Book vs Movie: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Hello Everyone!

Welcome back to the fifth Harry Potter Book vs Movie comparison! I’ve said it before, but I want to warn you in advance that this post is going to be VERY long because this is the biggest book yet and boy of boy did they leave a lot out of the films! I have always said that Order of the Phoenix was my favourite book and I still stand by that despite the size of it – did you know there are exactly 800 pages in OotP? I think it’s pretty cool!

If you didn’t see my first book vs movie post for ‘The Philosopher’s Stone’, then I suggest you give it a read as I explain more about what this series is about there and also it would be better to read them chronologically too: https://books.samanthadrage.co.uk/2019/07/05/book-vs-movie-harry-potter-and-the-philosophers-stone/

I am going to be talking about each section of the movie by the chapter titles in the books, so if there is a specific scene of chapter you want to here me talk about, then you can skip to that chapter title. It is also worth saying that these will of course be full of spoilers, so I can actually talk about the plot, but I think everyone has at least seen Harry Potter at this point, but I thought I’d mention it in case it wasn’t obvious.

A small disclaimer: before we get started I want to make it clear that I am in no way bashing the Harry Potter films. I adore Harry Potter and do think they did a good job with them. This is just a bit of fun and I wanted to take the opportunity to really analyse the story. I’m aware that somethings just aren’t possible to make happen on screen and some things have to be cut out to make the film a watchable length (although I’d happily watch a 10 hour long word for word adaptation, I know most people wouldn’t). I am also by no means a movie expert, this is just a bit of fun.

Chapter 1 – Dudley Demented

The book starts out in Privet Drive with Harry hiding in Aunt Petunia’s flowers in order to here the news! We don’t get to see this bit in the film, which I think is a shame because I would have like to see that and also hear the iconic “Well it changes every day you see” line. We do get to see Harry and Dudley teasing each other though and then they are attacked by the dementors, which I think the film did really well. The one thing Warner Bros seems to always get right is creating the right atmosphere, which is definitely something then managed to do here. We also see Mrs Figg and she explains a little about how she knows Dumbledore; however, the films don’t mention Mundungus and how he was meant to be ‘on guard duty’. In fact, they don’t include Mungunus in the film at all this time, which I suppose is because he isn’t essential to the plot in Order of the Phoenix and anyone could take his place, but he does become more relevant in the later books, which means we end up not really knowing who he is in the films at all.

Chapter 2 – A Peck of Owls

The basic gyst of this chapter was in the films, but they left out a good few important details. We see Harry drag Dudley home and Uncle Vernon try and kick him out in the films as well as the letter saying he’s been expelled, but that’s about it. There is supposed to be a lot more owl post in this chapter including several from Mr Weasley telling him to stay put, another one from the Ministry to say they won’t be snapping his wand in half (which wasn’t mentioned at all in the films) and of course the one to Petunia from Dumbledore saying “Remember your last”. These are all small details that they left out of the films because, for cinematic purposes, the one owl was enough to get the seriousness of the situation across, but the others are all important to the plot line in the end, which is why a good few things don’t add up in the films because they left out details they deemed to insignificant to include.

We also get to hear Petunia talk about Azkaban in this chapter, which I personally found really interesting because, as Harry describes, it is like a wall has come down. To me, this always feels like the beginning of the end and shows how the return of Lord Voldemort will truly effect everyone, even the Dursleys who are about as far away from the wizarding world as you can get.

Chapter 3 – The Advanced Guard

In the books, there is actually a good few days in between the events of that night and when the order come to pick him up, but it is presented as only a few hours later in the film. This isn’t the end of the world, but we don’t get to see Harry writing furious letters to Ron, Hermione, Sirius and about everyone else and ordering Hedwig to peck them until they’ve written good long answers. Those answers of course never come and he gets to headquarters to find Hedwig there and Ron and Hermione half pecked to death. It isn’t that important, but it’s just another little thing that shows how angry, stressed and hurt Harry is feeling. Character development is always sacrificed a little when you turn a book into a movie, but I think it is particularly noticable in Harry because so much happens in his head or in the little moments that the film doesn’t deem important enough.

Then the order come to pick him up, which they did okay in the film, but they did make it much more cinematic, which I don’t think was terribly accurate. There was no way Moody would have allowed them to fly so low and swerve around boats, so that part was a little unrealistic, but I suppose they had to find someway to make it look more interesting.

