book review on harry potter and the order of phoenix

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Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Book Review

The threat of Lord Voldemort has returned to the wizarding world. While the Ministry of Magic attempts to deny the return of this evil to the wizarding world, and band of wizards gather together in secret in order to foil the plans of the dark lord. In this Thrilling adventure, we see rebellion against society and the cause and effect that our companions we have been growing up with for years have on the world as a whole.

About Order of the Phoenix

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is the 5th installment to the Harry Potter series written by J.K. Rowling. The book was published on June 21st 2003. The book has 870 pages for the US version that are shared between 38 chapters.

The Overall Story

This book starts out with an isolated Harry being tormented by his cousin Dudley. It doesn’t take long for things to go wrong and be visibility out of the ordinary for this story as Dementors show up and go after the two of them. In self defence Harry protects himself and his cousin from them dementors by using magic. This leads to him being expelled and needing to attend a hearing to be tried for his crimes.

The story essentially boils down to Harry being frustrated that he cannot do much himself for the Order of the Phoenix because he is still so young despite his past achievements and knowledge. He is frustrated that no one seems to be giving him the time of day or taking what he has to say into account. This comes to ahead with the interactions with Professor Dumbledore throughout the entire book.

This book introduces a split between loyalties of the idea of the return of Voldemort and the denial of his return. Harry deals with this especially as all the proof of what has happened comes from his word and Dumbledore ’s word having believed him. 

Friends at school are hesitant to follow in Harry’s footsteps any further as the Ministry begins to make a villain out of Harry. The idea sent across is that Harry and Dumbledore are using the story has a fear tactic to create change in the ministry.

Harry and his connection to Voldemort now that he has fully returned seems to cause him more grief as their connection has never been stronger. Harry begins to dream what he believes is what Voldemort sees and what he is doing. This sets up connections for the future and pays off past books on the importance of the connection that Harry has with the Dark Lord.

The climax of the book was really well done. I remember when reading the end of this book I simply could not put it down. The stakes truly felt high, the events at the end for the first time were not happening at the school but actually somewhere much different. This refreshing scenery along with some new refreshing enemies towards the end of this book was really well done and dark.

There are parts of this book toward the end that really expand on some loose ideas of what magic items are and how dangerous they can really be. It’s fascinating when looking into further what these artifacts and items represent for the world as a whole.

The setup of the villains in this book is really well done, especially for the books that are about to come. Though there was reveals in the past book of some of the death eaters, this book introduces more of them and shows that they are a legitimate threat that is doing the bidding of Voldemort himself. 

This book also solves the issue of children beating experienced adults on multiple levels. The training that students that go with Harry, Ron and Hermione who all go by the name of Dumbledore’s army, find themselves capable to withstand the abilities of the death eaters until help arrives. This has been a minor complaint that I have had in the past, but at this point, I would say that it has resolved itself for any of the main cast that are predominantly utilized in this installment to the series.

Pacing in Order of the Phoenix

One really good strength that this book has is the pacing overall. There never seems to be a dull moment or something that goes on for too long. For a book of this size, it would seem that it would be pretty easy to fall into that trap, but J.K. Rowling masterfully keeps the story moving on, making sure that all plot points are being utilized in a captivating way. 

There are several major plot points that occur and are equally spread throughout the book along with some more minor points along the way that allows for this book to tick like a metronome. 

The series also continues to work it’s way out of being grounded at the school. There are more events that happen outside of the school in this book what it feels the rest of the series combined attempts to do. This gives keeps certain parts of the book from getting stale as by book 5, we are all very familiar with the school.

Characters in Order of the Phoenix

This book also is the first book in the series that truly begins to bring in some past characters. We are reintroduced to characters past books like Gilderoy Lockhart when the party goes to St Mungo's (a Wizard Hospital). But the cast that sticks out the most in this book are the members of the Order of the Phoenix. Until recently, there was not much new character development of Professor Lupin who now being sacked from Hogwarts has nothing better to do then be a part of this order.

This book also gives Harry’s Godfather Sirius Black much more character as the author is now able to take more time to paint him as a less villain and more of a father figure.

The introduction of Professor Umbridge, a Ministry of Magic lap dog in my mind creates a new character that causes the students problems and leads them into the actions that they take later in the book. I think that this could have been done without this character, but pays off well. Professor Umbridge is a proxy unit to control how things are being done at Hogwarts and to make sure that Professor Dumbledore is towing the line.

Her character is also used to create a threat that Harry Ron and Hermione must overcome as the Ministry begins to tighten their grip on the goings on of the school.

Finally another minor character that is introduced is Mad Eye Moody. I feel like mentioning him specifically as he acts like a leader to the Order. He doesn’t get a fantastic introduction, but we know that he will be recurring characters in the future. Mad Eye makes the list as a new character because honestly, this is the first time we really get to see him actually be himself.

Character Growth

Harry’s character shows a lot of growth in this book as he truly becomes a leader and stands up for himself regardless of who is questioning him. This gets him into trouble several times in the book. It can feel a little heavy handed at times by the author to show that Harry is being an angsty teenager that has issues with authority. As a children's book through, anyone reading it around Harry’s age can relate. I know cause I did my first read through this book.

Ron and Hermione’s characters grow as well. They are awarded the roles of prefects, which are basically hall managers at the school. It’s because of this role that Harry continues to feel more isolated from his friends which only allows his thoughts to fester.

Aside from this Ron and Hermione do not grow much further as characters. They seem to be pretty fleshed out for the non main character based on the previous books and I personally feel that they play much more support roles in this book over any of the other installations to this point.

Order of the Phoenix does more growth with some of the supporting characters such as Neville Longbottom, Luna Lovegood, a new character that was introduced in this book. As well as Fred and George Weasley. It’s good to see that the author is still growing these characters in the series as it helps keep the world from becoming very one dimensional.

Another character that gets surprising growth was Severus Snape. I feel like his character growth came out of left field in the book, but during the time in this book where his character is utilized is a rather messy turn of events. We get a better picture into his mind and why he turned into the man he is.

There are also characters in this book that get a surprising lack of growth. Dumbledore comes to mind right away. Due to his role in this book specifically, he becomes a very distant character for a good majority of the series.

Hagrid’s character also does not get a whole lot of growth in book. His role has been steadily on the decline in this series and is very absent here. With the amount of characters that play roles in this series now, it makes sense that some just need to be set aside for use later or to simply make room for the new characters that come into the series.

If it sounds like I am being too vague, that’s because it’s my intention to keep this review spoiler free to the best of my ability. Like the last book, we get a reality check that the story has taken a dark turn and that there are consequences to actions that have very serious ramifications.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is a really well done book and I remember enjoying it significantly more than the Goblet of Fire. This book sets up the next two installments really well and grows the characters in a believable way. All the tools that J.K. Rowling utilized to move the story along and have key factions integrate into the entirety of the story and not just segments was very well done. 

Does this book rank in the top half of the series though? I would say the answer to that has to be no, but that is not a bad thing. This book is on the sad side of a 7 book series by not cracking the top half. It’s still a very good read and a much improved book the previous adventure. This book is certainly worth anyone's time and like all the books in the series does not really allow for skipping as there is critical content in this book for the rest of the series.

If you want to find out where this book ranks in the series you can check out our ranking list for the Harry Potter book series here !

You can pick up a copy of this book for yourself by using our affiliate link.

If you are interested in any of the other Harry Potter Book reviews that we have posted please take a look at them in the summary below.

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Book Review

Harry potter and the order of the phoenix — “harry potter” series.

• J.K. Rowling
• Adventure , Fantasy

Readability Age Range

• Scholastic Press, an imprint of Scholastic, Inc.

Year Published

This is the fifth installment in J.K. Rowling’s seven-book Harry Potter series. At nearly 900 pages (and containing more words than the New Testament) Rowling’s latest endeavor remains true to her imaginative, unpredictable, Roald Dahlish style, but as Harry matures, so does the nature of the story.

Though more protracted and perhaps less charming than the earliest books, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is nevertheless well-written and engaging. Less blatantly “spiritual” and more character-driven than the recent Prisoner of Azkaban and Goblet of Fire, Phoenix is still dark from the outset, and families must still navigate all of the spells, sorcery and intense conflict inherent to the series. Written more for teens than tweens, Phoenix finds Harry increasingly sullen and angst-ridden as he faces trials of adolescence at Hogwarts. Parents who allow teens to read this book should be prepared to invest in it themselves. Spiritual snags will make it problematic for many Christian families.

Picking up only four weeks after Harry’s bitter-sweet triumph over Voldemort in The Goblet of Fire, the story deviates from the excitement generally surrounding the start of a Hogwarts term. Harry is deeply angry at having been almost completely cut off from the magical world and stuck once more on Privet Drive. Reduced to hiding in the flower bed outside a window to hear any Muggle news which may reveal Voldemort’s actions or whereabouts, Harry’s anxiety is clear: Ongoing nightmares about his own torture and a schoolmate’s murder by Vodemort plague him, as do feelings of betrayal by his wizarding friends who have kept him in the dark throughout the summer.

The oppressiveness of the blood sacrifice and murder in the last installment resurfaces here in an early Dementor attack on Harry and Dudley in which Harry is forced to use magic to save his cousin’s life. It’s a no-no to use spells outside of Hogwarts, so Harry gets called before the Ministry of Magic and risks being expelled and having his wand snapped. Along the way Harry becomes aware that he is not as forgotten as he thought, and has been the focus of protective efforts by The Order of the Phoenix.

Harry is eventually reunited with the Weasley family, Hermione, and Sirius. And the youngsters begin to piece together the purpose of The Order of the Phoenix. Readers, meanwhile, begin to see how much Harry has changed through his experiences. No longer the unsure, humble boy of The Sorcerer’s Stone, this 15-year-old struggles with pride when he senses that the members of the Order don’t feel he’s ready to fight along with them. His anger and resentment of Dumbledore grows throughout the book as the Headmaster distances himself from Harry under confusing circumstances.

Furthering the angst, both Ron and Hermione have become school prefects, somewhat breaking up the heroic threesome. And Harry realizes that he is once again the focus of much gossip, and that even some of his close friends do not believe his account of what happened with Voldemort and Cedric Diggory at the end of Goblet. The sociopolitical climate of the wizarding world has changed over the summer, and Dumbledore has come under great persecution for saying that Voldemort has returned, a fact that Cornelius Fudge, Minister of Magic, adamantly denies.

In between magical missions and battles, Harry spends his school days learning to relate to a girlfriend, handling his own pride when Ron begins to gain special honors, and finding out who he is apart from Quidditch, his parents and the professors who have guided him all his wizarding life. The story ends with a stunning, full revelation of a heretofore half-expressed prophecy. And Harry returns to Privet Drive with assurances that The Order of the Phoenix will be watching over him during holiday. …

Redemptive Elements

Rowling continues to develop themes such as loyalty, friendship, bravery and humility. When Harry discovers the possibility of pride in himself and in James, he is repulsed and realizes that a humble attitude is a good thing.

Most adults (who are not overtly despicable) are treated with respect and their judgment is trusted by the students. (However, Harry rarely turns to these adults when pressed.)

In his growing awareness of human nature, Harry begins to value and respect the “odd unfortunates.”

Power hunger and absolute power are seen as corrupting. Some parents who chose to allow their teens to read Phoenix may use the story to explore such concepts as Nazism (Death Eaters believe in allowing only pure-blood wizards to live) and Democracy (the breakdown in balance of power is what allows Cornelius Fudge and Delores Umbridge to make a mess of things).

Using critical thinking skills becomes necessary for Harry’s survival. Although he’s not particularly good at it sometimes, he learns that his own approach to viewing his world is not necessarily the most prudent way of going about life. He is forced to evaluate his motives and actions, an integral part of maturing for any human. (Harry’s blindness to Voldemort’s plan is obvious to everyone around him, but Harry is unwilling to admit his lack of control until it is too late.)

Negative Content

As in all of these books, witchcraft is a significant issue. And though Phoenix is more character-driven, readers will still be exposed to such staples of the magical world as frog spawn, blood, potions, demons and divination. Likely to be considered the weakest book in the series, Phoenix does feel less oppressive than the two most previous novels. However, the line between “good” magic and “bad” is hazier. And because magic and morality are intertwined in the story, teens may draw some disconcerting conclusions as they try to sort out their own beliefs about sorcery, good and evil.

