History Literature / HarryPotterandTheOrderOfThePhoenix

[[folder:A - B]]
* AbsurdlyPowerfulSchoolJurisdiction: Professor Umbridge bans Harry and the Weasley twins from playing Quidditch for life for fighting on the pitch--arguably an unenforceable mandate, though one that still seems to be within her power--and she confiscates their brooms. And that's not even getting into her unilaterally instating ObviousRulePatch policies (moreso in the movie than in the book) whenever anyone tries to undermine her authority; this is one of the main reasons that nearly everyone at Hogwarts, including the teachers, hate her.
* AbsurdlyPowerfulStudentCouncil: Umbridge attempts to create one with her "Inquisitorial Squad", who can take points off people for whatever they feel like and have greater authority than the Prefects -- which, as Ernie indignantly points out, makes the Prefect system completely superfluous. By that point, however, the school is in open rebellion and they end up making themselves targets.
* AccidentalTruth: An article in ''The Quibbler'' suggests a rather convoluted and absurd theory as to why Sirius Black is innocent. Apparently he is secretly singer Stubby Boardman, and the author knows Stubby!Sirius is innocent because he happened to be having a romantic candlelit dinner with her at the time his alleged crimes were committed. Sirius really is innocent though, as we found out in the third book.
* AddedAlliterativeAppeal: Before they settle on "Dumbledore's Army", one of the names Fred suggests is the "Ministry of Magic are Morons Group".

** At the beginning of the year, Harry thinks the new first-years look much younger than he did when he was the same age.

** 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 numbered.
** On the same note, Dolores Umbridge's efforts to silence Harry's "lies", her general intervention at Hogwarts and her effort to prevent her students from learning any real magic, were all for nought. Within five minutes of Fudge confirming that Voldemort had indeed returned, Dumbledore was reinstated as the Headmaster. He immediately ordered her dismissal from the school, retracted all of her decrees and disbanded the Inquisitorial Squad, i.e. Umbridge's private police force.

** When Sirius suspects that Snape will use Occlumency lessons to give Harry a hard time, Snape says that Harry is very like his father. Sirius takes this as a compliment to Harry, until Snape says that like his father, Harry is so arrogant that criticism simply bounces off him.

* ArtisticLicenceSpace: During the O.W.L.s Astronomy finals (done at midnight on the Astronomy tower), the book has the students looking for the constellation Orion in June. Orion is ''behind the sun'' in June, so you couldn't see it even if you wanted to. Likewise, it's a fool's errand looking for Venus at midnight, which being the next planet closer to the sun is always well beneath the horizon at midnight. Not to mention the fact that in the Highlands of Scotland in June, the sky never gets dark enough to see any but the brightest stars; according to one website, sunset would be at about 11 PM, the time the exam is supposed to start.

** Malfoy pushes Neville's early in the year, exploiting the rumours that Harry has gone insane via spell damage and suggesting that therefore he belongs in St. Mungo's Hospital. Neville's parents are there for that reason. [[LetMeAtHim It takes Harry and Ron's restraint for him not to beat Malfoy senseless.]]

* BewareTheNiceOnes: Hagrid is generally seen as everyone's big jolly friend (or as a harmless oaf by people who dislike him such as the Slytherins), but when Umbridge comes with a bodyguard of Aurors to try and arrest him in the middle of the night, he fights them all off single-handedly due to his giant blood enabling him to shrug off their stunner spells. When the Aurors stun Fang and [=McGonagall=], he ''completely'' [[BerserkButton loses what little restraint he had left]] and starts laying them out with his bare hands, as well as hurling the man who stunned Fang ten feet through the air, before escaping. The students watching from a tower top are actually quite frightened.

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:The Ministry is forced to accept that Voldemort has, in fact, returned, and the Wizarding World finally gives Harry and Dumbledore the admiration and respect they deserve after all they've been through. But Sirius Black is dead, and Harry doesn't get to enjoy his victory much due to the incredible pain of his loss. Dumbledore also finally tells Harry (some of) the truth, which he had anxiously been wanting to know the whole year, but with that comes the AwfulTruth that Harry is the chosen one destined to oppose Voldemort, and [[ItSucksToBeTheChosenOne as a result, one of them is fated to kill the other eventually.]] He's been locked into this fate ever since Voldemort attacked him as a baby, and cannot escape it.]]

* TheBladeAlwaysLandsPointyEndIn: Fred and George send a knife flying, which lands point down, quivering, where Sirius's hand had been seconds before.

