Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Chapter Notes

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Chapter 19: The Lion and the Serpent

• The first and well last Quidditch match of this book, at least for Harry. I feel like somewhere along the way Rowling lost the interest in writing about Quidditch. Last book we had the Triwizard Tournament as an excuse for no Quidditch, this book she found a way to ban Harry from Quidditch after his first match. Not that I complain, I couldn’t care less about Quidditch.

• “Hermione soon devised a very clever method of communicating the time and date of the next meeting to all the members in case they needed to change it at short notice, because it would look suspicious if people from different Houses were seen crossing the Great Hall to talk to each other too often.” – Honestly, why though? Why is it suspicious if people from different houses talk to each other or even become friends? What is wrong with this school?

• Hermione uses the Protean Charm on some fake Galleons to let the other DA members known when the next meeting is: Harry sets a date on his coin and the other coins mimic his. Hermione admits that (as Harry suspected) she got the idea from how Voldemort communicates with the Death Eaters: he touches the Dark Mark of one and all the others burn as well. Hermione, part of the Anti-Voldemort-movement, gets her inspiration from Voldemort and the Death Eaters. In book 6, Draco, a Death Eater by then, gets his inspiration how to communicate with Madam Rosmerta from Hermione again. Full circle.

• Also Terry Boot is deeply impressed by Hermione using the Protean Charm, because, as he explains, it is N.E.W.T. – level, therefore very likely something they would learn in their seventh year. I like when we get a context for those spells, in the way how complex they are, at which age you learn them etc, because in return it tells us something about the characters who use them. Hermione is an incredible gifted witch, because she masters a spell in advance. So is Harry in performing the Patronus Charm, something most adult witches and wizards have problems with. But going back to Draco, he as well used the Protean Charm, though in his sixth year, but still in advance.

• “‘I suppose the only danger with these is that we might accidentally spend them.’ ‘Fat chance,’ said Ron, who was examining his own fake Galleon with a slightly mournful air, ‘I haven’t got any real Galleons to confuse it with.’”- We know the Weasleys are poor, but considering how much things cost in the Wizarding World, it is still ridiculous that Ron wouldn’t even have 1 Galleon. Rowling herself said 1 Galleon is roughly five pounds, which isn’t that much.

• I can absolute relate to Ron’s lack of confidence regarding his first Quidditch Match. Because it is not like Ron is shy or anything but he can’t handle pressure. And I think that part of it is family related, always comparing himself to his brothers, trying to be as good as them. Even Angelina admitted that she gave Ron the position as Keeper because he comes from a family of good Quidditch players. He is never just Ron, but always part of the Weasley family or Harry Potter’s best friend, he always has someone to compete against.

• My new headcanon is that Luna had a bit of a crush on Ron. She only wishes him good luck, not Harry (though it could be because it is Ron’s first match), she even makes a lion shaped hat, she laughed about his joke on the Hogwarts train etc. If anything she finds him fascinating.

• “‘Good luck, Ron,’ said Hermione, standing on tiptoe and kissing him on the cheek. ‘And you, Harry –’ Ron seemed to come to himself slightly as they walked back across the Great Hall. He touched the spot on his face where Hermione had kissed him, looking puzzled, as though he was not quite sure what had just happened.” – Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww. Also good tactic to distract him Hermione.

• Last year it was the “Potter stinks”-badges, this year badges and a song – Draco is really into crafts and art.

• So, Harry gets a lifelong ban from Quidditch, yet another privilege he loses. This year is extreme in what Harry loses/has to endure: he “loses” his relationship with Dumbledore, who ignores him. He can longer communicate with anyone outside Hogwarts, being spied on. He is no longer allowed to play Quidditch. Detention, including physical assault. Constantly accused to be an attention seeking liar. The biggest loss of course is Sirius at the end of book 5. And Harry so far is used to be special, to have rules bent for him, to get a special treatment. In book 5 we see all of this stripped away and taken from him. And I think it makes him look different at the world, to fully appreciate what he has, and to become more mature, which we see in book 6.

• “Ron said nothing but sat gazing miserably at the damp hem of his robes. After a while he said in a dull voice, ‘This is the worst I’ve ever felt in my life.’ ‘Join the club,’ said Harry bitterly.” – Seriously Harry? Worst day of your life? SERIOUSLY?