The Order of the Phoenix SPOILER Review Thread

[IronParrot]

Anticipating a major flood of thoughts (and spoilers) in this forum starting in about... twenty-four hours... here is the thread for thoughts from those of you who have read the book.

This is an officially designated SPOILER ZONE - no need to disguise everything in big grey blocks, since the title should be fair warning. If you haven't read the book, you should not be reading this.

Treat it much like the What people think of Two Towers (*SPOILERS*) thread in the LOTR Movies forum. It is the haven for discussion of the entire book on a holistic level until pretty much everybody has had a chance to get through it.

You can of course start threads dealing with very specific issues (like that "Will Krum come to Hogwarts thread" which I haven't actually read due to the spoiler warning), but please do not put spoilers in the title, and observe spoiler policy at all times. Be courteous.

Anyway, have fun. I am going into Potter-reading hibernation over the next few days, and I wish you all a good time.

[eowyngirl14]

even though i havent finished the book i would just like to say something that i feel very strongly about, PERCY IS AN @$$!!!! what a jerk?! saying all those rude things to his dad like that.

when i finish reading i will post my other thoughts.(in sure there wil be many more!)

[IronParrot]

I've finished the book. Overall, I quite loved it - in some (albeit not all) places it is the strongest book of the entire series, but why bother making comparisons here?

There is, obviously, lots to say here. The big marketing points of the book that we'd all been looking forward to - namely, The Death and The Big Dumbledore Revelation - were probably a little overhyped beyond measure (I hesitate to call them "disappointing"), because it is a lot of the other material in the story that really caught me. The pace did kind of slow in the middle, but things remained interesting.

I will go into extremely spoilerfied details shortly, once I gather my conclusions in a more organized manner.

[Blackboar]

Well, I can't belive Sirius dies! It was predictable, but why him?

Banned from Quidditch! Now that is just tight!
I've started to read the book for the second time to get all my thoughts together, I'll post back tonight!

[Elf Girl]

I'm finished too.

I loved it. Everyone gets character development. I thought Sirius's death was done well, but the Big Dumbledore Revelation seemed, as IP said, overhyped.

BB: Well, now that Umbridge is gone, I assume Harry will be back on his broom.

I loved Umbridge, BTW. And how the whole school rallied against her.

The Ministry of Magic was well done when we first entered it in Chp. 6.

I thought the thestrals were a nice touch. Darkened the tone a bit.

I loved Luna Lovegood! She was perhaps my favorite character, next to Umbridge.

I am gleeful that Percy did just what I predicted. I think he will see the light in a while tho. He is in Gryffindor.

[EyeSeeYou]

i hate Umbridge. shes a jerk. (and lots of other swear words) when she took harry's quidditch rights away, i started to scream into a pillow.

this book was just like a dementor. it sucked the happiness out of you. but it was still really good.

and the hermione and ron thing is still in question. but considering hermoine's kiss on the cheek, i think a relationship is definite.

we didnt find out as much about lily potter as i thought, other than the fact she hated james when he was fifteen. but now we also know that snape is the way he is now not only from abuse at school, but because of his parents at home.

fred and george's rebellion was awesome. i loved how peeves agreed to make umbridges live a living hell for her while they were gone. but will they be back to complete their education?

in the same chapter, that argument between umbridge and mgonagall was great. and mgonagall came out on top.

on the chapter called O.W.L.S. i was really scared that mgonagall was dead. i almost cried. (then again, the entire book was a tear jerker)

harry's new burden, on how he will be the victim or the murderer in the end for "neither can live while the other survives" left me feeling burdened in the same way. i have come to the conclusion that JK in a really good author considering she can give a character such a strong feeling and the reader can pick it up too.

and now we have to question dumbledore. is he a relation of harry's? i think maybe he is harry's grandfather. well, then again there was the mirror of erised... but i mean, the tear at the end of chapter 37.... either that or he really loves harry like a grandson or a son.

im really sad that sirius died. he was really the only relative of harry's that loved him... but now... will lupin stand up to take sirius's place?

