Line #41 Fridge/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix


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12	! Warning: Marked and Unmarked spoilers ahead. Read at your own discretion.
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16	[[folder: FridgeBrilliance]]
17	* Making the character Tonks so clumsy. Being a Metamorphmagus, her centre of gravity must be constantly changing as she changes shapes, thus leaving her continuously unable to find her balance.
18	* Harry's behaviour in this book is the result of his having PTSD from the previous book.
19	** Along with sharing thoughts with Voldemort, a man full of rage. That can't be doing anyone's mental state any good.
20	* When Snape reads Harry's mind during an Occlumency lesson, he looks back to the time when Harry was an infant and Voldemort is attacking their house. Why? Snape wanted to see [[spoiler: the last time Lily, the woman he loved, was alive]]!
21	* In the movie, Harry sarcastically comments to Dudley, "Five against one, very brave," in reference to Dudley and his friends beating up a ten-year-old. Later, not counting Harry and the Order members who arrive, it's five against one, and yes, it truly is very brave. Instead of five or six large teenagers picking on a small kid, it's one large man doing far worse than trying to beat up five teenagers, and the teenagers try to fight back, not just out of self-preservation but to help the one singled out.
22	* ''Order of the Phoenix'' came out three years after ''Goblet of Fire'', which was the longest gap between any of the two books. In the first few chapters of ''Order of the Phoenix'', Harry spends a lot of time angsting about being kept in the dark and not knowing what's going on in the wizarding world.
23	* Regulus Black's name hints at his [[spoiler:redeeming]] actions [[spoiler:directly before his death. Regulus is a star in the constellation Leo, the lion]]. Specifically, [[spoiler:it's a red star that represents the lion's heart]].
24	* Why are a celebrity divorce and a water-skiing budgie considered important enough to be on the evening news programme that the Dursleys are watching? Because it's UsefulNotes/SillySeason.
25	* This is the book which has Petunia showing some HypocriticalHumor. This is also the book with the two most significant bits about her connection with the magical world (Dumbledore's letter and her referencing "that horrible boy"). After finding out, in the last book, that [[spoiler:her contempt for the magical world came from her wanting to go to Hogwarts and not being able to]], it was hardly a coincidence.
26	* In the first book, Harry notes more than once that he sometimes gets the feeling that Snape can read minds. In this book, we find out that Snape is capable of Legilimency.
27	* The significance of Snape and Lily's interaction in his worst memory. He calls her "Mudblood", quite possibly the worst slur in the wizarding world. Lily responds by pointedly calling him "Snivellus". Up until that point, [[spoiler:she has been his friend and Snivellus is what people who bully him call him. She's essentially firing back with the worst thing she could think of calling him, wanting to hurt him as much as he has hurt her. That's also her symbolic way of ending their friendship]].
28	** At first we think it's his worst memory because of the Marauders humiliating him in front of all the other students. [[spoiler:It's actually because it's the day his pride cost him the girl he loved.]]
29	* Crosses into Fridge Horror but Remus bitterly replied “You Would” when Sirius commented on feeling bored and that he wished it was Full Moon. The Prince’s Tale confirms that Snape’s Worst Memory takes place after Sirius told Snape how to get under the Whomping Willow. Which means that Remus was likely reminded of Sirius’s “trick”. This likely fueled Sirius and Remus drifting apart, which eventually led to them suspecting each other. Sirius never expressed remorse over what he did and he doesn’t understand why Remus didn’t approve.
30	* It may seem odd that Umbridge is so indulgent to the Slytherins right from the start as compared to everyone else. But then you realise that her entire life is based around petty ambition. Ambition is the defining trait of Slytherin House; she would have been a Slytherin in school. Not to mention that while this book doesn't tell us that she shares the "pure wizarding blood" obsession characteristic of most pure-blood Slytherins, her contempt for part-humans is a rather nasty likeness.
31	** Additionally, the Slytherins probably sucked up to her, which as a brown-nose to Fudge, she would've appreciated.
