Day 18 ~ Book

Today = A book I could read over and over and never get sick of...

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix!!!  I love, love, LOVE it! ❤

This is the book where Harry really begins to step into a leader role teaching the members of the DA how to defend themselves against evil, and I love it!  I love his courage in that and when he steps forward to tell the truth in the face of people mocking and belittling him.  His connection to Voldemort becomes more powerful and more confusing to him... and there's a well-described internal fight that's even more important than the external battle.  Voldemort is building an army and growing in power, and Harry and his friends are training and preparing to fight them!  

There are at least five moments in every Harry Potter book that make me cry every time I read/hear them - far more than five in this one...  Mrs. Weasley and Sirius arguing because they both love Harry like a son!  Mrs. Weasley's boggart being the death of her immediate family and Harry.  The Christmas on the Closed Ward chapter where they meet Neville as he is visiting his parents who were tortured into insanity - I can barely handle that whole scene - I adore Neville!  The Weasleys and Harry getting to spend Christmas with Sirius!  The way Neville steps up when he learns of Bellatrix escaping from Azkaban.  The way the six of them band together in the Department of Mysteries.  The Weasley twins defying Dolores Umbridge.  McGonagall coming to Dumbledore's defense, then later to Hagrid's defense when he is being fired without cause.  Ron coming through to help Gryffindor win the Quidditch cup. When the Order finally shows up as Harry and his friends are outnumbered and surrounded - so fantastic!  Harry getting to fight next to Sirius, and Sirius getting to really fight one last time after being trapped in hiding for so long!  The sudden death of Sirius and the way Lupin rushes to help Harry process the fact that Sirius has died.  The way Dumbledore comes in to fight Voldemort when Harry is so exhausted.  The "you do care" conversation where Harry is violently angry and blaming himself and trying hard to escape the extreme grief in front of him.  The entire conversation in Dumbledore's office and him finally understanding the prophecy and why he has to stay with the Dursley family.  Wow, so many emotions for me... I pretty much cry through the last hour and a half of this 27-hour audiobook, but it's so good! lol

There are a lot of other powerful, funny, touching moments and spiritual warfare illustrations that I love - when you read it knowing all that comes before and after it in the story, it's just fantastic!  I've listened to this one at least five times now, and it gets better to me each time.  (The brilliance of JK Rowling in creating this entire world and these characters you really love and weaving this epic story together will never cease to impress me!  My second fave HP book is Prisoner of Azkaban, then Sorcerer's Stone, then Deathly Hallows.  All the odd-numbered books!)  I also love Little Women, but not at all on the same level.  And the Bible is the only non-fiction book I will read repeatedly. ❤

Finally, a few quotes:

"Indifference and neglect often do much more damage than outright dislike."

"You're not a bad person. You're a very good person who bad things have happened to... We've all got both light and dark inside us. What matters is the part we choose to act on."

“Don't worry. You're just as sane as I am.” 

"He's a prefect now, he could make life difficult for you..."
"Wow, I wonder what it'd be like to have a difficult life?" said Harry sarcastically.” 

"Have a biscuit, Potter!"

"It unscrews the other way!"

"Your failure to understand that there are things much worse than death has always been your greatest weakness..” 

"Fools who wear their hearts proudly on their sleeves, who cannot control their emotions, who wallow in sad memories and allow themselves to be provoked so easily - weak people, in other words - they stand no chance against his powers! He will penetrate your mind with absurd ease, Potter!” 

“Would you like a cough drop, Dolores?” 

Uncle Vernon: "Listening to the news! Again?"
Harry: "Well, it changes every day, you see.” 

“The fact that you can feel pain like this is your greatest strength.” 

Harry struggled hard and viciously, but Lupin would not let go...
"There's nothing you can do, Harry...nothing...he's gone.” 

“Directly above them, framed in the doorway from the Brain Room, stood Albus Dumbledore, his wand aloft, his face white and furious. Harry felt a kind of electric charge surge through every particle of his body - they were saved.” 

"'Well, better expelled and able to defend yourselves than sitting safely in school without a clue,' said Sirius.” 

“Whenever he was in company he wanted to get away, and whenever he was alone he wanted company.” 

“But words were no longer enough, smashing things was no more help. He wanted to run, he wanted to keep running and never look back...” 

“'I should have made my meaning plainer,' said Professor McGonagall, turning at last to look Umbridge directly in the eyes. 'He has achieved high marks in all Defense Against the Dark Arts tests set by a competent teacher.' Professor Umbridge’s smile vanished as suddenly as a lightbulb blowing."

“You do care... You care so much you feel as though you will bleed to death with the pain of it.” 

“Things we lose have a way of coming back to us in the end, if not always in the way we expect.”  ❤