Scarlet Leslie sc406

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Harry is once again suffering at his aunt and uncle’s house on Privet Drive. He is trying to find out what has happened in the wizard world by trying to catch the news, since Voldemort has returned. There is a loud noise, and his aunt and uncle find him in the bushes, insisting that he caused it. In order to get away from them, Harry goes for a walk in the neighborhood. He begins to think about what has happened. From letters, Harry knows that Ron and Hermione are in the same place, and he is angry since they probably know more than him about what is happening. Harry spots Dudley and his gang, who love to torment younger kids. He decides to go make fun of Dudley once all his gang members have let, to let out some of his anger. In the process, Harry mentions Mark Evans, who coincidentally has the same last name as his mother, Lily Evans. He is a ten year old who Dudley was torturing, so he may be important later on, since he could be related to Harry. Also, since he is only ten, he is not old enough to attend Hogwarts yet.

All of a sudden, everything’s gone cold and Harry realizes there are two dementors attacking them. He is forced to use magic although he is not allowed to. Mrs. Figg appears and starts rambling about Mundungus. Harry learns that he has been watched and that Mrs. Figg is a squib. She also has many cats, like Filch, who also is a squib, so cats might be connected to squibs in some way. Mundungus was supposed to be watching Harry, but he left. He comes back, and Mrs. Figg starts to yell at him. She leaves once she walks Harry and Dudley home.

As Dudley’s mom and dad fuss over him, Harry receives the letter that says he has broken the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery and will have to have a trial. Owls appear telling Harry to stay where he is, so he has to tell his aunt and uncle what happened. To his surprise, Aunt Petunia knows what dementors are. Harry starts to wonder how much she actually knows about the wizard world. She is scared when Harry tells them Voldemort has returned, and Harry actually appreciated the fact that she is his mother’s sister. Uncle Vernon tries to throw Harry out of the house, but a Howler appears for Aunt Petunia. It is a voice that Harry does not recognize (and turns out to be Dumbledore’s, which implies that Petunia may be in contact with him) and she tells her husband that Harry has to stay with them.

They eventually go out and Lupin appears with many other people. He says they are his “rescue team” and are taking him away. Moody gives him a note saying that the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix is at 12 Grimmauld Place. Grimmauld is like “grim old” and foreshadows Sirius’s death. His Animagus form, the black dog, was also mistkaen by Harry to be the Grim, an omen of death. The house is full of dark stuff, and Harry meets all his friends. They tell him what has happened in their lives, such as Bill teaching Fleur English at Gringotts, and Percy fighting with their parents. They say they do not know much of what has been going on either. Harry learns that the Order is a secret society. It was formed that last time Voldemort was in power, and the people fight him and his supporters. He also meets Kreacher, the strange house elf that lives there, and discovers that the house belonged to Sirius Black’s parents, his godfather. He meets other members of the Order. There is Nymphadora Tonks, a clumsy young auror, who is Metamorphmagus. She can change her appearance at will. Mundungus Fletcher, who left when he was supposed to be tailing Harry. He is a thief, but also very loyal to Dumbledore. There is also Kingsley Shacklebolt, Sturgis Podmore, Emmeline Vance, and old characters, like Bill and Charlie Weasley, Snape, and McGonagall. As some of them eat dinner, Sirius and Molly begin to argue about how much they should tell Harry. There were 13 people at dinner. Professor Trelawney, in the third book, had said that when 13 people sit together, the first to rise would die. Sirius was the first to rise when he and Molly are arguing, foreshadowing his death. Lupin helps by saying he should know the truth, bringing about a battle with Molly and her children. She eventually decides to let all of them stay and listen except Ginny but they do not really learn anything new from what they knew of it before from listening through Extendable Ears, another invention of Fred and George. We learn a bit about Sirius’s past and about how dark his family is. He also explains how all the purebloods are related when Harry is shocked to find that Sirius is related to the Malfoys.

