The Order of the Phoenix

I listened to Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix again this month, and I've decided to write about why it's my favorite fiction book ever... I could write a lengthy paper on that topic, but since I have an actual lengthy paper due this week for school, I'll try to keep this brief. lol

More than any other book in the series, this one correlates to our situation as Christians living in today's culture - the massive final battle is not here yet, but we know it is coming and would be wise to prepare.  The fierce determination, hope, courage, strong friendships, and willingness to fight are all powerful and poignant in this book.  Harry knows the truth about their hidden enemy, and there are a few loyal people who believe him and are banding together and preparing to fight.  But mostly, Harry is being mocked and belittled and isolated for speaking truths people do not want to hear.  They prefer to stay in denial, and that tension makes his life increasingly difficult.  When Luna reminds him that the enemy probably wants him to think he is all alone because he's less threatening that way, I love that so much!

The original "Order of the Phoenix" included Harry's parents, their friends, some of Harry's professors, Neville's parents, and more.  The enemy army was powerful - Harry's parents were murdered and Neville's parents were tortured into insanity.  In this book, Dumbledore and the adults around them are forming a new Order of the Phoenix... and Harry and his friends form "Dumbledore's Army."  Harry wrestles with self-doubt, but he is just beginning to see himself as someone who could lead and teach others.  He starts to step into that role in this book, and I could not love it more!  It's a subtle but critical shift for him and his friends to begin to see him as the leader.  When he and Neville look at the picture of their parents and Neville says he's proud to be their son, then Harry says, "We're gonna make them proud, Neville!"  Get out - I can't even handle that - it's so good!!

P.S.  I adore Neville, and the Christmas on the Closed Ward chapter (#23) will always make me cry.  Harry and his friends are teenagers who are just beginning to grasp the gravity and seriousness of the situation they are facing - they do not take it lightly.  When the woman who tortured Neville's parents breaks free from prison, he gets very serious about learning to fight, and his skills improve drastically.  Neville is one of my favorite HP characters for sure, and I love that he gets to kill the snake in the end!

Ron is a loyal friend and one of my favorite characters, as well!  Ginny is finding her voice and she and Harry are developing a better friendship, which makes me happy, as does the idea of him marrying into the Weasley family and doing all the holidays with them - it's so freaking perfect and just as it should be!  Fred and George are determined to fight back, making quite the scene as they leave school behind for good.  They are all realizing that fighting this enemy is more important than school rules, grades, etc.

The relationship between Harry and Sirius is so well written!  For Sirius, Harry has stepped into the role of James as his closest friend.  And for Harry, Sirius has stepped into the father role since James cannot be there.  They need each other and are protective of each other.  It is a short-lived but intensely meaningful relationship.  When they're fighting side by side, it's the very best... 

And then there's Bellatrix, an incredibly well cast villain... she murders Sirius in front of Harry in the "Beyond the Veil" chapter, which I already wrote about here.  Harry's parents died before he got to know them, and his mentor will die later, but this is a massive and very personal loss, and you feel it with him.  I appreciate that Lupin is there to help him.  And toward the end of the book, Luna saying, "Things we lose have a way of coming back to us in the end, if not always in the way we expect" is a lovely  subtle reminder that the people we love and lose are not gone forever.

The loyalty of Harry's friends in his time of need is touching... the way the six of them (three future couples) work together in the Department of Mysteries is phenomenal.  The light vs. dark as the Order rushes in to rescue them from the trap = also great!

Then that final scene of the movie is epic... an exceptional depiction of good vs. evil, the battle between Voldemort and "the only one he ever feared."  When he tries to control Harry, and Harry is able to resist him and push him away by focusing on people he loves - brilliant.

And in the end, Dumbledore and Harry sit down to talk, and again, I love everything about it.  The whole "you do care" scene, followed by Harry learning about the prophecy that set all of this in motion.  Finally understanding that he had been singled out by the enemy, and boldly choosing to prepare himself to step. up. and. fight.

There is more goodness, of course.  It's a very long book with many stand-out lines for me.  But that's the gist of why it's my favorite!

"It was, he thought, the difference between being dragged into the arena to face a battle to the death and walking into the arena with your head held high.  Some people, perhaps, would say that there was little to choose between the two ways, but Dumbledore knew - and so do I, thought Harry, with a rush of fierce pride, and so did my parents - that there was all the difference in the world."
~the absurdly brilliant J.K. Rowling (*this quote is actually from the next book in the aftermath of what happens in the Order of the Phoenix) ❤