Of concern is the pragmatic nature with which morality is treated. Harry frequently lies to avoid trouble or confrontation. Even Dumbledore lies to protect Harry. When the motherly Mrs. Weasley doesn’t approve of Mundungus, a member of the Order and self-admitted thief, she tells him, “I don’t know where you learned about right and wrong, Mundungus, but you seem to have missed a few crucial lessons.” That sounds good, but with the absence of God and absolute truth, where has Mrs. Weasley’s concept of right and wrong come from? And how should young readers interpret the moral input from the more respectable adults in the story?

After Firenze, a Centaur, is banished from his herd, he comes to Hogwarts to teach Divination and Astrology. Portrayed as a mystical, wise character, he teaches the students that humans are seriously limited in knowing anything of the future, but that they may have some success learning the ways of the Centaurs (reading the heavens and burning herbs for signs of what’s to come). In the end Harry decides that Firenze’s priority is “that nothing, not even centaurs’ knowledge was foolproof.” This episode might be discerned as a reviling of the whole divination concept. However, since the lynchpin of Phoenix is Madame Trelawney’s prophecy (which Dumbledore admits is true), readers are exposed to nothing less than a spiritual mishmash.

On a less mystical note, one disturbing point of the story—particularly in light of the current trend of teen “cutting”—is Harry’s detention punishment by Umbridge. Forced to use a magical quill to write the words “I must not tell lies” repeatedly, Harry feels the words cut into the back of his hand momentarily, then magically heal, preparing for the next pass. He is subjected to hours of this punishment, and his mastery of the pain becomes, in his mind, a weapon of control against Umbridge.

Violence is intense in places—too much so for young readers. Events after Hagrid’s diplomatic journey to the giants lead to his being bludgeoned repeatedly. One giant has his head ripped off. And in Harry’s dreams where Voldemort is involved, imagery is both gruesome and graphic.

[Spoiler Warning] Dumbledore tells Voldemort that the dark wizard’s weakness is in failing to understand that there are worse things than death. When Sirius comes to Harry’s aid against the Death Eaters in the Ministry of Magic, he is cursed and killed by his cousin Bellatrix. (He falls behind a curtained arch from which voices whisper and return is impossible.) In the days that follow, Harry learns from Nearly Headless Nick that wizards can leave a pale imprint of themselves to wander the earth in the form of a ghost, but that few do. Instead, most chose to “go on.” Meaning that Ghosthood is basically wizard cowardice. Later, Luna Lovegood tells Harry she believes that she will see her dead mother again someday. “You heard them, just behind the veil, didn’t you? … In that room with the archway. They were just lurking out of sight, that’s all.”

Rowling has stated that she believes in God and that accusations of Harry Potter books leading kids into sorcery are rubbish. (Though evidence suggests a heightened interest in the subject among children.) How sad that such an imaginative, gifted writer lacks the spiritual insight to give Harry, Luna and a legion of Potter fans the simple, illuminating truth about death—and life—found in Scripture. What readers are left with is a saga steeped in witchcraft that, because of skillful storytelling and pro-social morals, has many families ignoring its spiritual counterfeits.

Plot Summary

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Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix : Stephen King Review

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: Stephen King Review

For the July 11, 2003 issue of Entertainment Weekly magazine, the editors asked Stephen King to review the fifth Harry Potter book. Senior editor Thom Geier tells the story of how it happened: ”We knew we wanted to do something special with J.K. Rowling’s fifth book, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix . So we decided to approach the OTHER most popular author on the planet, Stephen King, who agreed to take the assignment.

”King didn’t have much time to read the 870-page book — even he couldn’t get the publisher to cough up an advance copy — and he worked on the review while in New York City doing publicity for his Dark Tower fantasy series and casting an upcoming film project. Moreover, he told us that he’d left his PowerBook back in Maine and declined our offer to borrow a laptop.

”Instead, he delivered a spiral-bound notebook with the review written out in his distinctively neat handwriting. It arrived the morning of June 25 (right on deadline) and was remarkably clean. It appears in the magazine with only a handful of editorial tweaks.”

By the way, King took a shining to the book and gave it an A. Read his review below.

Potter Gold: Stephen King takes a shining to J.K. Rowling’s delightfully dark Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Volume 5 of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series finds our hero and his friends cramming for (and agonizing over) their end-of-term exams, known at Hogwarts School as O.W.L.s (Ordinary Wizarding Levels). Of course, Harry has a few other things on his plate — the growing menace of Voldemort, a.k.a. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, and his serious crush on the beautiful Cho Chang are only two of them — but here, in the spirit of the exam motif, are some questions (and answers) of my own. The first is the most important… and may, in the end, be the only one that matters in what is probably the most review-proof book to come along since a little best-seller called the Bible.

1. Is Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix as good as the other Harry Potter books?

No. This one is actually quite a bit better. The tone is darker, and this has the unexpected — but very pleasing — effect of making Rowling’s wit and playful black humor shine all the brighter. Where but in the world of Jo Rowling would one find deadly supernatural beings and their frightening familiars existing side by side with empty gloves that twiddle their thumbs impatiently, not to mention enchanted interdepartmental memos that fly from floor to floor in the Ministry of Magic as paper airplanes?

2. Are there spoilers in this review?

Spoilers from a novelist who thinks the best dust-jacket flap copy ever written was “[Gore Vidal’s] Duluth tears the lid off Dallas”? Perish the thought! But even if there were spoilers, would it matter? I’m betting that by the time this piece sees print, 90 percent of the world’s Potter maniacs will have finished the novel and will be starting their letters to Ms. Rowling asking when volume 6 will be ready.

3. You say this one’s better than The Prisoner of Azkaban , better than The Goblet of Fire . Is there still room for improvement?

Heavens, yes. In terms of Ms. Rowling’s imagination — which should be insured by Lloyd’s of London (or perhaps the Incubus Insurance Company) for the 2 or 3 billion dollars it will ultimately be worth over the span of her creative lifetime, which should be long — she is now at the absolute top of her game. As a writer, however, she is often careless (characters never just put on their clothes; they always get “dressed at top speed”) and oddly, almost sweetly, insecure. The part of speech that indicates insecurity (“Did you really hear me? Do you really understand me?”) is the adverb, and Ms. Rowling seems to have never met one she didn’t like, especially when it comes to dialogue attribution. Harry’s godfather, Sirius, speaks “exasperatedly”; Mrs. Weasley (mother of Harry’s best friend, Ron) speaks “sharply”; Tonks (a clumsy witch with punked-up, parti-color hair) speaks “earnestly.” As for Harry himself, he speaks quietly, automatically, nervously, slowly, and often — given his current case of raving adolescence — ANGRILY.

These minor flaws in diction are endearing rather than annoying; they are the logical side effect of a natural storyteller who is obviously bursting with crazily vivid ideas and having the time of her life. Yet Ms. Rowling could do better, and for the money, probably should. In any case, there’s no need for all those adverbs (he said firmly), which pile up at the rate of 8 or 10 a page (over 870 pages, that comes to almost a novella’s length of -ly words). Because, really — we hear, we understand, we enjoy. If the sales figures show nothing else, they show that. And if by the end of chapter 3 we don’t know that Harry Potter is one utterly, completely, and pervasively angry young man, we haven’t been paying attention.

4. There’s been a lot of discussion — some of it pretty warm — about whether or not kids, especially those under the age of 10, should be reading these novels, which contain vivid scenes of grief, terror, death, and even torture. What’s your take on this?

My take on it is my mother’s, actually. She used to say, “If they’re old enough to understand what they’re reading and to enjoy what they’re understanding, leave ’em alone — it keeps ’em out from underfoot.” I also subscribe to her corollary: “If it gives ’em nightmares, take it away.”

The first couple of Potters were PGs. Azkaban and Goblet of Fire were PG-13s, and Phoenix makes it under the PG-13 by the skin of its teeth… or its fangs. Would I give these books to my own kids, were they still 9, 7, and 5? Yes, and without hesitation. The suspense here is never prurient; the scares are more than balanced off by the simple decency of Harry, Ron, and Hermione. If teaching life lessons is one of the jobs books do, then the Potter novels teach some fine ones about how to behave under pressure. And Rowling never preaches. Harry and his friends strike me as real children, not proto-Christian tin gods out of a Sunday-school comic book. Hogwarts School is a long way from Bob Jones University, which is one of the reasons right-wingers decry the books.

A more interesting question is when did Ms. Rowling stop writing the stories for children and start writing them for everyone, as Mark Twain did when he moved from Tom Sawyer to Huckleberry Finn and Lewis Carroll did when he moved from Alice in Wonderland to Through the Looking-Glass ? I’m guessing it was a process — mostly subconscious — that began with volume 3 ( Azkaban ) and hit warp speed in volume 4 ( Goblet of Fire ). By the time we finish The Order of the Phoenix , with its extraordinary passages of fear and despair, the distinction between “children’s literature” and plain old “literature” has ceased to exist. The latest Potter adventure could be The Catcher in the Rye , minus the dirty words and the drinking.. .or maybe just the dirty words: Just what the hell is butterbeer, anyway?

5. What’s the best thing about Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix ?

This one’s a slam dunk. A great fantasy novel can’t exist without a great villain, and while You-Know-Who (sure we do: Lord Voldemort) is a little too far out in the supernatural ozone to qualify, the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts does just fine in this regard. The gently smiling Dolores Umbridge, with her girlish voice, toadlike face, and clutching, stubby fingers, is the greatest make-believe villain to come along since Hannibal Lecter. One needn’t be a child to remember The Really Scary Teacher, the one who terrified us so badly that we dreaded the walk to school in the morning, and we turn the pages partly in fervent hopes that she will get her comeuppance… but also in growing fear of what she will get up to next. For surely a teacher capable of banning Harry Potter from playing Quidditch is capable of anything.

6. Last, but not least, how good are these books? How good are they, really?

One can only guess… assuming, that is, one doesn’t have access to Dumbledore’s wonderful Pensieve Glass. My own feeling is that they are much better than Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy, which is their only contemporary competitor. Will kids (and adults as well) still be wild about Harry 100 years from now, or 200? My best guess is that he will indeed stand time’s test and wind up on a shelf where only the best are kept; I think Harry will take his place with Alice, Huck, Frodo, and Dorothy, and this is one series not just for the decade, but for the ages.

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'I stayed up all night. It's a beast of a book, a real page-turner'

• Stephanie Merritt
• The Observer , Sunday 22 June 2003

Previously in Harry Potter...

At the end of Book IV we left Harry about to embark on a daring suicide mission to defeat the fundamentalist terrorists by flying the detonated nuclear device into the heart of the Nevada Desert, only minutes before the whole of Los Angeles...

No, hold on, I'm getting confused. But in fact it's not so far from the truth; J.K. Rowling's exhaustively anticipated fifth instalment draws on exactly the same basic plot points that shape current realist adult dramas such as 24 and State of Play. The status quo is threatened by evil, the established authorities are either deliberately corrupt or simply incompetent, and the fate of ordinary lives rests on the actions of one brave maverick who has to go underground and break the rules in order to triumph and save the innocent.

These are the bones of all good mythical adventures, and the Harry Potter books have already created a corpus of modern legend that their young fans will remember long into their autumn years, not merely in the story they tell but in the phenomenon that has grown around them.

If I were nine and had been waiting eagerly for the past three years for The Order of the Phoenix I would be thrilled with the heft of it. It would mean the reward could be prolonged and savoured. Being 29, and having fewer than 12 hours to read it, I was slightly less thrilled when a volume bigger than the New Testament arrived at 1.30am yesterday. But whatever one's view of her prose style, it can't be denied that Rowling knows how to produce a page-turner. Many pages can be turned extremely quickly, in fact, because she does like to put in large amounts of background colour - details of schoolbooks, lessons, rules, food, recipes - all of which delight children, who love to build up a thorough picture of Harry's world. These can be safely skimmed by adult readers who find them a bit longwinded - though to me there is still a large question mark hanging over anyone older than 15 who reads this when they don't have to write about it.

So, to begin again: at the end of Book IV, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Harry witnessed the long-prophesied return of his arch-enemy, Lord Voldemort, and the refusal of Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic, to believe that this was possible.

As with the previous adventures, Phoenix begins with Harry, now 15 and beginning to experience the odd hormonal twitch, enduring a miserable summer holidays with his grim Muggle Aunt and Uncle. After a terrifying incident which requires him to use magic in self-defence (forbidden to underage wizards outside Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry), Harry is threatened with expulsion and summoned to the Ministry of Magic where the wilful self-delusion of the wizard bureaucrats with regard to Voldemort is reinforced.

The Order of the Phoenix is a select group of comrades dedicated to fighting Voldemort. Many of the original Order, including Harry's parents, were killed, 'disappeared' or turned insane by the Dark Lord when he was last in power; the new Order includes Harry's godfather, Sirius (still in hiding from the authorities after his escape from the prison of Azkaban in the third book) and the Weasleys, the parents and brothers of Harry's best friend Ron.

