Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix by J.K.Rowling
This novel is certainly not the greatest works of Rowling but it sure is instrumental in taking the rivalry of Harry Potter and Lord Voldemort to the next level.
After somehow surviving an encounter with the returned-to-power Voldemort, Harry is again in his home at the Dursleys. Sudenly he and his cousin, Dudley, are attacked by a pack of Dementors. Harry uses the Patronus Charm in his defense but the Ministry of Magic does not believe his story and he has to face a hearing at the ministry for using magic outside school. With some help from Dumbledore, Harry is released without any problem.
Harry then goes to the Black family home (Sirius Black is Harry’s godfather), which is also the headquarters of the Order of Phoenix, a secret organization to work for the capturing of Lord Voldemort. The Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, believes that Lord Voldemort has not returned and uses the Daily Prophet (wizard newspaper) to publish articles discrediting Harry and Dumbledore.
Harry returns to Hogwarts, where Dolores Umbridge (new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher) has been made the High Inquisitor of Hogwarts by the Ministry of Magic and she starts to intimidate staff and students alike. She bans Harry, Fred and George Weasley from the Griffindor Quidditch Team but Ron manages to become the keeper. Umbridge dismisses Sibyll Trelawney but Dumbeldore manages to replace Firenze, before she can use her authority to impose another teacher.
Harry has a number of strange dreams, mostly about running down a hallway and attempting to open a door in the Ministry of Magic's Department of Mysteries. In one of these nightmares, Harry dreams that he is a snake attacking Ron's father, Arthur Weasley, who works at the Ministry. Waking up, Harry raises the alarm, believing his dream to have been a vision, and Arthur is indeed discovered with poisonous snake bites. Harry begins to wonder if he is being possessed and transported by Voldemort to do his bidding. Dumbledore reassures him, but asks Severus Snape to give Harry lessons in the art of Occlumency, the ability to block one's mind from another.
Hermione convinces Harry that as Umbridge refuses to teach her subject properly, Harry must teach the students himself. They form the D.A., Dumbledore Army. Umbridge eventually discovers a meeting of the D.A, and catches Harry. Dumbledore pretends that it was he who organised the meetings, and is dismissed by Umbridge, who appoints herself as new headmaster. The Weasley twins set off their last prank as a decoy so that Harry can talk to Sirius via the fireplace in Umbridge's office. They quit in spectacular fashion to start their own joke shop, 'Weasley's Wizard Wheezes', leaving a magical swamp inside the school. Harry also comes to know that it was Dolores Umbridge who had sent Dementors after him.
Harry has another dream in which he sees Sirius captured in the Department of Mysteries, and being tortured. He rushes to the ministry with some of his friends but it had been a trap. Voldemort, with the help of his Death Eaters, was seeking to steal a prophecy from the ministry, and needed Harry to get it for him. During the ensuing battle between Harry’s friends and the Death Eaters, the glass sphere which holds the prophecy is shattered. Also, tragically, Sirius is struck by a curse from the wand of his cousin, the Death Eater Bellatrix Lestrange, and dies. Dumbledore shows up and ropes off most of the Death Eaters, but Bellatrix escapes. After this battle at the ministry, Cornelius is forced to believe that Voldemaort has returned. Dumbledore reveals to Harry that the prophecy was given by Sibyll Trelawney and it said that Harry is the one who will be able to vanquish the Dark Lord and either must die at the hands of the other as neither can rest while the other survives.
After somehow surviving an encounter with the returned-to-power Voldemort, Harry is again in his home at the Dursleys. Sudenly he and his cousin, Dudley, are attacked by a pack of Dementors. Harry uses the Patronus Charm in his defense but the Ministry of Magic does not believe his story and he has to face a hearing at the ministry for using magic outside school. With some help from Dumbledore, Harry is released without any problem.
Harry then goes to the Black family home (Sirius Black is Harry’s godfather), which is also the headquarters of the Order of Phoenix, a secret organization to work for the capturing of Lord Voldemort. The Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, believes that Lord Voldemort has not returned and uses the Daily Prophet (wizard newspaper) to publish articles discrediting Harry and Dumbledore.
Harry returns to Hogwarts, where Dolores Umbridge (new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher) has been made the High Inquisitor of Hogwarts by the Ministry of Magic and she starts to intimidate staff and students alike. She bans Harry, Fred and George Weasley from the Griffindor Quidditch Team but Ron manages to become the keeper. Umbridge dismisses Sibyll Trelawney but Dumbeldore manages to replace Firenze, before she can use her authority to impose another teacher.
Harry has a number of strange dreams, mostly about running down a hallway and attempting to open a door in the Ministry of Magic's Department of Mysteries. In one of these nightmares, Harry dreams that he is a snake attacking Ron's father, Arthur Weasley, who works at the Ministry. Waking up, Harry raises the alarm, believing his dream to have been a vision, and Arthur is indeed discovered with poisonous snake bites. Harry begins to wonder if he is being possessed and transported by Voldemort to do his bidding. Dumbledore reassures him, but asks Severus Snape to give Harry lessons in the art of Occlumency, the ability to block one's mind from another.
Hermione convinces Harry that as Umbridge refuses to teach her subject properly, Harry must teach the students himself. They form the D.A., Dumbledore Army. Umbridge eventually discovers a meeting of the D.A, and catches Harry. Dumbledore pretends that it was he who organised the meetings, and is dismissed by Umbridge, who appoints herself as new headmaster. The Weasley twins set off their last prank as a decoy so that Harry can talk to Sirius via the fireplace in Umbridge's office. They quit in spectacular fashion to start their own joke shop, 'Weasley's Wizard Wheezes', leaving a magical swamp inside the school. Harry also comes to know that it was Dolores Umbridge who had sent Dementors after him.
Harry has another dream in which he sees Sirius captured in the Department of Mysteries, and being tortured. He rushes to the ministry with some of his friends but it had been a trap. Voldemort, with the help of his Death Eaters, was seeking to steal a prophecy from the ministry, and needed Harry to get it for him. During the ensuing battle between Harry’s friends and the Death Eaters, the glass sphere which holds the prophecy is shattered. Also, tragically, Sirius is struck by a curse from the wand of his cousin, the Death Eater Bellatrix Lestrange, and dies. Dumbledore shows up and ropes off most of the Death Eaters, but Bellatrix escapes. After this battle at the ministry, Cornelius is forced to believe that Voldemaort has returned. Dumbledore reveals to Harry that the prophecy was given by Sibyll Trelawney and it said that Harry is the one who will be able to vanquish the Dark Lord and either must die at the hands of the other as neither can rest while the other survives.
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