-->'''Uncle Vernon:''' [[IsThatAThreat Are you threatening me, sir?]]\\

** The remedy Hermione gives Harry to soothe his hand, which he recommends to Lee Jordan, is what ''Lee'' recommends to Fred and George for their ProfessorGuineaPig-induced posterior boils.

** When Umbridge and Fudge start [[spoiler: ''really'' ramping up the [[AbsurdlyPowerfulSchoolJurisdiction Educational Decrees,]] she forms the [[AbsurdlyPowerfulStudentCouncil Inquisitorial Squad,]] a band of loyal Slytherins who enforce her reign of terror over the school and which, naturally, is led by Draco Malfoy, Vincent Crabbe, and Gregory Goyle.]] To demonstrate their Absurd Power, they start [[spoiler: abusing their power deducting points from Gryffindor willy-nilly.]] At the very end, when Malfoy returns and he and Harry taunt each other over Lucius being in Azkaban, they move to draw their wands against each other. Snape appears and tries to [[KickTheDog take ten points from Gryffindor]], before he sees the points hourglass and realizes Gryffindor ''already has '''zero points.''''']] Cue [[spoiler: [=Professor McGonagall=], who gives Gryffindor 240 points and Ravenclaw 50 for our heroes' revealing that Voldemort is really, truly, seriously, no-more-ignoring-the-problem back.]]

* BrokenPedestal: Harry does not take it well when he discovers his father was quite the bully in ''his'' fifth year.

[[folder:C - D]]

** Harry's claims of Voldemort returning and anything [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} Luna]] says are quickly blown off by others. With Harry there's really no excuse given his track record: the Philosopher's Stone being stolen, not being the one petrifying Muggle-borns, Sirius being innocent, et cetera. Though with Luna, it's really a toss-up. Some of her claims turn out to be true; others, less so.

* TheCavalryArrivesLate: At the end, Fudge and his Aurors arrive too late to stop Voldemort escaping the Ministry with Bellatrix. [[DownplayedTrope However]], they do arrive in time to actually ''see'' Voldemort, proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that Voldemort has returned, which finally gets the Ministry to admit Harry and Dumbledore have been telling the truth and putting the Ministry and the Wizarding World on a war footing.

* ChariotPulledByCats: It's revealed that the WizardingSchool's "horseless" carriages are actually pulled by Thestrals -- skeletal {{pegasus}}-like creatures only visible to those who have witnessed death. They're morbid, but friendly and UglyCute.

** But then the boomerang comes back around again at the end of DH when [[spoiler:''Expelliarmus'' is the spell that Harry uses that leads to Voldemort's death in their final confrontation. It doesn't kill him, but it stops Voldemort's Killing Curse in its tracks during their brief BeamOWar that leads to the Elder Wand flying out of Voldemort's hand and the Killing Curse rebounding.]]
* ChekhovsGag: The Vanishing Cabinet, again. Fred and George [[spoiler: trap Montague in it as a joke. Draco repairs it]] in Literature/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince.
** When Cho proposes to name the StudentsSecretSociety the "Defense Association," Ginny instead proposes "Dumbledore's Army," since it's "the Ministry's worst fear." When the DA [[spoiler: are rumbled, Dumbledore [[TakingTheHeat Takes The Heat]] for Harry, pointing out it's not named "Potter's Army." This allows the DA to continue meeting and honing their skills.]] The name takes on a deeper meaning once [[spoiler: it becomes LaResistance during Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows. Neville even punctuates his ShutUpHannibal to Voldemort himself with "Dumbledore's Army!" which is answered by a cheer that causes Voldemort's Silencing Charm to permanently fail.]]

** [[spoiler:Dumbledore solemnly notes that Sirius suffered this fate since he treated Kreacher poorly, due to him being a living manifestation of his hated family and home, as Kreacher ended up seeking comfort with Narcissa and Bellatrix, the last living Blacks who he respected. He's able to give them just enough information and cooperated with them enough to set up the gambit by Voldemort that results in Sirius's death.]]

* {{Doorstopper}}: Over 750 pages in most editions 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''. The illustrated edition released in 2022 clocks in at a relatively slim 565 pages, but these pages are much taller and wider than those in other editions, with the end result being a single book that weighs over five pounds.

