Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

• Harry is stuck once again in Privet Drive. He spends his days trying to listen to the news and waiting for
some sign that Muggle or Wizarding world has realized that Voldemort is back, extremely frustrated that
Dumbledore and the others have left him with the Dursleys while they’re all working together somewhere to
deal with Voldemort’s return.

• One night, while he’s arguing with Dudley near the Dursleys’ house, Dementors show up and try to attack him
and Dudley. Harry manages to chase them off with his Patronus (with the ‘help’ of their neighbor Mrs. Figg,
who reveals that she is a squib and has been watching Harry [with others] on Dumbledore’s orders).

• When Harry tries to explain what happened to Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon, a flock of owls descend on the
Dursleys’ house. One informs Harry he has been expelled for using magic while underage, another tells him
he is not expelled but will face a hearing at the Ministry in August, and just as Uncle Vernon declares he
has had enough and decides to throw Harry out of his house for good, a Howler that cries “REMEMBER MY
LAST, PETUNIA” arrives and a stunned Aunt Petunia firmly states that Harry must stay.

• After a few more days of being furious at everyone who will not give him any answers, Harry is finally
rescued from the Dursleys by a group of wizards including Lupin, the real Moody, Kingsley Shacklebolt and
Tonks. Together, they all fly to Number 12, Grimmauld Place—a house in London that Harry soon learns
belongs to Sirius and is being used as headquarters by the Order of the Phoenix.

• Once there, Harry goes off on Ron and Hermione for not writing to him about what they’ve been up to, and
they apologize profusely. They, Fred, George and Ginny then all fill Harry in on what they know so far: that
the Daily Prophet has been making Harry out to be insane so no one will believe him that Voldemort is back,
that Fudge and the Ministry have smeared Dumbledore and all who support him as dangerous and unstable,
and that Percy has decided the rest of his family are traitors to the Ministry and disowned them.

• After dinner, Sirius and Mrs. Weasley get into an argument about how much Harry should be told about
what’s going on with Voldemort. Mrs. Weasley accuses Sirius of being irresponsible, forgetting Dumbledore’s
counsel, and mistaking Harry for his father James, but the others agree that Harry has a right to know at least
some of what the Order has been doing. After Mrs. Weasley chases a fuming Ginny out of the room, therefore,
the others explain that Dumbledore believes Voldemort has been quiet since his return because he is trying to
rebuild his army and obtain a weapon he did not have before. In the meantime, the Order has been trying to
visit and recruit various creatures, such as the giants, to their side before Voldemort can, but the going has been
difficult thanks to Fudge’s attempts to discredit Dumbledore as a nut who wants to overthrow the Ministry.

• Harry and the others spend the next few days helping Mrs. Weasley clean Number 12 Grimmauld Place and rid
it of dark magic objects that formerly belonged to Sirius’ family—including a heavy locket that they can’t open.

• Sirius, who is quite depressed to be stuck back in the house in which he hated growing up, explains to Harry
that his family was full of Dark wizards; his brother Regulus was a Death Eater until he got cold feet, tried to
back out and was killed on Voldemort’s orders. Harry also meets Kreacher, the Black family’s house elf who
loves the hateful, screaming portrait of Sirius’ mother, hates Sirius, and is constantly trying to hide various
dark objects so the others cannot get rid of them. Sirius hates him too, but they can’t set him free because he
knows too much about the Order.

• On the morning of Harry’s hearing, Mr. Weasley takes him to the Ministry, only to find out that the time of his
hearing has been moved up and the room changed to a courtroom in which Dark wizards were formerly tried.
Harry is barely given a chance to speak, let alone explain what happened that night with the dementors, but
 luckily Dumbledore arrives (much to Fudge’s surprise and unease), ensures that Mrs. Figg is heard as a
witness, and calmly reminds the court that the Ministry does not have the power to expel students from
Hogwarts. Despite protestations from Fudge and his toadlike Senior Undersecretary Dolores Umbridge,
Harry is cleared of all charges and Dumbledore leaves the room without once looking at Harry.

• Back at Order headquarters, everyone has dinner to celebrate Harry’s acquittal and the fact that Ron and
Hermione have been made prefects. Harry is jealous of the other two until Sirius points out that neither he nor
James were prefects either.

• On the Hogwarts Express, Harry sits with Ginny, Neville and the somewhat dotty Luna Lovegood whose
father edits the tabloid-esque Quibbler. Upon arriving at the school, the Sorting Hat’s song warns that
Hogwarts is in danger and that all houses should be careful not to let outside forces split them apart.

