Summary
Harry and Arthur return from the Ministry with good news—Harry has been cleared of all charges. Other than a suspicious run-in with Lucius Malfoy outside of the courtroom, the day could not have gone any better. Arthur informs Lupin of Malfoy's meeting with Fudge; they both think Dumbledore should be alerted at once. The Order believes that as of now, Fudge is acting on his own accord, but they are worried that in the course of holding private meetings with known Death Eaters, he may at some point be placed under the control of an Imperius curse.
Over the next few days, Harry, Hermione, and the Weasley kids continue to clean Number 12, Grimmauld Place while relishing in Harry's acquittal. Their book lists arrive from Hogwarts, and Hermione and Ron's letters come with an additional surprise—they've both been made prefects of Gryffindor house. (A prefect is similar to a Resident Advisor in college, a student authority figure who is supposed to act as a leader to their peers.) Molly is overjoyed by the news of Ron's appointment and insists on buying him a reward. Ron asks for a new broom. Harry, once again surprised by his own emotions, initially feels rather jealous of Ron. He's not proud of his feelings, but he can't help resenting the fact that Dumbledore chose Ron over him. Harry privately feels that he's more deserving of the badge, despite the fact that he never even considered being a prefect; in fact, before Ron was appointed, both he and Harry rather resented prefects. Eventually, Harry comes around and stops feeling jealous. He's proud of his friend, and Ron deserves the recognition.
During a small party that Molly organizes at Grimmauld Place to celebrate Ron and Hermione's achievement, Moody pulls Harry aside and shows him a photograph of the original Order of the Phoenix. Moody identifies each member, and for those who have died, he gives more details of their deaths than Harry prefers to hear. At the edge of the photograph stand Harry's parents. Harry didn't know that his parents were a part of the Order, and the surprise is more than he can handle at the moment. He slips away to go to his bedroom when he hears Mrs. Weasley wailing in the living room. She left the party earlier to exterminate a Boggart that's been rattling around a writing desk. Harry bursts into the room and finds her sobbing on the floor with the Boggart in the form of Ron's corpse. Each time Molly tries to cast a spell to banish it, it turns into another one of her children's corpses. Lupin runs into the room and swiftly takes care of the Boggart. Other members of the Order follow and assure Molly that while they are entering a dangerous time, they are better prepared than they were in the first war against Voldemort. Molly is sick with worry about what will happen to her children if she and Arthur die, or whether her children are even safe in the upcoming battles with Death Eaters. After reassuring words from Sirius and Lupin, Molly manages to settle down and go up to bed, but Harry can't help feeling like she's right to be concerned. He's seen the ruthlessness of Voldemort, his willingness to kill children, and he knows that everyone he loves is in grave danger.
Grimmauld Place is busier than usual as Harry, Hermione, and the Weasleys pack their trunks and set off for King's Cross station. Sirius insists on joining them at the station in his dog form, despite Molly's protests and Dumbledore's urgings that he stay at home. As they are boarding the Hogwarts Express, Ron and Hermione awkwardly break it to Harry that they have to sit in a compartment with the other prefects. Harry, slightly dejected, moves through the car with Ginny until they run into Neville, who is also trying to find a seat on the packed train. They end up sitting with a fourth-year Ravenclaw named Luna Lovegood (whom Ginny refers to as "Loony" Lovegood). Luna is reading a magazine called The Quibbler. She has a dreamy way of speaking and makes intense eye contact; the general impression of Luna is indeed that she's slightly "weird."
Eventually Ron and Hermione join Harry, Ginny, Neville, and Luna. They're both huffing over the fact that Malfoy has been made a prefect of Slytherin, and he's already abusing his powers to bully younger students. Luna drops her copy of The Quibbler and Harry notices a headline about Sirius, suggesting that he may not be guilty of the crimes with which he's been charged. Harry asks Luna if he can read it, and as he flips through, he realizes that The Quibbler espouses non-mainstream stances but uses tabloid sensationalism to present "evidence" of their theories. For example, the story about Sirius suggests, rightly, that he didn't commit the mass murder for which he was sent to Azkaban; however, it also suggests that he is the lead singer of a pop band in disguise. Hermione calls the magazine "rubbish" (90) and Luna cooly informs her that her father is the editor-in-chief. When the train pulls up to Hogsmead, Harry is surprised to find that Hagrid isn't in his usual spot, rounding up first-years for a boat trip across the lake. Instead, a substitute Magical Creatures professor, Professor Grubly-Plank, assumes his usual role. Another difference is that this year, instead of the self-drawn carriages, Harry sees skeletal horses drawing the carriages. He's alarmed when he asks Ron about the creatures, and Ron seems not to be able to see them. Luna assures Harry that she can see them too; she says, "Don’t worry. You’re just as sane as I am" (93). For Harry, this is not much of a consolation.
