HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX

BOOK DETAILS

Author           J. K. Rowling
Genre            Fantasy
Publishers      Bloomsbury (UK) Arthur A. Levine/ Scholastic (US) Raincoast (Canada)
Released        21 June 2003
Book no.       Five
Sales             55 million
Chapters       38
Pages            766 (UK) 870 (US)
ISBN            0-7475-5100-6
Preceded by  Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Followed by  Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince



PLOT SUMMARY

Harry Potter is spending another horrible summer with his dreadful Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon when a group of evil spirits called Dementors stage an unexpected attack on Harry and his cousin Dudley. After using magic to defend himself and Dudley, which gets him expelled from Hogwarts, Harry is visited by a group of wizards and Madeye Moody and whisked off to number twelve, Grimmauld Place, London. Number twelve is the home of Harry's godfather, Sirius Black, and the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix. The Order is a group of witches and wizards, led by Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore, dedicated to fighting the evil Lord Voldemort and his followers. The Order is forced to operate in secrecy, outside of the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Magic, which is headed by the dense and corrupt Cornelius Fudge. Fudge refuses to believe that Lord Voldemort has returned. Harry, who witnessed Voldemort's return the previous June and was tortured and nearly murdered by him, is suffering from nightmares about what has happened to him. He is also angry with those he is close to, especially Ron and Hermione. Harry used magic to fight off the dementors, and since underage wizards are not permitted to use their wands outside of school, he must face a disciplinary hearing at the Ministry. With Dumbledore's help, Harry is cleared by the Wizengamot and permitted to return to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Reunited with his best friends, Ron and Hermione, Harry returns to Hogwarts and learns that Dolores Umbridge, an employee of Fudge, will be his new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. The Sorting Hat, which traditionally sorts all new students into one of four houses, cautions the students against becoming too internally divided. Meanwhile, the wizard newspaper, the Daily Prophet, continues printing untrue and unfair stories about Harry. Many of his classmates are whispering about him behind his back, but Harry ignores them and tries to concentrate on his studies, since all fifth-year students at Hogwarts are required to take rigorous standardised exams that are O.W.L.s, or Ordinary Wizarding Level examinations. However, Professor Umbridge and Harry soon clash, as she, like Fudge, refuses to believe that Voldemort has returned and punishes Harry by forcing him to write lines with a special quill that carves "I must not tell lies" into the back of his hand. Umbridge refuses to teach her students how to perform defensive spells, and before long, Fudge appoints her High Inquisitor of Hogwarts, giving her the authority to inspect all faculty members and evaluate their skills. In desperation, Harry, Hermione, and Ron form their own Defense Against the Dark Arts group, also known as the D.A., or Dumbledore's Army. Twenty-five other students sign up, and they meet as often as possible to learn and practice Defense spells. Harry wishes desperately to contact his godfather Sirius to discuss the situation, but Umbridge is inspecting all owl posts and patrolling the fires that students can use to make contact with wizards residing outside of Hogwarts.

Umbridge openly dislikes Harry, whom she considers a liar, and eventually bans him from the Gryffindor Quidditch team for "Muggle dueling" with Draco Malfoy. Ron's twin brothers, Fred and George, storm out of Hogwarts in protest, moving to London where they plan to open a joke shop in the wizarding town of Diagon Alley using the money Harry won last year in the Triwizard Tournament. Harry continues to have upsetting dreams about walking down a corridor at the Department of Mysteries, deep inside the Ministry of Magic. At the end of the corridor, Harry goes through several doors and enters a room full of dusty glass spheres. Harry always wakes up before he finds out what the dream means or what the spheres signify. One night, Harry has a vision where he inhabits the body of a large snake, and attacks Ron's father. Harry wakes up horrified, and Professor McGonagall takes him to Dumbledore immediately. Dumbledore uses the portraits on the walls of his office to raise an alert, and Mr. Weasley is promptly rescued by two members of the Order. The Weasley family, accompanied by Harry and the Order, visit Arthur Weasley in St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. Afterwards, Dumbledore demands that Harry take Occlumency lessons with Professor Snape, which should help Harry protect his mind against further invasions by Lord Voldemort.