Those parents who accuse the stories of being inconsequential fantasy need to look closely at the recent volumes; Rowling is making use of the extended length to weave in serious themes. The last book contained a sub-plot of Harry's friend Hermione campaigning vigorously for the emancipation of house-elves; her premises and the counter-arguments of her opponents reproduced exactly the debate that surrounded the black slave trade in the US and has always circled around the education of the proletariat.

In Phoenix the parallels with totalitarian regimes are made more explicit. Tolkien always strenuously denied that The Lord of the Rings was an allegory of Nazi Germany; Rowling, whose books are essentially a Tolkien-by-numbers for younger readers, makes a virtue of such comparisons: 'They thought Voldemort had the right idea,' says Sirius of his dead parents, 'they were all for the purification of the wizarding race, getting rid of Muggle-borns and having pure-bloods in charge. There were quite a few people, before Voldemort showed his true colours, who thought he had the right idea about things.'

She's not preaching, but there are weightier things in these last two books than simply the rules of Quidditch and the transfiguration of toads, just as Harry, at 15, is made to understand that there are graver things in life than detentions and his ongoing feud with Professor Snape.

Finally, to the crucial plot points that have generated so much online speculation and feverish activity at the bookies. Hogwarts does acquire yet another new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher - a position unenviably akin to being drummer in Spinal Tap - but it's none of the obvious contenders.

There is a fantastic battle and - as Rowling included in the brief notes she allowed to be auctioned last year - there is a death of a major character, but again, it foils expectation (except, possibly, the expectation of the bloke who bet £20,000 on a certain character a couple of days after the Merseyside lorry heist).

We learn Voldemort's real name, which is bizarrely anticlimactic, rather like learning that Satan's first name is Derek, and we learn, most importantly, the true prophecy that links Harry and Voldemort. It's a beast of a book, but there's no question of Rowling losing the plot.

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Book review - harry potter and the order of the phoenix by j.k. rowling.

My Rating -   4 out of 5 stars

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Book Review: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Posted June 7, 2011 by Whitney in Review / 10 Comments

Harry Potter is due to start his fifth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. His best friends Ron and Hermione have been very secretive all summer and he is desperate to get back to school and find out what has been going on. However, what Harry discovers is far more devastating than he could ever have expected... Suspense, secrets and thrilling action from the pen of J.K. Rowling ensure an electrifying adventure that is impossible to put down.

I have a whole new appreciation for this book and another reason to loath Dolores Umbridge — Dolores Umbridge is Sarah Palin! The similarities are glaringly obvious.

I shall start at the beginning with her being McCain/Fudge’s right-hand man {or women}. Both where not well-known outside of their community before being promoted to a higher position with each quickly becoming accustom to their new height of power and in turn becoming a “maverick” duo. Next, is the consist need for reform, Umbridge with what seemed like a never-ending stream of decrees and Palin’s reform all across the board. Thirdly, is their uncanny likeness in appearance, each having a simpering smile and Sarah Palin wore a very similar suit in her Katie Couric interview that Dolores Umbridge dawns in the film. Again, there is the issue of banning books, Sarah Palin reportedly tried to ban numerous books from the Wasilla library and ironically Harry Potter was on the list; where as Dolores Umbridge banned the more advanced Defense Against the Dark Arts textbooks downgrading to a “safer” form of learning. Lastly is that horrible little “hem hem” quoted throughout the Order of the Phoenix signaling who ever is speaking at the present time should quit as she has far more interesting and important things to say, this relates to Sarah Palin as a myriad of people have been quoted as say that she expected to give a speech after losing the presidential election. There are so many comparisons, how could I not have noticed before?

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10 responses to “ Book Review: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix ”

Ahh, yes. Umbridge. Such a thoroughly and wonderfully loathsome character. She was by far scarier to me than Voldemort himself. Still, it's a good lesson for Harry to learn than not all Death Eaters are evil, and not all evil people are Death Eaters.

Well said. I also felt the Umbridge didn't have to work as hard to gain power as Voldermort did.

That's so funny! I haven't gotten to that point in the series where we are introduced to Prof. Umbridge yet but I'll be on the lookout for more similarities. So…does she also hunt deer? 😀

No, nor does she pardon a turkey. But she is chased by centaurs, does that count?

Ha Ha! I totally see it. Although Sarah's not bright enough to be that evil. New follower. Thanks for dropping by the Friday Follow last week.

LOL brilliant!

Alison– You're right, Palin would need someone to tell her to be that evil. She's probably not bright enough to come up with it on her own. Although Michele Bachmann may be able to.

Sarah– Thanks! Those were the two words that crossed my mind when I realized it.

I really, really want to go back and read all of the Harry Potter books again!

And lol at your comparison 🙂

Whitney, this is just to let you know that many of your posts have appeared in Google Reader but the links don't work. Hope the problem resolves itself soon…

Meg– Thanks, I hope you are able to reread them soon.

Teacher/Learner– Interesting, Blogger has not been very kind to me today. I keep seeing the word "error" when I try to post. It could also be that I am scheduling posts for when I go out of town at the end of the month. But because of the "error" problem posts now rather than later, so I've had to go back and fix a few. I'm sorry if I'm clogging your Google reader

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Harry potter and the order of the phoenix: harry potter, book 5, common sense media reviewers.

J.K. Rowling mixes up a more intense brew in fifth book.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this book.

J.K. Rowling borrows from many established stories

The whole series is full of positive messages abou

Harry is really angry in this book, at his cruel a

There's a little diversity at Hogwarts. Lee Jordan

An adult major character dies and is heavily mourn

Student couples kiss in a tea shop with lots of ta

"Damn," "dammit," and "hell," said rarely. "Effing

Several references to the drunkenness of minor cha

Parents need to know that Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is the fifth book in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series about an orphan boy at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. As in Book 4, a major character dies at the end, but this time it's an adult and he's heavily mourned. Another adult is…

Educational Value

J.K. Rowling borrows from many established stories and myths to piece together her magical world. Kids can look up more about centaurs, elves, giants, hippogriffs, boggarts, magic wands, flying brooms, etc., compare the author's take with other interpretations, and think about how and why she weaves these magical elements and beings into her stories.

Positive Messages

The whole series is full of positive messages about the power of love, friendship, and self-sacrifice. In this book, how do you rebel against unjust authority successfully? Not through angry outbursts, but through teamwork, skill, and smarts (and a bit of mischief for good measure). The wise Sorting Hat reminds Hogwarts students that they must unite against evil or they will crumble from within. Hermione reminds everyone not to leave homework until the last minute. Also, respect and show empathy for all creatures.

Positive Role Models

Harry is really angry in this book, at his cruel aunt and uncle, and then at the Ministry of Magic and Professor Umbridge, for calling him a liar and lying to the public about Voldemort's return. He begins the book in trouble all the time for his temper and slowly learns how to channel that anger into something positive: training his fellow students how to fight the dark arts. He becomes a leader and a teacher in this group of students and is proud of his pupils. He also takes the opportunity when it arises to tell the truth to anyone who would listen. Ron learns his own lessons in this book about not getting rattled and building confidence in himself on the Quidditch pitch. Neville also shows the first signs of the hero he will become with his fierce determination to learn and his bravery when faced with the enemy. Adults in the Order of the Phoenix look out for Harry and friends, though the usually reliable Dumbledore is pretty absent from Harry's life in this book until the end.

Diverse Representations

There's a little diversity at Hogwarts. Lee Jordan is described as having dreadlocks and Angelina Johnson, now Gryffindor Quidditch Captain, is Black. Kingsley Shacklebolt in the Order of the Phoenix is also Black. Harry dates Cho Chang and the Patil twins are both in Dumbledore's Army. Many characters face discrimination in the wizarding world, especially for not being "pure-blood," or in Hagrid's case, for being part giant. Some diverse family structures are described: Harry lives with his aunt and uncle and Neville with his grandmother. Ron's insecurity over being from a poorer family comes up a lot. Women have prominent roles at Hogwarts: Professor McGonagall and Professor Sprout are both heads of houses, Professor Umbridge works high up in the Ministry of Magic, plus there are plenty of girls on the Quidditch house teams. Some negative language regarding the body type of Dudley and his father and Malfoy's Slytherin friends Crabbe and Goyle.

Did we miss something on diversity? Suggest an update.

Violence & Scariness

An adult major character dies and is heavily mourned. Another is brutally attacked by a snake and almost dies. Students fight adults and are injured (knocked out, broken nose, broken ankle) and tortured with a curse that causes intense pain. Students' hands scar and bleed during Professor Umbridge's detention. Fistfights and spooky Dementors try to suck out a soul. One teacher is knocked out by a spell, two teachers are attacked by wizards and centaurs, another remembers his childhood of being bullied. A giant is pelted with arrows, an owl gets a broken wing. Stories of giants beheaded and fighting. Stories of men possessed and a hospital patient being strangled by a plant. Many stories about how many died or were tortured the last time Voldemort was in power, including Harry's parents.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Student couples kiss in a tea shop with lots of talk about who's going out with whom. Ron makes a joke about Uranus.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

"Damn," "dammit," and "hell," said rarely. "Effing" said once, spelled like that.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Several references to the drunkenness of minor characters (Winky the house elf, Professor Trelawney, Hagrid, Rita Skeeter) and a scene with children in a bar, where it's implied that the shady bartender might be willing to serve them alcohol. A brief mention that Dudley is smoking on street corners with his friends, Professor Grubbly-Plant smokes a pipe, and Mundungus smokes a pipe until Molly Weasley tells him to put it away. Adults drink wine with dinner.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is the fifth book in J.K. Rowling' s Harry Potter series about an orphan boy at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. As in Book 4 , a major character dies at the end, but this time it's an adult and he's heavily mourned. Another adult is brutally attacked by a snake and almost dies. Students fight adults and are injured (knocked out, broken nose, broken ankle) and tortured with a curse that causes intense pain. And during Professor Umbridge's detention, students' hands scar and bleed thanks to her special pen for writing lines. There are fistfights, and spooky Dementors who try to suck out a soul. One teacher is knocked out by a spell, two teachers are attacked by wizards and centaurs, and another teacher remembers his childhood of being bullied. Harry and friends hear many stories about how many died or were tortured the last time Voldemort was in power, including Harry's parents. Harry is 15 now and dating, and at one point he's surrounded by kissing couples at a tea shop. Language is pretty mild with mostly "damn." A few minor characters drink heavily and smoke a little. Most readers comment about how angry Harry seems in this book. At the start of Order of the Phoenix , he's in trouble all the time for his temper, but he slowly learns how to channel that anger into something positive: training his fellow students how to fight the dark arts. He becomes a leader and a teacher in this group of students and is proud of his pupils. Parents who want to learn more about the series (and spin-off movies and games) can read our Harry Potter by Age and Stage article .

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Community reviews.

• Parents say (24)
• Kids say (116)

Based on 24 parent reviews

Just Like the movie

What's the story.

In HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX, Harry is spending another miserable summer at his aunt and uncle's house when he and his cousin Dudley are attacked by a pair of Dementors. Defending himself with the Patronus charm in the presence of a muggle lands Harry in all kinds of trouble with the Ministry of Magic. The wizards there are looking for any reason to punish and discredit him -- they don't want to believe that Voldemort is alive and gathering his Death Eaters once again. It takes a trip to the Ministry and lots of help from Dumbledore to clear Harry's name and get him back to Hogwarts for another year. Harry is relieved to be there until he meets the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, the Ministry's most ruthless defender, Dolores Umbridge. Harry can't control his outrage when she calls him an attention-seeking liar, refuses to teach real defensive magic (because what would a bunch of children need it for?) and starts censoring and firing the other Hogwarts teachers. He has to do something to fight back against Umbridge and prepare for the inevitable: the day he must face Voldemort again.

Is It Any Good?

This exciting installment pits Harry against inept politicians, cruel teachers, and his number-one foe, Voldemort, who is indeed back no matter what the Ministry says. Harry faces so many trials this challenging school year, many thanks to the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher and toad-like Ministry toadie, Dolores Umbridge. She seems determined to get that "liar" Harry Potter expelled, or almost worse, off the Gryffindor Quidditch team for good. Harry can't control his temper whenever the aptly named Umbridge is around. He also can't seem to control his own body and emotions, a development both fascinating and frightening. Harry has repetitive dreams of long hallways and locked doors, sudden bursts of feeling that aren't his, and a regular prickling sensation in his scar. He suspects his connection to Voldemort has grown stronger with his return and is proven right when, in his sleep, Harry witnesses -- and is unwittingly a part of -- a vicious attack. Readers will be worrying as Harry does just how deep the connection goes and who will get attacked next.

