Being in the midst of re-reading the Harry Potter novels in succession, I am finding myself enjoying them much more than my first time reading them.  Many things make much more sense reading them one after another, rather than waiting the couple years in between installments.  However, for whatever reason, I have read the first four books at least three times each, but only have read the latter three once.  And I had little recollection of what even occurred when I opened The Order of the Phoenix a couple weeks ago.

First, though, a brief disclaimer.  I read the fifth HP book when it was first published in 2003, and I hated it.  I found it boring and plodding – Hogwarts never was this uninteresting.  So there is a new rotten teacher giving Harry trouble?  Big deal.  I wanted to know what Voldemort was up to and what the adult wizards were doing to combat him.  Instead I was treated to the brattiest Harry Potter ever and what I felt at the time a very uninteresting plotline.  But, fancying myself a more mature reader eight years later, I looked forward to re-reading the longest HP installment and seeing if I enjoyed it more.  And I certainly did.

And surprisingly so, because I was invested from the get-go.  Rowling doesn’t screw around this time with funny and goofy moments with the Dursleys; she gets right into the action as Harry is attacked by a Dementor and threatened with expulsion from Hogwarts.  When he finally meets up with his friends, it is at the incredibly interesting Grimmauld Place, home of Sirius Black.  The house is a fascinating dwelling, full of screaming portraits and jinxed tapestries, complete with a smart-mouthed (and rather hilarious) house-elf. 

Grimmauld Place is headquarters for the Order of the Phoenix, the group of wizards joined to fight Lord Voldemort, headed by Albus Dumbledore.  It is here where most of the information about the war against You-Know-Who is revealed, whether Harry is present or not. 

But eventually Harry does return to Hogwarts, under intense scrutiny from Ministry of Magic-appointed Professor Umbridge.  Umbridge was planted there by the Ministry, which refuses to acknowledge the return of Voldemort and feels threated by Dumbledore.  This little side plot (of the series at-large) is actually magnificently crafted throughout the novel, as Rowling gives the reader the entire arch within the novel, and nothing is lacking.  This is helped by the fact that Umbridge is easily the most dislikable villain in all the series. 

Umbridge was a source of my boredom when I first read this book, but this time through, I realize she is the perfect heel character (“Heel” meaning “bad guy,” to borrow a wrestling term).  The reader desperately wants to see her get her comeuppance, and the build up to this inevitability is expertly drawn out.  It (Umbridge, too) is one of the highlights of the fifth book.

I realize now that the tone of the fifth HP installment is much more urgent and frenetic and “dark” (I hate that word, but it does fit here).  And this new tone for the series moves the reader through all 870 pages with nary a part that is slow. 

Rowling truly comes into her own as a writer here, and it makes the compelling stories she tells even better.  I am pleased to report that my second read of Order of the Phoenix was an excellent surprise.  If by some chance you haven’t read these books, do so.  But start at the beginning, because then the fifth book will be even better than it is on its own.  Come back again in a week or so to see what I have to say about The Half-Blood Prince.