The Second War Begins (OP)
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The Second War Begins is the thirty-eighth chapter of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.
Contents |
'He Who Must Not Be Named Returns'
The Daily Prophet has, at last, acknowledged the rebirth (GF32) of Lord Voldemort. Its Sunday edition, the Sunday Prophet, reports that, following a brief statement by a tired and flustered Cornelius Fudge on Friday night, it has become common knowledge that the Dark Lord is once again active in British soil. The Minister for Magic also publicly states that the Dementors have revolted themselves, left Azkaban, and joined Voldemort.
Fudge asks the wizarding population to be vigilant. The Ministry will publish elementary Defence Against the Dark Arts guides that will be delivered for free to all wizarding homes (HBP3). Not much is known by the magical population regarding the events that led to this revolution in the Ministry's public position regarding the activities of the Dark Lord, but rumours state that Voldemort, along with some Death Eaters, entered the Ministry on Thursday evening (OP35).
The Prophet reports also that Albus Dumbledore has regained his status as Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, as member of the [[International Confederation of Wizards, and Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot.
Hermione Granger, who is the one reading the Sunday Prophet in the Hogwarts hospital wing, points out to her friends that Harry Potter was mentioned in the article as 'The Boy Who Lived' once more. The Prophet has conveniently neglected to mention that the discrediting campaign of which both Harry and Dumbledore were targets was fuelled by its own reporters and malicious stories (OP4).
Ron Weasley voices his annoyance at this. Understandably enough, the Prophet's mentions of Harry are now not only tolerant but also flattering ("a lone voice of truth . . . perceived as unbalanced, yet never wavered in his story. . ."). The newspaper articles are all about the Second War:
- "You-Know-Who's Last Attempt to Take Over" (pages two to four)
- What the Ministry Should Have Told Us (page five)
- Why Nobody Listened to Albus Dumbledore (pages six to eight)
- Exclusive Interview with Harry Potter (page nine) – it is not, in fact, an exclusive, but the same interview that Harry gave to The Quibbler (OP25). Luna says that her father sold it to them for a good price; the family will use the money to travel to Sweden to try to catch a Crumple-Horned Snorkack.
All the members of Dumbledore's Army who took part in the Battle of the Department of Mysteries are in the hospital wing. Ginny Weasley, whose ankle has been quickly mended by Madam Pomfrey, is on Hermione's bed. Neville Longbottom, whose nose is now back to normal, is in a chair between the two beds. Luna, who has come to visit, is reading The Quibbler upside-down.
Ron grabs a handful of Chocolate Frogs (which the now well-to-do Fred and George Weasley have sent him) and tosses some to Harry, Ginny and Neville. The red-haired boy still displays scars on his forearm where the brain's tentacles grasped him. Madam Pomfrey has stated that thoughts leave deeper scarring than almost anything else; regardless of that, her treatment, comprised of copious amounts of Ubbly's Oblivious Unction, has caused some improvement.
Hermione is still injured; her ribs hurt a bit from the curse Dolohov used on her. It would have been more effective if he had said the spell out loud, but it still caused plenty of damage. The girl is daily taking ten different types of potion, and is improving greatly.
Back to normal
Ginny says that Professor Flitwick has gotten rid of the twins' swamp (OP29) in about three seconds, but he left a tiny patch under the window and roped it off, claiming it to be a really good bit of magic.
Ron finds yet another Dumbledore Chocolate Frog Card in his sweet and tosses it away. Ginny reveals that Argus Filch has been miserable; he claims Umbridge was the best thing that has ever happened to Hogwarts.
Dolores Umbridge is in the hospital wing as well, lying in a bed on the opposite side of the room, staring at the ceiling. Dumbledore rescued her from the centaurs without suffering a scratch, but no one knows how; Umbridge has not talked much since she returned from the Forbidden Forest. Pomfrey says the woman is in shock. Ron amuses the group by making clip-clopping noises with his tongue, causing Umbridge to sit bolt upright, visibly frightened and alarmed.
