Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is a 2003 book, the fifth book in the Harry Potter series of children's books by J. K. Rowling. The book was published on 21 June 2003 in the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Australia, and several other countries. It sold almost seven million copies in the United States and the United Kingdom combined on that day. It has 38 chapters, and is about 255,000 words long [1].

The Canadian version of the book is made from recycled paper and saved 29,640 trees in the initial print run of 1 million books.

The first official foreign translation of the book appeared in Vietnamese on 21 July, 2003, when the first of 22 installments was released. The first official European translation appeared in Serbia and Montenegro in Serbian, by official publisher Narodna Knjiga, in early September 2003. Other translations appeared later, e.g. in November 2003 in Dutch and German. The English language version has topped the best seller list in France; while in Germany an unofficial distributed translation process has been started on the net [2].

In the Czech Republic a college student translated the book in July/September and one 14-aged schoolboy made it available on his private website. This led to confusion, many newspapers stated that this unofficial translation was done by group of teenagers [3] and the official Czech publisher (Albatros [4]) announced that they would sue the schoolboy. Later they took the action back.

Meanwhile, in Britain, David Blunkett the blind former Home Secretary, has complained about the delay of the cassette version of the book, as well as its projected price [5].

Plot Synopsis

Cover of the United States edition

As seen at the end of the previous book, Cornelius Fudge has refused to believe Lord Voldemort has returned, because it would be great trouble for the Ministry. Instead, he convinces himself that Dumbledore wants to replace Fudge as Minister of Magic, despite Dumbledore's public denials of such a desire.

Dumbledore brings the "old crowd" who opposed Voldemort before back together to re-form the Order of the Phoenix. The Order's goal is to fight Voldemort, a task made difficult by the Ministry's obsession with rooting out Dumbledore and his supporters.

As part of the Ministry's task, they install Dolores Umbridge as the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, so she can prevent students from being trained in combat, as the Ministry fears Dumbledore could mobilize the students against the Ministry.

Harry and his friends don't think being defenseless in the light of Voldemort's return bodes well. They form their own group called Dumbledore's Army (the D.A. for short), named as a joke because that's the Ministry's worst fear.

However, the D.A. is betrayed by Marietta Edgecombe, and Dumbledore leaves Hogwarts to go into hiding. Umbridge appoints herself the new headmistress and begans twisting the rules at Hogwarts to fit her fascist plans for complete control. However, eventually, the school's teachers and students revolt against her. The headmaster's office fails to recognize her position, leaving her locked out while it awaits Dumbledore's return.

Meanwhile, Harry has been having dreams involving the Department of Mysteries and eventually has one where Sirius Black is being tortured by Voldemort. Believing what he sees is real, he escapes from Umbridge and goes to the Department of Mysteries accompanied by Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville Longbottom and Luna Lovegood.

However, Voldemort has placed that vision in Harry's mind and Harry finds that he has been brought there to take a prophecy out of the Department of Mysteries for Voldemort. A group of Death Eaters and the Order of the Phoenix become involved in a battle. As a result, Sirius is killed, most of the Death Eaters are captured, and Lord Voldemort is driven away without either learning the prophecy or killing Harry. When he escapes, he takes with him Bellatrix Lestrange, a Death Eater.

Harry learns of the prophecy's content from Dumbledore, even though the one from the Department of Mysteries is smashed in the battle. Dumbledore also reveals to Harry both his danger and the protections available to him, particularly at the Dursley's house. The Ministry finally accepts publicly that Voldemort has returned and begins preparations for the coming war.

The film

The movie will be directed by David Yates. According to David Heyman, the producer, filming should begin in January 2006; a release date is expected in Spring or Fall 2007. Michael Goldenberg (Contact, Peter Pan) has been chosen to write the screenplay. For American audiences, the violence will likely require a PG-13 rating.

Points to Consider

• The book can be viewed as a commentary on both programmatic non-interactive education and on the repression of free speech. Umbridge's Defence Against the Dark Arts lessons are viewed by the students as so bad that they form their own group to teach themselves. Also, Umbridge's punishing Harry for talking about Voldemort and the banning of the edition The Quibbler containing an interview with him can be seen as attacking free speech.

• It may be the case that the Umbridge character is based on someone that JK Rowling knows and hates in real life. Certainly there are no redeeming features in the character whatsoever and she seems to be able to antagonise every 'good' character in the book, including the usually neutral/aloof teachers like McGonagall, who actually directly insults Umbridge at one point (I should have made my meaning clearer...He has achieved high marks in...tests set by a competent teacher, pg. 585). And while having a hated character is a necessary part of most fiction, the Harry Potter series is not short of those (Voldemort, Snape, the Malfoy family, Fudge — in this book — etc.). So it could be argued that JK Rowling is parodying someone she hates with Umbridge. Another possibility is that this reflects the attitude of some (many?) real life teachers to the Government's Inspectors of Education.

But there is another note to this, even characters who are seen as "evil" such as Voldemort have, at the very least, reasons for being that way. Indeed, Umbridge too has some human features.

• What is Percy's standing with his family now? While Fudge has now come round and believes in Voldemort, the fact is that Percy did some things while Fudge didn't that make a reconciliation with his family more unlikely. His argument with his father is one thing, but Percy also assisted in the Wizengamot trial against Harry and he wrote the letter to Ron warning him about Harry. Even if both Percy and his family believe the same thing now, are they going to be on speaking terms in book six?

• There are also strong parallels between the wizarding world in Book Five and pre-World War II Europe. In both instances, a great war has already been fought. However, the loser of the first war has been regaining power and building an army. The evil ruler embraces a racist ideology (many of the supporters of Voldemort are obsessed with maintaining the "purity" of wizard blood). Many respectable and powerful citizens fall under his sway and accept his ideology (The Malfoys, Blacks, etc). However, the civilians are unaware of the evil that is gathering, constantly fed placating rhetoric by the press (The Daily Prophet), and the government (The Ministry).

Editions

• ISBN 0747551006 Hardback (British edition, 'child' dust-jacket/printed board):
• ISBN 0747569401 Hardback (British edition, 'adult' dust-jacket/cloth-covered board)
• ISBN 043935806X Hardback (US edition, dust-jacket/printed board)