Chapter 4 – Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place

Harry then arrives at Grimmauld Place, which he finds out is headquarters for Order of the Phoenix. He’s hurried upstairs quickly my Mrs Weasley where he then rages at Ron and Hermione for not telling him anything and honestly I don’t blame him. I’d have been just as furious if not more so! They did this bit pretty well in the film and got quite a few of Fred and George’s lines word for word in particular. The film doesn’t mention Percy Weasley and the fact that he’s chosen to side with the Ministry, but they leave out the older Weasley’s quite a lot in the film, so I’m not surprised. We do get to see them play with the extendable ears in the film, which is nice that they chose to include that, but it didn’t actually happen in the books as they had put a charm on the door. We also don’t get to hear all about Sirius’s lovely mother! 😂

In general I think they did this chapter pretty well though because they really showed just how furious Harry was and rightly so.

Chapter 5 – The Order of the Phoenix

They got this chapter really well in the film because they showed how apprehensive Mrs Weasley and some of the others were about telling Harry anything, they showed him the newspaper articles slamming him and Dumbledore and they told him a bit of Voldemort and him wanting ‘something he didn’t have last time’. They downplayed it slightly in the films because Mrs Weasley really was incredibly adamant that they shouldn’t be allowed to here, so much so that she made Ginny, Ron and Hermione leave. They didn’t show quite how bitter Sirius was at Dumbledore in this scene either, but they showed that a bit more later on and I suppose they didn’t want to detract from the dramatic atmosphere after what Harry had just been told.

Chapter 6 – The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black

This chapter wasn’t in the film at all, but I’m not surprised or really that annoyed that they didn’t include it because there wasn’t loads of important stuff in here. All that really happened was cleaning the house, Fred and George stealing things to use for their joke shop and the kids trying to listen in whenever they can to little avail. We get to see the Black Family tree, with Sirius’s brunt face, which isn’t in the film here, but it is shown later and we also see a bit more of Sirius being salty that Dumbledore won’t let him out the house, but that’s it really, so although it was good to read about, I understand it wasn’t necessary in the films.

“Indifference and neglect often do much more damage than outright dislike.” – Albus Dumbledore

Chapter 7 – The Ministry of Magic

Honestly not much happens in this chapter, but most of it was included in the films in someway. It was mostly just Harry going to the Ministry for his hearing and then finding out the time had been changed. They missed out little things in the films like Mr Weasley’s office, Kingsley giving them the Quibbler for Sirius and them talking distreectly, but they got the important things, so that’s all that matters

Chapter 8 – The Hearing

The hearing itself was fairly accurate although they definitly shortended it a little to save time. Overall, I think they did the hearing very well; however, they one thing I think they failed dismally at was portraying Dumbledore. I touched on this slightly in the last book vs movie post, but I was really disapointed with the actor who portrayed Dumbledore in the later films. I’m sure he is a great actor, but I really don’t think he captured Dumbledore’s character and specifically his sense of humor very well at all.

Dumbledore is supposed to be, for lack of a better word, a weirdo. He is a bit lackadaisical, he rarely gives straight answers and is very mysterious and his manner. In the later films he is portrayed as being very harsh and just tells people whats what, which is not at all what he is like. Dumbledore doesn’t do things lightly, but he does make it out that he does. He summons a huge pink armchair during Harry’s hearing, he politely, but firmly tells Umbridge who the new Divination teacher will be, he puts the Dursley’s in their place in the most insanely passive agressive, but polite way ever and it really is incredibly funny. We don’t get to see any of that in the films though and I think it’s a terrible shame.

Chapter 9 – The Woes of Mrs Weasley

After the hearing Dumbeldore simply disappears, although not in the ‘i’m obviously ignoring you’ kind of way he does in the film. Harry then joins Mr Weasley again and catches sight of Lucius Malfoy talking to Fudge in front of the door to the Department of Mysteries. We do see this in the film, although I believe it happens before the hearing in the film, but that’s by the by. They then return to Grimmauld Place and the rest of it is not in the film. Much of it isn’t too important because it is just Harry thinking things over and trying to connect some dots, but there are a few things they miss out that I deem important. They completely missed out the fact that Hermione and Ron were made prefects for instance.

This moment is important for so many reasons, so let me begin… first of all, we see Harry being angry again that he wasn’t made prefect because he has and was right in thinking that he has done far more things than Ron and Hermione combined; however, that being said, he realises how much being made a prefect means to Ron because it is his time to shine as he has, for the first time ever, beaten Harry to something and has lived up to his brother’s examples. The fact that Harry puts his anger, which is mostly directed at Dumbledore aside to let Ron enjoy his moment is a sign of how strong their friendship is and growth within it from last year.