• Everyone also learns that Hagrid is not at Hogwarts for some reason and that Umbridge is the new Defense
Against the Dark Arts teacher. (Umbridge gives a long speech to which most people don’t listen, but
Hermione listens long enough to realize that the Ministry is going to be interfering at Hogwarts this year.)

• Harry gets irritated that so many students think he’s crazy, and Hermione and a very reluctant Ron have their
prefect hands full trying to keep Fred and George from enlisting first years to test joke products for their
skiving snackboxes.

• In the first DADA class of the year, Umbridge makes it clear that her class will be one of books, not wands.
Hermione asks how they’re supposed to learn any defensive spells without practicing them, but Umbridge
says they don’t need to know defensive spells and gives Harry detention when he insists that they will because
Voldemort has returned.

• In detention, Umbridge tells Harry that he must write “I must not tell lies” with a quill that cuts the message into
his hand every time he writes it on the paper. Hermione insists Harry should tell Dumbledore, but he refuses.

• Meanwhile, Ron tries out for and becomes Gryffindor’s new Keeper and Cho keeps trying to talk to Harry
(always at what seems to Harry like the worst possible moments). Also, Percy writes to Ron to congratulate
him on becoming a prefect and to try to convince him to distance himself from Harry.

• Sirius uses floo powder to reach Harry and tell him to be careful of Umbridge because she’s working for
Fudge. He explains that Fudge doesn’t want students learning defensive spells because he’s afraid
Dumbledore is training students to form his own private army.

• Soon, Fudge appoints Umbridge as High Inquisitor of Hogwarts, which gives her the power to observe other
teachers and inspect what goes on in their classrooms (a task that makes her very unpopular in the eyes of
other teachers.) She also continues to forbid spell-use in her class, which prompts Hermione to suggest that
they should start their own DADA class and have Harry teach defensive spells to any student who wants to
learn them. At first, Harry is put off by the idea, but after thinking about it he agrees and Hermione arranges
a meeting in the Hog’s Head Inn. Lots of students come (including Cho, which thrills Harry) and Hermione
has them all sign a contract agreeing that they won’t tell Umbridge what they’re up to.

• The next day, Umbridge decrees that all student organizations are officially disbanded and no organization may
re-form or exist without permission from the High Inquisitor, but they decide to do it anyway and start holding
classes in the Room of Requirement. At Ginny’s suggestion, they name themselves Dumbledore’s Army.

• During the first Quidditch match of the year, Gryffindor beats Slytherin, but not before Ron (who has very
 little self-confidence about his playing skills) lets in several goals and the Slytherin crowd has a chance to
repeatedly chant a horrible song (Weasley Is Our King) insulting Ron and his family. After the match, Malfoy
taunts Harry and the Weasleys some more and when George and Harry respond and go after him, Umbridge
bans both of them and Fred from ever playing Quidditch again.

• Hagrid returns and explains to Harry, Ron and Hermione that Dumbledore sent him and Madame Maxime to
find the giants in the mountains and try to befriend them before the Death Eaters could—a task at which they
unfortunately were unable to succeed. Harry and the others try to warn Hagrid about Umbridge and her
decrees, but he remains unconcerned.

• Hagrid introduces his class to thestrals—winged horses (with extremely good senses of direction) that you can
only see if you have seen someone die. Umbridge visits the class and is extremely critical.

• As Christmas draws near, DA meetings continue and everyone improves immeasurably—even Neville! Cho
also tells Harry what a wonderful teacher he is and kisses him (while crying) under the mistletoe.

• That night, Harry dreams that he is a snake (in the same corridor he’s been dreaming of all year) and bites Mr.
Weasley. He wakes up sweating and shaking and when he tries to explain what he saw/did, Neville gets Prof.
McGonagall who takes him and Ron to see Dumbledore (who still will not look at Harry). Once he hears
what happened, Dumbledore immediately sends some of the portrait wizards to look for Mr. Weasley and
sends Harry and all the Weasleys to Grimmauld Place.

• Mrs. Weasley thanks Harry for saving Mr. Weasley’s life, but Harry still feels miserable because he thinks it’s
his fault Mr. Weasley almost died in the first place—especially after he and the others overhear the adults
discussing the possibility that Voldemort has been possessing Harry. When he tries to avoid everyone,
however, Ginny reminds him that she knows what it feels like to be possessed and convinces him that he is
not the weapon Voldemort has been trying to get his hands on.