[[folder:E - H]]

[[folder:I - L]]

* ImpaledPalm: Narrowly averted in Chapter 5 when Fred and George attempt to make the dinner (stew and bread) float to the table at Grimmauld Place; the knife slips off the breadboard and lands point down right where Sirius's hand was a second before.

[[folder:M - O]]

[[folder:P - R]]

* RightForTheWrongReasons: ''The Quibbler'' professes Sirius's innocence in an article Harry reads early on, and Luna seems to sincerely believe this when she [[spoiler:attempts to come to his rescue at the end.]] Sirius really is innocent, but the article's claim about him secretly being Stubby Boardman (who supposedly has an alibi for the time of the murders) is patent nonsense.

[[folder:S - T]]

* ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections: In the run-up to [=OWLs=], Malfoy enjoys messing with people by bringing up his father's friendship with Griselda Marchbanks, head of the examination authority. Neville says he's almost certainly bluffing, as his grandmother ''is'' a friend of Marchbanks' and she's never mentioned the Malfoys.

* ShipSinking: Harry had been crushing on Cho Chang since ''Prisoner of Azkaban''. By the end of ''Order of the Phoenix'', that ship was sent to a watery grave.

** During Fudge's campaign to undermine him, Dumbledore is demoted from Chief Warlock on the Wizengamot and is threatened with being stripped of his Order of Merlin. Dumbledore's response, according to Bill Weasley, is he doesn't care what they do so long as they don't take him off the Chocolate Frog trading cards.

* SoProudOfYou: When the Order briefs Harry on what Voldemort has been doing over the summer, Sirius tells Harry that Voldemort messed up his resurrection plan. Lupin, with a satisfied smile, immediately corrects this to Harry messed up Voldemort's plan for him.

* StudentsSecretSociety: One of the subplots revolves around Harry, Ron, and Hermione starting a secret student club called Dumbledore's Army [[note]]Originally they were going to call it the Defense Association but decided to change it to poke fun at Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge's paranoia that Hogwarts Headmaster Albus Dumbledore was plotting to overthrow him.[[/note]] to teach combat magic, sparked by the refusal of Professor Dolores Umbridge to actually teach useful defensive magic. Once [[TyrantTakesTheHelm Umbridge becomes the new headmistress]], Dumbledore's Army evolves into a makeshift LaResistance undermining Umbridge's administration.

** In selfsame chapter, this is Molly Weasley's reaction to the twins using magic to send table settings and food across the kitchen and onto the kitchen table instead of simply carrying them. [[JustifiedTrope Justified,]] as their recklessness with the knife in particular came ''this'' close to stabbing Sirius in the hand.
** It's also how she shuts down Ginny's request to join the Order of the Phoenix officially.
** A couple chapters later, this is ''[[RuleOfThree also]]'' Molly Weasley's response to finding out the true extent of [[spoiler: Mundungus Fletcher's obsession with stolen cauldrons.]]
** And after [[spoiler: the Battle of the Department of Mysteries,]] poor Harry descends into this once again when Dumbledore tries to reassure him that [[spoiler: suffering such as [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness the angry grief from seeing Sirius die]] on top of [[TraumaCongaLine all the shit Umbridge and Voldemort had already put him through,]] declaring [[ImpliedTrope that]] he [[DeathSeeker doesn't want to be human]] if he has to suffer like this.]] He does it again upon realizing [[spoiler: Dumbledore has locked them both in his office until he decides they're finished talking.]] he does it again when [[spoiler: Dumbledore explains Kreacher's role in Voldemort's trap and accidentally implies Sirius got what he deserved for neglecting him.]] Horrifically [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] in this case, since Harry [[spoiler: is almost at the end of the nightmarish ''book-long-and-then-some'' TraumaCongaLine Umbridge, Voldemort, and Dumbledore have inflicted upon him, and is dangerously close to being '''''DrivenToSuicide.''''' Specifically, he has seen Sirius die, watched [[KarmaHoudini Bellatrix escape scot-free,]] watched helplessly as Voldemort appear in person, needing Dumbledore to save him, and finally, Voldemort's insanely painful possession attempt.]]

