History Literature / HarryPotterandTheOrderOfThePhoenix

* {{Doorstopper}}: Over 750 pages no matter which edition and the ''longest'' book in the series; nearly a quarter of the word count of ''the entire series'' is contained in this one book, since it usually has smaller print than the others but ends up with the highest page count anyway. Fittingly, it has the longest gap between releases, coming three years after ''Goblet''. Magazines and newspapers pointed out that the book wouldn't fit through most mail slots if mail-ordered. Comedians had a field day joking that book 6 would be called ''Harry Potter and the End of Trees''.

** Albus Dumbledore kept himself distant from Harry and made Harry learn Occlumency to shield his mind, he also forced Sirius to remain at home and kept important information from Harry to protect him and not burden him with his destiny. Unfortunately, all of this backfired horrifically as Dumbledore's actions left both Harry and Sirius isolated and angry which resulted in Sirius [[spoiler:death]] and Harry not learning Occlumency due to Dumbledore choosing Snape of all people to be his teacher. All Dumbledore did by withholding information from Harry regarding his destiny was delay the inevitable which Dumbledore admits to Harry near the end of the book.
** Cornelius Fudge and to a lesser extent, the Ministry of Magic. Fudge spent nearly twelve months trying to convince himself not only that Voldemort had not returned, but slandering Harry and Dumbledore's names. He did this because he thought that Harry was an insane glory hound and troublemaker and that Dumbledore was finally trying to usurp him. Fudge even manipulated and deliberately changed the law to his benefit, in an effort to oust both heroes, simply because he could not accept that Voldemort was back. By the end of the book; it is clear that all he did was delay the inevitable war and give Voldemort a chance to rebuild his army whilst denying the rest of Britain a chance to prepare for the coming conflict. Needless to say, his days as Minister are now numbered.

** Although not shown, all of Harry's detractors no doubt got a very nasty shock when they realised that he and Dumbledore had been right all along. This is especially true for Percy Weasley, who now had to face the reality that the family he had deserted for siding with Dumbledore against the Ministry were right and he wasn't.
** The worst offender would be Cho's traitorous friend Marietta Edgecombe who refused to believe and willing sold Harry and the DA out to Umbridge out of hollow loyalty to the ministry of magic and to protect her mother's already very secure job. As it turns out not only was Harry telling the truth but her own treachery left Marietta scarred for life and the most hated person in Hogwarts as her actions led to Umbridge becoming headmistress and Dumbledore being forced to leave the school. Marietta is left at the end of the book having to accept her actions were truly for nothing.

* BegoneBribe: When Ron complains about having spent some much time cleaning at 12 Grimmauld Place, saying that he feels like a house-elf, Hermione shoots back that now he understands what dreadful lives they lead. She suggests that he might now be a bit more active in S.P.E.W., suggesting that they do a sponsored scrub of the Gryffindor common room once they get back to Hogwarts, all proceeds to S.P.E.W. Ron mutters that he'll sponsor her to shut up about S.P.E.W., but only loudly enough for Harry to hear.

* KilledOffForReal: A major supporting character dies in the climax, and doesn't come back in the form of a ghost, portrait, Priori Incantum shade or Pensieve memory. This devastates Harry, and it's only furthered when Nearly Headless Nick explains that even if the character did return by any of these methods, it would only be as a pale imitation of their original self.

** When the [[TricksterTwins Weasley twins]] shove [[VillainByDefault Slytherin]] Graham Montague in the broken Vanishing Cabinet, he is trapped in a Limbo-like realm for a day, and his miraculous escape nearly kills him. His ordeal is PlayedForLaughs. When the trio see him in the Hospital Wing, Hermione suggests that they tell Madam Pomfrey what happened to him in order to help her heal him. Ron and Harry convince her not to. There are no apparent consequences for this until Book Six, when Malfoy uses the [[spoiler:cabinet to bring Death Eaters into public]].
** Marietta Edgecombe [[spoiler:betrays [[LaResistance Dumbledore's Army]], essentially a self-defence club, apparently very reluctantly, for fear of endangering her mother's job]]. Hermione Granger jinxes her face to erupt in huge, irremovable pimples that spell "SNEAK."[[note]]It should be noted that the spell's effects were not targeted at her specifically.[[/note]] She, Harry, and, not surprisingly J.K. Rowling, think this is completely justified. Hermione refuses to remove them, and the girl is [[ScarsAreForever left with scars for the rest of her life]].