Firenze and Sybill Trelawney are still dividing Divination classes. Harry remembers that he has told none of his friends about the contents of the Prophecy (OP37); they know only what Neville told them—that the prophecy was smashed (OP35).
When Hermione voices her regret that the prophecy was broken, Ron reminds her that at least Voldemort never discovered what it contained. Harry, uncomfortable, stands up, claiming that he has to visit Hagrid: he says the half-giant has just returned and that Harry has promised to relay news about the injured students.
Ron and Hermione say goodbye, and she asks Harry to inquire of Hagrid as to "his little friend". The boy nods, having understood what she meant, and leaves.
Draco
The Hogwarts castle is quiet, even for a Sunday. All students are out in the grounds, enjoying the end of term. Harry ambles around the castle, looking out the window: there are people swimming in the Great Lake with the giant squid, others over the Hogwarts Quidditch pitch.
Harry has just arrived at the Entrance Hall when he sees Draco Malfoy, Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle coming from the path that leads down to the Slytherin common room. They all stop dead; Draco checks if there are teachers around, and then growls, "You're dead, Potter." Harry quips that one would have thought that he would have stopped walking around.
"You're going to pay. I'm going to make you pay for what you've done to my father…"
Harry sarcastically mentions that Lord Voldemort must be a warm-up act to the three Slytherins, then; the gang appear stricken at the sound of the name, and Harry taunts them for it.
Draco continues to threaten Harry for having sent Lucius Malfoy to Azkaban; the Dementors, he says, have left the wizard prison, and the Death Eaters captured will soon escape.
Both boys reach for their wands; Harry is faster, and is about to hex Draco when Severus Snape arrives. Harry feels a fresh rush of hatred towards his teacher, who attempts to dock ten points from Gryffindor; he soon realises, however, that there are no more house points in the Gryffindor hour-glass. "In that case, Potter, we will simply have to—"
"Add some more?" a new voice interrupts him. Having just left St. Mungo's, she is leaning heavily on a walking stick, looking otherwise quite well. Snape greets her, and she orders Crabbe and Goyle to take her things to her office.
McGonagall grants fifty points to each of the students who participated in the Battle of the Department of Mysteries: Harry, Ron, Ginny, Neville, Hermione and Luna. She then takes the ten points from Harry for Snape, and suggests that the two quarrelling boys go outside and enjoy the fine day.
Hagrid
As Harry makes his way to the gamekeeper's hut, several students wave to him, displaying that now they, too, believed him to be a hero instead of a raving lunatic. Hagrid greets him happily, and so does Fang.
Harry refuses to discuss Sirius' death. He asks Hagrid where he has been, and the half-giant replies that he's been hiding in the mountains, like Black did (GF27). The boy notes that the gamekeeper's face is better (OP20); Grawp has been behaving better, and seemed pleased to see his brother. In fact, Hagrid is thinking of finding a girlfriend for him.
Harry cannot muster the necessary energy to try to convince Hagrid that that is a bad idea. He craves being alone, and drinks his dandelion juice in several large gulps.
Meanwhile, Hagrid tells him that that is a death in battle is what Sirius would have wanted; the man could never have lived with himself if he hadn't gone to the Department of Mysteries to help.
Suddenly uncomfortable, Harry leaps up, claiming that he has to go to the hospital wing to visit Ron and Hermione. Hagrid looks disappointed, and the boy leaves before the half-giant can say goodbye properly.
He sits by the edge of the Great Lake, depressed and feeling distant from all the others due to his conversation with Dumbledore (OP37). Harry misses Sirius greatly; it is long after sunset when he realises how much time has passed since he was supposed to be inside. He wipes his face on his sleeve and goes.
End of term
Ron and Hermione become healed and are authorised to leave the hospital wing three days before the end of term.
Umbridge leaves the school two days later; she meets Peeves when sneaking out during dinnertime and the poltergeist, following Fred Weasley's orders (OP36), chased her from the premises with glee, whacking her with a sock full of chalk and a cane.
Several students run out to the Entrance Hall to watch the former High Inquisitor leave, and teachers half-heartedly try to stop them. McGonagall actually regrets not being able to cheer after Umbridge's departure herself; Peeves has borrowed her walking stick.
