Friday, November 16, 2007

Harry Potter And The Order Of Phoenix


Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger enter their fifth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Much of the wizarding community has shunned Harry and Albus Dumbledore, Hogwarts headmaster, who claim that Lord Voldemort has, after 14 years, regained a body and been restored to full power, and are instead influenced by the propaganda of The Daily Prophet and the ignorance of the Minister for Magic, Cornelius Fudge. Fudge appoints a new Hogwarts Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, Dolores Umbridge, who begins to take over Hogwarts through the support of the Ministry.

Following the Ministry line, Umbridge refuses to acknowledge that Voldemort has returned, and when Harry insists that he has, she gives him detention during which he is required to write lines with a quill that causes the words to cut into the skin of his hand. Umbridge's teaching is inadequate, consisting of memorisation of the textbook instead of any practical instruction in defensive spells. In order to continue practical Defence Against Dark Arts training, twenty-seven students form "Dumbledore's Army" (the D.A.), an underground organisation in which Harry teaches defensive magic.

Meanwhile, Harry has been seeing into Voldemort's mind through his dreams. In one, he sees Ron's father Arthur attacked in the Department of Mysteries in the Ministry. Harry immediately tells Dumbledore, who believes that Voldemort may have a connection to Harry's mind. Harry begins lessons with Professor Snape to close his mind in the event that Lord Voldemort should become aware of the connection between Harry's mind and his own. During the course of these grueling sessions Harry accidentally enters Snape's mind and has an uncomfortable vision of his own father bullying the loner Snape when they were students at Hogwarts. Enraged, Snape puts an end to the sessions.

Harry begins a relationship with fellow D.A. member Cho Chang, but it comes to an abrupt end when she informs Umbridge of the D.A (under the influence of a truth potion). Umbridge apprehends Harry and goes to Dumbledore, who tells her and Fudge that the D.A. was formed on his instructions. Upon hearing this, Fudge orders Dumbledore's arrest, but Dumbledore summons his phoenix Fawkes and both vanish in a blaze of light from his office.

When Harry, who is unable to close his mind, has a vision of his godfather Sirius Black being tortured by Voldemort in the Department of Mysteries, he launches a rescue attempt, but is waylaid by Umbridge and taken to her office. Umbridge asks Snape for Veritaserum (truth serum) but Snape tells her that she used up all of his stock interrogating students, including Cho. Hermione tricks Umbridge into accompanying her and Harry to the Forbidden Forest, where Umbridge is abducted by a centaur herd after insulting them and injuring one of them. Hagrid's half-brother, the giant Grawp, assists Harry and Hermione to escape. Harry, Ron, and Hermione, with D.A. members Ginny Weasley, Neville Longbottom, and Luna Lovegood, fly to the Ministry of Magic. In the Hall of Prophecy, Harry and his friends discover a small glowing orb with Harry's name on it. When Harry retrieves it, he finds that it contains a prophecy about himself and Voldemort. Suddenly, Lucius Malfoy appears with the Death Eaters, Voldemort's followers, and explains that Sirius is not there — the vision was a trick to make Harry retrieve the prophecy, which could only be taken from its resting place by one of the people about whom it was made.

A battle erupts throughout the Ministry. As the shelves holding the prophecies collapse, Harry and his friends flee to another room with a veiled archway in the center. The Death Eaters follow them and manage to capture Harry's friends, whom Malfoy threatens to kill if Harry does not hand over the prophecy. After a moment of hesitation he gives it to Malfoy. Before Lucius can escape with it, he is confronted by Sirius, who has arrived with members of the Order of the Phoenix, a society dedicated to battling Voldemort and his followers. Lucius drops the prophecy, causing it to smash on the floor. Harry's friends are freed, and the battle continues. Sirius pulls Harry aside and tells him to take his friends and leave, but he refuses and continues to fight. Immediately after, Sirius is hit by a killing curse cast by his cousin Bellatrix Lestrange, a Death Eater. He smiles at Harry before falling through the archway and disappearing.

Harry pursues Bellatrix to the Atrium of the Ministry and subdues her by the use of the torture curse. A voice appears in Harry's head, taunting him to kill Lestrange. Moments later, the voice is revealed to be that of Lord Voldemort, who Apparateshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_%28Harry_Potter%29#Apparition_and_disapparition behind Harry. Harry attempts to attack him, but Voldemort disarms him. Before Voldemort can kill Harry, Dumbledore appears. As Bellatrix escapes, they engage in a furious duel. Fearing that Dumbledore is too powerful to defeat in open combat, Voldemort attempts to possess Harry, as Dumbledore looks on. After an agonizing internal battle, Harry says that it is Voldemort, not he, who is weak and that he will never know love or friendship, and for that Harry feels sorry for him. Voldemort is ultimately forced from Harry's body and mind, prompting him to state that Harry "will lose everything" due to the profound amount of love that resides within him.

Fudge arrives in the Atrium with a squad of Aurors just seconds before Voldemort Disapparateshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_%28Harry_Potter%29#Apparition_and_disapparition. The Ministry is forced to acknowledge its error and vindicate Dumbledore and Harry. Dumbledore later discusses with Harry the contents of the prophecy Voldemort wanted so badly, which states that "neither can live while the other survives"; therefore, Harry must either kill Voldemort or be killed by Voldemort. The film ends as Harry tells Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville, and Luna, that they can love, something that Voldemort cannot and that they have "something worth fighting for".

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