In the memory of Padfoot (Sirius Black): Harry Potter And the Order Of The Phoenix, A Review

 

 "Indifference and neglect often do much more damage than outright dislike."

J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, 2003

       When I first laid my hands on this book it was right four days before my final exams in school and I was amazed at how I could finish a 766 paged book before I have even started studying for my exams. I had to read it by hiding it underneath my course books which was a tough job, considering even none of my course book then surpassed even 300 pages. The point is, this book like the other Potter series is so addictive that even when you are not

reading it, your mind is out there reasoning, drawing out

conclusions as to what things have happened and what might happen. But well what happens when you reread it and in my case...actually this would be the third time I have gone through the entire book once again and to say I have enjoyed like the first time would actually be misleading but to say I was not surprised at the twists and turns and completely glued to the book till the end would

actually be an understatement ;)

What makes this book different from the other Potter books is that first of all the characters here much more matured than they appeared in the earlier books which makes it a better read. This can be seen very well in the way they interpret the ministry's move, it would have been really hard to imagine the first or second year Harry and Hermoine's interpretations about certain events (like the ones related to Bode and Sturgis.) Well in case of Ron's, I would have to say, his opinions are still the same, but that instead of spoiling the read makes it kind of fun.

Other than that, even in a world full of fiction and magic this

book still manages to have the reader in an illusion of reality and logic by facing the issues of how to interfere at Hogwarts by introducing Umbridge as 'The High Inquisitor' meanwhile how the students are coping up with all the issues including the ones that are outside the castle i.e. whether to believe the Ministry or

Dumbledore/Harry and the issues inside the castle like their OWL exams and their illegal practical Defence Against Dark Arts Lessons from Harry Potter which they have decided to take right under the nose of Umbridge.

         But if the normal students at Hogwarts are in such distress than how much more of it would have been on Harry Potter's plate?

         When Harry arrives Hogwarts in his fifth year out of the many things he is gonna face the first thing of which he realize, is hardly any of them believes him about the fact that Voldemort has returned ,and they believe Harry to be some kind of attention-seeker freak, which at least he was a bit prepared to deal with then comes the first week of school with which he realises the amount of burden (homework) every teacher keep on heaping on them is never going to end, which of course is not a big deal, then he comes across Professor Umbridge,(an evil sickly sweet woman whom the ministry has sent to teach Defence Against Dark Arts at Hogwarts) and finds himself facing a week of detention with her for telling her the truth about You-Know-Who.

     Not only this, apart from making every effort to make Harry's life in Hogwarts hell, Umbridge also puts a life time ban of Quidditich on him. Not to forget all this time Harry keeps having dreams and visions of Voldemort and the Department of Mysteries and his scar keeps hurting, after a few visions, one of which has been particularly helpful in saving Mr. Weasley he has been asked to practice Occlumency with his least favourite teacher Professor Snape. And when he not dealing with all these Hagrid has asked him to give a

few English lessons to his little brother GRAWP who is a 16 feet tall giant. And like other other students, He has his OWL exams too by the end to worry about which he has to excel by any means because he wants to become to become an Auror and also because Professor McGonagall has said to him very confidently in front of a very raging Umbridge that 

“I will assist you to become an Auror if it is the last thing I

do! If I have to coach you nightly, I will make sure you achieve the

required results!'

Which actually made him wondered later after his performance in exams that he should have chosen a more achievable goal :)

phew.....

Only Harry Potter can deal with all of these without cracking.

Level Of Humor:

All the credit for humor in this book is in the hands of Fred and George Weasley. In the times when Hogwarts was facing such difficult times, it was them who made the situations even with Umbridge in it hilarious at times. Fred and George were the only

one who could make Umbridge's newly reinforced laws on Hogwarts look funny. The outstanding fireworks and mayhem that they created for Umbridge before leaving Hogwarts was definitely some of their best works. And some of their lines are used as

quotes here:

Mrs. Weasley let out a shriek just like Hermione's.
"I don't believe it! Oh, Ron, how wonderful! A prefect! That's everyone in the family!"
"What are Fred and I, next-door neighbours?" said George indignantly, as his mother pushed him aside and flung her arms around her youngest son.

                                                     ______________ 

"Hello, Harry" said George, beaming at him. "We thought we heard your dulcet tones." 
"You don't want to bottle up your anger like that, Harry, let it all out," said Fred, also beaming. "There might be a couple of people fifty miles away who didn't hear you." 