• On Christmas, everyone goes to visit Mr. Weasley in St. Mungo’s. While there, they see Prof. Lockhart (who
tries to give them autographs) and Neville (who is there with his grandmother visiting his parents).

• Back at school, Harry starts Occlumency lessons with Snape because Dumbledore wants Harry to learn to
stop Voldemort from invading his mind. The lessons do not go well, however, (both because the two do not
get along and because Harry does not take the time to practice), and so Harry continues dreaming about
Voldemort and the mysterious corridor.

• Harry can sense that Voldemort is very happy about something, and the next morning they read in the Daily
Prophet that a bunch of Death Eaters have broken out of Azkaban. (Fudge blames the breakout on Sirius.)

• Educational Decree #26 bans teachers from talking to students about anything but the subject they teach.

• Harry and Cho go to Hogsmeade together on Valentine’s Day, but Cho gets mad and storms off in tears when
Harry tells her he has to meet Hermione halfway through the afternoon.

• In order to fight the lies that the Daily Prophet keeps printing about Harry, Hermione arranges for Harry to tell
Rita Skeeter (who is still under Hermione’s thumb) everything that happened the night of Voldemort’s return
AND asks Luna to have her father print the story in the Quibbler. When the article is printed, Umbridge decrees
that any student caught with the Quibbler will be expelled (which of course makes even more people read it).

• Umbridge fires Prof. Trelawney and tries to throw her out of the castle, but Dumbledore insists that she stay.
 When Umbridge protests that the new Divination teacher will need her room, Dumbledore announces that he
has already found a new Divination teacher who does not want Trelawney’s tower: Firenze the centaur.

• In his first lesson, Firenze explains that the position of Mars suggests that Wizard-kind is living through a
‘brief calm between two wars’ and that the fight must break out again soon.

• At the end of one DA meeting, a terrified Dobby appears to warn everyone that Umbridge has found out about
the DA. Everyone runs, but Harry gets caught by Draco and turned in to Umbridge, who takes him to see
Dumbledore. When they arrive in Dumbledore’s office, Fudge and Umbridge try to question him, but Harry sees
Dumbledore shake his head (barely) and so pretends to know absolutely nothing. Cho’s friend Marietta (whose
face is now full of ugly purple pimples spelling out the word SNEAK) had told Umbridge about the meeting, but
Shacklebolt discreetly modifies Marietta’s memory before she can confess again, and Harry thinks they’re all
going to get away with it…until Umbridge produces Hermione’s list of everyone in Dumbledore’s Army.

• When Dumbledore sees the list, he tells Fudge that he organized the group. Fudge is ecstatic and all ready
to arrest him, but Dumbledore chuckles, says he is not going to come quietly, hexes everyone (except Harry
and McGonagall), and disappears before anyone can touch him. (Before going, he reminds Harry how
important it is that he learn Occlumency, but when he touches Harry’s arm, Harry feels an urge to hurt him.)

• Upon Dumbledore’s departure, Umbridge becomes headmistress of Hogwarts and creates an Inquisitorial
Squad of students (such as Malfoy) to report to her on all students’ behavior. In response, Fred and George
start causing even more trouble than usual.

• Snape catches Harry peeking in the Pensieve at his worst memory (a scene in which Snape is back at school
and being taunted and flipped upside-down by Harry’s father and Harry’s mother tells James that he’s so full
of himself he makes her sick) and tells him not to come back ever again, thus ending the disastrous
Occlumency lessons.

• During Harry’s career counseling session, McGonagall and Umbridge get into a loud and heated argument
over whether Harry has any chance whatsoever of becoming an Auror.

• Harry badly wants to talk to Sirius about what he saw in the Pensieve, so Fred and George agree to create a
distraction so he can use Umbridge’s fireplace to do so. When he does, Sirius and Lupin assure Harry that
while James was arrogant for a time in school, he grew out of it. They’re also furious when they hear Snape
has quit giving Harry lessons and repeat that there is nothing more important than that Harry learn Occlumency.

• Meanwhile, as their promised distraction, Fred and George turn an entire school corridor into a swamp. The
Inquisitorial Squad manages to corner them, but before Umbridge and Filch can punish them, they summon
their brooms and fly into the sunset, leaving Hogwarts in triumph and to thunderous applause. In their
absence, Peeves and the rest of the students do their best to spread utter chaos throughout the school.

