracted by a cracking sound not far away. (Read your Chamber of Secrets!) The resulting uproar from the Dursleys sends Harry away to the nearest playground, where he runs into everybody’s favorite-bully-who-really-does-not-like-Harry-and-that’s-not-good person, Dudley.
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However, there are much worse things out there than even Harry’s bullying cousin. One of those just happens to be dementors. Two of them corner Harry and Dudley down a dark alley (which is exactly where you don’t want to meet dementors). Luckily, Harry is able to repel them with a Patronus, and we meet up with an old friend, Mrs. Figg. Turns out she’s really a Squib (a person with magical parents but no magical abilities), and has been watching over Harry ever since he was first sent to Privet Drive way back when. We also learn that Harry had been being watched ever since he returned to Privet Drive. One of those watchers is a slightly odd person named Mundungus Fletcher, who had just happened to wander off just before Harry ran into those dementors.
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As a result, Harry had to use a Patronus, which is magic, which means he’s in very big trouble now! He’s been summoned for a hearing. If he wins, he gets to stay at Hogwarts. If not…..well, let’s just say that wouldn’t be a very good situation to be in.
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On the upside, however, Harry does get to leave the Dursleys early. He’s rescued by a bunch of people, including everybody’s favorite ex-Defense against the Dark Arts teacher Professor Lupin and the real Mad-Eye Moody, who we thought was the Defense against the Dark Arts teacher last year but really wasn’t….ooops, forget I said that. We also meet some new faces, including everybody’s favorite so-clumsy-she’s-utterly-hilarious Nymphadora Tonks (word of caution: don’t call her by her first name!!), the very cool Kingsley Shacklebolt, the slightly familiar Dedalus Diggle, and several other interesting characters.
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In no time, Harry’s out of the house and landing in front of number twelve, Grimmauld Place, the temporary headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix. There we meet up with the Weasleys (minus Percy) and Hermione, who quickly fill Harry in on what’s been happening and what’s up with the Order of the Phoenix. We also find another familiar face: everybody’s favorite so-unexpected-we-thought-he-was-a-villain-like-Harry-doesn’t-have-enough-of-them hero, Sirius Black!
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Yep, he’s here, happily enough! However, the happy reunions are quickly overshadowed by Harry’s looming hearing. All too soon, Harry’s going to his hearing accompanied by Mr. Weasley.
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Luckily, Harry has a good judge, Mrs. Bones. Unfortunately, though, Fudge has decided to attend as well, and ever since last year when Harry told him Lord Voldemort is back, he’s had a very low opinion of Harry and would like nothing better than to convict him.
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Fortunately, though, Harry has one last thing on his side: Professor Dumbledore has shown up to support Harry, along with Mrs. Figg as a witness. With more than a little trading of info and Fudge’s bringing up Harry’s past endeavors (including his Aunt Marge incident, which, I may add, he let Harry off for,), Harry is, once again, off the hook! (Yay, yay!!) However, it is not before we meet another, very annoying character: Professor Umbridge.
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It isn’t until Harry, Ron, and Hermione make it back to Hogwarts, however, that we find out just how major a character Professor Umbridge is. Well, long story short, she’s the new Defense against the Dark Arts teacher, and she, like her boss Fudge, is no fan of Harry’s.
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Professor Umbridge may be a big fan of the color pink, but she soon shows her true colors: a kid-torturer! Not to mention, she shares Fudge’s opinion about Harry’s saying Lord Voldemort is back: she thinks he’s lying, as if! Combine the two, and Harry’s in detention before you can say “Voldemort”. And this is no ordinary detention, either! Professor Umbridge is so mean; she makes Harry use this quill that writes using Harry’s own blood! Ouch! I know, I don’t like her either.
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But more than that, Fudge has decided that the kids shouldn’t be learning defensive magic anymore, which is simply leaving the door wiiiiiiiiiiide open for Lord Voldemort. So Harry, Ron, and Hermione decide to start up a Defense against the Dark Arts group. They meet in the Hog’s Head, a rather suspicious bar in Hogsmeade, to gather members. Some people who show up include the twins, Ginny, Luna, (yay, yay!), and Cho Chang, remember her? Neville also shows up, along with Seamus, Dean, and a bunch of other kids from Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw. There’s no one from Slytherin, though: they’re all big supporters of Professor Umbridge, big surprise there!