32	* After [[spoiler:Harry's actions accidentally lead to Sirius's death]], Dumbledore tells Harry that he knows how Harry feels. In ''Deathly Hallows'', we find out that [[spoiler:Dumbledore also accidentally got someone he loved killed]].
33	* Voldemort possessing Harry so easily despite Harry clearly not being evil? Remember, the Riddle diary took ''weeks'' to do the same thing with an eleven-year-old Ginny three years prior. [[spoiler:But in this case, he's not ''possessing'' Harry as much as he is reuniting one fragment of his soul with another.]]
34	* The way that Harry shakes off Voldemort's possession. Not only thoughts of his loved ones [[EvilCannotComprehendGood (Voldemort cannot understand love, of course)]], but, in a sad way, his wish at that particular moment to reunite with his lost loved ones in[=/=]after death. The other thing we find out about Voldemort in the following two books is that he ascribes to TheNothingAfterDeath and [[MortalityPhobia fears it above all else]], while Harry doesn't (and at times in the latter half of the series edges disturbingly close to DeathSeeker, at least in his head).
35	* Why does Dumbledore never reprimand Hagrid for all the creatures he keeps getting? Because Hagrid is a half-giant and can ''handle'' said creatures (his main mistake is [[NaiveAnimalLover thinking that]] ''[[IThoughtEveryoneCouldDoThat everyone else]]'' can handle them) and, ultimately, it's more useful to have a half-giant ''armed with a lot of dangerous creatures'' on his side rather than Voldemort's. Similarly, if Voldemort does start using dangerous animals, the students will learn about how to face them in a (mostly) controlled environment. His powerful ability to empathise with the students also makes him a very useful addition to the staff, as it means the students have access to an adult confidant when feeling lonely.
36	* Voldemort laid a curse on the school that no teacher would teach Defence Against the Dark Arts, the job he was refused, for more than a year. Harry, being the teacher of a private class where he would be tutoring his fellow students to defend themselves, was no exception.
37	* It's mentioned many times early in the book that Dumbledore is very busy this summer. [[spoiler:He's probably hunting Voldemort's Horcruxes.]]
38	* When Trelawney is first fired by Umbridge, it seems like [=McGonagall=] and Dumbledore are insisting she can still stay out of a sense of staff camaraderie, but later we learn that Dumbledore wanted to stop having Divination taught at Hogwarts and only interviewed Trelawney because of her famous ancestor. We also find out he hired her to protect her because of her prophecy. We find out that Voldemort was seeking said prophecy near the end of the book as well. Dumbledore was letting her stay at Hogwarts as another means of keeping Voldemort from getting his hands on the prophecy.
39	* A combined moment of awesome and heartwarming for Neville, when the group recruits him for the Ministry rescue--''he doesn't even know Sirius Black is innocent at this point.'' But he sees his friends in trouble, and so he's damn well going to help them.
40	* In the book, Dumbledore is clearly holding back against Voldemort, staying mostly on the defensive and letting him wear himself out. Why does he not go on the offensive? Because it's actually a ploy to keep Voldemort there long enough for Fudge and his cronies to arrive and see him--if he'd gone all out, Voldemort probably would've pulled a ScrewThisImOutOfHere, leaving them in much the same position they'd been in at the beginning of the book.
41	** Movie Dumbledore seems to have planned that, too. Voldemort has a major tactical advantage in that only a few people will even acknowledge that he's back, with the Ministry and the Daily Prophet running interference for him (inadvertently). We're meant to think Dumbledore's line of "It was foolish of you to come here tonight, Tom" was meant to be a PreAssKickingOneLiner, but he could just as easily be referring to the fact that by coming out of hiding, Voldemort forfeited that advantage. This also leads to the AlternativeCharacterInterpretation of whether movie Dumbledore was going all out, or whether he just put up a good fight to feed Voldemort's ego and keep him there long enough for Fudge and co to arrive.