• During the final Quidditch match, Hagrid asks Harry and Hermione to follow him into the forest, where he
explains that since he’s likely to be fired any day, he’s going to need their help. He then introduces them to his
brother, Grawp, whom he ‘rescued’ from the other giants when he and Maxime originally went to recruit
them. Hagrid has been hiding him in the forest and trying to teach him English—with little success thus far.

• In Harry and Hermione’s absence, Ron and Ginny help Gryffindor defeat Ravenclaw to win the Quidditch Cup.
The Gryffindors change the words to the Slytherins’ song ‘Weasley Is Our King’ and Ron is the hero of the hour.

• All the 5th years study like mad for their O.W.L. exams and are fairly stressed by the time they arrive.
 During their Astronomy exam, Umbridge tries to arrest Hagrid and McGonagall intervenes. Hagrid grabs
Fang and escapes but McGonagall gets hit by four stunning spells at once and taken to St. Mungo’s.

• During his History of Magic exam, Harry falls asleep and dreams of the same corridor once again, but this
time he sees Voldemort torturing Sirius there and wakes up screaming. He gets sent to the hospital wing, but
after the exam, he tells Ron and Hermione they have to go to the Dept. of Mysteries to rescue Sirius immedi-
ately. Hermione is skeptical (reminding Harry that Dumbledore and Sirius have told him to close his mind
against such visions) and convinces Harry to use Umbridge’s fire to check if Sirius is at Grimmauld Place
before they all go rushing off to the Ministry. When he does, Kreacher tells him that Sirius is not there.

• Umbridge catches Harry using her fire and& demands that he tell her who he was trying to talk to. When he
won’t, she calls Snape and asks him to bring her some Veritaserum. He tells her he has none, and Harry
frantically tries to let Snape read his thoughts so he’ll know Sirius is in trouble. When Snape leaves,
Umbridge confesses that she is the one who sent dementors after Harry last summer in an attempt to get him
expelled and is about to use the Cruciatus Curse on him to force him to talk.

• Before Umbridge can say ‘Crucio,’ Hermione interrupts her, pretending to be in tears and says she’ll help her.
She tells Umbridge that Dumbledore has a weapon to use against the Ministry and agrees to take Umbridge to
it. She and Harry then lead Umbridge into the Forbidden Forest, where she is set upon and carried off by
centaurs (after she insults them by calling them half-breeds). Some of the centaurs try to attack Harry and
Hermione as well, but Grawp arrives looking for Hagrid and gives them a chance to escape.

• With Umbridge gone, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville and Luna use thestrals to fly to the Ministry in
London and rush down to the Dept. of Mysteries, where they pass through several rooms with strange objects
(including a brain, a bird that keeps hatching and aging, and a black veil behind which Harry can hear voices
whispering).

• Eventually, they find the room full of glass spheres that Harry saw in his dream and rush through it looking for
Sirius. When Ron notices that one of the balls has Harry’s name on it, Harry decides to pick it up and
suddenly they are all surrounded by Death Eaters who demand he hand over the prophecy in his hand.

• To buy time, Harry asks why Voldemort wants the prophecy. The Death Eaters laugh at the idea that
Dumbledore hasn’t told Harry about it and hint that it has to do with why Voldemort tried to kill Harry when
he was a baby.

• On Harry’s signal, all the DAers start smashing prophecies and running through the aisles, ducking Death
Eater jinxes and curses and firing back with their own. Eventually, Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Luna get hit by
one curse or another and only Harry and Neville are left fighting when they are cornered by Bellatrix Black.
She taunts Neville that she ‘knew’ his parents and starts to use the Cruciatus Curse on him to make Harry give
up the prophecy. Neville orders Harry not to give it to her, but just then Sirius, Lupin, Moody, Tonks and
Kingsley arrive to continue the fight and the Death Eaters turn their attention on them.

• In the fighting, the prophecy gets broken and no one hears what it says with all the commotion. Just after that,
Dumbledore arrives to find all the Death Eaters defeated except Bellatrix who is still dueling with Sirius.
Before Dumbledore can intervene, Bellatrix hits Sirius with a curse and he falls through the fluttering black veil.