The last night of term arrives. Most people have finished packing and are heading to the end-of-term Leaving Feast, but Harry stays behind. He does not wish to listen to Dumbledore's speech.
The broken mirror
Harry pulls some robes from his trunk, trying to make room for the folded ones, and notices a badly wrapped package in a bottom corner; he remembers what it is after a few seconds (OP24). He unwraps the package: inside it there is an old, small, square mirror, with a note from Sirius scribbled on the back: "This is a two-way mirror; I've got the other one of the pair. If you need to speak to me, just say my name into it; you'll appear in my mirror and I'll be able o talk in yours. James and I used to use them when we were in separate detentions."
Harry's heart starts pounding. He remembers seeing his parents in the Mirror of Erised (PS12), and thinks he will be able to talk to Sirius again. After making sure that the dormitory is empty, he holds the mirror and enunciates clearly, "Sirius Black!"
Nothing happens; the mirror shows only Harry himself. A small voice in the back of his head reminded him that Sirius had not taken the mirror with him. Frustrated, he throws the mirror against the wall; it smashes, and the pieces fall in his trunk.
Harry then begins throwing stuff in his trunk; he abruptly stops when he has an idea.
Ghosts
He runs out of the dormitory, out of the common room (the Fat Lady reminds him that he is about to miss the feast), and wanders around various staircases, looking for a ghost.
Harry stops running when he arrives outside his Charms classroom, and is nearly giving up when he catches a glimpse of the translucent form of Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington, and calls the Gryffindor ghost who, like him, is late for the feast.
Harry asks whether he can ask Nick something. The ghost's face contorted in a peculiar fashion, and he asks whether the matter cannot wait until after the feast. Harry says it cannot; Nick resignedly admits that he has been expecting this ("You to come and find me. It happens, sometimes … when someone has suffered a … loss."). The boy asks how people can return from the dead as ghosts.
Nearly Headless Nick explains that not everyone can become a ghost. Only wizards can, for starters; and only those select few who choose to leave a pale imprint of themselves upon the earth. He affirms that Sirius will not return; Harry angrily demands more answers regarding death and where his godfather has gone, but Nick can say no more. He has stayed behind, he clarifies, because he was afraid of death, and chose to stay behind. He knows nothing of the secrets of death, but some learned wizards study the matter in the Department of Mysteries (see Death Room).
The ghost leaves the room, heading towards the Leaving Feast, and Harry feels drained of all the short-lived hope he has just lost.
Luna
The boy wanders around the castle; when he turns towards the Fat Lady's corridor, he sees Luna fastening a note to a board on the wall. She says that she is not at the feast because she has lost all her things; people hid them to mock her ("I think they think I'm a bit off, you know. Some people call me 'Loony' Lovegood, actually."). She is therefore putting up notices, because it is the last night of term and she needs everything back.
Harry feels sorry for her, and offers to help look for the objects. She voices her confidence that everything will show up at some point, and asks why he isn't at the feast. Harry says simply that he did not feel like going; she understands his reasoning, mentions Sirius, and the boy is reminded that she is once of the few students in their year who can see Thestrals (OP10).
Luna tells him that her mother died when she was nine. She was an extraordinary witch who liked to experiment, and one day a spell of hers went terribly wrong. Luna still feels sad from time to time, but she still has her father, and she knows it's not like she'll never see her mother again. "Oh, come on," she says. "You heard them, just behind the veil, didn't you?"
Harry isn't sure of what to say when once more confronted with one of Luna's beliefs that he could probably come to share. He, too, heard voices behind the veil (OP34). Luna says goodbye, and somehow Harry feels a bit better.
The journey back
The journey back to London aboard the Hogwarts Express is mildly eventful. Draco, Crabbe and Goyle try to ambush Harry as the boy was returning from the toilet; they were unfortunate enough, however, to pick a location right outside a compartment full of D.A. members (Ernie Macmillan, Hannah Abbott, Susan Bones, Justin Finch-Fletchley, Anthony Goldstein and Terry Boot). The students are happy to use the hexes Harry has taught them, and by the end of the duel the three Slytherins sooner resemble giant slugs than human beings. Ernie and Justin hide them on the luggage rack.