now i know that the final battle will be between harry and voldemort. again "either must vanquish the other, for neither can live while the other survives " (or something like that) i think his next two years of school will be in preperation for that final moment. but who will die before the end?

there is one question remaining..... will harry pull a complete "anakin"? now as we've read he is angry and upset almost all the time, and he explodes in the faces of his friends, teachers, and others. but will harry go "bad"? his little attempt at CRUCIO kinda freaked me out a little. But harry, no doubt, will have to use the unforgivable curses again in the series. BUT maybe his anger is just a phase, just like the little torture phase his father went through. and maybe harry wont turn bad. but we wont know until the other books come out.

thats all for now folks, im going to eat non depressing foods and read the book again.

[EyeSeeYou]

WAIT!!!! theres something else.......
hehe i also found a mistake. for anyone who has the american version, on the copywrite page, it should say 1st american edition at the bottom but the it says JULY 2003. its JUNE. i dont know if that was done on purpose or by accident but its a mistake.

and more importantly....

at the end of the book harry was trying to talk to sirius through the mirror or through Nearly Headless Nick. couldnt harry just find a picture of sirius and talk to him that way? i mean, the other portraits in the castle have some dead people in them, and they talk back to you, so couldnt harry talk to sirius through a picture? and if he could talk to sirius, couldnt he talk to his parents? or anyone else who died? like cedric?

[Sylvee Estel]

Well I finished, late last night, and I really liked it! I think it has become my new favorite in the series.

I really liked seeing Lockhart again. That was pretty funny.

I also liked the Harry and Cho thing. It was sad though, that it kinda ended.

I'm glad we found out why Voldemort wanted to kill Harry in the first place. That was pretty cool.

I have a question though. It might be that I'm juyst confused because I read i so fast, and I missed the real answer, but... If Harry and Neville were both born at the right time, then what if Voldmort had tried to kill Neville before Harry. Then, assuming Nevilles mom would die to save him, then, wouldny Neville have the scar? Then wouldn't Neville be the one marked, and the prophecy be about him? I'm sure I'm just confused and missed something though, so this is probably a stupid question.

But anyway, now I can't wait for the next one. How long til it comes out? 20 years?

[Elf Girl]

Originally posted by EyeSeeYou
couldnt harry just find a picture of sirius and talk to him that way? i mean, the other portraits in the castle have some dead people in them, and they talk back to you, so couldnt harry talk to sirius through a picture? and if he could talk to sirius, couldnt he talk to his parents? or anyone else who died? like cedric?

No. The idea of portraits is very sketchy, but anyway: A) He's a convicted murderer, I don't think there are any portraits of him, and B) the portraits capture the personality of the subject, not the subject himself. 'Sirius' would only have the memory of when the portrait was painted. Since none are likely to have been painted since before he ran away, 'Sirius' would be merely a child.

Note: B) is merely opinion. I have no proof whatsoever except that it would make sense; it is just my personal take on portraits in HP.

[Elf Girl]

EDIT: Forget this. I was confused. See below for my real answer.

[Elf Girl]

O wait, scratch my previous post. I was confused. I think I have an answer now.

Originally posted by Sylvee Estel
If Harry and Neville were both born at the right time, then what if Voldmort had tried to kill Neville before Harry. Then, assuming Nevilles mom would die to save him, then, wouldny Neville have the scar? Then wouldn't Neville be the one marked, and the prophecy be about him?

Yes, it would be. But Voldy didn't attack Neville, he attacked Harry. He marked Harry as the more dangerous, Voldy's equal, by attacking him. A prophecy predicts the future, in this case that Voldy would mark a boy as his equal, and that that boy would have 'powers the dark lord knows not', and the ability to defeat Voldy. Voldy, although unaware of what he was actually doing, fulfilled the prophecy.

[Sween]

Just finished reading it all! go me. Overall very good book took a very long time getting to Hogwarts (probably too much) end of the day cleaning an old house up is only so intresting isnt it?

Loved Neville in the book hes such a good suporting character! The Giant thing didnt work for me mind u hagrid never really did i just dont really care about him and if hes got some big giant brother of his!