The students file into the Great Hall where, as usual, a welcome feast awaits them. First-year students enter the hall after everyone else is already seated and line up for the sorting ceremony. The Sorting Hat is brought out and, as usual, it launches into a song. This year, his song is more of a cautionary tale than a celebration of the differences between each house. The Hat warns students that they should not focus on the differences between the houses, and they should rather emphasize their common causes to foster unity between them. The Gryffindor ghost, Nearly Headless Nick, tells Harry and Hermione that the Sorting Hat has a history of knowing when Hogwarts is in trouble. The song has a visible effect on the assembly; it is not its usual overflowing of mirth.
After everyone eats their fill, Dumbledore rises and makes his announcements. He introduces two new teachers. Professor Grubbly-Plank will take over Care of Magical Creatures, and the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor is Dolores Umbridge, the Ministry Undersecretary who voted in favor of Harry's expulsion. Umridge interrupts Dumbledore to make a speech of her own in which she emphasizes that "progress for progress's sake must be discouraged" (99). Hermione takes this as a clear sign that the Ministry is attempting to usurp Dumbledore.
After the feast, Harry rushes back to the boys' dormitory, hoping to avoid more whispers and pointing from his classmates. He's realizing that the negative coverage he's receiving in the Daily Prophet will actually impact his daily life. His peers now think he's a pathological liar, and some of them even think he has something to do with Cedric's death. When he gets to his dorm, his feeling of relief is quickly replaced with dread as Seamus informs him that his mother doesn't want him at Hogwarts anymore because of Harry and Dumbledore. She believes what the Prophet prints about Dumbledore losing his mind and Harry manipulating him into spreading word that Voldemort has returned. Tensions between Harry and Seamus erupt and they start shouting at each other. Ron comes into the room and breaks up the fight. He defends Harry, as does Neville. Seamus shuts himself into his four-poster bed. As Harry tries falling asleep, he realizes that his life at Hogwarts is about to be very different from previous years.
Their first day of classes is packed—four classes, two of which are double periods. The two double periods are with Snape and the new Defense teacher, Umbridge. Fred and George warn them that the fifth year is among the hardest years at Hogwarts because it is the first year of Ministry exams, or O.W.L.s (Ordinary Wizarding Levels). Harry, Ron, and Hermione quickly learn the truth of their warning. On their first day of class, they are assigned lengthy essays by Professor Binns and Professor Snape, and Harry and Ron are tasked with keeping a dream journal by Professor Trelawney. By the time they reach Professor Umbridge's class, they are already tired. Umbridge immediately loses the favor of the class by demonstrating that her Defense class will be purely theoretical. She lists the Ministry-approved education goals of her Defense class on the board and laments the quality of their previous instructors. She even goes so far as to refer to Professor Lupin as an "extremely dangerous half-breed" (114). Hermione raises her hand to object to the fact that there is no practical component to the course, as Umbridge describes it. Umbridge simply laughs and says that they will have no reason to actually use defensive spells. Harry objects, insisting that Voldemort has returned and that he poses an immediate threat to witches and wizards everywhere. Umbridge gives him detention for suggesting that Voldemort has returned. She then lectures the class about how any rumors they may have heard about the return of a certain Dark wizard are lies. Harry then challenges her to explain the death of Cedric Diggory. This, it seems, goes a step too far. Umbridge writes a note, folds it into a little pink envelope, and tells Harry to bring it to Professor McGonagall.