They'll have to wait a bit to uncover that mystery. The school year is a busy one in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix , what with the first real exams looming, Harry's attempts at dating, and super-secret meetings of a Defense Against the Dark Arts club -- Hermione's brilliant idea. And then there are the Weasley twins' rebellious antics that provide one of the most satisfying cheer-out-loud moments of the entire series. If only Harry's fifth year could end on that high note, but when has a year at Hogwarts ever ended peaceably? The inevitable showdown is a nail-biter, and even more exciting because Harry's got a crew of friends along to fight with him – hooray for Neville, Luna, and Ginny. And in the wake of another tragic loss, it's finally time for Dumbledore to tell all he knows. It's a startling revelation that sets up the even more intense showdowns in the Harry Potter books to come. Get ready.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about anger in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix . With Dolores Umbridge around, there's plenty to be mad about. When Harry rages at Umbridge, what are the consequences? Which version of Harry are you when you face an injustice? How much harder is it to decide to do something about injustice than stew in anger over it?

Why did Harry agree to let Rita Skeeter tell his story? When the article is banned at school everyone wants to read it -- and does. Can you think of examples of this happening in today's media?

What does Dumbledore mean when he says that the fountain in the Ministry of Magic depicting witches and wizards ruling over other magical creatures "told a lie"? How would this magical world be different if centaurs, house elves, and goblins were treated as equals? What other books do you read that question the way class or race are viewed in society? How many of them are fantasies?

Book Details

• Author : J. K. Rowling
• Illustrator : Mary Grandpre
• Genre : Fantasy
• Topics : Magic and Fantasy , Princesses, Fairies, Mermaids, and More , Adventures , Brothers and Sisters , Cats, Dogs, and Mice , Friendship , High School , Monsters, Ghosts, and Vampires
• Character Strengths : Courage , Perseverance , Teamwork
• Book type : Fiction
• Publisher : Scholastic Inc.
• Publication date : June 21, 2003
• Number of pages : 870
• Available on : Paperback, Nook, Audiobook (unabridged), Hardback, iBooks, Kindle
• Award : ALA Best and Notable Books
• Last updated : June 23, 2022

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

Suggest an Update

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Harry Potter #5

Harry potter and the order of the phoenix, j.k. rowling , mary grandpré  ( illustrator ).

912 pages, Paperback

First published June 21, 2003

About the author

J.K. Rowling

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Stephen Fry: Can we settle an important question? JK Rowling: Yes. Stephen Fry: How do you pronounce your last name? JK Rowling: It is Row-ling. As in rolling pin. Stephen Fry: So if any of you hear someone pronounce her name “Rohw-ling”, you have my permission to hit them over the head with — not with Order of the Phoenix, that would be cruel. Something smaller, like a fridge.

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

«The hottest day of the summer so far was drawing to a close and a drowsy silence lay over the large, square houses of Privet Drive. Cars that were usually gleaming stood dusty in their drives and lawns that were once emerald green lay parched and yellowing; the use of hosepipes had been banned due to drought. Deprived of their usual car-washing and lawn-mowing pursuits, the inhabitants of Privet Drive had retreated into the shade of their cool houses, windows thrown wide in the hope of tempting in a nonexistent breeze. The only person left outdoors was a teenage boy who was lying flat on his back in a flower bed outside number four»

The "big number 5", the longest novel of Harry Potter series, begins... "HolyMadonna, how big is this book?" my daughter says, without fear for the number of pages, she looked more excited for the opening of this new adventure. And it starts with a bang, with two dementors attacking Harry and his cousin Dudley in a muggles area, out in the open. The rules of the usual Rowling's game have definitely changed. . The axiom "before we'll be between the welcoming arms of Hogwarts, and after many things will happen" no longer exists. The previous chapter of the series, also, started in the spirit of this new trend: you're not safe anywhere. Everything is more complicated for Harry Potter, it is difficult even to sleep by now.

«There is a room in the Department of Mysteries that is kept locked at all times. It contains a force that is at once more wonderful and more terrible than death, than human intelligence, than the forces of nature. It is also, perhaps, the most mysterious of the many subjects for study that reside there»

Let's talk frankly, the entire novel revolves around this room and what's on it, and there are numerous signs and things said that make me think that we will be back on the argument in the future. In fact, despite a series of revelations came about this room at the end of the novel, an air of mystery remains.

And sadness remains too. So much sadness.

«Il giorno più caldo dell'estate – almeno fino a quel momento – volgeva al termine e un silenzio sonnacchioso gravava sulle grandi case quadrate di Privet Drive. Le automobili di solito scintillanti sostavano impolverate nei vialetti e i prati un tempo verde smeraldo si stendevano incartapecoriti e giallognoli, perché l'irrigazione era stata proibita a causa della siccità. In mancanza delle loro consuete occupazioni – lavare l'auto e falciare il prato – gli abitanti di Privet Drive si erano rintanati nella penombra delle loro case fresche, con le finestre spalancate nella speranza di indurre una brezza inesistente a entrare. La sola persona rimasta all'aperto era un adolescente che giaceva lungo disteso sulla schiena in un'aiuola fuori dal numero quattro»

Comincia il "big 5" di Harry Potter, il volume più lungo della serie. "O Madonnamia quanto è gigante" , dice mia figlia quando lo vede, per nulla spaventata dalla mole, anzi eccitata da questa nuova avventura che sta per iniziare. E comincia col botto, con due dissennatori che aggrediscono Harry e il cugino Dudlley in piena terra babbana, alla luce del sole. Sono definitivamente cambiate le regole del gioco della Rowling al quale eravamo abituati in precedenza, ossia prima si arriva tra le accoglienti mura di Hogwarts e poi succedono tante cose. Non più. Già il capitolo precedente della saga era iniziato all'insegna del nuovo trend potteriano: non si è più al sicuro da nessuna parte. Per Harry è tutto sempre più complicato, gli riesce difficile perfino dormire in santa pace.

«Nell'Ufficio Misteri c'è una stanza che viene tenuta sempre chiusa. Contiene una forza al tempo stesso più meravigliosa e più terribile della morte, dell'intelligenza umana e della natura. E forse il più misterioso fra i molti soggetti che vengono studiati laggiù»

Parliamoci francamente, l'intero romanzo ruota attorno a questa stanza e a quello che contiene, e ci sono molteplici indizi e mezze frasi dette che mi fanno pensare che si ritornerà a parlare di essa, tentando di chiarirne l'essenza misteriosa, che però permane nonostante tutta una serie di rivelazioni a fine romanzo.

E permane tristezza. Tanta tristezza.

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Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

By j.k. rowling.

'Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix' is the longest Harry Potter book ever written. It acknowledges a lot of interesting plot points including the central purpose of what happened on the night Harry's parents died and Voldemort disappeared.

Article written by Mohandas Alva

M.A. Degree in English Literature from Manipal University, India.

‘ Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix ‘ has a lot of interesting plot points that tie it very aptly to its sequels and prequels. Due to the large size of books after Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, one could consider Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix to be at the center of all events that occur in the series.

After this book, the events that occur in the next two books end up being very detailed and closely related to the trajectory of how the plot progresses. Furthermore, this book introduces the Ministry of Magic in its full might and glory, which becomes a key detail for the rest of the books.

‘Spoiler-Free’ Summary of  Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

‘ Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix ‘ by J. K. Rowling starts with Harry and Dudley being attacked by two dementors in Little Whinging, near their house in Privet Drive. Harry somehow manages to attack them with a Patronus Charm before they render their kiss to Dudley. He then meets Mrs. Figg, who reveals that she is a Squib and was placed as Harry’s neighbor by Dumbledore’s orders.

Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia are angry, and Uncle Vernon presumes Harry is responsible for his son’s state and is about to kick him out of the house when he receives a ‘howler,’ a letter sent as a warning to Aunt Petunia, who eventually asks Harry to stay. Harry is sent a letter from the ministry stating that he is to appear at a trial to answer for his use of magic.

Harry is then escorted by some Aurors out of his house to Sirius’s house, which has now become the official meeting place for the Order of the Phoenix, a group of witches and wizards who were fighting against Voldemort ’s advances. Harry then meets his friends and the members of the order and wants to be a part of it but is flatly refused by Mrs. Weasley. Eventually, he goes to the trial and manages to convince the jury gathered there that he didn’t do anything wrong, with the help of Dumbledore and Mrs. Figg.

He goes back to Sirius’s place, and from there, the students all set off to Hogwarts, where a lot of new surprises await.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Summary

Spoiler Alert: Important details of the novel are revealed below

‘ Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix ‘ begins with Harry being charged with the usage of magic in the presence of a muggle and being called for a trial. He wins the trial and eventually goes to Hogwarts with Ron and Hermione, who have now been made prefects. When he gets down from the train and goes towards the carriages, Harry finds out that they are being drawn by a group of black-winged creatures whom no one else except him and another girl called Luna can see.

At Hogwarts, the Ministry of Magic has made new arrangements to oversee the operations, with the undersecretary to the minister, Dolores Umbridge, stepping in as the teacher for Defense Against the Dark Arts. Furthermore, she turns out to be really rude and controlling in her first class with Harry and rewards him with detention. In detention, she forces him to write with a quill that cuts the flesh of his hand magically, etching what he writes permanently under his palm.

Meanwhile, Harry has recurring bouts of headaches, and his scar hurts more regularly than ever. Furthermore, Umbridge is appointed as the High Inquisitor at Hogwarts and is now expected to oversee all operations. Some of the students, especially from Gryffindor and the other houses except Slytherin, gather at Hog’s Head, a pub, to discuss building a group that trains Defence Against the Dark Arts regularly as retaliation to the ministry’s attempts to curb students from practicing real magic.

Harry is requested by the others to become their teacher and guide them through this ordeal. They name their group ‘Dumbledore’s Army’. He eventually agrees but is surprised to find out that a new educational decree bans any type of student group or gathering.

They eventually find a place to practice their magic, the Room of Requirement , where Harry teaches them a lot of interesting spells. The day before Christmas, he also meets Cho at one of the meetings and ends up kissing her after everyone leaves.

That night, Harry has a vision of Mr. Weasley being attacked by the snake Nagini that accompanies Voldemort. He reports it to Dumbledore, who immediately realizes that Harry indeed has a connection through his mind with Voldemort. He orders Snape to teach Harry Occlumency , the art of preventing people accomplished in mind reading from reading our thoughts. Meanwhile, Mr. Weasley is said to be cured, and Harry’s timely vision saved him.

At Hogwarts, Umbridge continues to gain more control and eventually catches Harry and the rest of ‘Dumbledore’s Army.’ When taken to Dumbledore’s Office, he falsely claims it was his idea all along and flees from his chamber instead of being offered to be escorted to Azkaban . Umbridge finally appoints herself as the Headmistress of Hogwarts in Dumbledore’s absence.

Very soon, Harry has another vision where Voldemort is torturing Sirius, a sight that makes Harry adamant about wanting to know where Sirius is. As they eventually use the Floo Network in Umbridge’s office, they are caught by Umbridge, who tries to use the unforgivable curses on them but is eventually fooled by Hermione and Harry, taken to the Forbidden Forest in the guise of showing her a weapon and eventually made to fight Grawp, Hagrid’s giant brother who accompanied him back from his trip and a bunch of Centaurs whom Umbridge insults.

Harry and Hermione escape the scene and then meet Ginny, Ron, Neville, and Luna, who have also escaped from Umbridge’s office and they together set out to the Department of Mysteries at the Ministry of Magic, where Harry envisioned Sirius was being tortured.

Sirius is nowhere to be seen, but soon enough, they all realize that it was an ambush as a few death-eaters led by Lucius Malfoy appear. They want Harry to retrieve a Prophecy, and once Harry does remove it from its shelf, they try really hard to take it from him. They all duel each other but end up being outnumbered by the death eaters. Soon, the Order of the Phoenix arrives, with Sirius, whom Harry is happy to see.

The order duels the death eaters and neutralizes most of them. However, Bellatrix Lestrange suddenly sends the killing curse at Sirius, and he instantly dies from it. Harry is grief-stricken, and he chases Bellatrix, eventually sending a curse her way. But she escapes, and Voldemort arrives. Immediately, Dumbledore also arrives. They both battle it out, with Dumbledore protecting Harry from every curse that is sent his way. Eventually, the Minister and several other members of the ministry arrive at once to be shocked to see Voldemort. Voldemort flees the scene, and everybody eventually admits to Harry’s story about Voldemort’s return being true.