Harry has to go to his hearing, which is at the Ministry of Magic. He follows Mr. Weasley around a bit, seeing how he talks to Kingsley so formally, so that other people are not suspicious of them being too close. His hearing was strangely moved to an earlier time. Fudge probably moved it so Dumbledore would not show up, which does not work, since he shows up anyway. The head judge is Amelia Bones; along with her are Fudge, Percy, and Umbridge, the Senior Undersecretary of Fudge. When Dumbledore calls in Mrs. Figg, she explains what she saw, but Fudge does not take her too seriously since she is a Squib. When Dumbledore says that he doesn’t think the dementors purposely went to Little Whinging, Umbridge flinches, and we later find out she sent them there. Harry gets off the trial fine, cleared of all charges, and is not expelled from Hogwarts. So, Hogwarts letters come, and Hermione, and surprisingly, Ron, are made prefects. Everyone wonders why Harry was not made prefect, especially Ron. Harry is extremely jealous, but he eventually gets over it. Moody shows him a picture of people who were in the Order last time, and his scar bothers him more now that Voldemort has returned.

On the train ride, they meet all their old friends, and new ones, like Luna Lovegood. She seems to be in a dream world, and they found her reading a magazine upside down. It is The Quibbler, which her father is the editor of. It is filled with a lot of stuff that people do not believe in. They also meet up with their enemies, Draco Malfoy, who hints about his knowledge of Sirius. When they arrive at school, Harry is surprised that there are horse-like creatures pulling carriages (which we later find out are threstrals), which he had never noticed before. Hagrid is not present anywhere, making Hermione, Ron and Harry wonder where he is. Also, at the sorting of the first years, the Sorting Hat seems to have incorporated a warning into its song, telling everyone in all the houses to unite, since danger is near. Nearly Headless Nick tells the Gryffindors that the Sorting Hat has given warnings before when it feels the school is in danger.

Umbridge is the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, and shocks everyone by interrupting Dumbledore’s speech. She hints that the Ministry is going to have more control over the school, probably since they are afraid of what Dumbledore is teaching them at Hogwarts. Lessons with all the other professors are basically the same, and Umbridge shocks everyone when she tells them they will not be practicing spells. Hermione is extremely shocked since it is their O.W.L. year and she thinks they’ll not be prepared, and Harry mentions that they’ll never be able to protect themselves against Voldemort. It is the last straw for Umbridge and she gives Harry detention. He has to miss helping with Quidditch tryouts, which makes Angelina, the new captain, very angry. The detentions turn out to be horrible, since Umbridge has a quill that digs into the person’s hand and writes with their blood. Ron replaces the graduated Wood as Keeper, explaining his odd disappearances when he went to practice. Percy writes a letter to Ron, congratulating him on becoming a prefect and telling him he should stay away from Harry. Sirius’s head shows up in the fireplace, and he tells them about how Umbridge hates half-humans, like werewolves. Umbridge is made Hogwarts “High Inquisitor” and sits in during lessons.

Hermione suggests that Harry teach them Defense Against the Dark Arts, but Harry is reluctant. They decide to have a meeting with those who are interested at Hog’s Head, and a lot of people show up which scares Harry. Ernie Macmillian and Hannah Abbot, the Hufflepuff prefects, Susan Bones, Amelia Bones’s niece, and Cho Chang show up. There is also Michael Corner, which Ron finds out is Ginny’s boyfriend and goes crazy.However, he decides to do it and they have trouble deciding where to have the meetings and when to, since there are many Quidditch players. Umbridge passes many decrees, one of which says special groups must have her permission to be formed, right after their meeting, making them wonder if she knows about it. During another meeting with Sirius in the fireplace, Harry finds out he is still being followed. While they were talking, a hand appears in the fire, which looked a lot like Umbridge’s. Also, Hedwig was attacked, and Harry wonders who is trying to read his mail. Filch had also tried to get his mail before when he was sending a letter to Sirius. They conclude that it must be Umbridge. Dobby returns Hedwig to Harry, and tells him about the Room of Requirement, which is a perfect place for their Defense Against the Dark Arts meetings. During their first meeting, they decide on a name, D.A., or Dumbledore’s Army. Later, Hermione develops fake Galleons, which act like the Dark Mark on Death Eaters, and will tell everyone the date and time of the next meeting.