* SymbolicallyBrokenObject: Sirius gives Harry a magic mirror that will allow them to communicate. Harry tries using it after [[spoiler:Sirius' death]] but it doesn't work, so he throws it in his trunk and it smashes. It later becomes a Chekhov's Boomerang.
* TakingTheBullet: Fawkes (a phoenix) can swallow an ''Avada Kedavra'' curse, expire as a result, and then return to life as a chick.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome:
** After watching Cedric's death in the last book, dealing with ongoing persecution by the Ministry, and sharing a mental connection to Voldemort, it's no surprise that Harry's prone to mood swings and outbursts of anger -- he's dealing with serious PTSD, not helped by the apparent fact that ThereAreNoTherapists. Frankly, it's a miracle that he doesn't end up a shattered hulk of a man before the story's over.
** After Voldemort's return has been confirmed beyond question, the {{Denouement}} reveals that the public's trust in Minister "HeadInTheSandManagement" Fudge is rapidly disintegrating. The next book shows just how far he ends up falling.
** Harry had trained Ron, Hermione, Neville, Ginny, and Luna the best he could, but they're still picked off one by one (non-fatally) by the Death Eaters during the climax, since most of them are teenagers with little to no practical experience on the battlefield. It takes the real adults and the Order to even the odds.

* AddedAlliterativeAppeal: Before they settle on "Dumbledore's Army", one of the names Fred suggests is "The Ministry of Magic are Morons Group".

* YouKeepUsingThatWord: In the final chapter, the trio talk about how Harry had been "forced to bear ridicule and slander," and Hermione mentions that the ''Daily Prophet'' failed to mention that they themselves had ridiculed and slandered Harry. In fact, what the ''Daily Prophet'' did to Harry was not '''slander''', but '''libel'''. After all, [[Film/SpiderMan1 slander is spoken]].

** Albus Dumbledore kept himself distant from Harry and made Harry learn Occlumency to shield his mind, he also forced Sirius to remain at home and kept important information from Harry to protect him and not burden him with his destiny. Unfortunately, all of this backfired horrifically as Dumbledore's actions left both Harry and Sirius isolated and angry which resulted in Sirius [[spoiler:death]]and Harry not learning Occlumency due to Dumbledore choosing Snape of all people to be his teacher. All Dumbledore did by withholding information from Harry regarding his destiny was delay the inevitable which Dumbledore admits to Harry near the end of the book.

** Albus Dumbledore kept himself distant from Harry and made Harry learn Occlumency to shield his mind, he also forced Sirius to remain at home and kept important information from Harry to protect him and not burden him with his destiny. Unfortunately, all of this backfired horrifically as Dumbledore's actions left both Harry and Sirius isolated and angry which resulted in Sirius[[spoiler:death]]and Harry not learning Occlumency due to Dumbledore choosing Snape to be his teacher. All Dumbledore did by withholding information from Harry regarding his destiny was delay the inevitable which Dumbledore admits to Harry near the end of the book.

** Albus Dumbledore kept himself distant from Harry and made Harry learn Occlumency to shield his mind, he also forced Sirius to remain at home and kept important information from Harry to protect him. Unfortunately, all of this backfired horrifically as Dumbledore actions left both Harry and Sirius isolated and angry which resulted in Sirius death and Harry not learning Occlumency due to Dumbledore choosing Snape to be his teacher. All Dumbledore did by withholding information from Harry was delaying the inevitable which Dumbledore admits to Harry near the end of the book.