Harry and Cho was great remind me a lot of many of my early attempts at dateing very well observed from her shame Ron didnt get any action! I think they will get back together!

Umbridge was very good real nasty peice of work esspecially making harry do that cutting pen thing.

as for sirus death, kinda expected but same time kinda didnt care i mean im not sure what it add to the plot hes dead so what?

Loved the DA showed a lot of harrys skill!

As for Harry mood yeah hes a jerk but then again hes 15 year old and had a pretty crummy life so far! I can really understand why he so angry all the time. Now he knows he is the matrix style 'the one' he might be a bit happier esspecially as hes been let in on information! Now what i dont get is Harry relectance to kill Voldermort hows that gonna work hes a very evil man that tried to kill him man times i hope shes not gonna go down the killing is allways wrong route cos well it aint end of the day esspecially in the books where there is clearly defined good and evil.

The Malfroy thing is getting a bit end of the day harry twice the wizard he is and everyone knows it why does he even give him the time of day? ill just tell him to shut up or bring it cos well only one person walking away from that.

I liked the Snape back stroy it makes him very pitiable infact i feel very sorry for him it apears Harry day was not much more than a common high school jock as american would call it or as i would call it a w*****r! Remind nme of a lad i went to school with treated a few lads like crap but everyone kissed his ass cos he was good looking and good at everything! I think Harry should apoligise to Snape about his father i wish he had of done that in the book i think it would touch Snapes heart.

Ally my thoughts for now sure ill come up with some more later

[Diaxion]

well i thought the book was excellant but it was a little shaky at some points, al though i have forgotten which points there were.
Many of the scenes in the book were very good and i liked very much the Harry-Cho thing even though it didn't turn out great but maybe it will be restarted in number six. I was also getting anoyed with hagrid and i was also getting anoyed with percy. While eading the book i thought ron and luna were about to hook up. Any way all in all it was a very good book and i cant wait for the sixth and seventh. Think about it in the sixth book we find out harry's owl scores and in the seventh book we most likely dies. Its a lot to look forward to but my thoughts are still jumbled because even though i have read the book it will take me a couple more days to work out a theory.

[IronParrot]

I tried to post this last night but the board was down. But here goes:

Some initial snippets of my thoughts - no huge elaborations just yet, but believe me, they will come.

What I liked

- The handling of the relationship between Harry and Cho Chang - it thankfully never got in the way, remained consistent with who the characters both were as people, and ended on the right note.

- Snape is indeed a whole lot more understandable as a character simply because we've now seen James Potter depicted as a veritable asshat. That was an unprecedented, but appreciated, development in the nature of the Snape-Potter relationship.

- But at the same time, just seeing Sirius Black's family background perhaps illustrates what a good guy James Potter must have been, in terms of an influence on his closest friend. It gave them both considerable depth.

- I think everybody predicted that Percy's ambition and Ministry loyalty would land him in some serious trouble, but I don't think anybody predicted the extent to which he'd go. However, now that the Ministry is behind Dumbledore again, he'll probably come back into the family fold at some point. It still doesn't say much about him, however, that he always toes the party line.

- Harry, as a character, isn't as cute and innocent and naive as he was in the first four books - naturally, given what happens at the end of Goblet. This is a nice change, especially because we now see our hero's tragic flaw(s) flung into the open.

- Peeves is finally not needlessly annoying, and is even put into good use.

- Once again, Rowling expands really well on seemingly peripheral characters. Figg, Trelawney, Firenze, Mundungus. The Lockhart cameo was a nice touch. It's good that Mundungus is a bit of a crook - after all, Arthur Weasley raids his house in The Chamber of Secrets. (It's a minor, minor reference, but somehow I remembered it.)

- There's a lot I liked that I haven't even begun to cover yet, but that could wait.


What absolutely ruled

- Fred and George. You've read it, so you know what I mean.

- Neville Longbottom finally gets a chance to shine. He kicks some serious butt, and it was about time he grew up a bit. He's going to be crucial, I can feel it.