How were Harry and Luna the only ones to see the Thestrals?

Thestrals are magical creatures with wings that are only visible to people who have witnessed someone dying in front of them. Harry had recently witnessed the death of Cedric Diggory, and Luna Lovegood had seen the death of her mother when she was just nine years old. Therefore, only Harry and Luna could see the Thestrals, and Hermione, Ron, and Neville couldn’t.

How did Harry see Sirius being tortured even though it wasn’t real?

Harry had seen Mr. Weasley getting attacked by the snake, which was real. However, word must have probably reached Voldemort about this and he must have become aware of his mind’s connection with Harry’s. He, therefore, used it to his advantage to create a false reality in his mind and to project it into Harry’s, thereby luring him into the Department of Mysteries.

What happened to Neville’s parents?

Neville’s parents were tortured with the Cruciatus Curse by some death eaters mere months after Harry’s parents were murdered by Voldemort. Bellatrix Lestrange, her husband Rodolphus Lestrange , and Barty Crouch Jr tortured Neville’s parents, who were gifted Aurors, with the Cruciatus Curse. They were admitted to St. Mungo’s Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries and remained there for the rest of their lives.

Summon your wit and wisdom—our Harry Potter Trivia Quiz awaits you! Do you have the knowledge to claim the title of Master Witch or Wizard? Take the challenge now!

1) In the "Order of the Phoenix," who is NOT a member of the original Order of the Phoenix shown in the old photograph that Moody shows Harry?

2) What does the incantation "Obliviate" do?

3) What is the name of the book Hermione gives to Harry before his first ever Quidditch match?

4) What potion is known as "Liquid Luck"?

5) In which Harry Potter book does Harry first speak Parseltongue?

6) Who teaches Herbology at Hogwarts?

7) Who originally owned the Elder Wand before Dumbledore won it?

8) What form does Hermione Granger's Patronus take?

9) What is the name of the goblin-made object that is supposed to bring its owner prosperity, but also brings them into conflict with goblins?

10) What is the name of the goblin who helps Harry, Ron, and Hermione break into Gringotts?

11) Which creature can transform into a person's worst fear?

12) What is Dumbledore's full name?

13) Who is the Half-Blood Prince?

14) What was the last Horcrux to be destroyed?

15) What is the core ingredient of the wand owned by Harry Potter?

16) What creature is Aragog?

17) Who was the Peverell brother that owned the invisibility cloak?

18) What does the Mirror of Erised show?

19) What is the name of the train that takes students to Hogwarts?

20) Which character is killed by Bellatrix Lestrange in the Battle of Hogwarts?

21) Which object is NOT one of the Deathly Hallows?

22) Which spell is used to open the Marauder's Map?

23) What specific type of dragon does Harry face during the Triwizard Tournament?

24) What animal represents Hufflepuff house?

25) Which potion did Hermione brew in her second year that allowed her, Ron, and Harry to assume the identities of Slytherins?

26) What is the name of Harry Potter's pet owl?

27) What are the dying words of Severus Snape in both the book and the film "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows"?

28) What is the effect of the Cheering Charm?

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• In My Own Words
• Younger Readers

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

After the Dementors’ attack on his cousin Dudley, Harry knows he is about to become Voldemort’s next target.

Although many are denying the Dark Lord’s return, Harry is not alone, and a secret order is gathering at Grimmauld Place to fight against the Dark forces.

Meanwhile, Voldemort’s savage assaults on Harry’s mind are growing stronger every day.

He must allow Professor Snape to teach him to protect himself before he runs out of time.

Publishers: UK Print – Bloomsbury US Print – Scholastic Ebook –  Pottermore Digital Audiobook – Pottermore

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The Potternaut rolls on, picking up more size than speed but propelling 15-year-old Harry through more hard tests of...

READ REVIEW

HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX

by J.K. Rowling ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 1, 2003

The Potternaut rolls on, picking up more size than speed but propelling 15-year-old Harry through more hard tests of character and magical ability. Rowling again displays her ability to create both likable and genuinely scary characters—most notable among the latter being a pair of Dementors who accost Harry in a dark alley in the opening chapter. Even more horrible, Ministry of Magic functionary Dolores Umbridge descends upon Hogwarts with a tinkly laugh, a taste in office decor that runs to kitten paintings, and the authority, soon exercised, to torture students, kick Harry off the Quidditch team, fire teachers, and even to challenge Dumbledore himself. Afflicted with sudden fits of adolescent rage, Harry also has worries, from upcoming exams and recurrent eerie dreams to the steadfast refusal of the Magical World's bureaucracy to believe that Voldemort has returned. Steadfast allies remain, including Hermione, whose role here is largely limited to Chief Explainer, and a ragtag secret order of adults formed to protect him from dangers, which they characteristically keep to themselves until he finds out about them the hard way. Constructed, like GOBLET OF FIRE, of multiple, weakly connected plot lines and rousing, often hilarious set pieces, all set against a richly imagined backdrop, this involves its characters once again in plenty of adventures while moving them a step closer to maturity. And it’s still impossible to predict how it’s all going to turn out. (Fiction. 12-15)

Pub Date: July 1, 2003

ISBN: 0-439-35806-X

Page Count: 896

Publisher: Scholastic

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2003

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Book Review: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

This book trails Harry Potter, who is visited by a group of wizards and then goes to Sirius Black’s house, which is the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix. The Order of the Phoenix is a group of wizards, led by Hogwarts headmaster Dumbledore himself. This group is dedicated to making sure that Voldemort never rises to power ever again. But the Order has to operate in secrecy under the radar of the Ministry of Magic.

This novel is quite capable of giving you the chills, like in one part Harry is forced to write with the Black Quill, an invention of the gruesome Dolores Umbridge. The Black Quill is a torture device, because it does not require ink, it writes with the blood of the person who’s using it. This quill will scar the back of your hand, and if you continuously keep using it, the back of your hand will have a permanent scar.

But this book has its share of adventure too, like in one part, Harry Potter has to race to the Ministry of Magic headquarters, but Harry doesn't take a car, he takes a Thestrals which is just a flying horse. Harry Potter also uses the power of teleportation by teleporting around, fireplace to fireplace.

With a bunch of cliffhangers, this book is definitely a good read. So I'm going to go with 4/5 stars for Harry Potter & The Order Of the Phoenix.

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• Harry Potter and the Order of the...

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Book 5

Deeper secrets

Harry Potter is frustrated. Isolated from the wizarding world at his summer residence with his non-magical aunt, uncle and cousin, he hides in flowerbeds so he can listen to the evening news and steals newspapers from trash bins, hoping for some sign of activity from Lord Voldemort. He barely has had contact with his best friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger.

A dementor attack, a cryptic Howler, and a rescue brigade bring Harry back to the magical world, to a place where a group of wizards has assembled with the mission to stop Voldemort. To Harry's disgust, no one wants to tell him anything regarding the mission, not even when he begins to dream of a snake and a door at the end of a long, dark hallway that he recognizes as part of the Ministry of Magic. Things aren't much better at Hogwarts, where his dreams turn into visions of Voldemort's power, anger, and desire for domination.

Darker powers

Daily Prophet , and the only people who believe him are the ones the Ministry would discredit. According to the Ministry, Albus Dumbledore is a dangerous fool, and anyone who follows him is not to be trusted. Co-workers, friends, and even families begin to divide according to whom they support. Spies and secrets feed a new era in wizarding history and lead to changes at Hogwarts, not all of them good. The students are as divided as the adults, and discord haunts the corridors.

Stronger magic

Fifth year is the time for Ordinary Wizarding Level exams, or O.W.L.s, and Harry and the rest of the fifth-years find themselves working harder than ever to achieve top test results, which then dictate their careers. Spells are more complex, there's more homework, and the students have to work twice as hard as they did in previous years just to keep up. The only class that differs from this pattern is Defense Against the Dark Arts, taught by the deceptively sweet Dolores Umbridge, formerly Senior Undersecretary to Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic. Umbridge's lesson plans leave Harry and his friends worried and wanting more from their education.

Harry is also asked by Professor Dumbledore to study privately with Professor Snape, the hook-nosed, greasy-haired Potions professor who has done nothing but make Harry's Potions classes miserable since the day Harry first came to Hogwarts. In order to succeed and even survive, Harry must put his trust in those who hide the truth from him.

Intricate plots, maturing characters, and fast-paced action paint a picture of a magical world with a new veil of darkness. As Harry and his friends grow, they must face more adult issues and deal not only with a changing world, but also with their changing selves. Characters who have only served in the background of previous books become more important, and some of Harry's favorite people, like Remus Lupin, return. Never content to sit back and watch things happen, Harry and his friends take dangerous matters into their own hands, confronting evil and working as a team to stop it.

From page one, where we see more complex sentences and an angrier, damaged Harry, this book's tone is completely different from the previous four: deeper and richer, with less humor and more detail. Rowling's tactics of inspiring fear are different in this installation, too. The horror is psychological rather than physical, and there is less Quidditch and more magic. Harry is achingly perfect and emotionally real as a typical teenage boy, confused and defiant about everything from girls to his friendships to his magical education. He has come to trust very few people, but those he takes into his confidence, like Ron and Hermione, complement him very well.

Patience is recommended while reading, because the pacing lags in some places while rushing in others, and the multiple plot lines take a while to mesh. Rather than take us through a mostly linear tale with a twist at the end, as seen in THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS and THE GOBLET OF FIRE, the plotline here is built of many small incidents that come together to form the whole of the story. This new approach shows a shift in the atmosphere and targeted audience of the Harry Potter series. As Harry matures, so does Rowling's writing style, coloring the events of the past and linking them to the present. HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX gives many answers and raises even more questions, setting up an excellent path for the final two books in the series.

Reviewed by Carlie Kraft on July 1, 2003

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Book 5 by J. K. Rowling

• Publication Date: June 26, 2018
• Genres: Fantasy
• Paperback: 912 pages
• Publisher: Arthur A. Levine Books
• ISBN-10: 1338299182
• ISBN-13: 9781338299182

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Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

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It's not easy to take the longest Harry Potter book and streamline it into the shortest HP movie, but director David Yates does a bang up job of it, creating an Order of the Phoenix that's entertaining and action-packed.

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Whatever happened to the delight and, if you'll excuse the term, the magic in the "Harry Potter" series? As the characters grow up, the stories grow, too, leaving the innocence behind and confusing us with plots so labyrinthine that it takes a Ph.D from Hogwarts to figure them out. "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" still has much of the enchantment of the earlier films, but Harry no longer has as much joy. His face is lacking the gosh-wow-this-is-really-neat grin. He has internalized the secrets and delights of the world of wizards, and is now instinctively using them to save his life.

An early scene illustrates this change. Harry and his cousin Dudley are attacked by Dementors, and in desperation he uses a secret spell to defeat them. But that earns the disapproval of his superiors at Hogwarts, and he is threatened with expulsion, because the spell is not to be used in public around Muggles. What is it, like a secret Masonic grip? When you're about to get your clock stopped by Dementors and you know the spell, what are you expected to do? Fall over passively and get Demented?

There will come a time, I fear, as we approach the end of the series (one book and two films to go), that Harry and his friends will grow up and smell the coffee. They weren't trained as magicians for fun. When they eventually arrive at some apocalyptic crossroads, as I fear they will, can the series continue to live in PG-13 land? The archvillain Voldemort is shaping up as the star of nightmares.

Harry ( Daniel Radcliffe ) has reason to fear that playtime is long behind. As a wizard chosen in childhood for his special powers, he has reason to believe Voldemort has returned and will have to be dealt with. The Ministry of Magic, like many a government agency, is hidebound in outdated convictions and considers Harry's warning to be heresy; at Hogwarts, a fierce new professor of the dark arts, Dolores Umbridge ( Imelda Staunton ), has been installed to whip Harry into line.

Her enemies include Harry's protector Dumbledore ( Michael Gambon , looking as shabby as a homeless headmaster). Hermione ( Emma Watson ) and Ron ( Rupert Grint ) join Harry in fomenting resistance to Umbridge (sounds like "umbrage"), and soon they are mapping clandestine schemes to defend Dumbledore. Their plots, alas, seem more serious than the mischief Harry and friends would have thought up in earlier days. Yes, I know time passes, and the actors are eight years older than when they started filming. But if a kid starts watching "Potter" movies with this film, would he guess they used to be a little more whimsical?