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The only problem is, where are they going to meet? That problem is solved by an appearance from our old friend Dobby the house-elf, who tells Harry of the Room of Requirement. The Room of Requirement is a magical room that’ll produce whatever you really, really need-like a room to practice Defense Against the Dark Arts! Soon Harry’s teaching the kids to use spells like Expelliarmus, the Disarming Spell, Stupefy, the Stunning Spell, and even Patronuses like Harry’s. To name a few, Hermione’s is an otter, Cho’s is a swan, and Ginny’s is a horse. (At least, it is in the movie; I don’t think it says in the book. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Rewind!
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There we go. Okay, so it’s the last meeting of Dumbledore’s Army (that’s what Harry, Ron, and Hermione name it: it fits well, don’t you think?). But that’s not important. What’s really, awesomely cool is what happens right after.
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Cho corners Harry after the meeting ends. At first, he thinks she just wants to talk about everybody’s favorite super-extra-ultra-cute-guy Cedric. But then she turns the whole thing by doing something I probably shouldn’t say in case any boys are reading this right now.
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(pssst…..hey, girls, you guessed right. Harry and Cho do kiss. And it’s awesome!!)
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The whole oh-awesome-I-have-a-girlfriend is ruined that night, however. Harry dreams that he is a snake, slithering down an all-too-familiar corridor somewhere deep within the Ministry. The snake comes upon Mr. Weasley (don don dawww!!) and attacks him viciously! In no time flat Harry, Ginny, Ron, and the twins are at Sirius’s waiting to see their dad at St. Mungo’s Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries.
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The next day the Weasleys and Harry go to visit Mr. Weasley, accompanied by none other than our three favorite Aurors, Mad-Eye Moody, Tonks, and Kingsley. While there, Harry and Ron come face-to-face with another old friend-Gilderoy Lockhart, everybody’s favorite totally not-very-good-at-magic-in-general-except-memory charms-ex-Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.
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Skip forward to after the holidays. Professor Umbridge is eviler than ever (if that’s possible), and, to add to Harry’s miserable state of mind, Professor Snape has been doing Occulmency with him.
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See, turns out what we suspected all along was true-Harry really is reading Lord Voldemort’s mind. And lately, the connection’s been getting stronger and stronger (hence those funny dreams), and Dumbledore’s worried that Voldemort might figure out he’s got a direct link to Harry’s mind (which he does). So he’s had Snape start to teach Harry Occulmency, which should keep Voldemort out and Harry in control.
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Maybe.
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And that’s not all. The very next D.A meeting is crashed by (whom else?) Professor Umbridge, who was tipped off by none other than Cho’s friend Marietta Edgecombe. Fudge quickly manages to blame Dumbledore and tries to send him to Azkaban. What he doesn’t count on is Fawkes, who whisks Dumbledore off to safety, leaving Professor Umbridge free to take over as headmistress.
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Soon, Harry is heading to talk his career options over with good old Professor McGonagall. He wants to be an Auror, but Professor Umbridge decides to play killjoy and says Harry will never be employed as one (which, I admit, was a predictable response from her. You know, she really hates children).
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Harry gets his comeuppance a little late, though, when another of my favorite Harry Potter scenes play out. Fred and George decide, hey, we don’t wanna stay here with little miss I-really-like-pink-so-much-it’s-utterly-disgusting, so let’s blow the coop! So they do in typical Fred and George style, setting off a bunch of fireworks and completely blowing Umbridge off her feet!
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All too soon, however, Harry is enduring the dreaded O.W.Ls!! As usual, I’m not telling you how he does (you don’t really know until the next book anyway), but I am going to tell you what happens during History of Magic.
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Harry falls asleep during the immensely boring lesson, and no sooner is he asleep than he dreams that Voldemort has everybody’s favorite so-unexpected-we-thought-he-was-a-villain-like-Harry-doesn’t-have-enough-of-them hero, Sirius!
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Before you can say, “Harry, wait! Don’t believe a word Kreacher says!”, Harry’s been caught by Umbridge trying to talk to Sirius. Hermione, Ron, Neville, Ginny, and Luna are also caught.