- Professor Umbridge has, in my eyes, become the most fearsome villain we've yet to see (Voldemort notwithstanding - maybe). Considering that the story takes place in a boarding school, it was about time J.K. Rowling did a subliminal scathing commentary on pedagogy and curricula, not to mention government intervention. As a plus, Hogwarts finally becomes a nice and dangerous place, which was a necessary touch to keep things interesting.

- The fight between Voldemort and Dumbledore in the Ministry is truly a clash of the titans, the most spectacular battle we've seen thus far. This does come with the catch that Voldemort's strength is slightly undermined compared to what we'd expect, though it is placed next to Dumbledore, so we have an excuse here.

- The setup for the next book - Dementors free, giants on the Death Eaters' side, the very title "The Second War Begins" - is very promising. Hopefully it delivers. Pretty much everybody thought the end of the fourth one was a big setup for the outbreak of war, but personally, the whole Ministry coverup angle was a far more creative approach, and one I do not hesitate to praise. The sixth one really needs to send everything to hell, though.

[IronParrot]

What was... questionable

- Sirius' death was a bit sloppy. It didn't have the shocking emotional resonance that Cedric Diggory's death had, and the entire graveyard finale of Goblet remains the series' most crushing scene (particularly Priori Incantatem). Sirius didn't go out with enough of a bang - and a part of me is still in denial. The Veil is still unexplained, so Rowling has some room to move, but it would be even cheesier to bring him back somehow. It's just that there's a prevailing feeling that maybe he "deserved" a more spectacular death. On the other hand, Harry experienced the aftershock much in the same way - complete denial (and complete shock upon finding that mirror!).

- The Prophecy and the big Dumbledore explanation at the end finally answers the burning "Why Harry?" question, but does it really tell us much that we don't know already? Dumbledore mentions the scar as the Overriding Big Idea, but then we don't hear much about it. If anything, it practically spoils the ending of the saga - now our convictions of a simple "Harry kills Voldemort" are only strengthened. Though it'd be a good laugh to see a "Neville kills Voldemort" surprise ending (to parallel the extra ten points at the end of The Philosopher's Stone, no less).

- Perhaps my biggest complaint is that the year at Hogwarts tends to drag, maybe because we don't see any sort of mystery being solved. There's a certain lack of narrative flow, because there's little notion of "progress" throughout most of the book's midsection. Yes, there's the whole mystery of Harry's purported dreams, but the kids just don't seem to go out of their way to meddle the same way they used to. Things still remain interesting, mind you (Umbridge raising the stakes, the whole bit with Harry training the DA, Occlumency lessons) but they don't quite chug along as nicely as the first and last thirds. Fancy such a comment coming from a guy who finished the thing in a day, eh?

- I know I'm asking for a bit much, but the thing that makes The Prisoner of Azkaban my favourite is that we learned so much about what happened on, leading up to, and after the night of October 31st, 1981. We don't learn anything new here, though the additional insights into the characters of the last generation do make up for that.


Unanswered questions

- OWLs are apparently standardized tests regardless of what is taught in the classroom. But if Hogwarts is the only wizarding school in Great Britain, shouldn't classroom curriculum be synchronized with examination material? So when the Ministry has the power to affect the Defence Against the Dark Arts curriculum, how come the OWL remains unchanged?

- Dumbledore suggests the protection of Harry under Aunt Petunia's roof to be an extension of a bond of blood, not of love. Doesn't this run thematically contradictory to everything we've learned about the Potterverse so far about matters of birth meaning absolutely zip?

- So is the Potterverse governed by fate, or isn't it? Divination is so constantly ridiculed as being bogus, yet Trelawney's first prediction really confuses the matter - not to mention various causal issues raised by the Time-Turner that are worth a different essay entirely.

- Where's Wormtail?

- So yes, Snape is monitoring communications between Voldemort and his servants. But how? And was this the secret task Dumbledore assigned him at the end of Goblet, or was that something else entirely?

- Miscellaneous leftover open ends - the "triumphant gleam" in the last chapter of Goblet, for instance... is that ever going to be relevant? It seems that Dumbledore doesn't quite know all there is to the Harry-Voldy connection.

- Does anyone know the symbolic meaning of Hermione's Patronus being an otter? (Or Cho's as a swan, but I think that's more easily explained...)

