Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

''Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix'' is a fantasy novel written by British author J. K. Rowling and the fifth novel in the ''Harry Potter'' series. It follows Harry Potter's struggles through his fifth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, including the surreptitious return of the antagonist Lord Voldemort, O.W.L. exams, and an obstructive Ministry of Magic. The novel was published on 21 June 2003 by Bloomsbury in the United Kingdom, Scholastic in the United States, and Raincoast in Canada. It sold five million copies in the first 24 hours of publication.

''Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix'' won several awards, including the American Library Association Best Book Award for Young Adults in 2003. The book was also made into a 2007 film, and a video game by Electronic Arts.

Plot

During the summer, Harry Potter and his cousin Dudley are attacked by Dementors. Forced to magically fend them off, Harry is expelled from Hogwarts, but his expulsion is postponed pending a hearing at the Ministry of Magic. A group of wizards belonging to the Order of the Phoenix whisk Harry off to Number 12, Grimmauld Place, Sirius Black's childhood home.

Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger explain that the Order is a secret organisation led by Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore, dedicated to fighting Lord Voldemort and the Death Eaters. Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny Weasley and Fred and George Weasley learn that Voldemort is seeking something he lacked prior to his defeat. The Ministry, led by Cornelius Fudge, refuses to accept Voldemort's return, and are running a smear campaign against Harry and Dumbledore. At the hearing, Dumbledore defends Harry, who is cleared of all charges.

At Hogwarts, Dolores Umbridge, a senior Ministry employee, becomes the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. She disputes Voldemort's return, and clashes with Harry, punishing him by having him writes lines with a quill that magically carves "I must not tell lies" into the back of his hand. When she refuses to teach students how to perform defensive magic, Harry, Ron, and Hermione form their own Defence group with other students. Umbridge, empowered by the Ministry to interfere in Hogwarts as the new High Inquisitor, bans unapproved clubs, forcing the group, now called Dumbledore's Army, to secretly meet in the Room of Requirement to practise under Harry's instruction.

One night, Harry has a vision of Voldemort's snake Nagini viciously attacking Arthur Weasley. Harry informs Professor McGonagall and Dumbledore, and Arthur is rescued. Dumbledore arranges for Professor Snape, another Order member, to teach Harry Occlumency to protect his mind against Voldemort's invasions. Umbridge is eventually tipped-off about Dumbledore's Army; to prevent Harry's expulsion, Dumbledore takes responsibility for the group, then goes into hiding. Umbridge becomes headmistress, though she is unable to access Dumbledore's old office.

Harry's Occlumency lessons go poorly. During one session, Snape is called away, leaving Harry alone with the Pensieve. In it, Harry views Snape's memory of his father, James Potter, and Sirius Black bullying and humiliating Snape in school. Snape catches Harry and ends the lessons in a fit of rage. Harry makes no further effort to protect his mind, and during exams, Harry has a vision of Sirius being tortured by Voldemort in the Department of Mysteries. Harry uses the floo network in Umbridge's fireplace to contact Grimmauld Place. Kreacher, Sirius' house elf, claims he is gone.

Umbridge catches Harry and wants Snape to question Harry with Veritaserum, which he claims he has run out of. Harry covertly warns Snape of Sirius, which Snape claims to not understand. Umbridge reveals she ordered the Dementor attack on Harry, and decides to interrogate him with the Cruciatus Curse. Hermione intervenes, convincing Umbridge that Dumbledore's secret weapon is in the Forbidden Forest. Harry and Hermione lead her into the centaurs' territory. Umbridge provokes them, and they take her captive.

Harry and Hermione escape the centaurs. Luna, Ron, Ginny, and Neville join them, and they fly to the Ministry on Thestrals, to rescue Sirius. Once in the Department of Mysteries, they fail to find him, instead finding a glass sphere bearing Harry's and Voldemort's names. Death Eaters led by Lucius Malfoy attack them, revealing that Harry was lured here with a fake vision to secure the sphere, which is what Voldemort seeks – a recording of a prophecy concerning Harry and Voldemort.

Order of the Phoenix members arrive and battle the Death Eaters. During the fight, Neville accidentally destroys the prophecy, and Bellatrix Lestrange kills Sirius. Harry chases after her, but is no match. Voldemort arrives to kill Harry, but Dumbledore appears, dueling Voldemort to a stalemate. Voldemort possesses Harry, in an attempt to get Dumbledore to kill Harry, but Harry fights off the possession, driving out Voldemort just as Fudge arrives. Having seen Voldemort, Fudge accepts the truth.