Ernie comments that he is anxious to see the look on Narcissa Malfoy's face when she sees her son. He still begrudges Draco for docking points off Hufflepuff (OP13). Harry thanks the students and returns to his compartment, where he buys cauldron cakes and pumpkin pasties off the food trolley. Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Neville (stroking his Mimbulus mimbletonia, which has grown since OP11 and now croons when touched) are there as well.
Harry and Ron play wizard chess for most of the journey, while Hermione reads aloud portions of Prophet articles. She gloomily notes that the overwhelming, generalised terror has not yet begun, but it will soon.
Cho Chang and Marietta Edgecombe (wearing a balaclava) pass by the compartment door. Harry's gaze meets Cho's; she blushes and turns away. Hermione hesitatingly mentions that Cho is going out with someone else; Harry is surprised to realise that the information does not affect him in the least. Ginny adds that Chang is in fact seeing Michael Corner, whom Ginny has dumped after an argument about the Gryffindor vs. Ravenclaw match (OP30).
Ron is delighted to hear the latest development in his sister's love life, and advises her to choose someone better the next time (giving Harry a not very subtle glance while he says it). She replies that she's chosen Dean Thomas. Ron is stupefied, and upturns the chessboard, upsetting Hedwig and Pigwidgeon.
The arrival
As the train slows down, Harry idly wonders what it would be like to hide in it until September 1. He comes to his senses and leaves the train; when the ticket inspector signalled that it was safe to cross the barrier out of Platform 9 and 3/4, he is surprised to meet a group of people waiting for him there:
- Moody, wearing a bowler hat over his magical eye, a travelling cloak and carrying a long staff;
- Tonks, with bright bubble-gum-pink hair, wearing heavily patched jeans and a purple The Weird Sisters T-shirt;
- Remus, wearing a shabby jumper and trousers;
- Arthur and Molly;
- Fred and George Weasley, wearing brand-new dragon skinjackets ("Business is booming and we thought we'd treat ourselves," explains Fred).
Remus explains that they are there to have a chat with Vernon and Petunia Dursley before they take Harry to number four, Privet Drive. Moody quickly identifies the couple and their son Dudley, visibly shocked to see Harry's reception committee.
Arthur turns away from Mr. and Mrs. Granger, whom he has just greeted enthusiastically, and prompts Moody to head over to the Dursleys with him.
Mr. Weasley politely greets the Dursleys. Vernon turns a deep shade of puce, remembering their last meeting all too well (GF4); Petunia keeps inspecting the surroundings, fearing that someone might see her in such company. Dudley looks terrified.
Moody growls at them that they need to talk about the Dursleys' treatment of Harry at their place. Mistaking the former Auror for a kindred spirit due to the bowler hat, Vernon indignantly says, "I am not aware that it is any of your business what goes on in my house—"
Alastor interrupts him with, "I expect what you're not aware of would fill several books, Dursley."
Tonks (Petunia seems particularly offended by her hair) joins the discussion, saying that if they find out that the Dursleys have been mistreating Harry ("—And make no mistake, we'll hear about it," Remus warns them; even, as Arthur points out, if his aunt and uncle do not allow him to use the telephone), the Muggles will have the group to answer to.
"Are you threatening me, sir?" Vernon asks, outraged. Moody is pleased that Vernon has understood him, and answers affirmatively. "And do I look like the kind of man who can be intimidated?" Vernon barks.
Moody clearly believes so; he pushes back his bowler hat to show his magical eye. Vernon backs away in horror, thus proving the former Auror's point. Alastor turns to Harry and states that they will send someone along if Harry does not give them news for three days. Petunia whimpers, imagining these people on her lawn.
Alastor and Remus say goodbye to Harry. Molly promises she will try to have him rescued as soon as possible; Ron and Hermione, too, express their hopes that they will meet again soon, and Harry leaves King's Cross with his aunt, uncle and cousin.
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| The Lost Prophecy | The Second War Begins | end of book |