- What are the limits being a Metamorphmagus? Like the Polyjuice Potion, this is something that could seriously be abused. However, by all indications (via Tonks), it's limited to very rudimentary changes of appearance - changing a nose here, hair there, etc.

- The Veil. I want some answers.

[cassiopeia]

I finally finished it. I started at nine o'clock Saturday morning, and finished it at eleven o'clock Sunday night.

I agree that Sirius' death was disapointing. I was really expecting it to be Dumbledore, or Hagrid, or Ron. It certainly didn't have much emotional impact on me, but perhaps that's because I never liked him very much in the first place. It seems to me Sirius could come back, because we don't really know what the veil is about.

I really liked Harry in this book: he's certainly growing up to be a true teenager. His relationship with Cho is interesting, and I'm looking forward to see what happens between them in the next two books.

I loved the backstory of Snape. I have always liked Snape (he is very funny), and have always thought he was misunderstood. Now it seems we know why he hates Harry so much: he reminds Snape of the taunts he received from James and his friends. No wonder he gives Harry such a hard time. Of course, that is no excuse, and it's not Harry's fault, but I can understand it.

Fred and George RULE, Umbridge is very scary (that whole writing lines thing is very cruel), Lockhart is the same as usual, and I think Aunt Petunia has something to reveal in the next two books.

[Tanoliel]

(Whoa....I really should be in bed now--I stayed up way too late last night reading--but I want to put down some thoughts.)

Firstly, I echo other's thoughts on Sirius' death: little emotional impact. This may be because a friend spoiled it for me earlier (you go, girl... ), but even so...it wasn't quite as jerking as Cedric's death was. As to why Sirius died: Ron and Hermione were too important to the plot at this point (Sirius was, as horrible as it sounds and as much as I like him, rather useless); and beyond R and H, Sirius was the next person Harry loved most in the world. If Lupin had died, eg (no! not my werewolf! ), it would have been sad but not wrenching for Harry--cause Sirius, as a pseduo parent, would have been there to comfort him.

Secondly...I understand why Cho is feeling this way. I still think she's a weepy idiot. However, I agree with Ron that Hermione ought to write the Boy's Guide to Girls, simply because those passages were so funny.

Thirdly; Luna Lovegood is beamingly, happily wonderful; possibly because she reminds me a bit of me. Someone above said Ron and Luna--I think Harry and Luna is more likely, although really I think she will turn out as more of an older sister comforting person, which is funny as she's a year younger.

Fourthly: GINNY! Finally got some character. I used to like her okay, but now that she's got backbone and is dancing around kitchens crazily with the twins, I like her tons more.

Fifthly: GRED AND FORGE. You know what I'm talking about. If I had kids like that for older brothers...well, I'd probably be in big trouble, but life would be very interesting.
I love how the entire school rallied around them, and also Harry's DA classes, and overruled Umbridge. Those were some of the happiest scenes--seriously, is there any person here, who is or ever was a student, that has never wanted to do something like that to a horrible teacher? Which brings me to...

Sixthly...If Rowling was a liberal American, I would accuse her of some not-so-subtle social commentary on the government. Heh.
As it stands, however, I think she did a fabulous job of showing the dangers of the government messing in things and having so much power.

Question: I had always understood Hogwarts was a bit out of the realm of the Ministry. Perhaps this is because before Book 4, Fudge and Dumbledore had a good relationship...but it confused me how much the Ministry was legally able to fudge (hah hah, sorry), or mess with Hogwarts.

I have tons more to say but I'll wait until discussions get started and stuff. To end, I just have to add:
Go Professor McGonagall! She is Scottish, and awesome (things that often go together...heh) and I loved her in this book.


Tano

[Elf Girl]

Okay, I mostly agree with IP, except that I was expecting Percy to go totally off the deep end. (I also predict he will come around. He was in Gryffindor after all.)

Here are my thoughts on some of his 'unanswered questions.'

