What did we learn today?

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince: Chapter 4

Class, let's review what we learned today from this chapter:

• Apparating is physically uncomfortable until you get used to it. (Still wish it was possible for Muggles like me. Sure would save a lot of time and money.)
• Voldemort is using occlumency to hide his thoughts and whereabouts from Harry. (Presumably he's much better at it than Harry. But is it really a good idea for Voldemort. I thought you were supposed to keep your friends close and your enemies closer.)
• Voldemort kills so he can use the corpses as soldiers called Inferi. (How perfectly horrible. This is why evildoers can be so difficult to defeat. They will use anything to help their cause no matter how awful or creepy.)
• Harry is going to get private magic lessons from Sir Albus. (Pretty sure Harry will enjoy these lessons more than the occlumency ones with Snape.)

Horace "The Chairman" Slughorn is an odd fellow with an odd name. (Of course odd names are nothing new in the magical world. Interesting that Harry has a rather common name.) Seems like Slughorn will be one of the more popular Hogwarts profs. And even though he doesn't look like much, the fact that he is able to move each week and stay a step or two ahead of the Death Eaters proves he's got the kind of creative CIA skills the Order of the Phoenix could use.

Dumbledore is more cautious than ever. He feels Harry will be safer with the Weasleys, and he has heightened the security at the burrow. And he instructed Harry to take the invisibility cloak with him everywhere he goes. There must be a lot of chatter out there about what the Death Eaters might be up to.

This story is starting to take shape. I have decided not to try to figure out the significance and identity of the Half-Blood Prince. I really want to apparate ahead to chapter nine and find out, but I will exercise patience for a few more days.

More than expected

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: Chapter 35

Reporting back as promised.

So Dumbledore reappears and Sirius disappears (Lupin says he's dead) in the span of seven paragraphs? Are you kidding me? I read 805 pages that build to those two big-dealios on the same page?

Good stuff.

If Sirius is truly gone and not protected by some charm or spell, all the Death Eaters have accomplished is to make the Order really angry. It's no-spells-barred time.

So what happens next? The Order can't exactly report this to the Ministry. Fudge, etc., would only charge them with harboring a fugitive and maybe more. And they don't seem ready to believe (or admit) the Death Eaters are active. Time to call in the crime scene unit to the Department of Mysteries and gather forensic evidence. Wait, they probably don't do that there. Guess it will remain a mystery (pun intended).

Backing up, I was surprised to learn that this was all about a prophecy. Didn't see that coming (another pun intended). Of all the names, however, that ran through my head at the end of the previous chapter, Lucius Malfoy was near the top of the list.

And now it's clear why the Order wanted the Occlumency lessons for Harry to continue. He was being played by Voldemort all along. I still say they should have told him why. All are at fault.

To top it off, the prophecy was given and no one heard it as far as we know.

Here's my prophecy: This battle of wands and spells was only a warmup. An all-out war is coming. But you probably know that.

In the words of George ...

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: Chapter 29

If I had the displeasure of introducing Dolores Umbridge to a crowd, it might go something like this:

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Dolores Umbridge, the most hated headmistress in the history of Hogwarts.

Or, Dolores Umbridge, the wicked witch of the Ministry of the Magic.

But I think I would most like to introduce her in the words of George Weasley: Dolores Umbridge, the old bat.

Yes, that would give me pleasure.

As readers we, of course, side with Harry and all his friends. And we root against their opposition. And Dolores is definitely the opposition. I hope Harry gets to be an auror, especially after her display in the career counseling session. Talk about your micro-managers. Oh, and good for McGonagall standing up to the boss.

Harry's talk with Sirius and Lupin should calm him down about his dad. Their insistence on resuming his Occlumency lessons was revealing. Everyone believes this is serious business, but they won't tell Harry exactly why. Tell the boy already. Don't you know by now that this approach doesn't work with Harry. He will just go off in another direction if he doesn't understand why.

And then there's Snape. He needs to grow up and forget the past. Move on. Let it go. And just take one for the Order.

Time to be close-minded, I think

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: Chapter 28

Didn't take long for the High Instigator to become the Headmistress. We have as many educational decrees as we have chapters in this book. Time to order a new ream of parchment and another batch of quills.

And while it's illegal for students to form the DA, it's OK for Her Majesty to form the Inquisitorial Squad, which is just a fancy name for tattletales. Fortunately, Fred and George are roaming the castle spreading their special brand of mayhem. They are quite clever, and now that they don't care if they get in trouble ... a distinct advantage for the good guys.

What a terrible and obvious interrogator the inquisitor/instigator is. Could she have been more obvious with the tea, no doubt laced with some sort of truth serum, and her impatient and direct questions. Seems old Mad-Eye's influence on Harry had some purpose. I think Fudge will one day regret sending Umbridge to Hogwarts. She is devious but ultimately not smart enough for those of the Order.

Not sure what to make of Harry's trip into Snape's Pensieve. We already knew that Snape didn't like Harry and that James Potter had something to do with it. Now we know why. It served to get Harry out of Occlumency lessons. Will that be good or bad? No doubt Harry's dreams and the Voldemort factor in them will continue. Is that good or bad?

As Dumbledore left at the end of the previous chapter he warned Harry to close his mind. "You will understand," were his last words to Harry.

Dumbledore is probably right. He always is.

Head games

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: Chapter 24

My first question about this chapter titled "Occlumency" was how to pronounce it. Thanks to the knowledgeable Potter Heads I live with, I think I have it down now.

I understand that growing up with the Dursleys and being orphaned so young makes Harry less than trusting of adults. He has formed the DA with fellow students, and the only adults he seems to trust his life with are the Weasleys (Mrs. Weasley is a maternal figure) and Sirius (an obvious father figure). He wants to trust Dumbledore with his life, but the old wizard keeps Harry in the dark a little too much for Harry's liking.

It's time for Harry to get over this hate for Snape at least a little bit. Dumbledore evidently trusts Snape, so Harry ought to think about that. Would Dumbledore let Snape get inside Harry's mind if he didn't trust the greasy-haired one? This could be a slippery (or greasy) slope of trusting Snape too much, but my bet is that Snape has reformed his evil ways.

I don't know how this story ends, but I can't help but postulate that Snape will be a key figure in the outcome.

Anyway, it was unexpected to learn that Harry was getting inside Voldemort's mind, not the other way around. There is no explanation as to how this happened, but it must have something to do with the graveyard incident.

And what lies behind the door to the Department of Mysteries? Hope I find out before the next book.