* TastesLikeDisdain: During the summer following Cedric's murder and Voldemort's return, Harry is stuck at his abusive aunt's and uncle's house, suffering from nightmares about the incident and being kept out of the loop by his friends and allies. [[BigGood Dumbledore]] won't let them tell him anything, so all he gets are letters with vague statements like "We can't say much about you-know-what, obviously" and "We've been told not to say anything important in case our letters go astray." He's so mad at all of them that when Ron and Hermione send him Honeydukes chocolates in the mail for his birthday, he throws the packages in the trash without opening them.
* TaughtByTelevision: When Snape describes Legilimency to Harry at the start of their first Occumulency lesson, Harry tries to sum it up as "mind-reading". Snape's response amounts to "Every Legililmens ''wishes'' that viewing the thoughts of others was as clear as the Muggle conception of mind-reading" and scolds him for trying to simplify it where Voldemort is concerned.

* TonightSomeoneDies: There was a lot of speculation about this before the book's release, with many in the media suggesting that Ron would die. Rowling may have been playing with this expectation in an early chapter when Harry walks in on Ron's bloodied corpse as though it's a SurprisinglySuddenDeath (in reality it was Mrs. Weasley's worst fear made manifest by a Boggart). The actual death turned out to be [[spoiler:the ''comparatively'' minor character of Sirius Black]].

** 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 slightly more level-headed and receptive to the idea he doesn't always know best despite his accomplishments; though he remains stubborn and prone to shouting if people disagree with him too much.

** Dumbledore, twice in the book. The first time is when he ''calmly'' warns Umbridge that he "cannot allow [her] to manhandle my students," and it's enough to leave her cowed. The second, subtler time is during his duel with Voldemort in the Ministry. Dumbledore notes that '''merely''' killing Voldemort wouldn't satisfy him, and that "there are other ways to destroy a man."

** He's then attacked and nearly has his soul sucked out by Dementors, barely manages to survive and is then nearly expelled on the spot for performing magic. He's brought to Grimmauld Place where he's further kept in the dark by the Order despite how much he's fought against Voldemort in the past. He does manage to be cleared of his charges at the hearing but Dumbledore ignores him and refuses to look at him. Once he returns to Grimmauld Place, he has to watch on in horror as a boggart turns into the corpses of the Weasley children and [[LikeASonToMe Harry]] while Molly Weasley sobs uncontrollably and Lupin has to deal with it. Umbridge tortures Harry during multiple detentions using a blood-quill that scars him, and Harry becomes more and more isolated from his peers as they ostracize him for not believing his claims, and Umbridge continues to gain more power. Harry then finds that [[spoiler:he has a psychic link with Voldemort that can make him peer into his mind and influence him, making Harry fear that he's been somewhat poisoned by him mentally and might lash out at his closest peers.]] Things continue to keep escalating (such as Harry and Cho's fallout, [[spoiler:the DA being forcefully disbanded and Dumbledore being forced to leave the school]]), until it finally reaches a climax with [[spoiler:Harry receiving a vision of Sirius being kidnapped at the Department of Mysteries, which prompts him and his friends to go there to save him. However, it was really a trap by Voldemort to have Harry retrieve the prophecy and causes him and his friends to fight for their lives against Death Eaters (which gets most of Harry's classmates wounded and knocked out), spiralling into an all out battle between them and the Order that puts all of them in grave peril, and culminates in the death of Sirius, Harry's only real family. Harry chases Sirius's killer in anger, only to run into Voldemort who immediately tries to kill him, though Dumbledore rescues him barely. But shortly after, Voldemort manages to possess Harry and tries to kill him, nearly succeeding until Harry's love for Sirius drives him out. Needless to say, when Dumbledore tries to talk to him, Harry is absolutely livid and throws a tantrum after everything he's been through, destroying much of his office. But it's still not over, Dumbledore then tells Harry (some of) the truth behind his circumstances, that he's the Chosen One destined to oppose Voldemort and that as a result, one of them will kill the other eventually as a result. And as if ''all that shit'' wasn't enough, Nearly Headless Nick tells him Sirius not only has boarded the train and gone into the afterlife, but if he didn't, he'd be a coward for not accepting his death and clinging to an imperfect imitation of life forever.]] The poor boy really has the weight of the world on his shoulders.

* TwoTimerDate: Harry averts this on Valentine's Day in Hogsmeade, which is when Hermione has set up Rita Skeeter's interview with him. Cho, however, thinks it is this, which is how their burgeoning romance gets nipped in the bud. While Hermione pressed the interview's importance on Harry, she also lets him know after-the-fact he erred in not playing up to Cho what an inconvenience Hermione and the interview was and would rather spend time with Cho.
* TyrantTakesTheHelm: Dolores Umbridge's horrible misrule. She runs Hogwarts as a candy coated dictator, placing harsh and ridiculous rules and allowing the Slytherins, or at least those in her Inquisitorial Squad, to indulge in the spoils.