• Harry tries to go after him, but Lupin stops him and tries to tell him that Sirius is dead and they need to round
up the others. When Bellatrix tries to escape, however, Harry chases after her and they end up in the Atrium
with the Fountain of Magical Brethren. Bellatrix taunts him for loving Sirius and demands he give her the pro-
phecy, and when Harry laughs and tells her it’s gone, his scar burns like mad and Voldemort suddenly appears.
• Voldemort tries to kill Harry, but the wizard part of the fountain jumps between Harry and the curse just as
Dumbledore appears in the Atrium. Dumbledore and Voldemort duel until the latter disappears and
Dumbledore calls for Harry to stay where he is. Harry is sure Dumbledore has won, but just then his scar
bursts into unimaginable pain. Voldemort possesses him and taunts Dumbledore (who has always said that
Voldemort’s greatest weakness is his failure to understand that there are things much worse than death), “if
death is nothing, kill the boy.” When Harry considers that if he dies he will get to see Sirius again, his heart
fills and Voldemort releases him, grabs Bellatrix and disapparates.

• Fudge arrives in time to see Voldemort there in the very Ministry of Magic, very confused and completely s
hocked. He insists that Dumbledore explain what’s going on, and Dumbledore agrees to give him a brief
synopsis after he sends Harry back to Hogwarts via a portkey.

• Harry lands back in Dumbledore’s office and tries to leave, but the door will not open. When Dumbledore
arrives and tries to tell him that the pain he feels is part of what makes him human, Harry is so angry that he
screams at him and starts smashing his possessions. Dumbledore does not try to stop him but will also not let
him out.

• Eventually, Harry sits down and Dumbledore starts to “tell him everything:”
– that he should have taught Harry Occlumency himself, but he was worried that Voldemort had realized he
could manipulate Harry’s thoughts and dreams, and he (Dumbledore) didn’t want to give Voldemort a
reason to use Harry to spy on him.

– that Kreacher lied when Harry asked him if Sirius was in the house, and that Kreacher had told Bellatrix
how much Harry cared about Sirius and that Harry would do anything to rescue Sirius.

– that Voldemort can’t hurt Harry at the Dursleys as long as they let him call that house ‘home’ (and that it
was Dumbledore who sent the howler to Petunia, reminding her of her promise to let Harry do that).

– that he should have told Harry why Voldemort wanted to kill him years ago, but he fell into the trap of
caring for Harry too much and couldn’t bring himself to add to his unhappiness.

– that the prophecy that got smashed was made 16 years ago by Prof. Trelawney (to Dumbledore) and
described ‘the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord.’ She actually could have been describing
Harry or Neville, but when Voldemort gave Harry his scar, he marked Harry as the one who must either kill
Voldemort or be killed (‘for neither can live while the other survives’).

– that Harry has ‘a power the Dark Lord knows not’—love—and it is this power that saved him when
Voldemort tried to possess him in the Department of Mysteries.

– The one thing he will not explain when Harry asks is why he trusts Snape; he just simply says he does.

• Fudge, the Ministry and the Daily Prophet all admit that Voldemort is back and once again return to praising
Harry as The Boy Who Lived. (Umbridge leaves Hogwarts for good after Dumbledore rescues her from the
centaurs.)

• Dumbledore resumes his position as headmaster, McGonagall and Hagrid return, the other DAers are all
healed, and Harry generally avoids everyone because he doesn’t want to talk about Sirius or everything
Dumbledore told him. He tries to use a two-way mirror that Sirius gave him to contact Sirius, but it doesn’t
work, and when he asks Nearly Headless Nick if Sirius can come back as a ghost, Nick says that he won’t
because he will have been brave enough ‘to go on.’
• While avoiding the end of the year feast, Harry runs into Luna who is collecting all her stuff that has been
taken from her throughout the year. She asks him about Sirius, tells him her mom died when she was nine,
and reminds Harry that it’s not as if he’ll never see Sirius again. When he asks her how she knows that, she
says because she and Harry could hear their voices in the room with the black veil—hiding just out of sight.

• Back on the Hogwarts Express, Ron asks Harry about Cho and he says they’re over. Ron also suggests, while
glancing at Harry, that since Ginny’s broken up with Michael Corner, she should choose someone better next
time. (She tells him she’s picked Dean Thomas.)

• Moody, Tonks, Lupin and the Weasleys meet Harry at King’s Cross and warn the Dursleys that if Harry is
mistreated at all, they’ll send a member of the Order to Privet Drive to check on him. Ron and Hermione
promise Harry that they’ll see him soon and he goes home with the Dursleys once again.

© Prepared by Meghan Goldenstein, July 2007