In his office, Dumbledore explains that Snape had understood Harry's warning, and alerted the Order. Dumbledore also reveals that Kreacher had informed Lucius' wife, Narcissa, of Harry and Sirius's closeness, which Voldemort exploited. He tells Harry that he is safe from Voldemort with the Dursleys, as by taking Harry in, Petunia, Lily's sister, seals the protection Harry's mother gave him. Dumbledore reveals the contents of the prophecy, which foretold the birth of someone with the power to defeat Voldemort. One of Voldemort's followers had overheard part of the prophecy, and informed Voldemort, who then tried to kill the baby Harry. The rest of the prophecy, which Voldemort did not hear, hinted that Voldemort would mark his opponent as an equal, and that eventually, one would kill the other.

Overwhelmed by the prophecy and mourning the loss of Sirius, Harry grows sullen, although the wizarding community now affords him great respect. Motivated by his friends, Harry returns to the Dursleys.

Publication and release

''Potter'' fans waited three years between the releases of the fourth and fifth books. Before the release of the fifth book, 200 million copies of the first four books had already been sold and translated into 55 languages in 200 countries. As the series was already a global phenomenon, the book forged new pre-order records, with thousands of people queuing outside book stores on 20 June 2003 to secure copies at midnight. Despite the security, thousands of copies were stolen from an Earlestown, Merseyside warehouse on 15 June 2003.

Critical response

''Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix'' was met with mostly positive reviews and received several awards. In 2004, the book was cited as an American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults and as an American Library Association Notable Book. It also received the Oppenheim Toy Portfolio 2004 Gold Medal, along with several other awards. Rowling was praised for her imagination by ''USA Today'' writer Deirdre Donahue.
''The New York Times'' writer John Leonard praised the novel, saying "''The Order of the Phoenix'' starts slow, gathers speed and then skateboards, with somersaults, to its furious conclusion....As Harry gets older, Rowling gets better." However, he also criticised "the one-note Draco Malfoy" and the predictable Lord Voldemort.

Most negative reviewers were concerned with the violence contained in the novel and with Christian morality occurring throughout the book.

Predecessors and sequels

''Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix'' is the fifth book in the ''Harry Potter'' series. The first book in the series, '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone,'' was first published by Bloomsbury in 1997 with an initial print-run of 500 copies in hardback, 300 of which were distributed to libraries. By the end of 1997, the UK edition won a National Book Award and a gold medal in the 9-to-11-year-olds category of the Nestlé Smarties Book Prize. The second novel, '' Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets'', was published in the UK on 2 July 1998. The third novel, ''Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban'', was published a year later in the UK on 8 July 1999 and in the US on 8 September 1999. The fourth novel, '' Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire'', was published 8 July 2000, simultaneously by Bloomsbury and Scholastic. The fifth novel, ''Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix'', is the longest book in the series, yet it is the second shortest film at 2 hours 18 minutes.

After the publishing of ''Order of the Phoenix'', the sixth book of the series, '' Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince'', was published on 16 July 2005 and sold 9 million copies in the first 24 hours of its worldwide release. The seventh and final novel, ''Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows'', was published 21 July 2007. The book sold 11 million copies within 24 hours of its release: 2.7 million copies in the UK and 8.3 million in the US.

Adaptations

Film

In 2007, ''Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix'' was released in a film version directed by David Yates and written by Michael Goldenberg. The film was produced by David Heyman's company, Heyday Films, alongside David Barron. The budget was reportedly between £75 and 100 million (US$150–200 million), and it became the unadjusted eleventh-highest-grossing film of all time and a critical and commercial success. The film opened to a worldwide 5-day opening of $333 million, the third best of all time, and grossed $940 million total, second to '' Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End'' for the greatest total of 2007.

Video games

A video game adaptation of the book and film versions of ''Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix'' was made for Microsoft Windows, PS2, PS3, Xbox 360, PSP, Nintendo DS, Wii, Game Boy Advance, and Mac OS X. It was released on 25 June 2007 in the U.S., 28 June 2007 in Australia, and 29 June 2007 in the UK and Europe for PlayStation 3, PSP, PlayStation 2, Windows, and 3 July 2007 for most other platforms. The games were published by Electronic Arts.

The book is also depicted in the 2011 video game '' Lego Harry Potter: Years 5–7''.

Translations

The first official foreign translation of the book appeared in Vietnamese on 21 July 2003, when the first of twenty-two instalments was released. The first official European translation appeared in Serbia and Montenegro in Serbian by the official publisher ''Narodna Knjiga'' in early September 2003. Other translations appeared later (e.g. in November 2003 in Dutch and German). The English-language version has topped the bestseller list in France, whereas in Germany and the Netherlands, an unofficial distributed translation process was started on the internet.

See also

* Religious debates over the Harry Potter series

References

External links

Common Sense Media Age Rating

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
2003 British novels
2003 children's books
2003 fantasy novels
Anthony Award-winning works
BILBY Award-winning works
Bloomsbury Publishing books
Bram Stoker Award for Best Work for Young Readers winners
British novels adapted into films
Fiction set in 1995
Fiction set in 1996
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Novels about spirit possession
Novels about totalitarianism
Fiction about rebellions
Scholastic Corporation books
Sequel novels
Children's fantasy novels