Review's Resort: Talkie Tuesday: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

"There's a storm coming, Harry."

Hello everyone!

You didn't think we were actually done with magic, did you?

Things are only just heating up!

This week is all about teen angst, magical spiritual connections, and a whole lot of dainty coughing when all you want to do is strangle the person who's actually doing the coughing.

You have to love it when an author comes up with a character that you hate even more than the antagonist. There's a certain kind of magic in THAT, for sure.

Last week, we were dealing with some early adolescence, but this week that's a full-blown thing, and you can't escape it, no matter how much you may want to.

And of course, there's still a heck of a lot of a lot of magic going on.

Voldemort is back, people. And so is the Order of the Phoenix.

As always, links to the previous reviews (and therefore movies) can be found at the bottom of this page. Suffice to say that, at this point in time, we all know Harry s a wizard and Voldemort is out to get him because ... well, we'll get to that in this recap, because nobody actually really knows WHY Voldy wants Harry dead so much (besides good old fashioned revenge).

Meanwhile, Harry has other issues.

Thankfully someone remembered to cut his hair again (even if it was just Aunt Petunia I'm eternally grateful), but he's sulky because his friends have apparently not written all summer long and he feels left out. Dudley makes sure he knows it, too, but even the sultry, hot summer day doesn't save them when a few Dementors come sniffing.

Dudley may not really understand what's going on, but Harry DEFINITELY knows, and he knows that it's pretty much a good indication that things are going to hell in a hand basket if the Dementors have abandoned their posts at Azkaban (which, by the way, sees a massive break-out in the same breath, including but not limited to one Bellatrix Lestrange).

He uses the Patronus charm to rescue his cousin (more so his cousin than himself really, because he's selfless like that), and of course that gets him expelled from Hogwarts, as underage wizards aren't allowed to do magic outside the school.

He's even called in for a disciplinary hearing that Arthur Weasley takes him to, and I sniffled a little bit here because Arthur is the closest thing Harry has to a father in these stories - which is a VERY good thing.

Harry's hearing having been moved up unexpectedly - because people really want to discredit him and the Minister of Magic is convinced if he can tell everyone the kid is lying about Voldemort, that'll make it true (I find it hysterical that old Voldy didn't pop up earlier just for the kick of it). Of course Dumbledore is alerted that the hearing is earlier and shows up even though nobody expected him to (and I'm there sitting in complete outrage because this is an underage child they're dealing with, but they're treating him like a criminal and not even giving him a chance, despite the fact that he pretty much saved all their asses more than once so far).

Anyway, Dumbledore not only testifies himself, he produces a witness to what happened with Harry and Dudley, and thus exonerates Harry, but he also basically ignores the boy, which confuses Harry further.

Even more confusing is when he and Arthur arrive back at Sirius Black's place where he was whisked off to before his hearing, and he learns that the Order of the Phoenix has made it their HQ, they're worried about the fact the Ministry is putting its head in the sand, and Voldemort needs an object this time around which he didn't have during the first war.

Not that anyone tells Harry, because Molly will land them in her skillet if they do, mind you.

The problem with that one is that it directly involves Harry, so naturally it's going to find a way to him no matter what the adults try to do, but at least there's still Hogwarts, right?

HA, wrong.

Remember that I said something about annoying coughs? She's here now.

Dolores Umbridge is the one character we ALL hate much more than Voldemort, and she pops up at school as the new DADA teacher - and pretty much inquisitor who wants to make sure everyone is nicely in line, they're writing down things they should be practicing, and of course that nobody believes Harry (I also wonded here, remembering the book version, how the Ministry imagined these kids would ever pass their OWLs without any practical knowledge, it's a nifty little corner they painted themselves into).

Harry, naturally, opposes the fact that he's called a liar, and has to go write lines into Umbridge's office with a special quill that writes said line onto his own skin.

I know. Brutal.

But since Dumbledore is still mysteriously ignoring Harry, Harry doesn't feel like reporting it and keeps his head down, until the situation at school starts getting impossible. Umbridge is getting out of control even with Dumbledore there, and more and more students are worried they won't know how to defend themselves when the time comes, so Hermine and Ron convince Harry to start their own little club of sorts, where HARRY will teach them practical spells.

He's sort of very good at them at this point - you don't see it in the movies as well as in the books, but Harry has a lot of practical knowledge simply because he had to acquire it to survive against Voldemort, and those are precisely the spells Umbridge and the Ministry want to prevent anyone from learning.