We also see Harry go through a lot of emotions later that night at the party for Ron, Hermione and him including him feelign guilty for giving Fred and George the money to start their joke shop when he knows how much Mrs Weasley disproves, angry and scared when Mad-eye Moody gives him the pictures of the original Order of the Phoenix because he knows that so many of them are doomed and wonders how many will die this time and then he feels even worse when he sees Mrs Weasley’s boggart that includes him. Of course, a lot of the latter happens inside of Harry’s head, which is difficult to portray on screen, but I think at least some of it was important to include (especially the prefect part) because it is so important to Harry’s character development.

Chapter 10 – Luna Lovegood

They then of course go to the station to get on the Hogwarts Express and Sirius tags along regardless of what Dumbledore tells him. He doesn’t give Harry the photo of the old order, like the film shows him doing and instead barks and follows the train, which I think is infinitely more hilarious! Ron and Hermione are then supposed to go to the prefects carriage, but the didn’t include that in the films at all, so we simply see Harry having bad dreams on the train and that’s it. Hagrid is also noticeably missing in the books, but this isn’t mentioned until a little later. They do show Malfoy gloating as usual though they didn’t include the fact that him and his father recognised Sirius on the platform, which is another key bit of information that becomes important later on in the book.

They do show the thestrals in the films and I think they did this part very well with Luna and Harry truly wondering is he’s gone mad. The CGI they did for the thestrals was also really good, in my opinion because they looked exactly as they had been described in the books.

Chapter 11 – The Sorting Hat’s New Song

I’ll give them this chapter because they did it almost perfectly word for word. We don’t get to see the Sorting Hat’s song, but that isn’t particularly important. We do get meet Umbridge and hear her stupid speech, which is done very well; I think they cast Umbridge perfectly in the films. We then also get to hear about how everyone including Seamus thinks Harry is a liar. Neville believes him, althought I’m not sure he voices that opinion quite as strongly until later on in the film and Dean doesn’t voice an opinion at all, but he is part of the DA later. We also see Ron defending Harry fiercly, which thankfully we do get to see in the films.

Chapter 12 – Professor Umbridge

We don’t get to see as much of Weasley’s Wizard Wheeezes in the films, but they do start of the chapter advertising for testers (which Hermione puts an end to almost immediately) and Ron and Hermione are getting suspicious about where Fred and George are getting the gold, which Harry still feels guilty about. We get to see a fair bit of WWW later in the film, so it doesn’t really matter that they left it out here.

The rest of the chapter consists of their first day of classes, which includes History of Magic, Potions and Divination and then of course Defense Against the Dark Arts. The first 3 are relevently uneventful, but Harry is feeling very victimised in potions as Snape is being especially cruel and he is sick of Divination, but DADA is where it gets interesting. They did Harry’s first class with Umbridge excellently in the films if you ask me because they portrayed her condescending and cruel demeanour very accurately and shows Hermione’s careful question asking. Harry then of course looses his cool and yells a lot, which earns him a whole lot of detention.

They may have done DADA class well, but I CANNOT BELIEVE they would dare deprive us of the scene with Mcgonagall and the ICONIC “Have a biscuit Potter.” Besides being deprived of that amazing scene, it’s also annoying they left out his meeting with Mcgonagall because it shows us how the teachers despise Umbridge just as much as the students and confirms Hermione’s suspicions that Umbridge is indeed a Ministry spy here to interfere and report to Fudge.

Chapter 13 – Detention with Dolores

In the film, we skip straight to Harry’s detention with Umbridge, but he is meant to drown under a lot of homework first and badger Professor Grubbly-Plank about where Hagrid is. His fellow students are also being more horrible than ever as they try to get him to loose his temper in order to hear about Voldemort and Cederic first hand. These aren’t essential, but it does mean that Hagrid’s absence isn’t as obvious in the first half of the film and we don’t get a full view of just how much life sucks for Harry at that point, although we do see a bit of it, we really don’t get to see the full extent of it in the films.

We do get to see the detention though with Umbridge and her cruel ways and Hermione and Ron insisting he goes to Dumbledore about it, which he refuses to do since he is angry at him too. That is about the only thing we get to see of this chapter in the films though because we don’t get to see Ron trying out for the Quidditch team or Hermione making hats for the house elves to try and trick them into freedom. I suppose they left the Quidditch out of the films completely because there was too much else to fit, which makes sense, but it is really annoying that they never mention S.P.E.W or Hermione’s attempts to free house elves at all. I know they couldn’t have added it in Order of the Phoenix because they never included it in Goblet of Fire, so it wouldn’t have made any sense, but I wish they had because I think it is a good example of how Hermione is not perfect.