                                              _________________

"Has Ron saved a goal yet?" asked Hermione. 
"Well, he can do it if he thinks no one is watching him," said Fred, rolling his eyes. "So all we have to do is ask the crowd to turn their backs and talk among themselves every time the Quaffle goes up on his end Saturday." 

                                                       _________________

"The thing about growing up with Fred and George is that you sort of start thinking anything's possible if you've got enough nerve."
    -- Ginny Weasley

                                      _________________

   Fred:"Give her hell, Peeves." 

The Mystery Of Prophecy:

Everything apart this book is more about the prophecy than about anything else, it has been focused on from the start, from the dreams about the closed door of the department of mystery to the final confession of Dumbledore where he tells Harry about it, the

whole story revolves about the prophecy, also what makes it more frightening is the fact that Voldemort's only plan in the book is to get to the prophecy, not to kill anyone,not even harry, just to get the prophecy, which really makes it kind of important. The whole 'Order of the Phoenix' has been made to stop voldemort from succeeding in his plans.

The prophecy says 

“The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches… born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies … and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not … and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives …”

And is therefore very clearly states why it would have been important :)

                                           The End :

              Then we come to the end of the book where we face the demise of Harry's God Father and my favorite character 'Sirius Black'. The character described in the book is much more audacious and handsome than the one in the movie and the one in the movie does not do justice to the real Sirius Black. I really wanted to read more of him and his demise was definitely shattering not to harry alone. Also one of the reasons why it comes as a shock is because he is the only one who is left as a family to Harry and then his death really seems unfair. I can't help feeling angry at Kreacher and also at Dumbledore who in the end mentions that Kreacher should have been treated with respect.

         

This post is dedicated to Padfoot also known as Sirius Black, Harry Potter's Godfather, one my favorite character in the Potter Series.

Boarding Hogwarts Express Once Again: Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire – By J.K Rowling

             When it comes to a completely well framed, humorous and addictive imagination, J.K Rowling never disappoints. No matter how many times I read the Potter series, its always amazing to find myself glued irresistibly to the book till I finish it and this in my opinion counts as one of the most important characteristic of a favourite book as well as a favourite author, which is to make the the book as fun as possible to read even the umpteenth time as it was the first time I laid my hands on it. And most of the Potter series are definitely under that category.

About The Goblet Of Fire:

Unlike the first and second book which was mostly an introduction to the wizard world and and where our main characters were just kids entering school, this book features their advanced stage of adulthood which I found rather interesting. Also the challenges they face are much more dangerous and even the way they talk to each other and the way they think reflects their maturity and also Harry's familiarity with the wizard world. Its strange but when reading this book after reading the first two, yo find yourself growing with Harry in terms of the knowledge about the Wizard world, because we know exactly the same amount as  he does.

J.K. Rowling definitely has a knack for creating mystery. the way she started the book with total air of mystery about “The Riddle Family” and their murders is really appreciable. Also I find the way she links the story really fascinating, even after one's done with the book it takes up most of my time thinking the links in the book and the reasons she must have had behind them.

Other than that the book is full of hilarious moments – 

• One for Percy's absolute dedication for work and Fred & George's complete ridicule at him for the same.

• Mr. Couch calling Percy “weatherby” 

• An excerpt for the point above- 

Percy, apologizing most profusely, said that he really needed to get to work.

"I just can't justify taking more time off at the moment," he told them. "Mr. Crouch is really starting to rely on me."

"Yeah, you know what, Percy?" said George seriously. "I reckon he'll know your name soon."

            Traces of Rowling's amazing sense of humour can be seen every where in the book, weather it be the innovative study sessions of Harry and Ron where they invent a series of catastrophes that they predict they are eventually going to end up in for an assignment for their Professor Trelawney of Divination or their seriousness for Snape's lessons when he claims he is going to poison them to check whether the anecdote they have prepared is correct is not. (and knowing Snape's reputation, its really a hilariously serious and funny situation at the same time).

Another funny quote featuring Percy weasley again ;) -  

“Percy wouldn't recognize a joke if it danced naked naked in front of him wearing Dobby's tea cozy”  

– Ron weasley                                       

          

Another thing I've always admired in the Potter series is the completely weird syllabus book names that you came across while reading like -

• Where There's a 'Wand' There's A Way.
• Madcap Magic for Wacky Warlocks.
• Men Who Love Dragons Too Much.
• Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them.
• Power You Never Knew You Had And What To Do With Them Now You've Wised Up.