Of course people try to find this club, to no avail, because the Room of Requirement is helping Harry and the gang, and the castle wants them to fight back.

Only one issue with all of that: Harry's weird dreams.

He's honestly weird throughout the entire movie, but the weirdest thing are these dreams that feel incredibly real to him, and one of them includes a snake attacking Arthur Weasley, something that terrifies Harry enough to go straight to McGonagall, and through her to Dumbledore, and this becomes the first scene the headmaster actually looks at Harry, and dumps him straight with Snape (who is the only one that looks put together in the middle of the night; my sister commented that it's because he sleeps upside down like a bat).

Why?

Because Harry needs to learn to block his mind, as Voldemort somehow has a direct connection to it, and Harry can see into Voldemort's, too.

Not that he's successful to begin with, though eventually his rage causes him to enter Snape's mind instead, seeing some of the torment Snape went through at Hogwarts at the hands of none other than Harry's own father, James (kids everywhere, am I right?).

But other things are happening at a rapid pace at this point that pretty much overshadow that particular revelation: Harry and Cedric's ex, Cho Chang, become romantically involved, until it all falls apart when Cho caves under Umbridge's pressure and reveals everything about Dumbledore's Army, leading to Dumbledore fleeing Hogwarts (taking responsibility even when it wasn't really his fault) and Harry to be pissed at her beyond belief.

And as the Weasley twins say goodbye to a life of academia, fed up with everything, and Umbridge lords it over Hogwarts as Headmistress, Harry sees another disturbing sight: Sirius Black, his godfather, tortured.

This prompts him and Hermione to find a way out of Hogwarts not under Umbridge's control, through which (getting caught, of course) he manages to alert the Order that something's going on by giving Snape a coded message only the Order would understand. Harry and Hermione, meanwhile, lead Umbridge into the Forbidden Forest, hoping to run into Hagrid's giant half-brother (Hagrid has been negotiating with giants in this movie), but instead coming face to face with centaurs who haul Umbridge off because ... well, Umbridge.

The main members of Dumbledore's Army then fly to the Ministry of Magic to free Sirius, but they don't find him, instead finding a mysterious glowy ball that Harry picks up from the shelf - which contains a prophecy about a child born at the height of summer who would be the fall of the Dark Lord, and that 'neither can live while the other survives'.

Charming.

Not as charming as Lucius Malfoy, who pops up with Bellatrix and other Death Eaters, explaining to Harry that he'd been duped when Voldemort figured out their mind connection, and asking for the prophecy that Voldemort apparently needs (why does he need it? No clue whatsoever). It should be noted that, of all the kids, only Neville Longbottom has the guts to tell Harry not to do it.

Harry refuses, and a fight ensues, eventually aided by the actual Order (notified by Snape, of course), but ending tragically with the death of Sirius at the hand of Bellatrix.

Harry runs after her but ends up face to face with Voldemort instead, though of course this is the part where Dumbledore makes his grand entrance, and an epic renovation of the Ministry begins between the two dueling wizards; it only ends when Voldemort possesses Harry, and Dumbledore has to guide Harry back to this realm.

Harry does it successfully enough, thinking that even though he technically doesn't have a family, he has friends, and love, and companionship, which kicks Voldemort out, just in time for Ministry officials to start showing up, and for the Minister to see Voldemort's grinning face. This forces them all to acknowledge he's actually back, and the Minister has to step down in disgrace.

Umbridge has to leave Hogwarts, and everyone now starts coming to terms that dark times are indeed ahead of them, while Dumbledore explains to Harry that the reason he practically ignored the boy all year was to hopefully dissuade Voldemort from using the very connection that eventually led to the death of Sirius Black (not sure I follow your logic, old man, but, you know). Another school year ends on that note, and Dumbledore's Army head towards the train that'll take them home, looking ahead into an uncertain future, but clear on one thing: they stand a fighting chance, as long as they stand firmly together.

In a departure from previous movies, Order of the Phoenix has a decidedly darker theme because of Voldemort's return, and actual school lessons are pushed to the side to focus on greater events. We also see some new characters pop up, such as Luna Lovegood, who explains to Harry what Thestrals are after Harry sees them pulling the students' carriages. Everyone is dealing with both adolescence and the coming of the second war, and Harry has now sadly lost his last actual family member on the wizarding side. So now what, you ask?

Well, now he waits for the final showdown, goes through another summer, and figures that killing Voldemort is the only thing he can honestly do.

Also, romance sucks, y'all.

At least in these movies so far!