When Harry reaches McGonagall's office, she reads the note and offers him a plate of cookies. McGonagall looks uncharacteristically anxious. She tells Harry that he needs to be more careful. Umbridge is clearly at Hogwarts reporting directly to the Minister. She tells Harry that there's nothing she can do about his week of detentions; he must serve them and keep his head down. Clearly, McGonagall doesn't like Umbridge or the idea that the Ministry is meddling with Hogwarts' business, but her hands are tied, and in order to keep the business and membership of the Order of the Phoenix secret, she cannot show favoritism to Harry.
Quidditch tryouts approach, but unfortunately Harry's detentions make him unable to attend. Angelina, the new Quidditch captain, tells Harry to ask to serve his Friday detention another time so he can attend tryouts. When Harry shows up to Umbridge's office, he asks about serving his Friday detention at another time, but Umbridge is rather pleased that it interferes with one of his obligations. She feels that her lesson will sink in deeper that way. She assigns Harry lines; he must write "I must not tell lies" over and over again. When he reaches for his quill, Umbridge gives him a special quill to use. When he writes with Umbridge's quill, a pain shoots across the back of his hand. As he writes the line more and more, the message becomes etched into the back of his hand, and before long, Harry realizes that the red ink that the quill is producing (he was not given an ink well) is, in fact, his own blood.
Harry doesn't report Umbridge for her physically abusive detention punishment though. He doesn't tell Ron or Hermione, and he doesn't bother Dumbledore with it either. Part of his reason for not telling Dumbledore is that he doesn't want to ask him for any help after being ignored all summer. Another part of him simply doesn't want Umbridge to think that she's getting under his skin. But one night, while walking back to the dorms after detention, Harry runs into Ron in the hallway. Ron is sneaking around with his new broom. Harry asks Ron what he's doing with his broom, and at first Ron tries making up a story, but eventually he admits to Harry that he's been practicing Quidditch. He wants to try out for the open position of keeper. While they're in the hallway, Ron notices the cuts on Harry's hand. He tells Harry to report Umbridge, but Harry refuses. He finishes his week of detentions, and when he returns to the dorms on Friday, he walks into a celebration in the common room. Ron is the team's new keeper.
Early Saturday morning, Harry writes a letter to Sirius. He keeps the letter very vague and cryptic so that if it were intercepted, it wouldn't be intelligible. He communicates to Sirius that his scar has been hurting, that Dolores Umbridge is the new tyrannical Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, and that Hagrid still hasn't returned to Hogwarts. In the owlery, Harry runs into Cho Chang, and she tells him that she thinks it was brave to stand up to Dolores Umbridge. This compliment makes Harry's day and turns his whole mood around from glum to downright chipper. Harry and Ron practice together on the Quidditch green before practice because Ron is rather nervous about his first time with the team. Ron plays well during his and Harry's private practice, but he fumbles during regular practice and embarrasses himself in front of the rest of the team.
Following the news, Hermione spots a small article in the paper about how Sirius Black is thought to be hiding out in London. This sets the trio on edge, thinking that somehow Lucius Malfoy tipped off the Ministry on Sirius' whereabouts after he showed up to the train station. That weekend, Percy's owl Hermes flies up to the Gryffindor common room with a letter for Ron. The letter is both a congratulations for becoming prefect and an arrogant warning about remaining friends with Harry. Percy writes Ron a long letter about how their parents are foolish to align themselves with Dumbledore, and that Ron should stop fraternizing with Harry because he's dangerous and unstable, and furthermore, their friendship could hurt Ron's professional prospects after he leaves school. Ron tears up the letter and throws it in the fire. Later on, as Hermione helps Harry and Ron fix their essays in the common room, Sirius' face shows up in the fireplace. Sirius figures that communicating through the fireplace is the most direct and secure way for them to talk. He assures Harry that his scar hurting is nothing to worry about; now that Voldemort has returned, it is likely that his scar will frequently hurt. He affirms that Umbridge is a foul witch; she recently pushed through legislation that makes it harder for werewolves to find employment, which seriously impacts Remus Lupin's job prospects. Sirius then informs them that Hagrid has not yet returned from his mission as a liaison to the giants. Sirius is not concerned for Hagrid's safety, but the kids certainly are. Finally, Sirius suggests that he should come and visit them in Hogsmeade in dog form. Harry and Hermione both vehemently reject the idea, citing the article in the Prophet and their suspicions that Lucius Malfoy likely knows roughly where he's hiding. Sirius accepts that he shouldn't come, but is clearly put off by Harry's tendency towards caution, again comparing Harry to his father and saying, “The risk would’ve been what made it fun for James" (143).
