Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Books/Order of the Phoenix/Chapter 5
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Chapter 5 of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: The Order of the Phoenix
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[edit] Synopsis
Sirius Black explains to a bewildered Harry that the portrait is his mother, the late Mrs. Black. Number 12, Grimmauld Place, the Blacks' ancestral home, was inherited by Sirius upon his mother's death, though he was in Azkaban at the time. He adds gloomily that providing the house as the headquarters for the Order of the Phoenix is one of the few useful contributions he has been able to make.
In the kitchen, the Weasleys and several Order members are busy preparing dinner. Bill Weasley is also there, and he and Mr. Weasley are studying numerous parchment rolls at the kitchen table, apparently Order of the Phoenix business. Bill quickly gathers everything up when Harry enters. Fred and George attempt to magically serve the meal, sending a chopping board and knife, a pitcher of Butterbeer, and a pot of stew careening through the air and onto the table. The results are less than stellar, with the stew barely staying on the table's edge, half the Butterbeer spilled, and the knife's point landing in the table right where Sirius' hand had been moments before. Mrs. Weasley scolds them: just because they are allowed to do magic does not mean that they have to.
During dinner, Harry catches snippets of conversation around the room: Tonks taking requests for different-shaped noses, Bill discussing the Goblins' stance on Lord Voldemort and how it was affected by their dealings with Ludo Bagman the previous year, and the thief Mundungus Fletcher's comical business dealings. Following dinner, Sirius breaks the comfortable ambiance by suggesting that Harry ask questions about Voldemort.
There is a brief argument between Mrs. Weasley and Sirius over how much Harry should know. Sirius thinks Harry should have more information, but Mrs. Weasley feels he is too young and accuses Sirius of treating Harry more like a substitute for James Potter, rather than as his godson. Lupin and Mr. Weasley side with Sirius, however. There is a somewhat longer disagreement between Mrs. Weasley and the others as to which of the younger set should be allowed to listen in, and finally, Mrs. Weasley drags a fiercely-protesting Ginny off to bed. Harry begins asking questions while Fred, George, Ron, and Hermione listen. Sirius, Lupin, and Mr. Weasley answer Harry's questions. No murders have been committed because Voldemort wants to keep a low profile. The Ministry of Magic fervently denies Voldemort has returned, and Albus Dumbledore has been demoted from the Chairmanship of the International Confederation of Wizards and from Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot after publicly announcing that Lord Voldemort was active again. The Order is recruiting new members, including foreign ones, and is also concentrating on the Auror department in the Ministry. Members who work for the Ministry must tread carefully, however, as the Minister has threatened to fire anyone friendly with Dumbledore. The Minister is paranoid that Dumbledore is plotting to take over the Ministry of Magic. Sirius also lets slip that there is a weapon the Order is trying to guard, at which point Molly Weasley interrupts. Lupin agrees that enough information has been given, and everyone is sent to bed.
There is some discussion after lights out amongst Harry, Ron, and the twins, who had previously heard everything that was discussed that evening via the Extendable Ears. The only revelation to them is that a weapon has been mentioned. Their conversation is cut short by Mrs. Weasley's return, and Harry falls asleep, only to have nightmares.
[edit] Analysis
The main point of this chapter is to bring Harry, and thus the reader, up to speed on what has been happening in the Wizarding world over the past month and a bit. Now that Voldemort has returned, Harry is aware that the Wizarding world has changed significantly, and we have seen his growing perplexity that the expected evil has not yet materialized. In this meeting, we learn why nothing seems to be happening, and what Dumbledore, the only authority who seems to believe Harry, is doing about it. We are also able to find out more about what has happened to some important adult characters, notably Sirius and Lupin, and are offered some more insight into the relationship between Mr. and Mrs. Weasley.
