Overview

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix takes place in the context of widespread fear and distrust. The Ministry of Magic is refusing to believe that Lord Voldemort has returned to power and focus instead on trying to discredit Harry and Dumbledore who are trying to convince the Wizarding World of the truth.

Dumbledore has recalled the Order of the Phoenix, a semi-secret group of witches and wizards who fought Voldemort the last time that he was in power. At the same time, the Ministry has installed Dolores Umbridge as a new teacher and “High Inquisitor” at Hogwart’s. It becomes clear very quickly that Professor Umbridge has been placed at Hogwart’s to spy, interfere and even wrest power from Dumbledore to allow the Ministry to spread the story that Harry and Dumbledore are lying and that the Ministry should be trusted.

Umbridge refuses to teach any magic in her Defense Against the Dark Arts classes, which is a problem for Harry and his fellow fifth years who are preparing to write their Ordinary Wizarding Level (OWL) exams. The students form Dumbledore’s Army, a group dedicated to learning defensive spells from Harry himself. This name was picked because it is clear that the Ministry believes that Dumbledore is trying to build up his own army to take the Ministry on.

Eventually, Umbridge and the Minister of Magic learn about this group and see an opportunity to have Harry expelled and arrested. This plan is thwarted, however, when Dumbledore takes full blame but has to go become a fugitive while Umbridge becomes Hogwart’s headmistress.

Throughout all of this, Harry is having strange dreams and seems to be developing a mysterious connection with Voldemort’s mind.  Sleeping one night, Harry witnesses an attack on Mr. Weasley by Voldemort’s snake, and convinced that it wasn’t a dream tells Dumbledore what happened. It turns out that Harry has in fact witnessed an actual event taking place and he starts to become worried that he is becoming evil, or that he is being possessed by Voldemort.

Eventually, Voldemort is able to lure Harry to London with these strange dreams by making him believe that he is torturing Harry’s godfather, Sirius, at the Hall of Prophecy in the Ministry of Magic. Harry, Ron, Hermione and their DA fellows Neville and Luna make a daring escape from Hogwart’s and head to London to rescue Sirius. When they arrive at the Ministry of Magic, they find it eerily empty and easy to get in to. Upon finding the place that Harry saw Sirius being tortured in his dreams, they find the place empty. They notice that one of the thousands of mysterious glass balls on a nearby shelf has Harry’s name on it. After picking the ball up, the group of friends is confronted by Death Eaters who had been waiting for Harry to retrieve what they learn is a prophecy, since only the subject of a prophecy can retrieve it without suffering the effects of a protective enchantment that causes insanity.

A fight ensues, but the Death Eaters cannot kill Harry until they have safely retrieved the prophecy from him, and even then, they are under orders from Voldemort to leave him alive (since Voldemort wants to kill him personally). The death eaters don’t have a problem with killing Harry’s friends though, so they run for it, back through Ministry offices and labs that form the Department of Mysteries. Eventually, the Order of the Phoenix arrives to save Harry and his friends, and Sirius is killed by Death Eater Bellatrix Lestrange.

Harry follows Bellatrix back up to the main entrance hall of the Ministry, intending to try to kill or injure her, but Voldemort and Dumbledore arrive and begin an intense and frightening duel. Voldemort seems to vanish but then tries to possess Harry who feels like he is in the coils of a snake and who experiences intense pain. Voldemort speaks to Dumbledore through Harry, hoping that Dumbledore would kill Harry in the hopes of killing Voldemort too, but of course Dumbledore recognizes the trick. When Harry begins to think about his friends, Voldemort suddenly releases him (we later find out that this is because Voldemort’s evil and maimed sould cannot stand to possess someone full of love).

The Ministry can no longer ignore Voldemort’s return to power and control of Hogwart’s is returned to Dumbledore who spends the evening with Harry telling him “everything” about his past. It is clear that massive change is about the come as the book ends.

Published June 21, 2003

Sold: Over 55 million copies worldwide

Order of the Phoenix was the subject of a lot of speculation and rumour before its release. The online community of fans couldn’t help discussing while they waited to find out when the book would be released. For info on some of the rumours and theories that came up, click here!