In the films, she is portrayed as being completely perfect and always right about everything, but she really isn’t and S.P.E.W is an excellent example of that. While she may have the best intentions with S.P.E.W and want to help the house-elves, I do think she takes it way too far. In Dobby’s case, Harry was right to free him because he was being abused and had expressed a desire to leave, Winky was a little different since she was so wrapped up in the families wrong-doings and probably had a very twisted view of the world because of it, but the hosue elves at Hogwarts for example, were perfectly happy. They were treated well there, Dumbledore was happy to pay Dobby when he asked for it and, as Dobby told us, House elves like working, so even though he wanted a little bit of money, he still loves working more. The only real problem with House Elves being enslaved is when people like the Malfoys are the ones enslaving them because they are going to be horrible to them, but otherwise I see no reason to stop them from working if they are happy. At the end of this chapter we see Hermione knitting hats and hiding them around the common room in the hopes that the House Elves will be accidently freed, which I think is incredibly wrong. She would have been tricking them into something they didn’t want and I don’t think that is fair or right at all and, as we see later, when we find out Dobby is the only one who will clean Gryffindor Tower anymore, the house elves have taken great offence at it.

“You’re a prefect? Oh Ronnie! That’s everyone in the family!”
“What are Fred and I? Next door neighbors?”

Chapter 14 – Percy and Padfoot

Although the detention with Umbridge was pretty accurate, they left out the part where Harry’s scar hurt when Umbridge touched him. Naturally this had him worried, so this chapter started with him writing to Sirius about it and asking if he knows where Hagrid is. Harry then of course, has to go and find Hedwig to send the letter, so he walks up to the owlery, sends his letter and then runs into Cho. There is quite a few cringe moments here because I have honestly never read about someone who is worse with girls than Harry Potter, but thankfully it is interrupted by Filch who demands to read Harry’s letter, which he’s already sent. None of this chapter is in the films at all, but Filch wanting to see the letter is quite important because he uses the excuse that someone tipped him off that Harry was ordering dungbombs, but this is really just a ploy to read harry’s mail that thankfully doesn’t work.

There’s also quidditch practice in between, with the Slytherins jeering and the letter from Percy being an arse as per usual, telling Ron to stay away from Harry, but that isn’t that important. What is important that the trio talk to Sirius. They did include a letter to Sirius in the movie, but it wasn’t anything like the carefully coded letter Harry wrote in the books and the answer Sirius gave wasn’t nearly as satisfactory. He does indeed appear in the fireplace, but the first thing to note is that they animated it entirely differently than in Goblet of Fire when Sirius first uses the fireplace. I don’t know why they changed the animated/CGI for the fireplace magic, but I hate little continuity errors like that and I especially don’t like it when changing things make it worse because the second animation is not at all what was described in the books and was actually really hard to see on screen.

In the film there is also a lot of change in the order things happen right about now because although Harry does write a letter Sirius first, the film then has him and Luna in the forest talking about the thestrals, which doesn’t happen at all in the books, Mcgonagall and Umbridge argueing about detentions and then Umbridge is made High Inquisitor before they talk to Sirius in the fireplace, which is not at all the right order. 😑

Regardless of that, when they do talk to Sirius they are supposed to talk about a whole load of things like the fact that Hagrid should be back by now, Sturgis Podmore (a member of the order) has been arrested and that Umbridge hates half-breeds, which we see in action later on in the book. Sirius also wants to come and meet them on the next Hogsmede weekend, but the trio absolutley refuse because they know Malfoy recognised him at Platform 9 3/4, which makes Sirius sulky, so he disappears. They do talk about Umbridge in the film and the fact that she isn’t letting them use magic, but nothing else is mentioned, which is annoying for 2 reasons. One is that the trio aren’t given a pretty important piece of information about Podmore, which helps them to connect all the dots later and the other is that Sirius isn’t shown to be so desperate to get out the house and do something as he actually is. I’ve talked about this in several of these posts now, but something they do a lot in the Harry Potter films is they cut out a lot of the little pieces of information that lead to the trio figuring so much out for themselves. They also don’t work out much for themselves in the films and instead have most of the information handed to them or we aren’t shown how they got information and they just know things instead, which is endlessly frustrating. You do really have to read the books if you want the whole story!