Although Sirius is free after spending twelve years in Azkaban Prison for a crime he never committed, he is as much a prisoner as ever. As a still-wanted fugitive, he must remain in hiding, effectively being incarcerated in the dreary Black home that has always been an unhappy place for him. And although he is an Order of the Phoenix member, he is unable to actively participate in the fight against Voldemort. As a result, he is becoming increasingly depressed, irritable, and reckless, as well as mentally unstable. This, coupled with his rather underdeveloped maturity that was effectively suppressed during his long imprisonment, will affect his relationship with Harry. As Molly Weasley points out, Sirius tends to view Harry more as a replacement for James Potter, rather than as his godson. That is not to say Sirius does not love Harry or have his best interest in mind, but he is not as good an adult role model as he should be.
Molly's character is also becoming more defined here. While she is a strong-willed, powerful witch and a valuable Order of the Phoenix member, her maternal instincts often take precedence over all other matters. By wanting to withhold all information from the youngsters, she not only is trying to protect her children for as long as possible, but also Harry, who she has come to love like a son. She cannot, however, continue to keep him and the younger Weasley children sequestered in childhood innocence. Providing too little information can be as dangerous as giving them too much.
[edit] Questions
[edit] Review
- Why was Dumbledore demoted from important Wizarding posts, and by whom?
- Why is Mrs. Weasley angry with Fred and George? Should she be?
- What are some of the tasks the Order of the Phoenix is trying to accomplish?
- What does Sirius mean when he says offering the Black family house to the Order of the Phoenix is one of the few useful things he can do?
[edit] Further Study
- What could the weapon be that Sirius mentions? Where is it?
- Why might the Order have to be kept secret?
- Why is there an argument over how much information Harry should be allowed to hear? What should he know?
- Why does Molly Weasley accuse Sirius of treating Harry more like a friend than a godson? Is she right? If so, why do Lupin and the others side with Sirius?
[edit] Greater Picture
We will find out, later in the book, that the weapon is not, in fact, a weapon as such, but rather a prophecy having to do with Harry and Voldemort. However, the idea of a supremely powerful weapon will fill Harry's, Hermione's, and Ron's thoughts to the point that when they need to lure Professor Umbridge away from the school, the idea that Hermione hits upon is a secret weapon that Dumbledore had supposedly left for them to finish. It has been mentioned earlier that Ron had overheard Order members talking about guard duty; Harry at the time had sourly suggested that what they were guarding was himself. Now, though, we learn that there is this object that the Order is guarding. We will find that at least two Order members, Mr. Weasley and Sturgis Podmore, get into trouble while on guard duty.
The prophecy, which we will not actually hear until the penultimate chapter of this book, could only be considered a weapon in that it tells what power Harry has that will be Voldemort's undoing, and that it will be the Dark Lord's marking him as an equal which will give him power over Voldemort. Voldemort has already heard the first part of the prophecy, which predicts Harry's birth and parentage, and that he will have power the Dark Lord knows not; Voldemort will spend the largest part of this book trying to recapture that prophecy in the hopes that it will also describe how he might defeat Harry. Like so many prophecies, if Voldemort actually had managed to retrieve the prophecy, its most important part for him would have already been foregone. The part of the prophecy that Voldemort has not heard is that the Dark Lord will "mark him as an equal." In fact, that mark, the scar on Harry's forehead that resulted from Voldemort's attempt to murder Harry, is the visible indicator of Voldemort's soul shard that remains within Harry, and which gives him insight into Voldemort's plans throughout the series' final book. The final part, about "the power that the Dark Lord knows not", is by this time an open secret, though Voldemort still discounts it. By the time he returns, he knew that it was Lily's sacrifice that protected Harry, and thus that the magic set to oppose him was based on love; not knowing love himself, Voldemort could not truly understand its power.
However, a more conventional weapon does exist, and it plays an important part later in the series. In the final book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, as Voldemort's wand has been proven ineffective against Harry's, he will seek the legendary Elder Wand. It is supposedly the most powerful wand ever crafted, and Voldemort hopes it will help defeat Harry.