Originally posted by IronParrot
- OWLs are apparently standardized tests regardless of what is taught in the classroom. But if Hogwarts is the only wizarding school in Great Britain, shouldn't classroom curriculum be synchronized with examination material? So when the Ministry has the power to affect the Defence Against the Dark Arts curriculum, how come the OWL remains unchanged?

Perhaps they are standardized throughout the entire wizarding world?

Originally posted by IronParrot
- Dumbledore suggests the protection of Harry under Aunt Petunia's roof to be an extension of a bond of blood, not of love. Doesn't this run thematically contradictory to everything we've learned about the Potterverse so far about matters of birth meaning absolutely zip?

I took that bit to mean that Lily's love was in her, and thus Petunia's, blood.

Originally posted by IronParrot
- So is the Potterverse governed by fate, or isn't it? Divination is so constantly ridiculed as being bogus, yet Trelawney's first prediction really confuses the matter - not to mention various causal issues raised by the Time-Turner that are worth a different essay entirely.

*shrug* No idea...

Originally posted by IronParrot
- Where's Wormtail?

He's just a Death Eater now, albeit one in high standing and with a magical hand. So he would be probably serving Voldy while in hiding. (Since everyone thinks he's dead, he's in the same situation as Sirius.)

Originally posted by IronParrot
- So yes, Snape is monitoring communications between Voldemort and his servants. But how? And was this the secret task Dumbledore assigned him at the end of Goblet, or was that something else entirely?

I don't know... Maybe she's going cheasy and having him pretending to be a spy for Voldemort, in order for him to be a spy for Dumbledore... But that is both stupidly impossible and impossibly stupid.

Originally posted by IronParrot
- the "triumphant gleam" in the last chapter of Goblet, for instance... is that ever going to be relevant? It seems that Dumbledore doesn't quite know all there is to the Harry-Voldy connection.

My theory is that Dumbledore knows that the fact that Harry's blood runs in Voldy's veins will be Voldy's undoing. Probably because Lily's love is in that blood.

Originally posted by IronParrot
- Does anyone know the symbolic meaning of Hermione's Patronus being an otter? (Or Cho's as a swan, but I think that's more easily explained...)

*shakes head* Well, 'Patronus' means 'father' obviously, which is why Harry's is a stag, but I can't think what a Muggle dentist has to do with otters.

Originally posted by IronParrot
- The Veil. I want some answers.

Dumbledore refers to the place where it is as 'the Death Room'. I think the Veil is kind of concentrated death. (Just an opinion, don't hold me to it.)

I would like to add that my favorite part of the book is right after the twins leave, it's as if Hogwarts itself is rising up against Umbridge. Beautifully done.

[sun-star]

Ok well… here goes.

The thing that pleased me the most about this book was that quite a lot of it was unexpected. After three years of analysing the others, you’d think we guess what was coming next (I am so glad Arabella Figg wasn’t the new DADA teacher!). But most of it was a surprise to me, with the obvious exceptions of Percy, Fudge in denial, etc.

I didn’t think Sirius would die! I didn’t think his plot function - Harry’s father figure - was exhausted yet, and I thought that after such a horrible life maybe he could get some happiness. Obviously that’s not the way JK Rowling works… I felt most sorry for Lupin though - two of his best friends dead and one a traitor! His life has to have a major turnaround or my money’s on him to die, putting him out of his misery.

I still don’t feel sorry for Snape. I just think James is sexier than ever (I’m the only person in the world who prefers James to Sirius or Snape)

I liked the political and educational commentaries. I wonder if JK Rowling was examined by Ofsted when she was a teacher, because they’re a lot like Professor Umbridge! Hats off to McGonagall, too. It all took me back to my GCSE days, though mine were a bit more peaceful than Harry’s!

A few problems though: I agree that Sirius’ death had little emotional impact. Unfortunately AK (if that was what killed him) doesn’t leave much time for tragic death scenes. And the climax was very confused, I thought. I couldn’t be clear what was going on - perhaps that’s deliberate though. Also, I know it was a long book, but don’t the publishers employ anyone to check the text?! One name was wrong and there were a couple of typos in my edition - it’s trivial, but you’d think that in such an important book they could be more careful.