                    ________

  The main highlights in the book the book was how Harry who was underage got into Triwizard tournament without his own will as a plot by voldemort and how he tackles the three tasks of the tournament which are held over a gap over certain months over the year. the whole story revolves around how he manages to get through and when he finally reaches the end of the third task which was a maze to reach the triwizard cup along with Cedric Diggory, it turns out to be a portkey and transfers him directly to a graveyard where Peter Petrigrew uses Harry to bring back voldemort which changes the entire scenario and leaves Cedric Diggory dead.

The death of Cedric Diggory was definitely a shock and was certainly unexpected. In fact the whole scene of bringing voldemort back to living form was spooky enough to raise goose-bumps. And it completely changed the way the story was leading on. Another important twist comes in next when the Minister of Magic refuses to believe Voldemort is back but no one can realize the importance of that until the next part ........

Hogwarts's Additional treats : Fantastic beats & Quidditich

Fantastic Beasts & Where  To Find Them

                                     - By Newt  Scamander

&

                Quidditich Through The Ages

    - By Kennilworthy Whisp

                                                    

 

First of all before any of us make any assumptions about merchandising, I must make this very clear that both of these books. are written by J.K Rowling for a charity called Comic Relief UK .

                                                                      About Comic Relief:

  Comic Relief is one of Britain’s most famous and successful charities which began  in 1985. The Harry Potter books

represent a new opportunity in Comic Relief’s quest to make a meaningful difference in people’s lives. A special Harry’s Books fund has been created where twenty percent of the retail sales price less taxes from the sale of 'Quidditch Through the Ages ' and 'Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them' will go to support children’s causes throughout the world.

Apart from this the notes written on 'Fantastic Beasts...' which is a textbook at Hogwarts  by Harry and Ron are funny enough. Although I found the 'Quidditich through...' a bit boring but my lack of interest  in sports might justify that. Though the reason for the publication of these books and the fine details with which they have been printed is really appreciable and is therefore worth a good read :)

Also there are foreword notes from Dumbledore who expresses his views on these books being distributed among muggles and reluctance of Madam Pince (Librarian at Hogwarts) who is speechless at this piece of information and reluctantly agreed to hand over the book.

Then theres also a mention of 'A thief curse' which in muggle terms has been placed on the books to prevent piracy.

Note: You might have noticed I refer muggle world as separate that is because I don't count myself as a part of it. I prefer Rowling's version of the wizard world than the muggle one ;) 

The Tales Of Beedle The Bard - By J.K Rowling

    

              Truth - “It is a beautiful and terrible thing, and should therefore be treated with great caution.”

             - Professor Albus Dumbledore

            

  

 

 The Tales of Beedle the Bard is a collection of short stories by J K Rowling which are meant to be ancient wizard world tales for the young wizards written originally in Runes and translated by Hermione Granger with additional notes from Prof. Albus Dumbledore which he left in his will to The Hogwarts Archives.

         I would definitely say I thoroughly enjoyed reading the ancient tales of the wizarding world, because when you read our simple fairy tales, which of course when involves no magic at all, always leaves the main character helpless initially, then with some help and courage, the character reaches to the stage of maximum satisfaction and lives happily ever after.

              

 But here in the wizarding world where every character is capable of conjuring before themselves anything they might want to make life easier for them it really seems hard to imagine them getting into trouble and getting out of it. And this is what these stories were mainly focused on, that - “Magic is not everything”. There are many limitations to magic which little children (wizards of course) learn through these stories, a lesson which of course can be helpful to a lot of elders and other muggles too.

   

 

    At the end of each story there are notes from Prof. Albus Dumbledore himself which include observations on wizarding history, personal reminiscences and enlightening information on key elements of each story, which was personally the most interesting and entertaining part of the whole book for me. Because obviously they are Dumbledore's view and no matter how twisted they might be at times to understand they are still absolutely enlightening and amazing. Another fact that might add value to it is that Dumbledore is always potrayed with an air of mystery in the Harry Potter series and to know his views with absolute clarity on the basic issues of the wizarding world in his own words would be a privilege for anyone.

               Certain stories also describe a bond between the wizarding world and the muggle world which of course is a good thing but as later described by Dumbledore has been criticized by certain so-called “pure-blood” wizards, who have made efforts to either modify or remove such stories from the book, my point in bringing this up is the “ battle” phase that we see constantly between Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy is the effect of the history that follows due to the thinking of certain narrow minded wizards which has been transferred in their heritage and due to that the war is still on.....