The youngest wizard to win the Triiumbvirate??? Wizarding Cup, Harry Potter returns in his fifth adventure. Cedric Diggory is dead and Voldemort has returned in the flesh--and this time the magic that has protected Harry since his mother's death is part of Voldemort too.
Harry has returned to the Dursleys's and is making his way home one night when a group of dementors attack him and his cousin Dudley. He performs magic to defend both himself and his cousin and is whisked away from the Dursleys by several friends, before the Ministry of Magic can have him taken away for performing magic in front of a muggle. The group takes him to Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place--his godfather's home. Reunited with Sirius and his friends, Harry begins to enjoy his unexpected summer.
But things are as they haven't been since Voldemort's demise fourteen years before. Gimmauld Place is the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix, a resistance lead by Dumbledore himself. They are forced to act outside the Ministry because Cornelius Fudge (Minister of Magic) refuses to acknowledge Voldemort's return and therefore give the Order legitimacy.
After a disciplinary hearing Harry is allowed to return to Hogwarts. Once there he, Ron and Hermione discover that Dolores Umbridge, one of Fudge's employees, has been assigned the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor. An unusual warning from the Sorting Hat cautions the students from becoming too divided while the world around them doesn't want to believe Voldemort's return. Harry becomes the target of much ridicule as the Ministry finds it easier to attack him and label him an attention-seeking child rather than give credence to his claims.
As the danger outside Hogwarts' walls increases the students become more and more frustrated when Umbridge refuses to teach them any defensive skills. Harry and several friends form a club that will self-educate in defensive magic. The club names themselves Dumbledore's Army, the D.A. for short, and after Umbridge is appointed High Inquisitor over all Hogwarts's teachers and students they must act in secret.
Umbridge actively dislikes Harry and frequently singles him out for punishment. She even bans him from playing on the Gryffindor Quidditch team. In protest, Ron's twin brothers Fred and George Weasley storm out of Hogwarts in a great spectacle designed to cause Umbridge as much strife as possible.
Harry has dreams about a corridor deep in the Ministry of Magic, walking down the corridor in the dark of night. When he dreams that a giant snake attacks Mr. Weasley, Harry's dreams become a danger to him and the Order of the Phoenix. Dumbledore sends him to Professor Snape, Harry's nemesis before Umbridge, to learn to protect his mind from the invasions. Harry's attempts show little progress and Snape is not a pleasant tutor, they begin to go longer and longer between lessons until they no longer meet at all.
The D.A., however, continues to meet regularly until Umbridge discovers their club. Dumbledore takes responsibility for the formation and continued meetings, he resigns as headmaster and Umbridge takes his place. The school falls into a gloom and the fifth-years begin taking their O.W.L.s.
Harry's dreams continue, yet he dreams that Voldemort has captured Sirius and is intent on rescuing him. Hermione warns against believing everything he dreams, but when Harry flees to London she and Ron join him. They discover nothing is as it seems, yet the friendships they have cultivated throughout the years will support them through the darkness.
Rowling's fifth installment of the Harry Potter Series is a dark and gloomy tale of dangers we all experience in one way or another; that teacher whose treatment seems unwarranted and is unfair, the friendships lost because of general perception, and fear of losing resulting in a loss. As the stories become darker Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is no longer appropriate for younger readers. Readers as young as mid-teens will understand the story, yet the nuances are more appropriate for more mature readers.
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