Gryffindor played Slytherin for their first Quidditch match. The Slytherins made up the “Weasley is Our King” song, teasing Ron. At the end of the match, Harry, Fred, and George fight with Malfoy, and Umbridge decides to kick all three of them off the Quidditch team and lock up their brooms. To cheer Harry up, Hermione tells him that Hagrid is back and the trio goes to visit him. He is hurt badly and tells them about how he and Madame Maxime went to try and negotiate with the giants. Eventually, however, the Death Eaters had gotten them to be on their side first. They tell him about what has been happening at Hogwarts, and Hermione volunteers to help Hagrid plan his lessons so Umbridge won’t sack him. At their first lesson, they learn about threstrals, which were the horses Harry had seen pulling the carriages. We learn that only people who have witnessed death can see them. It is almost Christmas, and at the D.A. meeting right before the holiday break, Harry is informed that Ginny has replaced him as seeker and the new beaters aren’t that great. At the end of the meeting, Cho kisses Harry and then bursts into tears, which confuses him. Later, for Valentine’s Day, they go out, but Cho turns out to be a disappointment, and Harry actually is not upset.

Harry sees visions, and during Christmas break, he sees Ron’s dad being attacked. It turns out to be true, and they go to visit him at the hospital. They also see Lockhart, who is still as conceited as he used to be, and Neville’s parents. Only Harry knew what happened to them, being tortured by Bellatrix Lestrange, and it was still a shock to see them for real. What scared Harry the most is that he saw the vision in the view of the snake that bit Mr. Weasley. Dumbledore decides to have Snape teach Harry Occlumency, the blocking of thoughts, since he felt Voldemort might be trying to get into his head. During his lessons, he sees the Department of Mysteries. The Daily Prophet continues to write false stories about Harry and Voldemort, so Hermione decides to ask Rita Skeeter write an article about the truth to be published in The Quibbler. Umbridge finally sacks Trelawney, who Dumbledore replaces with Firenze, which makes Umbridge even angrier since he is a half-human. Firenze tells them that the other centaurs regard him as a traitor because he is working for Dumbledore. Umbridge finally has evidence of D.A. and tries to make them stop, ending in her becoming the new headmistress. She also starts the Inquisitorial Squad which many of the Slytherins are part of. Fred and George decide to make her job harder, using all their tricks, and the teachers refuse to Umbridge get rid of them.

At another Occlumency lesson, Harry enters Snape’s pensieve and sees how horrible his father was to Snape. He is ashamed of his father and wants to talk to Sirius and Lupin about it. They assure him that he had changed and matured later. In order for Harry to get the Grimmauld Place, Fred and George created a swamp in the middle of a corridor as a distraction. The twins summon their brooms and leave Hogwarts, announcing the address of their joke shop, leaving a new legacy since even Peeves admired them. The Fifth Years also have to talk about their career choices and Umbridge decides to sit in on Harry’s. She says the Ministry would never take Harry as an auror and freaks out about how she thinks McGonagall wants Dumbledore to replace Fudge as Ministry of Magic.

At another Quidditch match, Hagrid shows up and wants to show Harry and Hermione something. It turns out to be a giant, Grawp, Hagrid’s half-brother, who he brought back. It explains part of the reason why it took Hagrid so long. He wants to educate Grawp and makes Harry and Hermione promise to take care of him if anything happens to Hagrid. They return to the Quidditch match where the Gryffindors has won the cup. It surprised everyone. Before Ron had said they had as much of a chance to win the Quidditch cup as his dad of becoming Ministry of Magic, so it could be something that’ll happen later.

