The Order of the Phoenix - Defying the Authority!

When I read the harry potter books the first time, I was a teenager. I was not in full grasps with even my own emotions. So at that immature age, it was difficult to form a well thought out view on a book I was reading. I could explicitly say if I liked a book or not, but I could not analyze it. Maybe many others at that age already have well formed minds, I couldn't. My mind wandered off to abrasing my knees on a sliding tackle on the football ground after I had finished reading, or maybe changing the grip on my bat to prevent it flaring my allergies.

But with the 3rd read, and the 4th read and so on....I start to understand these books better and dissect the whys of the emotions I felt when I was younger.

It was quite evident when I first read the books, The Order of the Phoenix was unopposed my favorite of the series. So was my sister's, so was most of my friends who read. With further reads at different ages, my favourite shifted towards the more darker shades in The Half Blood Prince, and The Deathly Hallows.

But as I read the Order of the Phoenix for the umpteenth time, and think deeply, it starts to become quite evident why we were mad crazy for this one especially at that age.

The 5th installment of the Harry Potter series, The order of the Phoenix is about defying authority in a nutshell. Harry has always been a bit savage in dealing with the likes of Malfoy and the Slytherins, but he was never really authority defying. He was in fact very well behaved (most of the times) in front of his insufferable Aunt and Uncle and his dud of a cousin! And even at school, there was really no need to defy authority. Most the teachers were really likeable characters except for Professor Snape of course, but there was really no situation where a direct defiance was in order.

But as this books introduced one Professor Dolores Umbridge, as every page unfolds and character becomes more visible to the readers, you can't help but want to tear the pages of the book, letter by letter...into shreds...curl them up, squeeze the pages hard in your clenched fists and shove it right back up her ***! I mean you can not NOT hate her. That toad!

So in his first Defense Against the Dark Arts class when Harry straight up slams "Hmm, Let's think...Maybe, Lord Voldemort?" in her face, the jolt of lightning sent up our spines must have been hard to miss! To cap it off, when Harry is sent to see Professor McGonagall for his "misbehavior," and McGonagall offers Harry a biscuit after hearing how he had outright shouted at a teacher was just "chairs flying all around" kind of Joy! We have all grown up to seeing Professor McGonagall as a stern but caring teacher who loves, but never really knows how to properly express her happiness, and satisfaction to students. So to someone who hasn't had a read through the previous 4 books, a teacher offering Harry a biscuit was "no big deal." But to those of us who are well versed in the dark arts familiar with the books, this was as good as McGonagall telling Harry "Well Done you F***ng Son of a gun!"

And this was just the beginning of countless acts of defiance not just Harry, but the other characters keep showing to Umbridge and the Ministry, all of which would definitely have received an "Outstanding" in their O.W.L.s if Defiance was a subject of the exam!

Without giving away too much of the fun of the book, I'll end this with Professor Flitwick! When Fred and George sets off their mayhem "Step 1," and Professor Flitwicks tells Umbridge after she helped get rid of the fireworks in his Charms classroom that he himself could have gotten rid of it, he just was not sure if he had the "authority," it was literally a moment worthy of the following meme!

You go get 'em Flitwick! You tiny little savage man!