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The next thing you know, everybody thinks Hermione betrays them (but she really doesn’t, so quit punching the screen), and we find out that it was really Umbridge who set those dementors on Harry!!! (It took me like ages to figure that out, so I hope you’re a more observant reader than I am, or you’ll miss a lot.) Hermione tells Umbridge that Dumbledore’s set up some sort of secret weapon in the Forbidden Forest (which he really hasn’t), so Umbridge takes Harry and Hermione out into the forest where, with a little help from our old friends the centaurs (minus Firenze: he’s the new Divination teacher) and Grawp, Hagrid’s all-giant half-brother, they manage to shake off Umbridge and get back to Hogwarts in one piece.
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Meanwhile, back at the school of magic, Ron, Ginny, Neville, and Luna manage to get rid of their Slytherin guards and give Harry and Hermione back their wands. Now for the difficult part: how to get to the Ministry? One slightly hilarious conversation later, Luna comes up with a solution that she really had all along: Thestrals!
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Thestrals are these really cool skeletal horses that are sort of creepy because they can only been seen by those who’ve seen death (like Harry and Luna, for instance), and they eat meat, but they have wings and a really good sense of direction. So the next thing you know, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville, and Luna are mounted on Thestrals and headed for the Department of Mysteries.
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There they find a bunch of doors like the ones in Harry’s dreams. Eventually, after seeing a bunch of really cool stuff, they find the right room-a room full of glass balls that have prophecies in them. That’s right-prophecies!
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And one of them just happens to be the reason why Voldemort decided to go kill Harry’s parents (and try to kill Harry, too, but we know that didn’t work out. For the most part, anyway,) all those years ago. And it’s the reason why Voldemort used the connection to lure Harry here, to the Department of Mysteries. That’s right. Sirius isn’t here.
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But a bunch of Death Eaters, including Draco’s dear daddy Lucius Malfoy and the woman-who-tortured-Neville’s-parents-into-insanity (and Sirius cousin, by the way), Bellatrix Lestrange, are.
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And that’s not good.
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One by one, the others are knocked out-Hermione’s hit by a mysterious curse that leaves her unconscious, along with Ginny and Luna, and Ron’s knocked silly and almost strangled by a bunch of brains-until only Neville and Harry are left. It’s looking pretty bleak until the Order of the Phoenix arrives, including Sirius! Luckily, none of the Death Eaters are able to snatch the prophecy from Harry. Granted, Neville has to kick it and completely demolish it, but it’s better than the alternative.
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Things seem to be going pretty well. Dumbledore arrives, and all seems saved-until Harry turns around and watches as Bellatrix Lestrange uses the Avada Kedavra on Sirius, and he topples behind a nearby mysteriously whispering veil.
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That’s right. You heard me. Everybody’s favorite so-unexpected-we-thought-he-was-a-villain-like-Harry-didn’t-have-enough-of-them hero, Sirius Black, is dead.
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Harry only pauses a moment, then dashes after Bellatrix, who beats a hasty retreat. Only a short time later, Voldemort comes in person, duels with Dumbledore a bit, then does something we were pretty sure would happen all along.
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He possesses Harry. Like, control possesses. Controls him. You know what I mean.
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Can Harry fend off Voldemort once more, or will he finish what he started fourteen years ago (not to mention last year in that graveyard, but that’s too recent)? Will Ron, Hermione, Neville, Ginny, and Luna be okay? Will Tonks be okay? And will Fudge finally figure out the truth: Voldemort is back!! And Harry is right! And Professor Umbridge is an absolute toad of a teacher! And Professor Dumbledore is awesome! And-well, I could go on awhile. But you know the drill. You’ll just have to make like Hermione and get the book!
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So, that’s number five over and done with! Up next month we have Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and after that-well, suffice it to say you’d better not get me going on it, or you’ll be here awhile. Good-bye and happy hippogriffs to you until next time! (ha-ha, I made that up myself. Like it?)
1 comment:
Love that phrase!
Hermoine is still my favourite character. I already have the book. It was a little bit angsty for me, but there were laughs to be had (and lots of scary moments too.)
Great review!
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