Does anyone know the symbolic meaning of Hermione's Patronus being an otter? (Or Cho's as a swan, but I think that's more easily explained...)

If I remember rightly, JK Rowling has said that the otter is her favourite animal, and that if she were an Animagus, that’s what she’d be. I don’t know what it symbolises apart from that though.

Sorry for the long post. Lots to say

[Elfmaster XK]

OKay. My very long and opinionated post on OotP.

Overall
On the whole, I think this is probably my favourite book of the series; sure, it had its problems, but I kept going with it and wanted to know the end. Throughout the entire thing, the death was hovering over me, and my mind kept forming horrible situations for certain people to die. I suspected Mr. Weasley, Cho, and Neville, even Ron at various points. Obviously I was wrong. But it was such a sinister book this time around. I really love sinister plots and such, but the thing I think it lacked was one consistent plot. Sure, it was the prophecy, but did we know that at the beginning? No. And I'm going to talk more about that later. So, overall, I love it.

Characters
Harry then. I absolutely love the new angry Harry. He's everything I ever wanted him to be. Violent even in Dumbeldore's office at the end, and I always did love writing SmashingSomethingtoPieces!Harry. However, his attitude at the very beginning, he's become all snarky and sarcastic with Uncle Vernon and Dudley. He wasn't like that at the end of GoF, and I thought perhaps he needed to state at the beginning he was angry with the others for telling him nothing. Maybe he did. I've not got the book near me to check. Bah. Am not going to say more when I can't remember what I'm talking about.

Ron was better because I could actually stand him this book. Though that might have been the combined effect of the new!Ginny and AllKnowing!Hermione pissing me off more than he did. I really wasn't pleased he got onto the Quidditch team because that's Harry's thing. Ron always seems to be second best to Harry in everything, Quidditch is the same, and I think he should find a niche of his own. He was prefect though. Go Ron!

Hermione was an annoying wench for most of it. I just felt she knew *too* much all the time. And okay, in that interview with JKR she says she feels safe placing knowledge in the words of Hermione. But too much already. We get it, she's smart, but Harry isn't stupid, and neither is Ron. There's no need for her to treat them both as though they're dunces.

Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia were great. Especially Petunia. I thought it was great to have that little reminder at the beginning of her past. It was also interesting to hear her talk about it without going crazy about Lily. I am still wondering about the howler. Remember my last, Petunia. I wonder if it means she’s Dumbledore’s last hope of protecting Harry. If so, what does she owe Dumbledore? Or perhaps it was some kind of promise he had made to her. Maybe it’s even something to do with Lily. Also Dudley has changed, what with him actually speaking to Harry and walking with him. They seemed to have reached a state of mutual hate, yet beyond actual violence. Was just, scathing and mean. I certainly liked the older Dudley more, and the furthering of the Dursleys as a group.



Mad-Eye was good. I'm really glad he came back because he was a great character in GoF and he's developed a little more here. I thought the gunked up eye at the beginning was really gross. Blergh. Tonks I hate her name. Her whole name. And also the changing of appearance didn't seem to help anyone, but tht could have been seriously well utilised in the plot. Kingsley was alright, though my immediate thought was of a thai boxer on the computer game DOA III, or the guy who played Othello and is pictured on the front of the BBC edition of the play. There wasn't much more about dear Lupin. We only learned that he was a prefect too. I was wondering if there might be any connections with him and Ron. Like, Ron wouldn't stop Harry doing things, neither would Lupin with James. Dunno.

MWPP. Well. Covered Moony. Wormtail...his adoration of James is interesting actually. Though it bordered on worship the way she chose to portrey it, maybe it could shed some light on why Wormtail eventually turned the way he did. Perhaps he felt neglected. Like he could never reach the level of respect in James' eyes as Sirius and Remus seemed to have already. It seemed he was impressed with James, and almost idolised him, but James failed to pay him much attention. Then when they confided in him, making him SecretKeeper, he knew that was only because they thought Voldie wouldn't guess, Wormtail was too weak. If I knew more about the relationship Peter had with the others I might have said it was all down to something psychological why he joined Voldemort. Er...I appear to have digressed. ...