** Harry in this novel in particular as part of his character development. Throughout the book, he's incensed that the adults in his life are treating him with kid gloves after the events of ''Goblet'' and keeping him out of the loop on matters he's insistent to know. In turn, Harry lashes out continuously at his friends for being meddlesome or unsupportive when he decides to take matters into his own hands. Because of the distrust sown, he even disregards Dumbledore's vague but important instructions to take his Occlumency lessons with Snape seriously and with genuine effort, and ignores Hermione's sound logic Voldemort could be baiting him with the visions Harry sees. The TraumaCongaLine he suffers finally teaches him the hardest lesson that his impulsiveness and stubbornness led to catastrophic consequences, and in the following books, he's more level-headed and receptive to the idea he doesn't always know best despite his accomplishments.

* MadnessSharedByTwo: Harry is now able to see the horses which pull the normally-horseless carriages for returning students to the school. Neither Ron nor Hermione or any of Harry's circle of friends can see them, and Harry wonders if he's having hallucinations, only for [[TheDitz Luna Lovegood]] to say she can see them too and reassure him that [[AssuranceBackfire he's just as sane as she is.]] Subverted when it turns out the horses (called Thestrals) can only be seen by those who have watched someone die in front of them, and both Harry and Luna are perfectly sane.

* {{Doorstopper}}: Over 750 pages no matter which edition and the ''longest'' book in the series; nearly a quarter of the word count of ''the entire series'' is contained in this one book, since it usually has smaller print than the others [[UpToEleven but ends up with the highest page count anyway]]. Fittingly, it has the longest gap between releases, coming three years after ''Goblet''. Magazines and newspapers pointed out that the book wouldn't fit through most mail slots if mail-ordered. Comedians had a field day joking that book 6 would be called ''Harry Potter and the End of Trees''.

* AscendedExtra: Many of the trio's classmates in Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw who were either bit players or only mentioned in passing in the previous books become members of the D.A. and get more prominence.

** She [[DisproportionateRetribution permanently scars Marietta Edgecombe]] [[spoiler:for betraying the DA]] by magically branding her forehead, and takes vindictive pleasure in doing so.
** She blackmails [[Rita Skeeter]] into writing positive articles about Harry for ''the Quibbler'', gleefully threatening to reveal her [[Animorphism secret]] if she doesn't comply.

* GoodIsNotSoft: Hermione [[DisproportionateRetribution permanently scars Marietta Edgecombe]] [[spoiler:for betraying the DA]] by magically branding her forehead, and takes vindictive pleasure in doing so.

** The worst offender by far though is Marietta Edgecombe [[spoiler: i.e. Cho Chang's treacherous friend, who willingly sold out the rest of Dumbledore's Army to Umbridge, knowing that the group would be expelled]]. By the time she gets back onto the Hogwarts Express at the end of the story, she, like everybody else, has finally learnt that the boy she thought was telling lies was in fact telling the truth the entire time. As such, Marietta will now spend the rest of her life branded (both figuratively and literally) as the snitch who sold out both Harry Potter and Dumbledore and nearly doomed the magical world because of it. Thus, she is left shamed forever, loses all of her friends (bar Cho), receives little to no sympathy (both in and out of universe) and is left to reflect on the fact that her actions really were all for nothing.

* CassandraTruth:

** Likewise, normally Minerva is about upholding the rules and will punish her Gryffindor students if they fall out of line. This year, however, she offers Harry a biscuit when Umbridge sends him over for punishment and warns him to be careful about what he says. Later, she absolutely refuses to help with the twins' fireworks or their swamp, despite having the power to handle either. Then she advises Peeves that a chandelier unscrews the other way, much to Harry's surprise.

* PoorCommunicationKills: Basis of the plot really. [[spoiler:If Dumbledore had actually warned Harry that Voldemort would try to lure him to the Department of Mysteries instead of having others give him cryptic advice and instructions, nothing would have happened that was nearly as bad.]]