Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Donning the invisibility cloak, Harry, Ron, and Hermione visit Hagrid in his hut. They are shocked at his bruised and bloodied face and ask where he has been. Hagrid tells them of the mission he was given to try to recruit the giants to Dumbledore’s side before the Death Eaters reached them. He traveled with Madame Maxime to mountains in Europe, and the trip took months because they avoided using magic (not wanting to draw the attention of the Ministry or Voldemort’s followers).

They reached the giants and supplied gifts to Karkus, the gurg, or king giant. Karsus seemed predisposed to listen to their proposition of supporting Dumbledore, but he was usurped by another giant, Golgomath, who was persuaded by Death Eaters to be sympathetic to Voldemort’s cause. Madame Maxime and Hagrid tried to convince a few giants hiding in nearby caves, but Golgomath’s supporters killed these giants. Hagrid is evasive about his injury.

Suddenly, there is a knock at the door. Harry, Ron, and Hermione hide under the invisibility cloak in the corner of the cabin. Hagrid opens the door to Umbridge, who wants to know why three sets of footprints lead through the snow to the cabin. Hagrid says he doesn’t know. Umbridge looks around but sees nothing. She threateningly explains that she will evaluate him, as the Ministry is determined to weed out unsatisfactory teachers. After she leaves, Hermione warns Hagrid to avoid teaching them about anything dangerous in his observed lesson.

Hermione returns to Hagrid’s cabin, imploring him to teach a safe and well-managed lesson when Umbridge is present. He is unconvinced; he has something exciting planned and doesn’t want to ruin the surprise by telling Hermione.

Hagrid leads the class into the Forbidden Forest for their lesson. He makes a few screeching calls, and Harry sees the winged skeletal horses arrive in the clearing. He notices that most of the class is looking around blankly. Hagrid explains that the creatures are called Thestrals; only those who have seen death can see them. Umbridge joins the class. Umbridge takes critical notes on Hagrid’s class in a loud stage whisper: “Appears…to…have…poor…short…term…memory” and speaks to him loudly and slowly, miming her intentions with obvious gestures, as if Hagrid has trouble understanding (414). Her review of the lesson is critical; she asks students leading questions about whether they can understand Hagrid.

Harry is relieved to be invited to spend Christmas with the Weasleys. At the last DA meeting before the break, they practice the jinxes and curses they’ve been working on. Harry is thrilled with the progress of his peers. After the meeting, Cho and Harry both remain in the room. Harry is excited but then confused and upset when Cho begins to talk about Cedric. They kiss. Harry reviews the incident with Ron and Hermione in the common room; Hermione helps the boys to understand Cho’s conflicted feelings of grief, attraction, and guilt in the wake of Cedric’s death and her developing feelings for Harry.

Harry falls asleep, and his dreams are interrupted by a vivid vision. He is a snake slithering along a corridor that he has dreamed of frequently. As the snake, he viciously attacks a man, whom he recognizes as Mr. Weasley. Harry wakes up yelling and agitated; he explains to Ron and then to Professor McGonagall (whom a worried peer retrieves, thinking Harry is ill) that Mr. Weasley has been attacked and is badly injured. Professor McGonagall, who believes Harry, takes him to see Dumbledore.

Ron and Harry follow Professor McGonagall to Dumbledore’s office. Dumbledore asks about the perspective from which Harry saw the attack; Harry clarifies that he experienced it from the point of view of the snake. From among the dozens of framed portraits of previous Hogwarts headmasters, Dumbledore summons two wizards who have corresponding frames in other locations to raise the alarm at the Ministry of Magic, where Arthur was injured, and to assess his condition. Dumbledore instructs Fawkes, the phoenix, to guard the office, presumably from Umbridge.

The wizards from the frames reappear, reporting that Mr. Weasley is badly injured and is being taken to St. Mungo’s Hospital. Another framed wizard, Phineas, is sent to a corresponding frame at Sirius’s home at Grimmauld place to pass on the message of Mr. Weasley’s injury. A flame and feather appear in the office: Fawkes’s message that Umbridge is approaching. Professor McGonagall stalls her outside the office as the Weasley children, whom Professor McGonagall has retrieved and brought to the office, use a Portkey to transport them and Harry to Grimmauld Place. In the moments before they are transported away, Harry feels a sense of loathing toward Dumbledore; he feels tempted to strike or bite him.

At Grimmauld Place, Harry describes the events of the vision to the Weasley children and Sirius. At one point, Sirius angrily dismisses Kreacher. They receive word from Mrs. Weasley that Mr. Weasley is still alive. After a long night of waiting, Mrs. Weasley arrives in the morning, reassuring her family that Mr. Weasley will be OK. They have a celebratory breakfast. The family sleeps, but Harry avoids falling asleep, terrified of becoming the snake and attacking someone else.

