Sirius Dreams

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: Chapter 31

One of my daughters peeked over my shoulder yesterday to see me reading the chapter titled O.W.L.s. "Hmmm ... O.W.L.s," she said and spelled it. I was reading it as a word like you would an acronym such as NATO or Taser.

So which is it? Do you spell it when you say it or do you say it as the word it spells? A deep question, I know, but I suppose I will have to wait till I can watch the movie to know for sure. Hopefully that will be in about a week.

On to more pressing questions:

• How long before Ron quits retelling his Quidditch heroics?
• How long before Grawp is discovered?
• How did everyone do on their O.W.L.s?
• Will the High Instigator get in trouble for her midnight vigilantism that chased off Hagrid and felled McGonagall?
• Where and when will Hagrid reappear?

The biggest question, of course, is what did Harry really see in his dream after he fell asleep during his final exam?

We know that Voldemort is inflicting the unforgiveable Crucio! curse on Sirius. Nasty old V wants Sirius to give him something. Not sure what it is or if I should know. But it must be crucial. I do think Harry finally saw more because he wasn't trying to fall asleep and his guard was down.

The other question is will Harry tell anyone what he saw? Maybe because Sirius was in trouble he will tell him. But you never can tell with this bunch what they will share and what they will keep to themselves. They live by a code of need-to-know and afraid-to-tell.

Whatever happens, I'm sure such a public display by Harry will produce more questions than you can shake a wand at.

Giant questions

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: Chapter 30

Some apparently unrelated items find their way into our latest musings about our young heroes.

Harry unwittingly helps Ron by giving his Triwizard winnings to Fred and George to open a joke shop in Diagon Alley. Their conspicuous exit from Hogwarts apparently took pressure off Ron as the Quidditch goalie.

They'll be sorry they weren't there to see little brother lead the Gryffindors to the Cup.

Umbridge and Filch are still doing battle with all of the curses and spells left behind by Fred and George and continued by others. Those two were apparently quite inspirational.

But let's talk about the giant in the room.

I wonder what purpose Grawp serves in the story. I suppose something down the road, but it's hard to imagine what. Maybe just another misstep to get Hagrid in more trouble.

Hagrid's heart, though, is as big as his girth. The way he cares for creatures that no one else does is admirable. Though he sure doesn't care much for centaurs.

I suppose all of this is somehow helping to lead us to the book's climax. At some point I expect Umbridge to be gone. We will learn more about Harry's dreams. And we'll see if Harry's claims of the return of Voldemort will be believed outside of the Order. It might take a conspicuous act by Voldemort for that to happen.

Only eight more chapters to go.