[[folder:U - Y]]

* UnderTheMistletoe: Harry gets his first kiss with Cho in this manner. In the book, just prior to it, he's under it with Luna, who doesn't kiss him, much to the dismay of their shippers. [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} Luna, however, doesn't even seem to understand what mistletoe is for.]]
* UnguidedLabTour: The Ministry of Magic's Department of Mysteries is where the mysteries of magic are researched by specialists known as Unspeakables. Upon arriving there, Harry and five other D.A. members find themselves in a circular entrance room with twelve, black, identical doors. It's a {{downplayed}} case because the heroes only enter three of the doors because they are in a race against time. The first door leads to a room full of eerie (and later, aggressive) disembodied brains. The second opens to an atrium with the Veil (a life-death limbo of sorts) in its center. The third doesn't open, so they try a fourth and it leads them to a room littered with time-turners and clocks. Harry recognizes their glittering lights from his dreams, so they don't return to the Entrance Room but continue forward. They get to the room they are looking for, the Hall of Prophecies and it's there that they are finally noticed. This makes it an InvokedTrope too because the Death Eaters put an alarm in one of the orbs in the hopes of Harry successfully evading the Ministry personnel and security until they have him exactly where they want him.
* UnknowinglyPossessingStolenGoods: Mundungus Fletcher tells the teenage guest of the Blake House how he once sold to someone frogs he stole him beforehand.

* WartsAndAll: After spending many books with a very idealized view of his parents, Harry gets to view one of Snape's memories of them and is shocked to find out that his father was a showoff and could be kind of a jerk. The shock is so much so that he gets a lot of angst about whether or not everything he'd thought about his father was a lie. He eventually talks to Sirius and Lupin about it and they explain to him that, yes, James was being a jackass in that specific instance, but he was an immature teenager at the time and was still a good man and a good husband overall. Later, Harry witnesses Ron behaving much like James did in the memory and finally gets over the shock and accepts his father simply had his faults and flaws, just like everyone else.

* JerkAss: Harry himself acts as one towards his friends throughout the book. However, this is mitigated by the fact that it was to cover up the inferiority complex he felt after being subjected to the blood quill torture by Umbridge. It doesn't help that he's SurroundedByIdiots who are in complete denial of Voldemort's return. [[spoiler:He also seems to have Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and it's also rather heavily implied that sharing thoughts with Voldemort isn't doing his mental state any favours.]]

** He's then attacked and nearly has his soul sucked out by Dementors, barely manages to survive and is then nearly expelled on the spot for performing magic. He's brought to Grimmauld Place where he's further kept in the dark by the Order despite how much he's fought against Voldemort in the past. He does manage to be cleared of his charges at the hearing but Dumbledore ignores him and refuses to look at him. Umbridge tortures Harry during multiple detentions using a blood-quill that scars him, and Harry becomes more and more isolated from his peers as they ostracize him for not believing his claims, and Umbridge continues to gain more power. Harry then finds that [[spoiler:he has a psychic link with Voldemort that can make him peer into his mind and influence him, making Harry fear that he's been somewhat poisoned by him mentally and might lash out at his closest peers.]] Things continue to keep escalating (such as Harry and Cho's fallout, [[spoiler:the DA being forcefully disbanded and Dumbledore being forced to leave the school]]), until it finally reaches a climax with [[spoiler:Harry receiving a vision of Sirius being kidnapped at the Department of Mysteries, which prompts him and his friends to go there to save him. However, it was really a trap by Voldemort to have Harry retrieve the prophecy and causes him and his friends to fight for their lives against Death Eaters (which gets most of Harry's classmates wounded and knocked out), spiralling into an all out battle between them and the Order that puts all of them in grave peril, and culminates in the death of Sirius, Harry's only real family. Harry chases Sirius's killer in anger, only to run into Voldemort who immediately tries to kill him, though Dumbledore rescues him barely. But shortly after, Voldemort manages to possess Harry and tries to kill him, nearly succeeding until Harry's love for Sirius drives him out. Needless to say, when Dumbledore tries to talk to him, Harry is absolutely livid and throws a tantrum after everything he's been through, destroying much of his office. But it's still not over, Dumbledore then tells Harry (some of) the truth behind his circumstances, that he's the Chosen One destined to oppose Voldemort and that as a result, one of them will kill the other eventually as a result. And as if ''all that shit'' wasn't enough, Nearly Headless Nick tells him Sirius not only has boarded the train and gone into the afterlife, but if he didn't, he'd be a coward for not accepting his death and clinging to an imperfect imitation of life forever.]] The poor boy really has the weight of the world on his shoulders.

