Chapter Five: The Order of the Phoenix
In chapter five of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Harry finally gets some answers, Molly says something awful, and Sirius has gotten complicated.
(Please be advised that this is a reread and I will be discussing book and movie spoilers.)
Almost immediately upon entering this chapter we learn something new: Sirius has another dimension to his personality that is fascinating. Up until now, we’ve known him as a murderous convict, a wrongfully convicted tragic hero, and a supportive godfather. But now? Sirius is a person with flaws. Instead of greeting Harry with good cheer and a brave face he’s bitter, bored, and resentful. This might sound strange, but Sirius’s turn of personality in Order of the Phoenix is what made him one of my favorite characters. It’s also what made me so mad about his portrayal in the movies. Sirius is layered, complex, and imperfect. But the movie turned him into a boring father figure with delusions of James, and that I can’t forgive.
Mundungus is more thoroughly introduced, but I find him to be a boring and irrelevant character so I won’t dwell on it. Instead, I’ll go back to how hilarious I find bitter Sirius:
“Don’t know what you’re complaining about, myself. Personally, I’d have welcomed a dementor attack. A deadly struggle for my soul would have broken the monotony nicely.”
“No one’s lived her for ten years, not since my dear mother died, unless you count her old house-elf, and he’s gone round the twist–“
Coupled with his disdain for his shitty parents and their wealth, and frankly, punk rock adult Sirius is amazing. Sirius further cements his place in my heart as a favorite when after a pleasant dinner he drops the “Voldemort” bomb and is like “yo Harry wtf why haven’t you asked about your mortal snake nemesis.”
Harry’s rightly outraged because he just spent the last chapter blowing out everyone’s eardrums over this Sirius, thankyouverymuch, and Mrs. Weasley…oooh I’m going to get it! I swear I love the Weasley’s! I do! But Molly is wrong here and I will not budge on this opinion.
Sure, maybe in normal circumstances keeping Harry and the others in the dark would be correct as they’re minors. But NOT in this scenario. Harry just saw Cedric get murdered. He was tortured and almost killed while adult wizards laughed in his face. He saw his dead parents come back to life. There’s no need to hide what’s going on from him, and there’s also no need to shelter Hermione, Ron, Ginny, and the twins. They have to be prepared for what’s coming! Molly, I know your heart is in the right place but Sirius is right.
While I don’t agree with her, I don’t think Molly does anything messed up, until we hit this exchange:
“He’s not a child!” said Sirius impatiently.
“He’s not an adult either!” said Mrs. Weasley, the color rising in her cheeks. “He’s not James, Sirius!”
“I’m perfectly clear who he is, thanks, Molly,” said Sirius coldly.
“I’m not sure you are!” said Mrs. Weasley. “Sometimes, the way you talk about him, it’s as though you think you’ve got your best friend back!”
OOoooh Molly…girl…
She further insinuates, in front of everyone, that Sirius is irresponsible and Dumbledore agrees with that, and when no one backs her up, she goes for the jugular. First Molly says Harry is as good as her son, which is delightful and heartwarming and all that is great about Molly Weasley, but she immediately ruins it by saying the shittiest thing she’s ever said:
“He’s got me!”
“Yes,” said Mrs. Weasley, her lip curling, “the thing is, it’s been rather difficult for you to look after him while you’ve been locked up in Azkaban, hasn’t it?”
Molly. Homegirl. My love. Why must you make me say mean things about you?! This is honestly a dreadful, awful, petty thing to say to Sirius. He went to Azkaban unjustly, for a crime he didn’t commit, and had his entire youth, health, beauty, and life stolen from him through no fault of his own. This is a wretched thing to say, and bless Remus Lupin for stepping in and shutting this yuckiness down.
Molly takes her ire out on Ginny, the only one she can force to leave the room, and Harry finally gets “answers” to his questions, by which I mean Sirius tries to tell him something real aside from things Harry’s already mostly deduced and gets shut down hard. Well, good thing not telling Harry about the prophecy won’t have consequences, eh Dumbledore?
<—Previous Chapter Next Chapter —>
Join in with your thoughts below, on twitter, or instagram with #ReadHarryPotterWithMe. Follow me on my twitter @HSecretLibrary, pinterest, and my instagram @hermionessecretlibrary
Do you like Sirius’s personality development?
Where do you stand on the Molly vs. Sirius argument?
Should Harry have been told what the Order is doing? What about Hermione, Ron, Ginny, and the twins?
Picture taken at Château de Villandry in Villandry, France. Send me/tag me in your pics of you reading Harry Potter!