42	* Among the students whom showed up in the Hog's Head to become Dumbledore's Army, one of them was Dennis Creevey, who was in his second year at Hogwarts. Yet Hogsmeade visits are only allowed for students in the third year and up, so he would not be allowed to go. That is, unless he used one of the secret passageways, which possibly Hermione and probably Fred and George would have let him know about so he can meet up with them.
43	* Lupin is implied to know that not all of Fred and George's Extendable Ears were destroyed. Once a Marauder, always a Marauder...
44	* According to Sirius, Umbridge sponsored some anti-werewolf legislation "two years ago," making it almost impossible for Lupin, and presumably other werewolves, to find jobs. Now, assuming that Sirius is rounding, what happened about two years before? Snape outed Lupin as a werewolf to the entire British Wizarding World. In other words, ''Snape is directly responsible for making the lives of every werewolf in Britain miserable, just to get petty revenge.''
45	** Alternatively, if it had been two years before and Sirius isn't rounding, Umbridge's passing the law could have been the impetus for Dumbledore reaching out to Lupin at the beginning of [=PoA=], as Dumbledore is one of the few employers who wouldn't discriminate against him.
46	* Snape says "The Dark Lord almost always knows when someone is lying to him". He says "almost" because [[spoiler: Snape himself had been lying to Voldemort about his true allegiance for years]].
47	* Harry and Ginny get together in the next book, but it is here that Rowling establishes Ginny as a worthy partner for Harry, rather than just a fangirl with a crush, using Cho as a foil. Harry has been crushing on Cho for two years, and they finally get together, but things go south rather quickly. Even aside from Cho’s issues regarding Cedric or her jealousy regarding Hermione, the last straw is when Cho is dismissive of the damage Marietta did in exposing the DA and getting Dumbledore sacked. This shows that she has no understanding of what Harry’s going through and is unable or unwilling to take his problems seriously and give him the support he needs. In contrast, Ginny not only understands what is going on, she proves she’s more than a mere fangirl by actually getting her hands dirty and fighting alongside Harry.
48	* One of Gryffindor's primary values is bravery. When Seamus apologizes to Harry for not believing him, he is also demonstrating that he is brave enough to admit when he's wrong and try to make amends.
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52	* During Harry's trial before the Wizengamot, Mrs. Figg is brought as a witness and describes the effects of the dementor attack, mentioning that they made her remember "dreadful things". One of them was most likely the day she learned that she was a Squib and would never be able to perform magic or attend Hogwarts. Also equally possible, she is known as 'Mrs.' Figg, signaling that she is - or at least was at one time - married. She now has several cats to keep her company, and nowhere in the story is a Mr. Figg ever mentioned...
53	* Towards the end of the book, Harry finds the two-way communication mirror Sirius gave him for Christmas in his trunk. If he'd remembered this when he was desperate to contact him, he would probably have had a direct line to Sirius, rather than getting through to Kreacher; thus the unnecessary rescue mission to the Ministry (which lead to Sirius' death) would probably have been avoided.
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57	* Dolores Umbridge's eventual comeuppance at the hands of the centaurs. In their original mythology, centaurs were notorious rapists. When Dumbledore rescues her a few days later, she doesn't show any signs of physical injury, but she's temporarily catatonic from whatever she endured and panics at the sound of hoofbeats. While Umbridge was [[AssholeVictim an absolute bitch]], if the Centaurs did rape her, one has to wonder if even someone as awful as she deserved it.
58	* In ''Order of the Phoenix'', Dolores Umbridge is not shown to be a particularly talented witch, being utterly unable to combat Fred and George's wild array of spells, but she has complete confidence in her ability to cast the Cruciatus Curse (described as a very hard curse to bring off) on Harry. The most likely explanation (aside from SmallNameBigEgo) is that she's had plenty of practice using it before.