Mundungus Fletcher

** He's then attacked and nearly has his soul sucked out by Dementors, barely manages to survive and is then nearly expelled on the spot for performing magic. He's brought to Grimmauld Place where he's further kept in the dark by the Order despite how much he's fought against Voldemort in the past. He does manage to be cleared of his charges at the hearing but Dumbledore ignores him and refuses to look at him. Umbridge tortures Harry during multiple detentions using a blood-quill that scars him, and Harry becomes more and more isolated from his peers as they ostracize him for not believing his claims, and Umbridge continues to gain more power. Harry then finds that [[spoiler:he has a psychic link with Voldemort that can make him peer into his mind and influence him, making Harry fear that he's been somewhat poisoned by him mentally and might lash out at his closest peers.]] Things continue to keep escalating (such as Harry and Cho's fallout, [[spoiler:the DA being forcefully disbanded and Dumbledore being forced to leave the school]]), until it finally reaches a climax with [[spoiler:Harry receiving a vision of Sirius being kidnapped at the Department of Mysteries, which prompts him and his friends to go there to save him. However, it was really a trap by Voldemort to have Harry retrieve the prophecy and causes him and his friends to fight for their lives against Death Eaters (which gets most of Harry's classmates wounded and knocked out), spiralling into an all out battle between them and the Order that puts all of them in grave peril, and culminates in the death of Sirius, Harry's only real family. Harry chases Sirius's killer in anger, only to run into Voldemort who immediately tries to kill him, though Dumbledore rescues him barely. But shortly after, Voldemort manages to possess Harry and tries to kill him, nearly succeeding until Harry's love for Sirius drives him out. Needless to say, when Dumbledore tries to talk to him, Harry is absolutely livid and throws a tantrum after everything he's been through, destroying much of his office. But it's still not over, Dumbledore then tells Harry (some of) the truth behind his circumstances, that he's the Chosen One destined to oppose Voldemort and that as a result, one of them will kill the other eventually as a result.]] The poor boy really has the weight of the world on his shoulders.

** When Cho proposes to name the StudentsSecretSociety the "Defense Association," Ginny instead proposes "Dumbledore's Army," since it's "the Ministry's worst fear." When the DA [[spoiler: are rumbled, Dumbledore [[TakingTheHeat Takes The Heat]] for Harry, pointing out it's not named "Potter's Army." This allows the DA to continue meeting and honing their skills.]] The name takes on a deeper meaning once [[spoiler: it becomes LaResistance during HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows. Neville even punctuates his ShutUpHannibal to Voldemort himself with "Dumbledore's Army!" which is answered by a cheer that causes Voldemort's Silencing Charm to permanently fail.]]

** When Cho proposes to name the SecretStudentsSociety the "Defense Association," Ginny instead proposes "Dumbledore's Army," since it's "the Ministry's worst fear." When the DA [[spoiler: are rumbled, Dumbledore [[TakingTheHeat Takes The Heat]] for Harry, pointing out it's not named "Potter's Army." This allows the DA to continue meeting and honing their skills.]] The name takes on a deeper meaning once [[spoiler: it becomes LaResistance during HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows. Neville even punctuates his ShutUpHannibal to Voldemort himself with "Dumbledore's Army!" which is answered by a cheer that causes Voldemort's Silencing Charm to permanently fail.]]

** When Cho proposes to name the SecretStudentSociety the "Defense Association," Ginny instead proposes "Dumbledore's Army," since it's "the Ministry's worst fear." When the DA [[spoiler: are rumbled, Dumbledore [[TakingTheHeat Takes The Heat]] for Harry, pointing out it's not named "Potter's Army." This allows the DA to continue meeting and honing their skills.]] The name takes on a deeper meaning once [[spoiler: it becomes LaResistance during HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows. Neville even punctuates his ShutUpHannibal to Voldemort himself with "Dumbledore's Army!" which is answered by a cheer that causes Voldemort's Silencing Charm to permanently fail.]]

** Dumbledore goes to bargain with the centaurs for Umbridge's release. He returns in a short amount of time with the woman in tow.

