Finally, a look at Harry Potter
and his fifth year at Hogwarts

As Harry Potter fans, it seem like we have been waiting a long time for book number five, "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix." Once you pick up the book, you'll know why we had to wait so long. It's 870 pages long! And when you read it, it seems like 870 long pages!

When the book begins, you soon know you are reading about a different Harry. Harry starts off grouchy and feeling sorry for himself. And he seems that way throughout the book. But he is fifteen years old now and tired of being treated like a kid.

Just as with all the books, Harry is eager to leave the Dursleys and get back to school at Hogwarts. In this new volume, his departure from the Dursleys is even more dramatic than earlier ones. He has to fight off dementors who are attacking both him and Dudley, his bully of a cousin. Once the smoke and dust has cleared from the battle, Harry joins His friends, Hermione and the Weasley's. They come together at the old family home of Sirius Black, Harry's trouble-prone godfather. There they find that this old mansion is the headquarters for a secret society called the Order of the Phoenix. The Order, founded by Professor Dumbledore, has as it purpose keeping track of the movements of Lord Voldemort, the evil nemisis of all good wizards and, for that matter, of all muggles as well.

Harry has been warning anyone who will listen that Voldemort has regained his strength and powers and is about to set out to take over the wizard world. The head of the Ministry of Magic, however, supports a party line that Voldemort is no longer a threat and that an attention-seeking Harry Potter is spreading lies. Natruallly, Harry is upset. He is even more shocked when the Ministry places a High Inquisitor at Hogwarts who is assigned to get rid of Dumbldore's supporters and, eventually, replace Dumbledore as headmaster of the school. Harry is particularly incensed when Hagrid, his gentle half-giant friend, is one of the group's early targets.

The middle part of the book is filled with endless detail. One of the more interesting segments is Harry's efforts to start dating a girl friend - no, not Hermione or Ginny Weasley.

The ending of the book, as with all the others, is a dramatic confrontation between Harry and Voldemort. In this one, there is even more violence and more wizard types involved than in the other books. Dumbledore, of course, is involved in the final confrontation and, in the end, tells Harry more about his origin and why he is destined to continue to fight a battle to the death with Voldemort. And so the plot and action for books six and seven are projected. Some of us may hope that they are not quite as lengthy as book five.