By now, if we know anything at all about the "Potter" series, it's that nothing is as it seems, and the most unlikely characters have occult connections. Yes, but so many surprises have popped out of the hat that a veteran "Potter" watcher can almost, by a process of elimination, figure out who will surprise us next. For Harry, like many another leader before him, it is time to leave the nest and begin to work in the world. For the first time since we saw platform 9 3/4 at King's Cross, the city of London has a major role now, as Harry and sidekicks fly down the Thames and swoop past Big Ben.

That causes me to wonder, what is the practical connection between the world of magic and the world of Muggles? Will Harry, or should Harry, become a world leader? Can wands and spells be of use in today's geopolitical turmoil? Or are Hogwarts grads living in a dimension of their own? All will be told, I guess, in the final book in J.K. Rowling's series, and then the retail book industry will be back on its own again.

These things said, there is no denying that "Order of the Phoenix" is a well-crafted entry in the "Potter" series. The British have a way of keeping up production values in a series, even when the stories occasionally stumble. There have been lesser James Bond movies, but never a badly made one. And the necessary use of CGI here is justifiable, because what does magic create, anyway, other than real-life CGI without the computers?

As for the cast, the "Potter" series has turned into a work-release program for great British actors mired in respectable roles. Staunton is perfect here as the Teacher From Hell. Helena Bonham Carter looks like the double for all three of Macbeth's witches. And then take a roll call: Robbie Coltrane , Ralph Fiennes (in the wings as Voldemort), Michael Gambon, Brendan Gleeson , Richard Griffiths , Jason Isaacs , Gary Oldman , Alan Rickman , Fiona Shaw , David Thewlis , Emma Thompson , Warwick Davis , Julie Walters and the incomparable Maggie Smith .

My hope, as we plow onward through "Potters" Nos. 6-7, is that the series will not grow darker still. Yet I suppose even at the beginning, with those cute little mail-owls, we knew the whimsy was too good to last. Now that Harry has experienced his first kiss, with Cho Chang (Katie Leung), we can only imagine what new opportunities lie ahead. Agent 009.75?

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

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Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007)

Rated PG-13 for sequences of fantasy violence and frightening images

138 minutes

Richard Griffiths as Vernon Dursley

Robbie Coltrane as Rubeus Hagrid

Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter

Jason Isaacs as Lucius Malfoy

Emma Watson as Hermione Granger

Helena Bonham-Carter as Bellatrix Lestrange

Gary Oldman as Sirius Black

Imelda Staunton as Dolores Umbridge

Ralph Fiennes as Lord Voldemort

Alan Rickman as Severus Snape

Rupert Grint as Ron Weasley

Brendan Gleeson as Alastor Moody

Maggie Smith as Minerva McGonagall

Michael Gambon as Albus Dumbledore

Directed by

• David Yates
• Michael Goldenberg

Based on the novel by

• J.K. Rowling

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Taking Umbridge

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

May 13, 2024 by jeverett15 Leave a Comment

In the aftermath of his battle with Voldemort at the end of the Tri-Wizard Tournament, Harry Potter spends his annual summer with the Dursleys more depressed than ever. Dumbledore has insisted he return to Privet Drive and take no action to combat the Dark Lord. Even worse, his best friends Ron and Hermione have gone incommunicado, leaving him totally disconnected from the wizarding world. Until one night, dementors attack Harry and his cousin Dudley, forcing him to use magic to fend them off and exposing him to the scrutiny of the Ministry of Magic.

Unfortunately for Harry, the Minister, Cyril Fudge, is in denial about Voldemort’s return, and has thus undertaken a campaign of misinformation against both Dumbledore and Potter, who was, after all, the only actual witness. Harry thus goes from hero to pariah, a somewhat familiar journey for him in this series.

Standing by Harry is the titular Order of the Phoenix, a secret society of magical beings formed by Dumbledore for the express purpose of combatting Lord Voldemort and preventing his evil from spreading. Membership consists of some people we’ve met already, like Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, and (to Harry’s consternation) Professor Snape. There are also some new figures to the reader, like Tonks, a shape-shifting witch, Kingsley Shacklebolt, a mole inside the Ministry of Magic, and the actual Mad-Eye Moody, freed at the end of book four.

For now, Harry is too young to join in the fight, and so he, Ron, and Hermione are to head back to Hogwarts and keep their heads down. Ron and Hermione have been made prefects, to Ron’s chagrin, and all three are anxiously awaiting their O.W.L.’s at the end of the school year. Throwing a kink into these plans is the arrival of their new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Dolores Umbridge. A plant forced on Hogwarts by the Ministry, Umbridge is a delightfully repugnant character. Officious, smug, and duplicitous, Umbridge gets under the skin of everyone at Hogwarts as she worms her way into power thanks to her powerful friends.

And if all that is not enough, Harry has started having strange and vivid dreams. Dreams that do not feel like dreams at all. As he tries to steer clear of Umbridge, figure out what his dreams mean, and keep on top of his homework, Harry and his friends start to consider life beyond Hogwarts. What will he and his schoolmates do for their careers? How will they live in a world with the deadly Lord Voldemort at work?

The fifth book in the series, and the longest, Order of the Phoenix has perhaps too much going on. The action is really heating up, but Rowling dithers too often on new characters and side plots that don’t pay off well enough to justify their length. Still, there is a lot to enjoy within these pages, and enough development of Harry and his friends to adequately set up the rest of the series.

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LEGO Harry Potter Hogwarts Room of Requirement 75966 Dumbledore's Army Gift Idea from Harry Potter and The Order of The Phoenix (193 Pieces)

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• Kids can role-play favorite Hogwarts stories with Dumbledore’s Army as they practice spells for their secret mission to defeat the forces of evil
• Includes 3 minifigures with wands – Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Luna Lovegood – 2 animal Patronuses, power shooter, dummy Death Eater and a detailed room with a pillar, board and fireplace
• Kids slide a panel then enter a hidden door for secret Defense Against the Dark Arts practice with Harry Potter and friends; There they can conjure up Patronuses, fire shooters and use cool features for imaginative fun
• The LEGO Harry Potter Hogwarts Room of Requirement (75966) children’s building toy will transport boys and girls aged 7 and up to a world of magical make-believe and imaginative adventures at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
• The full model, when connected, measures over 2" (7cm) high, 7" (19cm) long and 2" (6cm) deep; The different sections of the set can be attached in a variety of configurations to inspire new ways to play

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LEGO Harry Potter Hogwarts Room of Requirement (75966) transports young witches and wizards into a magical world as they join a group of friends on a secret mission to overcome powerful dark magic. Fans of Harry Potter can recreate classic movie moments and conjure up imaginative adventures of their own with Harry, Hermione Granger and Luna Lovegood. Dumbledore's Army are practicing spells in the mysterious Room of Requirement. Kids can help Harry teach the Patronus charm. There’s a Hare for Luna and an Otter for Hermione. Power shooters fit into the minifigures’ hands and fire at the mechanical Death Eater toy. With a host of cool features and accessories, the magical fun will never end!Magic, mystery and endless adventure. LEGO Harry Potter sets recreate action-packed scenes from the movies. With favorite characters, mythical creatures and familiar locations, these enchanting playsets bring the Wizarding World to life.

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Take Harry Potter fans on a secret mission!

Kids role-play a fun story from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and dream up imaginative adventures of their own.

Packed with magical movie action

Includes 3 popular minifigures, 2 animal Patronuses, a power shooter, mechanical Death Eater and a room full of surprises!

LEGO Harry Potter Hogwarts Room of Requirement

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With simple instructions included, kids aged 7 and up can build with confidence.

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This versatile set combines easily with other LEGO Harry Potter sets to inspire even more imaginative play possibilities.

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Customers like the ease of assembly, quality, design and size of the toy building block. They mention that it's a fun set to build, with lots of fun little surprises. They also appreciate the size, saying that it’s enjoable yet smaller Lego set.

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Customers find the toy building blocks easy to assemble. They say it's good for collection and nice little assembler.

"...The details are amazing and it’s a fairly easy build ...." Read more

"...Nice little gift for after the OotP movie. Easy to build but fun to play with after." Read more

"The thickness of the product makes it sturdy. The instructions made it easy to assemble ...." Read more

"My son loves it. Good for collection and easy to assemble . Plan to collect all Lego Harry Potter sets." Read more

Customers find the construction of the toy building block set super-duper fun, quick, and easy. They also appreciate the fun little surprises and features. Overall, customers say it's a great Harry Potter Lego for children and makes them extremely excited.

"...It’s just oodles of fun to build and has enough entertainment value to even amuse an adult...." Read more

"...It's still a fun set to build . I just wish there was more to it without the massive price tag Lego puts on their products." Read more

"...Nice little gift for after the OotP movie. Easy to build but fun to play with after ." Read more

"...It had lots of fun little surprises , and features...." Read more

Customers are satisfied with the quality of the toy building blocks. They mention it's a great product, with a good design. They also appreciate the thickness of the product, which makes it sturdy.

"...Regardless, this is a super build ; very creative! A must for any Harry Potter fan (even if you’re not into LEGO)." Read more

"...What I like:The new Patronus pieces are very sparkly and generally outstanding ...." Read more

" Lego quality and good design. Daughter likes it. But waaaaaay smaller than anticipated...." Read more

"...The contents seem to be intact so I gave it to my son since it took awhile to arrive (though it did come sooner that originally expected)...." Read more

Customers are satisfied with the design of the toy building blocks. They mention it's cute, has clever features, and is a lovely little set. Some appreciate the neat figures.

"...Regardless, this is a super build; very creative ! A must for any Harry Potter fan (even if you’re not into LEGO)." Read more

"...The figures are also neat . I love Harry, Luna and Hermione’s Hogwarts robes and the target figure’s overall design...." Read more

"This was a lovely little set , and it came at a good price too. It had lots of fun little surprises, and features...." Read more

"Lego quality and good design . Daughter likes it. But waaaaaay smaller than anticipated...." Read more

Customers find the toy building block set small, enjoyable, and perfect for HP fans.

"This is a nice small set because it includes three important figures and two special patronus pieces that have never been released before...." Read more

"An enjoyable yet smaller Lego set ...." Read more

" Perfect little set for HP fans ." Read more

Customers appreciate the versatility of the toy building block. They mention it's a great addition to the Hogwarts Castle and good for Potter lovers.

" Great Harry Potter addition ..." Read more

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Best Harry Potter Games

• Dive into the world of Harry Potter with the Wonderbook, featuring spells and potions to learn in an AR experience. Metascore: 72.
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince offers free-roaming gameplay with dueling features and an excellent Marauder's Map. Metascore: 66.
• Experience Quidditch like never before in Harry Potter: Quidditch World Cup, a magical sports game with exciting gameplay and commentary. Metascore: 69.

Ever since the original novels and the films rose to popularity, everyone has imagined wielding a wand just like Harry Potter . Well, with the movies being mega-blockbusters, video game tie-ins were inevitable. As a result, there have been seemingly endless amounts of Harry Potter games.

Hogwarts Legacy attracted a lot of attention as it seemed to be the Harry Potter game that everyone had been waiting for, and Avalanche's RPG debuted to largely positive reviews. However, the franchise has produced plenty of games over the years, some of which are far better than others. Let's take a look at the best Harry Potter games ​​​​​​.

Updated April 13, 2024 by Mark Sammut: Harry Potter got a boost in exposure due to Hogwarts Legacy's very successful launch, with the game eventually becoming one of 2023's best sellers . The project's relevance is not quite done either, as Avalanche will be dropping an update in Summer 2024 . A sequel seems destined to happen sooner rather than later, and Warner Bros has also announced Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions, although a release date has yet to be confirmed. Basically, Harry Potter games have entered their golden era.

Wonderbook: Books Of Spells

Metascore: 72, wonderbook: book of spells.

Platform(s) PS3

Released November 13, 2012

Developer(s) London Studio

Genre(s) Augmented Reality

How Long To Beat 5 Hours

Ah, the Wonderbook , Sony's somewhat interesting but largely puzzling attempt to bring augmented reality to the PS3. The peripheral spawned exactly four games: Book of Spells , Diggs Nightcrawler , Walking with Dinosaurs , and Book of Potions . The first and last entries are tied to Harry Potter , although they are set in the Wizarding World universe rather than direct adaptations of the movies. They allow players to learn how to cast spells and brew potions, with each one coming with a little stage play that shows its origins.

Harry Potter: 7 Most Underappreciated Characters

Book of Spells is cute. The presentation is charming, and the backstories are well done for the most part. That said, it is not much of a game, nor is it particularly fun. It is the type of experience that die-hard Harry Potter might enjoy for an hour or two, only to never think about again. Still, the technology was kind of cool for the era, even if Sony did not do much with it. Book of Spells represents the Wonderbook at its best; however, there is no reason to pick up this release nowadays.

Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince

Metascore: 66, harry potter and the half-blood prince.

Platform(s) Wii, PSP, PS3, PS2, Xbox 360, PC, Nintendo DS

Released June 30, 2009

Developer(s) EA Bright Light

Genre(s) Action-Adventure

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was initially released in June 2009 and built upon the Order of the Phoenix 's free-roaming and dueling features. The game is fondly remembered for including an excellent interpretation of the Marauder's Map and for letting players cast numerous spells around the school.

The game is one of the most popular Harry Potter releases to revisit, given that it was the last movie tie-in game to let players freely explore Hogwarts. However, Half-Blood Prince 's Hogwarts is very similar to the version found in Order of the Phoenix , so it is not particularly exciting to explore if someone has played the previous game. While not a bad title, Half-Blood Prince can come across as half-baked, which is a criticism of many of the final few movie adaptations. The quick turnaround for these projects limited their potential to an extent.

Harry Potter And The Goblet of Fire

Metascore: 69, harry potter and the goblet of fire.

Platform(s) Nintendo GameCube, PSP, PS2, Xbox (Original), PC, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS

Released November 8, 2005

Developer(s) EA UK

How Long To Beat 7 Hours

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire made the divisive decision of not letting players freely explore Hogwarts, a beloved feature of the previous games that had been key to their success. Instead, Goblet of Fire offered a series of action-oriented levels.

This decision results in a less spectacular and immersive overall experience, albeit one that has arguably superior minute-to-minute gameplay than most of its predecessors. Goblet of Fire 's seamless couch co-op is one of its better features, and the visuals were pretty good for its era.

Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix

Harry potter and the order of the phoenix.

Platform(s) Wii, PSP, PS3, PS2, Xbox 360, PC, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS

Released June 25, 2007

How Long To Beat 9 Hours

Although many people grew to enjoy the change of direction in Goblet of Fire, EA decided to return to the gameplay formula from the previous tie-in games where players could freely explore the wizarding castle of Hogwarts. The game expands on the game's exploration elements by implementing side quests and "discovery points" to reward those who tried to fully explore the school grounds .

Harry Potter: The 5 Worst Things Dumbledore Has Done

Along with a return to free-roaming, Order of the Phoenix also introduces a new dueling system that adds welcome depth to the series' combat. While nothing amazing, Order of the Phoenix was a solid return to old-school roots following the divisive Goblet of Fire .

Harry Potter: Quidditch World Cup

Platform(s) Nintendo GameCube, PS2, Xbox (Original), PC, Game Boy Advance

Released October 28, 2003

Developer(s) Magic Pockets, EA Games, EA Sports

Genre(s) Sports

How Long To Beat 10 Hours

Harry Potter: Quidditch World Cup is not just a great Harry Potter game , but also a very enjoyable sports game in its own right. The game of Quidditch is an exciting one and translates surprisingly well into video game form. Some may prefer the hyperrealism of FIFA or Madden , but those looking for something a bit more magical can definitely find it here.

The game controls well and still looks pretty decent despite being nearly two decades old. It even has commentary for certain matches and a story mode to link everything together in a fairly cohesive fashion. The computer AI doesn't provide the greatest challenge though, so it's better when played with a friend. Also, the GBA version is terrible.

The Sorcerer's Stone (PC Version)

Metascore: 65, harry potter and the sorcerer's stone.

Platform(s) Game Boy Color, PS2, Xbox (Original), PC, Game Boy Advance, PS1, GameCube

Released November 15, 2001

Developer KnowWonder, Argonaut, Warthog, Griptonite, Eurocom, Westlake Interactive

Genre(s) Action-Adventure, RPG

How Long To Beat 6 Hours

What better way to start the best of the game than with that first? For any Harry Potter fan wanting to get into the games, it is best to start here. However, only play the PC version; the console version is a sluggish downgrade in every aspect.

From learning new spells, collecting every Flavor Beans, and solving puzzles, The Sorcerer's Stone is an addictive Legend Of Zelda -esque game. Just be ready for some awkward voice acting and character models, although even those elements have their charm.

Harry Potter: Magic Awakened

Metascore: 78.

Platform(s) PC, iOS, Android

Released June 27, 2023

Developer(s) NetEase Games, Warner Bros. Games

Genre(s) RPG

A few years after debuting in China and Taiwan, Harry Potter: Magic Awakened finally made its way to the rest of the world, and the 2023 release is a more-than-decent mobile game that comes packed with neat Easter eggs and references that die-hard fans are likely to appreciate. Set after the events of the books (and movies), players step into the shoes of a new student who finds themselves attending Hogwarts. The still-developing story gradually goes through the protagonist's years at school, and while not extremely focused or engaging, it successfully moves things along.

Harry Potter: Magic Awakened - Echo Tier List, Best Picks For PvP And PvE Explored

Magic Awakened blends a few different genres and ideas together. The game prioritizes multiplayer goodness, both in the form of co-op and PvP . The latter comes in the form of duels built upon a card-based combat system that works quite well, and these fights are generally strategic and exciting. Players construct decks featuring all sorts of Harry Potter spells and lore. Outside of battles, players can explore Hogwarts and its surrounding areas while taking on quests, many of which are fairly run-of-the-mill. As a free-to-play gacha game, Magic Awakened is obviously monetized, but non-paying players can still have fun.

Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban

Metascore: 70, harry potter and the prisoner of azkaban.

Platform(s) Nintendo GameCube, PS2, Xbox (Original), PC, Game Boy Advance, PS1

Released May 25, 2004

Developer(s) KnowWonder, Electronic Arts, Griptonite Games

How Long To Beat 8 Hours

The original trilogy of EA games reached the absolute peak of perfection. It couldn't possibly get better than Chamber Of Secrets, but, surprisingly, The Prisoner Of Azkaban is pure gold. Rather than just playing as Harry, the player could control all three main heroes, including Ron and Hermione.

This allowed for more puzzle-solving as some characters had specific spells and abilities. Prisoner Of Azkaban also features the most live and expansive open map of Hogwarts; Buckbeak is ridable, there's more to collect, and the main missions are a blast. The entire original trilogy of games deserve remakes .

Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets

Metascore: 77.

Platform(s) Game Boy Color, Microsoft Windows, Xbox (Original), Game Boy Advance, GameCube, PlayStation 2

Released November 15, 2002

Developer(s) Argonaut Games, KnowWonder, EA UK, Eurocom, Griptonite Games

How Long To Beat 8 hours

Chamber of Secrets does what any game sequel should do: it takes everything great about the first, expands upon it, and does everything better. From fighting Aragog the spider to solving puzzles in the castle, Chamber of Secrets is simply better in every way.

The sequel expands on many ideas from its predecessor, including recreating Hogwarts and Diagon Alley. While it cannot be compared to more recent Harry Potter projects, Chamber of Secrets ' scale is quite impressive, and its rendition of Hogwarts is among the franchise's best when its release period is taken into account. The campaign also has quite a lot of optional content, allowing for a meatier overall experience.

LEGO Harry Potter Collection

Metascore: 73.

Platform(s) Switch, PS4, Xbox One

Released October 18, 2016

Developer(s) Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment

How Long To Beat 30 Hours

Why settle for one of the LEGO games when there's an option for both combined ? LEGO Harry Potter Collection is like most LEGO games; tons of stud collecting, puzzles, and fun missions. In many ways, they are very similar to the early EA Harry Potter games.

So, for every LEGO games fan or Harry Potter fan, Collection is the perfect addition to the library of games. The Harry Potter -specific mechanics are well done, the LEGO depiction of the Wizarding World is beautiful, and, as usual, the jokes are hilarious. Plus, it goes through all seven years of Harry Potter in one game without feeling rushed.

Hogwarts Legacy

Metascore: 85, harry potter: hogwarts legacy.

Platform(s) Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X, Switch, PS5, PS4, PC, Xbox One

Released February 10, 2023

Developer(s) Avalanche Software

Genre(s) Action, RPG

How Long To Beat 26 Hours

Hogwarts Legacy is undoubtedly the top contender for the best Harry Potter game ever, even if the game's shine has dulled a bit since its debut. Just to be clear, Avalanche's project offers by far the most breathtaking and enchanting depiction of Hogwarts, and it is arguably the first game to capture the setting's magic. Set roughly a century before the events of the books, the story does a decent job of fleshing out the universe's lore, all the while stepping back and allowing fans to role-play as wizards and witches without too much interference. The game's opening few hours are not only its strongest, but arguably the most memorable in the Harry Potter video game franchise.

Hogwarts Legacy: 12 Best Mods For Immersion

However, the rest of the experience is not flawless. While flashy and stylish, the combat gets repetitive after a few hours. Except for Hogwarts and a handful of other areas, the open-world leaves something to be desired and lacks personality. Considering it sold extremely well, a sequel is likely only a matter of time, and Avalanche has created a great base to build upon. If the side content, combat, and larger world are diversified, Hogwarts Legacy 2 will easily be the greatest Harry Potter game of all time.

Hogwarts Legacy: Best Outfits, Ranked

10 Missing Locations From The Harry Potter Movies

Who else is angry that we never got to see the Ravenclaw Common Room?

The Harry Potter film franchise has become one of the most recognized fantasy series ever. Based on a popular book series, they follow Harry Potter ( Daniel Radcliffe ), a young boy who learns that he is a wizard and a celebrity in the hidden magical world because of his role in the defeat of the Dark Lord, Voldemort ( Ralph Fiennes ) when he was an infant. He is enrolled in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, where he learns magic alongside his friends, Ron Weasley ( Rupert Grint ) and Hermione Granger ( Emma Watson ).

Naturally, many aspects from the books had to be condensed or removed for the films during the adaptation process. This includes a large list of interesting locations that, for one reason or another, were never visited. From hospitals to characters' homes, these locations played an important role in the Harry Potter novels but were sadly ignored in the movies .

10 The Tonks Home

Should've appeared in 'harry potter and the deathly hallows - part 1' (2010).

In what became known as the Battle of the Seven Potters, the Order of the Phoenix moved Harry from the home of his muggle relatives, using Polyjuice Potion to transform six of their members into copies of Harry to throw off the incoming Death Eaters. The film sees Harry moved directly to the Weasley house following the battle, but in the book, he arrives at a safe house first. Here, Harry meets the parents of Order member Nymphadora Tonks ( Natalia Tena ), Andromeda and Ted.

While Harry and Rubeus Hagrid ( Robbie Coltrane ) only stay a short time, the Tonks's house offers a nice respite from the eclectic battle and provides some world-building . Andromeda is the sister of Narcissa Malfoy ( Helen McCrory ) and Bellatrix Lestrange ( Helena Bonham Carter ). Unlike her sisters, she marries a muggle-born wizard and decides to help combat Voldemort's forces in what little ways they can. While it's understandable that this scene was cut for time, its absence leaves the extended Black family woefully underdeveloped.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1

*Availability in US

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9 The Ravenclaw Common Room

Should've appeared in 'harry potter and the deathly hallows - part 2' (2011).

Each of Hogwarts' four houses has unique dorm rooms where the students can relax between classes and sleep. Since the main characters belong to Gryffindor, this common room is the most common in the books and movies, but Slytherin's common room briefly appears in Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets . However, the books also briefly show the Ravenclaw common room when Harry is searching for one of Voldemort's Horcruxes.

While it wasn't essential for the films to show the dormitory, it was a nice addition in the final book that revealed another secret section of Hogwarts that Harry and the readers had never seen before . Plus, the dormitory only allows people to enter if they solve a riddle, which fits with Ravenclaw's theme of accepting only the brightest students. Though its absence isn't a major loss, it's unfortunate because it means Ravenclaw remains underdeveloped in the films compared to the other houses.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2

8 zonko's joke shop, should've appeared in 'harry potter and the prisoner of azkaban' (2004).

Next to Hogswart is the village of Hogsmeade, the only fully-wizard village in Great Britain. It contains many curious businesses for students to browse, including Zonko's Joke Shop. While Zonko has many silly products for sale, it unfortunately closes its doors during the Second Wizard War.

Zonko is named-dropped in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban , but the location is never on-screen despite several scenes taking place at Hogsmeade . Its addition would have been a fun way to show audiences some of the more mundane uses of magic, in this case, silly practical jokes. It also would have helped set up Fred and George Weasley's ( James and Oliver Phelps ) joke shop, Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, which appears, albeit briefly, in the sixth movie.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

7 the cave above hogsmeade, should've appeared in 'harry potter and the goblet of fire' (2005).