* SaveTheVillain: No one would have blamed Dumbledore had he left Umbridge to the centaurs' mercy. Regardless, he goes to rescue her after securing her dismissal as DADA teacher from Fudge, and bargains with the centaurs. They like him more than they like any other wizard, so Dumbledore returns quickly with Umbridge and gets her medical treatment before she leaves.

* CareBearStare: How Voldemort was driven out of Harry's mind after possessing him. A really dark example, actually, considering what finally ousts Voldemort is [[spoiler:Harry wishing he could die, so that he could be with Sirius.]]

** After [[spoiler: Fred and George leave Hogwarts and ask Peeves the Poltergeist to "give Umbridge hell from" them, he ''[[OOCIsSeriousBusiness salutes.]]'' [[ExaggeratedTrope And everyone]] except the Inquisitorial Squad and Filch, but including the entire staff (which includes ''[[SternTeacher Professor McGonnagal]]'' also takes their request to heart.]]

-->'''Hermione:''' If you don't stop, I'm going to—\\

* HateSink: Umbridge's main role in the story is to prove the Death Eaters don't have a monopoly on awful people.

* TyrantTakesTheHelm: Dolores Umbridge's horrible misrule.

* UnknowinglyPossessingStolenGoods: Mondingus Fletcher tells the teenage guest of the Blake House how he once sold to someone frogs he stole him beforehand.

* DeadpanSnarker: Phineas Nigellus Black, who appears in a portrait in Dumbledore's office, and in Grimmauld Place:
** (Before Harry and his friends are about to arrive at Grimmauld Place) "My great-great-grandson [Sirius] has always had an odd taste in house-guests."
** (To an angry Harry) "You know, this is precisely why I loathed being a teacher! Young people are so infernally convinced they are absolutely right about everything" and "I have better things to do than listen to adolescent agonising."
** (After Dumbledore's dramatic exit) "You know Minister, I disagree with Dumbledore on many counts, but you can't deny he's got style."

** The book deconstructs the notion of a KidHero fighting against a much older EvilOverlord by showing that adults would be much better equipped to fight a large scale war, or at least think they are more competent and shut the kid out. Because of his youth, Harry has trouble dealing with the traumas of war, resulting in a HeroicBSOD that harms his efficacy as a fighter, leading him to lash out in anger and make rash decisions. [[spoiler:Subverted as the whole point of the book was a prophecy proclaiming Harry to be TheChosenOne destined to stand against Voldemort. This makes Dumbledore, who knew this all along, realize that he was wrong to shut Harry out of the business of fighting Voldemort as it deprives him of the necessary preparation for his eventual encounter.]]

** The spell James uses to make Snape hang upside down in the air? In the next book, [[spoiler:we find out Snape invented it.]]

* IRejectYourReality: Fudge tenaciously refuses to believe Harry and Dumbledore's pleas that Voldemort is back for three reasons: 1, he thinks Harry is a glory hound after reading Rita Skeeter from the last book; 2, he thinks Dumbledore is after his job even though he turned down the position of minister and 3, he believes they are trying to cause a panic that will destabilize the Ministry after thirteen years of maintaining the peace. While it's understandable, given that Voldemort gave the Ministry a lot of grief during the First Wizarding War, his refusal serves as the main driving force behind the story's conflict and why Harry must form Dumbledore's Army after putting up with the more detestable Umbridge. It isn't until the end that Fudge finally sees Voldemort for himself and karma comes back to bite him hard when we learn he got fired in the following book.

* INeedToGoIronMyDog: Averted. Harry feels uncomfortable and wants to leave the room after Moody shows him a picture of the original Order of the Phoenix, many of whose members had died shortly after the photo was taken. He starts to pretend that he forgot to pack something (the school year started the next day), but Moody turns away before he finishes his sentence.
* TheInspectorIsComing: PlayedForDrama with Umbridge's inspections. She's been appointed by the Ministry to improve Hogwarts' education quality and become the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. Unofficially, she's there to undermine Headmaster Dumbledore and Harry Potter, both of whom have become the Minister's political enemies. While some of her assessments are correct (such as Trelawney's subpar curriculum), she's unnecessarily cruel about it. Most of them are still either biased by her pureblood prejudice (e.g., hating Hagrid for being half-giant) or just baseless nitpicking to the teachers most loyal to Dumbledore. The Minister as a whole deems the previous Defense Against the Dark Arts classes unsuitable (which is not entirely untrue), so it's {{implied}} that they carried out an inspection off-screen about that too.