The next morning, the front page of the Daily Prophet announces that Dolores Umbridge, by decree of the Minister of Magic, has been appointed to the post of "High Inquisitor" at Hogwarts. This post gives Umbridge even more oversight than she has as Fudge's personal mole. Umbridge now has firing power at Hogwarts. She begins conducting observations during classes, assessing the quality of all instructional approaches. Harry, Ron, and Hermione attend several lessons observed by Umbridge. The most dramatic observation takes place in Trelawney's class; Umbridge asks her to make a prediction about the future, and when Trelawney fails to do so, Umbridge marks her clipboard and ominously leaves the class. Umbridge gives Harry more detentions for bringing up the year Professor Quirrel was possessed by Voldemort. One night, after a particularly bloody session of detention with Umbridge, Hermione suggests to Harry that they should start teaching themselves defense spells. She proposes that Harry teach a secret class to prepare students to fight against the Dark arts. At first, Harry is extremely opposed to the idea. He doesn't see himself as a skilled enough wizard to teach his peers anything. Hermione drops the subject but asks Harry to consider it further.
Analysis
Rowling includes a great deal of foreshadowing and scene-setting in these early chapters of the fifth book. A heavy sense of foreboding weighs on the members of the Order of the Phoenix, particularly Molly, who has seven children and feels that all of them are in grave danger with the rise of Voldemort. When Molly attempts to exterminate the Boggart (a creature that takes the form of a person's greatest fear) in Sirius' writing desk, it turns into the corpses of her children. This spectacle, paired with Mad-Eye Moody's description of the fates of the first generation of the Order of the Phoenix, imbues the narrative with a sure sense of danger for every member of the resistance.
Molly and Arthur's involvement in the Order puts even larger targets on their backs, both from the perspective of the Death Eaters and the Ministry of Magic itself. The Ministry orchestrates an ongoing effort to silence Harry, Dumbledore, and anyone who believes that Lord Voldemort has, in fact, risen.
Rowling takes on bureaucracy and the notion of red tape in her portrayal of the Ministry of Magic. It is particularly easy to demonize the Ministry in the face of a towering dramatic irony; the reader is present for the rise of Lord Voldemort. While Harry Potter might be the only non-Death Eater to have actually witnessed Lord Voldemort's return, and while his testimony is, in reality, all the Wizarding World has to go on, the reader is also a witness. The reader knows without a doubt, from book four, that Lord Voldemort is alive and mounting an army; this dramatic irony makes the Ministry's position look particularly foolish.
Dolores Umbridge embodies another major argument against the Ministry. By making her an "evil" character, Rowling complicates the dichotomy of good and evil that exits as purely non-Death Eaters versus Death Eaters, those who oppose Voldemort versus those who support him. When Harry and Ron suggest that Umbridge is evil enough to be a Death Eater, Sirius reminds them that "the world isn't split into good people and Death Eaters" (142). Umbridge is a rabid supporter and writer of discriminatory policy against non-human members of their magical society. According to Sirius, she "campaigned to have merpeople rounded up and tagged" (142) and she's responsible for legislation that makes it almost impossible for werewolves to find employment.
Umbridge sets forth her philosophy in the Great Hall at the welcome feast, when she tells students and faculty "progress for progress's sake must be discouraged, for our tried and tested traditions often require no tinkering" (99). Umbridge's unwavering rejection of dialogue in her classrooms and her total devotion to standardized curricula are certainly bad for Hogwarts, but Rowling associates these practices with overtly malicious ones, like Umridge's physical abuse of Harry during his detentions, forcing him to slice a message into the back of his own hand and write lines in his own blood. The character of Umbridge embodies the book's stance that unchecked bureaucracy is in the same league of evil as Voldemort's genocidal movement; under the leadership of Umbridge, Rowling demonstrates that the Ministry actually maintains some of the same suppressive, discriminatory goals as the Death Eaters—they are simply less overtly violent.
