Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J. K. Rowling

The fifth book in the Harry Potter series is the least likable of the lot for many reasons.  One of the reasons is that Harry spends it angry, sulking, and whining and because of the annoying character of Dolores Umbridge.  It opens with Harry angry and sulking that he is left behind at Privet Drive while everyone else is at Grimmauld where the Order of the Phoenix is meeting and working on fighting Voldemort. But Hermione and Ron's letters won't tell him anything about what is going on or why he has to stay where he is.  Then one day he and his bully cousin Duddley are attacked by Dementors and Harry uses his wand to send them away.  That's when he finds out that Dumbledore has had people watching him because one of them left his watch early when the Dementors came.  Now Harry has received an owl stating that he is to appear before the Ministry of Magic at a disciplinary hearing to determine whether or not he will be expelled from Hogwarts because he used magic in front of a Muggle outside of school grounds.

Nymphadora Tonks, an Aurora and Shacklebolt, an Aurora, Mad Eye Moody, and Lupin all arrive to take him to Sirus Black's house, 12 Grimmauld Place.  Ron and Hermione explain why they couldn't risk telling him anything in an owl, but Harry is still a bit pissy about being left behind when what he's missed is cleaning the house of nasty stuff while avoiding the house elf Kreacher who is devoted to the family but not to Black who was disowned by his mother and is determined to save all the things they are trying to throw out.  Speaking of family members, Percy has distanced himself from his family as he has gone to work for Minister Fudge who doesn't believe that Voldemort is back and that Dumbledore is after his job.  Percy will have nothing to do with his family and they will have nothing to do with him, though his mother keeps trying.

Harry goes with Arthur Weasley to his hearing but Weasley cannot go in with him.  Quite unusually it's being held in the courtroom and its a full hearing with all members of the court.  Luckily Dumbledore received the change in venue owl in time to come to help Harry Potter by providing a witness to the event that Harry Potter was performing magic in the defense of his life and that of his couisn's.  The charges are dismissed, but Dumbledore doesn't waste time talking to Harry which really upsets Harry.

When they get to school, Harry has to deal with kids who don't know what to believe and some who flat out don't believe him.  And everyone has to deal with the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher Delores Umbridge a real hideous piece of work.  She doesn't believe in using their wands to practice spells but rather reading about harmless spells in her ridiculous book.  But when they take their O.W.L.s (their ultimate tests in their subjects) they contain both a written and a practical portion where they will have to be able to perform the spells.

That's when Ron and Hermione get the idea that Harry should teach a class on the spells.  But it takes some convincing to get him to go along with it.  And soon Umbridge puts another of her decrees on the wall saying that no clubs or organizations are to be allowed at school. Which means no quidditch either until the teams get a special pass and guess whose team is the last to get a pass?  But they decided to go ahead with this club they have deemed to call Dumbledore's Army after Fudge's fear that Dumbledore is building an army against him.  They meet in the Requirements Room which is a room that only appears when you need it for something and very few people know about.

Harry gets into to trouble with Umbridge pretty early and gets detention with her where he has to use a special pen to write "I will not tell lies" over and over on parchment. Well, it's written in his blood as the words are scratched on his hand.  And when Umbridge makes herself High Inquisitor above all teachers she really starts to wreak havoc by grading teachers and at a quidditch game expells Fred, George, and Harry for life from playing confiscating their brooms.

That's not Harry's only problem, though. He's been having nightmares about a hallway with doors and one night a snake that he is inside of attacks Arthur Weasley who is guarding the weapon behind the door at the end of the hallway.  When Harry wakes up he tells Ron and they tell Professor MacGonnegal who takes them to see Dumbledore who arranges for Harry and the Weasley children to go to the Black residence as it is closest to St. Mungo's Hospital where they have taken Arthur.  Harry has saved Arthur but now Voldemort is aware that Harry can see inside his head and Dumbledore wants Harry to take Occulmacy classes from Snape to take in order to keep Voldemort out of his head but Harry is too curious about what is behind the door to actually practice and work on keeping Voldemort out of his head.  Then he gets angry at Snape for trying to teach him.

One night while teaching him Snape is called away and Harry decides to look into the pensive holding Snape's thoughts to see what he is hiding from him and finds that his dad and Sirus, but mainly his dad, used to bully Snape for no reason.  His mother used to defend Snape and think that his dad was a big headed idiot.  Harry has always heard such wonderful things about his father and to now see such a bad side to his dad is devastating.  But worse, he gets caught by Snape who now refuses to teach him, which is fine with Harry who doesn't want to stop the visions anyway because he's an idiot.

The one good thing and that's a big confusing maybe is his relationship with Cho has progressed to something more.  But Harry doesn't know what he's doing and Cho is confused and messed up from last year and things going on this year in her life and spend a great deal of time crying and wanting to talk about Cedric which Harry, of course, doesn't.

Here's the problem. Rowling has perfected the art of capturing the mind and actions of a fifteen-year-old boy and weren't we all idiots at that age?  Whining and angry at the world.  But that doesn't make for the most enjoyable reading.  You kinda want to shake Harry and maybe slap him in the face and tell him to snap out of it.  The other problem is Umbridge. Here Rowling has captured a villain more evil than Voldemort almost.  You really hate her to a high degree and pretty much want her to die a horrible death, though she doesn't, sorry to spoil that for you.  I want to give this book three and a half stars, but Rowling shouldn't be punished for creating a truly horrible character that you hate with all your heart, she should be commended for being able to bring that emotion out in the reader so I give it four out of five stars.         

Quotes

That’s what they should teach us here. How girls’ brains work…it’d be more useful than Divination anyway.

-J. K. Rowling (The Order of the Phoenix p 462)

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