** [[spoiler:Prior to Harry's arrival at 12 Grimmauld Place, Dumbledore warned Sirius that Kreacher needed to be treated with kindness and to be careful with him. He was afraid something like Kreacher's betrayal would happen, but Sirius ignored Dumbledore.]]

** [[spoiler:And of course, when Fudge finally sees Voldemort with his own eyes at the Ministry, Dumbledore doesn't waste any time to remind him that he's been telling him all the year that the Dark Lord was back, and Fudge refused to listen.]]
* InternalReveal:
** After Ron and Hermione begin suspecting Fred and George may have done something illegal to get their funding for their joke shop, Harry finally tells them he gave them his Triwizard Tournament winnings.
** Harry tells everyone he knew about Neville’s parents for quite some time after they run into him and his grandma visiting them at the hospital.
* InsultBackfire: After Ron becomes the new Gryffindor keeper, the Slytherins create the song "Weasley is Our King" to mock him during matches. But once Ron gets over his nerves and and proves to be a excellent player, the Gryffindors adopt the song and change the lyrics to praise his skills.
* IronicEcho: At his trial, Harry is asked by one of the Wizengamot (Madame Bones) if his use of underage magic involved a "corporeal" Patronus, which he was at first confused by. And during Dumbledore's Army's first meeting at the Hog's Head, her niece Susan Bones is one of the people who showed up, and she asks him if he can do a "corporeal" Patronus as well, with their exchange almost exactly identical. However, Madam Bones' questioning comes during a trial prosecuting Harry, while Susan's questioning comes in support of Harry. [[SomethingOnlyTheyWouldSay Harry instantly makes the connection between those two, and deduces that the two are related, which she confirms.]]

* IKnowWhatYouFear: Molly Weasley's Boggart, which shapeshifts into one dead family member after another, starting with Ron and ending with [[LikeASonToMe Harry himself.]] Just to rub salt in the wound, Sirius arrives in time to see that last one, and is clearly shaken.

* ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections: In the run-up to [=OWLs=], Malfoy enjoys messing with people by bringing up his father's friendship with Griselda Marchbanks, head of the examination authority. Neville says he's almost certainly bluffing, as his grandmother actually ''is'' a friend of Marchbanks' and she's never mentioned the Malfoys.

** Percy breaks all ties with his family early on over an ideological disagreement, while also thinking they've all fallen for a ploy by Dumbledore to take over the Ministry of Magic, or at least remove the current Minister of Magic.

* FailedASpotCheck: Umbridge and her minions attempt to stun Hagrid, but overlook that his giant blood makes him immune to their spells. [[MuggingTheMonster This mistake costs them dearly.]]

** After Umbridge fires Trelawney, Dumbledore pisses her off supremely by hiring Firenze the centaur. He reminds her that Educational Decree Number Twenty-Two gives the Ministry the right to appoint a teacher '''only if''' the Headmaster cannot find one.
** The teachers had fun with this as soon as Umbridge was appointed to Headmistress in the fifth book. With the passage of Educational Decree Number Twenty-Six, which banned teachers from telling students anything that didn't have to do with their subject, they gleefully refused to extinguish the fireworks Fred and George released, expressing that they weren't sure they had the authorization to do so.

* TastesLikeDisdain: During the summer following Cedric's murder and Voldemort's return, Harry is stuck at his abusive aunt's and uncle's house, suffering from nightmares about the incident and being kept out of the loop by his friends and allies. [[BigGood Dumbledore]] won't let them tell him anything, so all he gets are letters with vague statements like "We can't say much about you-know-what, obviously" and "We've been told not to say anything important incase our letters go astray." He's so mad at all of them that when Ron and Hermione send him Honeydukes chocolates in the mail for his birthday, he throws the packages in the trash without opening them.

** Harry's escape from Voldemort at the end of the last novel is stated in-universe to be one for the Death Eaters. Nobody outside of their ranks was suppoused to learn what had happened to Harry during the final Task of the Tri-Wizard Tournament, or that Voldemort had come back to full life and power. The ''last'' person Voldemort wanted to learn of his return was Dumbledore (who already had his supsicions thanks to events of the course of ''Goblet'', but only had pieces of the puzzle rather than the full picture). Thanks to Harry's escape and testimony, Dumbledore wasted no time reactivating the Order of the Phoenix and making the opening moves of his counter-campaign.