The Fifth Years take their O.W.L.s. During their astronomy test, Umbridge goes to attack Hagrid with a group of people. McGonagall ends up hurt and is sent to St. Mungo’s, and Hagrid is arrested, leaving only Snape as a member of the Order at Hogwarts. Harry has a vision of Sirius being attacked by Voldemort and panics. He goes to Grimmauld Place and only Kreacher tells him he is the only one there and Umbridge catches him. She confesses she was the one who sent the dementors and tries to find out who Harry was trying to talk to. Hermione tells a great lie and leads Umbridge to the forest. She is able to get the centaurs to attack her, since Umbridge also insulted them, but they also want to hurt Harry and Hermione. Grawp shows up and saves them, recognizing Hermione.

They get out of the forest and Ron and other members who were trapped in Umbridge’s office meet them. Luna, Neville, and Ginny insist on going with them to the Ministry of Magic and they ride the thestrals there. They enter the Department of Mysteries and find all the strange things there. Harry hears voices coming from behind a veil, which no one else hears except Luna. As they continue to explore, Ron finds an orb with Harry’s name on it. Death Eaters appear, saying that Harry had fallen for the trick and demand him give them the prophecy, or the orb. Voldemort realized Harry could get into his thoughts and made it seem like they captured Sirius. They have to fight the Death Eaters and many of them are hurt. Ron loses his memory, and Hermione is unconscious. Bellatrix Lestrange is torturing Neville when members of the Order appear. They try to get the kids to safety. Dumbledore appears just when Sirius is pushed by Bellatrix through the archway, and Lupin tells Harry he is gone. Harry had dropped the orb, which broke, so the prophecy the Death Eaters were after was gone. Bellatrix had gone hysterical not believing the prophecy was gone, and Voldemort appears. Dumbledore shows up to help Harry. Voldemort goes inside Harry’s body and tells Dumbledore to kill him, but when Harry thinks that he’ll be with Sirius again, Voldemort is forced out since he cannot handle so much love. The Dark Lord and the Death Eaters leave, and Fudge and other members of the Ministry saw what happened and finally believe Dumbledore and Harry.

After taking everyone to the places they need to be, Dumbledore talks to Harry in his office. He tells him about why he seemed so distant from him, which was his fear that Voldemort was too close to Harry. He also explains that Kreacher was able to get to the Malfoys and tell them some things since Narcissa is related to Sirius. Dumbledore also explains why Harry has to stay with the Dursley’s, which is when Harry realizes it was Dumbledore’s voice in the Howler. His aunt is the closest thing to his mother’s blood, which is great protection for Harry. Dumbledore tells Harry about the prophecy which was made to him by Trelawney. He explains that at the time the prophecy was made, it could have refered to him or Neville (which means that Neville could be very important later), since they were both born in July and both their parents had defied the Dark Lord. However, Voldemort had felt that Harry was a greater threat. Dumbledore said that it was odd, since he chose Harry rather than Neville, who is a pureblood. The prophecy says that, in the end, one of them has to kill the other. Harry also finds out that Dumbledore did not select him as a prefect because he felt Harry would have too much stuff to worry about.

As the year ends, the Daily Prophet finally prints the truth. Dumbledore had gone into the forest and saved Umbridge from the centaurs, but now she is in shock. The only person who was upset about Umbridge leaving was Filch, who admired her. McGonagall is back from the hospital. Harry tried to go talk to Hagrid, but it does not cheer him up. Harry looks through his stuff and finds a mirror that Sirius had given him. It is a two-way mirror that he could have used to talk to him, but it was too late. Harry runs off to find Nearly Headless Nick and finds out that not everyone becomes a ghost. There are other paths to take when a wizard dies. He bumps into Luna who tells him that she saw her mother die. She also says that they are still somewhere, and they were the voices behind the veil. They take the Hogwart’s Express back home, where several members of the Order decide to have a “talk” with the Dursleys.


Your essay was a pleasure to read, I am very glad that you used the previous book by mixing it with OOTP... You also made an assumption about Mark Evans which also good... I am very pleased with how you put your thoughts into this essay...

50 points...