The Weasleys, Harry, Moody, and Tonks travel to St. Mungo’s hospital to see Mr. Weasley. They enter the magical hospital via the glass front of a dilapidated muggle department store and are directed to Mr. Weasley’s ward. The Weasley children try to ask him about Voldemort’s snake, but he is evasive. They use extendable ears to listen to the conversation between Tonks, Moody, and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, who discuss the concerning nature of Harry’s visions, and the possibility that Voldemort could possess Harry in return.

Harry feels lonely and terrified. He wonders if he is the weapon that Voldemort wants. Harry realizes that Voldemort possessing him would give Voldemort intimate knowledge of the members and location of the Order of the Phoenix. He is quiet and pale on the trip home from St. Mungo’s; Mrs. Weasley asks if he is alright numerous times and sends him to sleep when they get home.

Terrified, Harry resolves to leave Grimmauld Place to keep his friends safe. As if reading his mind, the portrait on the wall containing Phineas delivers a message from Dumbledore instructing Harry to stay put. Harry sleeps and dreams again of the corridor and the closed door. He does not come down for dinner.

The next day, Hermione arrives to stay. She, Ron, and Ginny talk to Harry, who is still being evasive and solitary. They reassure him that he did not attack Mr. Weasley and that Voldemort does not possess him. Ginny reminds Harry that she was possessed by Voldemort via Tom Riddle’s diary.

Harry has a happy Christmas with the Weasleys and Sirius. Hermione has a present for Kreacher, but he is nowhere to be seen. Harry is worried that he left the home after Sirius ordered him “out,” and he tells Sirius about Dobby leaving the Malfoys to help him. Sirius is unconcerned.

The group again visits Mr. Weasley at St. Mungo’s that afternoon. Mrs. Weasley is furious to learn that Mr. Weasley and the Trainee Healer tried using stitches on his wounds, a Muggle practice. Bill, Fred, George, Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Ginny go to get tea as their mother yells at Mr. Weasley. Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Ginny bump into Gildroy Lockhart as they pass the Spell Damage ward; he offers them autographs. A healer, thinking they are Lockhart’s visitors, happily encourages them to accompany Lockhart into the ward. They see several other patients, including a man in the bed opposite Lockhart’s—Boderick Bode—being given a plant as a Christmas present.  

Neville is leaving the ward with his grandmother, having just visited his parents. Ron, Hermione, and Ginny learn that Mr. and Mrs. Longbottom were tortured by Bellatrix, which Harry already knew. Neville is embarrassed.

Kreacher is found in the attic. Harry is still suspicious that he has been elsewhere. Snape visits Grimmauld Place near the end of the Christmas break and informs Harry that Dumbledore would like him to study Occlumency, the magical defense of the mind against external penetration, with Snape. Snape and Sirius have an angry exchange and are interrupted by Mr. Weasley, who has returned home, arriving in the kitchen accompanied by all of the Weasleys and Hermione.

Before Harry leaves for Hogwarts, Sirius gives Harry a gift that will allow him to get in touch with Sirius if Snape is cruel during Occlumency classes; not wanting to endanger Sirius, Harry privately resolves not to use it. Fred, George, Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Ginny are accompanied back to Hogwarts on the Nightbus by Lupin and Tonks.

At Hogwarts, Cho leadingly asks whether Harry knows there is a Hogsmeade trip planned for Valentine’s Day. Harry asks if she would like to go with him that day, and he is delighted when she agrees.

Harry has his first Occlumency class with Snape. Snape explains that they have reason to believe that Voldemort knows of Harry’s incursions into his mind, such as on the night that Nagini attacked Mr. Weasley (Voldemort was possessing the mind of the snake). For this reason, Dumbledore believes that Harry should learn how to protectively close his mind against Voldemort to avoid being possessed or manipulated by him.

Snape magically enters Harry’s mind; Harry helplessly watches a series of memories, including childhood memories with the Dursleys and kissing Cho recently, which Snape is accessing. Angrily, Harry inadvertently produces a stinging hex that repels Snape. Snape councils him to rid himself of emotion to focus. He enters Harry’s mind again, seeing Harry looking at his parents in the enchanted mirror and memories from the Triwizard Tournament, including Cedric’s death. Telling a furious and frustrated Harry to resist his intrusion, Snape enters his mind again. Harry pictures the corridor he has been dreaming about. He realizes that he recognizes it from when he and Mr. Weasley were in the Ministry of Magic for his hearing—it leads to the Department of Mysteries. Harry asks Snape what is in the Department of Mysteries, correctly deducing that this is what Voldemort is seeking; Snape is unnerved. 

Harry tells Ron and Hermione of his deductions. They recall that Sturgis Podmore, a member of the Order of the Phoenix, was arrested trying to enter a door at the Ministry of Magic. They wonder why and what is inside the door. Harry is overcome with another preview into Voldemort’s mind; Voldemort has achieved something he has been hoping for and is the happiest he has been in years.