59	* More on Umbridge; when Harry is put on trial, most of the Wizengamot (including Amelia Bones) is surprised that the boy is able to cast a corporeal Patronus, which is said to be a highly-advanced spell that requires a lot of talent. This puts Umbridge's action of sending the Dementors to attack him at the start of the book in a completely different light: if the Ministry was unaware that Harry could use the Patronus, then Umbridge most likely didn't know either. Which means she sent the dementors ''fully expecting'' that they sucked out Harry's soul! Moreover, had she succeeded, she would have been a KarmaHoudini because nobody, not even Fudge, ever found out what she did! And given her later actions in the book, it's hard to imagine this was the first time Dementors had been weaponized against people that represented political inconveniences to Fudge.
60	* Did Umbridge kill Sirius? Snape says that Voldemort can only try to hack into Harry's mind when it is most relaxed and vulnerable, such as when he's asleep. When does Voldemort lure Harry to the Department of Mysteries with the false vision? During his History of Magic O.W.L. Why was he sleepy? Because Umbridge chased off Hagrid and almost ''murdered'' [=McGonagall=], which kept the entire school up worrying and talking about it. If he hadn't have fallen asleep at that particular time, the timeline for Voldemort's trap would have shifted around and possibly failed before it could begin. Sirius would have healed Buckbeak and gotten suspicious of Kreacher if he tried it again. And Kreacher was waiting in Number Twelve, Grimmuald Place to deceive Harry when he used the Floo Network. It's not likely Voldemort or Narcissa could've told him exactly when he had to help spring the trap, unless Voldemort remembered how boring History of Magic was during his Hogwarts years. However, Fortunately, Snape implies there are other times Voldemort can send visions into Harry's head, which is proven true in ''Deathly Hallows.''
61	** But what if simply having to think about History of Magic relaxed Harry's mind? It's the most notoriously boring class in Hogwarts and Professor Binns doesn't appear to notice or care. If Binns had bothered to make his classes more interesting, or if he had accepted his death and allowed a new teacher to fill his post, would Harry have become more interested in History of Magic? Would Sirius be alive?
62	* The love room in the Department of Mysteries sounds tame enough, but it's been permanently locked with extremely powerful enchantments. Which brings up the question: why is it there if it's not used? The answer is that something went wrong in there that was so horrible that they can't chance going in there ever again.
63	** It's possible that there is a way to get in, but it's kept sealed 99% of the time to stop anyone unauthorized from mucking about.
64	* The more you learn about Sirius Black's life, the more horrifying it gets. He grew up with an emotionally abusive family of pureblood supremacists that treated him like a disgrace. At the age of 16, he ran away from home to live with James Potter. A year or two later, he graduated from Hogwarts and joined the Order of the Phoenix at the height of Voldemort's power. Then one of his friends betrayed Sirius' best friends/surrogate family to Voldemort, framed him for it, and got him sent to a prison where he spent the next twelve years reliving his worst memories — of which there were probably quite a few by this time. He broke out, managed to prove his innocence to his remaining living friend and godson, then was forced to go on the run again. Finally, he spent the last year of his life shut up in the very house he ran away from as a teenager, unable to take part in the fight against Voldemort because the rest of the world still thought he was a Death Eater who had betrayed his best friend to Voldemort, alone except for Buckbeak and his memories of Azkaban.
65	* It's hard to feel sorry for Janus Thickey, who earned himself his woes. He's famous for pretending to have been eaten by a Lethifold so he could run off with his mistress, abandoning his wife and children. But the fact remains that in a hospital whose wards are named for high-profile patients, a ''long-term inpatient ward where most of the patients have spell-induced brain damage or other memory issues'' bears his name. Sounds like his wife was [[WomanScorned not happy]] when she discovered what he'd done.
66	* It's fairly brief, but it's mentioned that Sturgis Podmore, a member of the Order of the Phoenix, got hit by an Imperius Curse from Lucius Malfoy. Not only does this mean he spent ''six months in Azkaban'' for something that wasn't his fault, but if Lucius had been smarter, he could have discovered a lot about the Order and possibly even used Sturgis to bring them down from the inside. The possibilities as to what he could have achieved with a mole are '''terrifying.'''
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Context Fridge / HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix