I finished Book Five!

Where to begin? I already had to write a post halfway through the book because I took so freaking long to read it. I'm sorry that I'm such a slow reader. But my determination to finish was so strong that I was up until almost 4am reading until I forced myself to go to bed and finish in the morning.
So, I suppose I will go back and address those very few movie moments that I remembered oh so long ago and recounted in my previous post.

• "Sirius Black dies." I remember there being something fishy about this when I saw the movie because I did not remember an actual moment where he is killed. I just knew that he died somehow. In fact...I had a vague feeling that he not so much died, but disappeared. Of course, I was right, but there will be more on this later.
• "There are these glass globe things that fall all over the place." Obviously the prophesies.
• "Harry takes some sort of special lessons from Snape and learns stuff about his father." Boom. Right on. Harry takes Occlumency lessons with Snape and learns that his father was a big jerk.
• "There's a standoff at the end with Voldemort and stuff." Pretty easy to guess, but I at least remembered parts from the movie.
• "Luna reads a magazine upside down." Yes she does. More on her later as well.

So what has happened since my last post? Some key moments.

1. Dumbledore's Army. Yes! I now know exactly what Dumbledore's Army is, so the world makes sense! Harry and friends meet secretly to learn the Defense Against the Dark Arts since stupid freaking Umbridge won't let them and doesn't teach them squat because she's a coward.
2. Hagrid returns. Unfortunately, his extended absence had nothing to do with Lucius Malfoy (as far as we know), but instead was due to his unfaltering love for monsters and his need to bring back his giant half-brother, Grawp. This, of course, was following his and Madame Maxime's failed attempts to win over the remaining giants.
3. GILDEROY! We get to see Gilderoy Lockhart at St. Mungo's, and I couldn't have been happier. Just for the record, I love this man so much that I named my new iPod Touch after him. Yes, its name is Gilderoy, following its predecessors: Marlon (after Brando), Montgomery (after Scotty from Star Trek) and Jefferson (because it's a cool name). You know who else we saw at the hospital? Neville and his family! Two of my favorite people in one place! This was possibly my favorite chapter because of this fact alone. More on my undying love for Neville to come.
4. The prophesy. I've seen the main part quoted a few times in my life without knowing its exact context: "And either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives." Now I know. Oh, Harry Potter has to kill Voldemort now because it was foretold. Well, either that or the other way around, but I know how it goes. I would like to say, though, that when Dumbledore said that Professor Trelawney had only made one other true prediction before her ominous declaration during the third book, I was sure it would come into play later. It did. Go me.

Those are some big things. The rest of the stuff I have to say pertains to certain characters. Namely: Sirius, Snape, Cho, Luna, and Neville.

Sirius: I am mad. So stinking angry and I don't even know why. I knew he was going to die. I knew that the only reason I actually liked him very much was because he could turn into what I thought at the time was a wolf in the fifth movie. I knew that he was reckless and was bound to get himself in trouble. What I didn't know was that his death was going to be so infuriating. 
Really?! He falls through an archway and disappears? After Dumbledore arrives to save the day and the Prophesy is broken so there's no use for Bellatrix to be fighting anymore? When it all could have been avoided if Harry didn't have his hero complex and Dumbledore had just been straight from the beginning? I'm not okay with this. If he had maybe died on his own terms because he was too eager to get out of the house or something, been Avada Kedavra-ed even, I would be okay with that. But this? He died because he was trying to save Harry who was misled into saving Sirius when he wasn't even in danger. And it was just because they were fighting in that stupid room with the curtain and he happened to fall the wrong way.
But I'll stop ranting now because I could go on and on. And this post is already really long. I apologize.

Snape: I used to hate him. Actually, my journey with Snape has taken some interesting turns. At first, one of my good friends is a super duper Snape fan, so before I knew anything about Harry Potter, I thought he would be a pretty cool guy. Wrong. When I started reading the books, I wondered how my friend could ever like him because he's so mean. These feelings continued on until recently. Then I saw into Snape's mind. The poor kid was tormented by Harry's dad and friends for seemingly no reason. No wonder he can't let go of his residual hatred that he now directs at Harry. 
And, he's a devoted member of the Order, of that I'm sure. I knew that when he left Harry in Umbridge's office with her and the Inquisitorial Squad, he was going to alert someone or do something. I half-expected him to be the one to burst in and save the day at the Department of Mysteries. Anyway, that said, Snape is now all right in my book. And I feel smug every time Draco looks to him for help because he has no idea that his beloved teacher is not a Death Eater, but a member of the very group seeking to destroy Voldemort. Hahahaha.

Cho: Ugh. She was okay at first; I could deal with her little advances on Harry without too much trouble. But then she started getting all blubbery, and it was obvious that she was not ready for a relationship. So, things don't work out with Harry. What does she do? She moves on to Michael Corner (which, I admire this little altercation) without so much as a backward glance to her dear mistletoe buddy, Harry. Stupid mistletoe.
Anyway, I hope we don't see much more of her. Now, just to get Ginny away from Dean Thomas (really, what does she see in boys a year older than her?) and all can be right in the Harry-Ginny universe.

Luna: Having seen Luna in movies number five and, regrettably, seven, I was fond of her before actually meeting her in the book. Then I met her. Unfortunately, she is not as likable as I would have imagined. She seems a lot more spacey and downright rude sometimes. The one in the movies may be socially awkward, but she was wise and aware moreso than in the books, I think. Oh well.

Neville: It's official. Neville is my hero. I love him so so much, and my love for him grows with each book, if that is even possible. He doesn't even do anything super special, but he has a heart of gold. And, he is right up there with Harry as far as importance goes, according to the Prophesy. Had Voldemort decided to go after Neville when he was a baby, we could very well be reading books called Neville Longbottom and the Sorcerer's Stone, and people with the initials NL would be famous instead of those blessed with the letters HP. The world would be a different place.

So that is all for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. It's a long book, so I suppose it's worthy of such long posts. I won't waste more time with a frilly conclusion. On to The Half-Blood Prince! Eek!


Want to see my other posts about the series? Right here.