Located on a mountain that looms over Hogsmeade is a roomy cave. During the Triwizard Tournament, Harry's godfather, Sirius Black ( Gary Oldman ), takes up residence in the cave so he can remain close to Harry, especially when it becomes apparent that the tournament is being rigged. The following year, Hagrid also takes shelter in the cave after Dolores Umbridge ( Imelda Staunton ) drives him away from Hogwarts.

While the cave itself is unremarkable, it's a good source of shelter for various members of the Order of the Phoenix . The cave's absence is most felt in Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire since it means Sirius has no way to talk to Harry in person, limiting his appearance to one conversation through a fireplace. Thus, audiences miss out on seeing Sirius and Harry bond over his fourth year, making his eventual death less impactful than it was on the page.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

6 the hogwarts kitchens.

Hogwarts is full of all sorts of fantastical locations, from the ever-shifting Room of Requirements to the mythical Chamber of Secrets. Yet one of its most important rooms is the kitchen. Accessible beyond a painting of a bowl of fruit, the kitchen is manned entirely by House Elves, who work tirelessly to prepare enough food to feed all the students and faculty in the castle.

The kitchens were likely never seen in the films due to the abandonment of Hermione's subplot to provide House Elves with equal rights . This is unfortunate, because not only are the kitchens an impressive sight due to their size and the number of elves working there, but it is also where the trio reunite with Dobby ( Toby Jones ), who took a job with Dumbledore. When Harry acquires his House Elf, Kreacher ( Timothy Bateson and Simon McBurney ), he sends him to work in the kitchens. During the Battle of Hogwarts, Kreacher rallies the House Elves to battle the Death Eaters , one of the novels' most powerful moments.

5 Divination Class with Firenze

Should've appeared in 'harry potter and the order of the phoenix' (2007).

Normally, Divination classes at Hogwarts are taught by Madam Sybill Trelawney ( Emma Thompson ), the same witch who created the prophecy foretelling that Harry would defeat Voldemort. However, she is fired by Umbridge for her inadequate performance. Fortunately, Headmaster Albus Dumbledore ( Sir Michael Gambon ) allows her to remain at Hogwarts and quickly hires the centaur Firenze ( Ray Fearon ) as her replacement.

Unfortunately, audiences never got to see Firenze's classes , which were based on astronomy and using planetary movements to predict the future. Following Umbridge's expulsion from Hogwarts, he and Trelawney co-teach Divination, allowing wizard and centaur methods to be mixed into the curriculum. The room where he teaches is quite stunning, looking like a forest, complete with trees, moss, and boulders . The absence of his lessons means that the centaurs are treated as little more than aggressive creatures in the movies, with little to no indication that they have any culture.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

4 gaunt shack, should've appeared in 'harry potter and the half-blood prince' (2009).

During his sixth year, Harry works with Dumbledore to decipher a way to defeat Voldemort by looking through a series of memories Dumbledore has collected, all of which are linked to Voldemort in one way or another. One memory takes Harry to a shack outside of Little Hangleton, inhabited by the last members of the House of Gaunt, Voldemort's maternal relatives.

Harry's visit to the memory of the Gaunt Shack is crucial to the story, revealing much about Voldemort's backstory. The House of Gaunt is descended from many powerful bloodlines—including Salazar Slytherin and one of the three Peverell brothers who created the Deathly Hallows—and kept their heirlooms as treasures. The absence of this House of Gaunt means that a lot of vital information regarding Voldemort's mysterious history is missing , especially regarding his mother and the circumstances of his birth.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

3 st. mungo's hospital for magical maladies.

If students are injured on the grounds of Hogwarts, they usually go to the hospital wing and are tended to by Madam Poppy Pomfrey ( Gemma Jones ). However, the London-based St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies handles more serious magical ailments. Harry visits St. Mungos during his fifth year when he accompanies the Weasley family to check on their father, Arthur ( Mark Williams ), who was injured by Voldemort's snake, Nagini.

St. Mungo's Hospital offers an interesting look into the various kinds of magical illnesses and injuries present in the wizarding world, as well as some tragic cases in the long-term care section. This is where Harry learns the truth about Alice and Frank Longbottom, who were tortured to the point of insanity by Bellatrix Lestrange and other Death Eaters. This meeting is one of the book's most powerful moments, and it's a shame that it was replaced by Neville ( Matthew Lewis ) casually revealing his parent's fate to Harry.

2 The Other Rooms in The Department of Mysteries

Upon Voldemort's return to power, he sets his sights on claiming Harry's prophecy from the Department of Mysteries; however, only Harry can remove it safely from its resting place. Thus, the Dark Lord tricks the unsuspecting Boy Who Lived and his friends into breaking into the Ministry of Magic, where Death Eaters led by Lucious Malfoy ( Jason Isaacs ) are waiting. A desperate battle in the Ministry ensues, with the Order of the Phoenix, Voldemort, and Dumbledore all arriving.

The book version of the conflict is even wilder and more disturbing , with Harry and his friends traveling into various other rooms in the Department of Mysteries. Some of these include a room full of aggressive brains, a room of concentrated time that saw one Death Eater get the head of a baby, and a room full of miniature planets . During this battle, all the Time-Turners kept by the Ministry were conveniently destroyed, thus erasing one of the saga's most noteworthy plot holes.

1 The Potion Riddle Room

Should've appeared in 'harry potter and the philosopher's stone' (2001).

During Harry's first year at Hogwarts, Voldemort made a play for the Philosopher's Stone, which could be used to create an Elixir of Life. However, the path to the stone is blocked by numerous traps provided by the professors at Hogwarts, among them the creepy potion's master, Severus Snape ( Alan Rickman ). Though the movie claims that Snape is protecting the stone, it cuts his contribution, a logic puzzle involving seven bottles.

This scene is an unfortunate loss in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone . Although the room itself is simple and unremarkable , its absence denies Hermione the chance to show her unique talents. Since wizards use magic to solve their problems, they're not good at logic puzzles, while Hermione, a muggle-born, has experience with these challenges and can solve them quickly . This puzzle also follows Ron's victorious game of chess against the living chessboard, meaning that both of Harry's friends are crucial to ensuring he finds the stone.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

NEXT: This Harry Potter Scene Created for the Movie Makes Absolutely No Sense

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The harry potter tv remake can fix 1 redemption arc the books & movies botched.

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Harry Potter Reboot Wishlist: 15 Things Fans Demand

8 harry potter movie moments that made absolutely no sense (but the tv remake can fix), netflix’s perfect cobra kai replacement is already streaming (& season 2 is on its way).

• Percy Weasley's redemption story was overlooked in the Harry Potter movies, leaving out an intriguing character arc.
• The TV remake has the chance to correct this oversight and give Percy the depth and development he deserves.
• HBO's Harry Potter series can explore Percy's struggles and redemption in a way the books and movies never did.

The Harry Potter TV remake can fix the movies' flaws and expand on book storylines, and this means the HBO series can finally make up for one redemption arc that the source material and original adaptations botched . As book-to-screen adaptations go, the Harry Potter movies are generally well received — but they're far from perfect. It doesn't help that the books themselves have characters and subplots that deserve more attention. And the movies' limited screen time inevitably makes such issues worse, ensuring that some elements of the Harry Potter books are either cut or severely diminished.

This is even seen with the movies' Golden Trio — Ron, in particular, gets far less positive characterization than his book counterpart — so it's no surprise that it extends to Harry Potter 's supporting cast . Players like Peeves the Poltergeist and Winky the House-elf are left out of the movies altogether. Other side characters are less fleshed out in the adaptations , even if they have individual storylines in the books. This is especially true of the older Weasleys. One of them has a redemption arc in the books that isn't captured on-screen. Fortunately, HBO's Harry Potter TV show can make up for this.

Warner Bros.’ Harry Potter TV reboot has the opportunity to right the wrongs of the movie adaptations and even improve upon the book series.

The Harry Potter TV Remake Can Finally Fix Percy Weasley's Redemption Arc

Percy's character stops getting attention in the later movies.

Percy Weasley is introduced in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, and the movies follow his book storyline faithfully — at least up until he graduates from Hogwarts. Both iterations of the story portray Percy as a pompous, type-A student who's fond of following the rules. His younger brothers often tease him for it, but Percy remains well-meaning during his interactions in the earlier books and films. This changes in the Order of the Phoenix novel, when Percy sides with the Ministry of Magic over Harry and Dumbledore, leading to a rift between him and the rest of the Weasley family .

The former Head Boy refuses to believe Harry's claims about Voldemort, suggests Dumbledore is unreliable, and distances himself from his parents and siblings

Percy's temporary estrangement from his family is a big deal in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix , and it continues through Half-Blood Prince. The former Head Boy refuses to believe Harry's claims about Voldemort, suggests Dumbledore is unreliable, and distances himself from his parents and siblings. He doesn't even visit Mr. Weasley when he's bitten by Voldemort's snake and admitted to St. Mungo's Hospital. Percy's character takes a dark turn in the books, and he's able to redeem himself in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Unfortunately, the movies don't show any of this.

The Harry Potter Movies Cut Percy Weasley's Book Storyline Completely

He barely has any lines in the later sequels.

Those watching the Harry Potter movies wouldn't know Percy has an entire storyline to himself, as the adaptations cut Percy's betrayal and redemption arc completely. Although Percy appears at Hogwarts in the first few films, he's mostly used as comic relief. And while he shows up in some of the later movies, Percy barely has any lines. He doesn't break his family's hearts like he does in the books, and thus, there's no reason for him to make things right. It's likely the original adaptations didn't have enough time to focus on Percy , but his lack of depth is still disappointing.

Those watching the Harry Potter movies wouldn't know Percy has an entire storyline to himself, as the adaptations cut Percy's betrayal and redemption arc completely.

Percy's characterization is severely lacking in all the Harry Potter movies , and the removal of his only real storyline doesn't help that fact. Showing his falling out with his family would have made Percy a much more intriguing character in the films, even if it made him look bad. And his comeback in Deathly Hallows could have been a powerful moment — one that added even more excitement to the Battle of Hogwarts. Unfortunately, Percy doesn't get the chance to shine in the adaptations. Perhaps this shouldn't be a surprise, as even the books could have done a better job with him.

Even The Books Don't Do Percy's Redemption Story Justice

His return in deathly hallows could have been handled better.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and Half-Blood Prince do a decent job of explaining why Percy isn't speaking to his family — and this turn of events is set up by his behavior at Hogwarts. The Harry Potter books don't flounder when it comes to Percy's initial characterization, but they could have done a better job with his redemption story. Sadly, it seems they didn't have enough time to focus on it, either. The books never show Percy coming to terms with the fact that he was wrong. However, they do see him making an epic entrance during the Battle of Hogwarts .

Percy's apology to his family takes place right before the fighting begins, and it sees him acknowledging his poor behavior and vowing to do better. The whole thing happens fairly quickly, and that's likely because the battle itself is about to unfold. Percy's redemption is made more tragic by the Weasley twins' willingness to forgive him — and the fact that Fred dies fighting alongside Percy later on. It's a shame that the books never show Percy interacting with his family further. It also would have been nice to see his internal struggle. Hopefully, the Harry Potter TV show can do his arc justice .

How HBO's Harry Potter Remake Can Improve Percy's Character & His Arc

Showing his perspective would make a huge difference.

The books and movies may not have done Percy Weasley's story arc justice, but HBO's Harry Potter TV show can make up for it. A television series will have more time to craft its characters and story than the movies, meaning it can expand on some of the supporting players further. Percy is a prime candidate for this, especially since his perspective can demonstrate just how conflicted witches and wizards were during The Order of the Phoenix. Fleshing him out will also paint a more complex picture of the Weasley family, something that's lacking in the original adaptations.

Given that the Harry Potter TV show can depict multiple points of view — whereas the books take place primarily from Harry's perspective — it'll be easy to make Percy's betrayal and redemption more compelling. Viewers will be able to see what he's going through while he's estranged from his family, and they'll understand what makes him come around in Deathly Hallows . Such details are necessary for a Harry Potter remake, especially if it hopes to set itself apart from the books and movies. There are numerous ways to do this, and Percy Weasley's character arc is undoubtedly one piece of the puzzle.

Harry Potter

Harry Potter is HBO's remake of the iconic Wizarding World film series that consisted of eight films between 2001 and 2011. Each season adapts a book from JK Rowling's popular series and provides more book-accurate details than the movies did. Upon the announcement of the Harry Potter TV show, the series received harsh criticism for the involvement of Rowling and for many thinking a reboot was unnecessary.