Chapter 15 – The Hogwarts High Inquisitor

This chapter is shown in its entirety and pretty accurately in the film, but just in the wrong order, as I mentioned in the last chapter. I don’t know why they did this, but we do see some inspections and the Educational Decrees as well as Ron and Hermione trying to convince Harry to teach them. Apart from the fact that the order was a bit random, they did do this chapter quite well and showed how much the other teachers hated Umbridge, but weren’t really in a position to do anything about it.

Chapter 16 – In The Hog’s Head

They also managed to get this chapter pretty spot on! Ron and Hermione bring up the teaching idea again and Harry agrees (although he is much more willing in the books than is shown in the films, but that might be because of the lack of Harry’s inner monolouge again), so they arrange to meet at the Hogs Head on the next Hogsmede weekend. We do get to see a bit of bullying and Heckling Harry has to endure from the other students here as some of them keep asking questions, but eventually, as the film shows, everyone agrees and signs the parchment.

We also find out that Ginny is dating Michael Corner in the books (although it isn’t mentioned in the films), which Ron hates and is a little confused by because he thought she liked Harry, which she did at one point. Hermione also knows that Harry likes Cho, which she does voice in the films. I’m honestly not that interested in the love stories in Harry Potter at all (apart from Romione!), but I especially hate Cho Chang. I just think the story line with her was so unnecessary and I honestly don’t know what Harry saw in her at all because i think she was just annoying from the first time she was introduced to us. Does anyone else hate Cho?

Chapter 17 – Educational Decree Number Twenty-Four

A little of this chapter was in the films, but a good deal of it was left out too, so let’s get into it. They started off strong with all clubs and groups being banned (although the films didn’t mention Quidditch) and we also see more inspections, which is included in the very cinematic montage the films showed all this in. What we don’t see though is Hedwig coming to Harry during History of Magic injured and with a letter for Harry. He takes her straight to Professor Grubbly-Plank and reads his letter, which is from Sirius and simply says “Same time, Same place”. I’m not really sure why they didn’t include this bit because it lead to something that was pretty dramatic and cinematic in my opinion, but they didn’t.

We then see Sirius turn up in the fire place again to tell them they need to find better places for secret meetings because Mundugus overheard them, but he approves of the DA none-the-less. Mrs Weasley doesn’t though, so Sirius dutifully passes on the message forbidding Ron to join, which he promptly ignores before they are then rudely interrupted by Umbridge’s hand which tries to catch Sirius.

Chapter 18 – Dumbledore’s Army

Of course the last chapter was very dramatic and I don’t know why the didn’t include it because I think it would have made an excellent movie moment, even if it meant combining the two fireplace catch-ups or something. What really incensed me though was the fact that Hedwig got hurt. Including that would have made everyone despise Umbridge even more because it is now very apparent that Umbridge is reading Harry’s and probably other people’s mail. Or she’s trying to anyway since her first attempt with Filch and the lie about Dungbombs didn’t go so well and Hedwig is too smart for that old hag.😂

In the book, they do eventually get permission to reform the Gryffindor Quidditch team and they have several very soggy practices, which wasn’t in the film, but I agree with Warner Bros that Quidditch was not an essential part of this book, so I’m not mad they left that out.

What is slightly more important though is that Dobby is supposed to wake Harry up later that night to return Hedwig back to him safe and sound. I’m generally so annoyed that they didn’t include Dobby in any of the other films because I love him as a character. He is so sweet and thoughtful and he loves Harry so dearly for all he did for him and he’s also a little bit of a weirdo, but then I guess he is a house elf. This is also when we learn that Dobby is the one who has been taking all the hats, which is make him very happy, but it does mean he has to clean Gryffindor tower all by himself. Dobby also tells Harry about the room of requirement, but this is shown as Neville in the film. Has anyone else noticed they tend to replace Dobby’s parts with Neville? Who else loves Dobby?

The chapter then ends on the first DA meeting (and more of Cho Chang who we all know I love so much – 😑), which they of course do include and very accurately might I add.

Chapter 19 – The Lion and the Serpent

This chapter is literally just the Quidditch match between Slytherin and Gryffindor, so it wasnt in the movie as they decided to leave Quidditch out entirely to save time. It was mostly just a Quidditch game though there was the ‘Weasley is our King’ song and Harry, Fred and George got a life-time ban from Quidditch after they attacked Malfoy. None of that was important to the main plot line though, so it wasn’t included. The only thing I wish was included at some point was the ‘Weasley is our King’ song and how the Gryffindors turn it around when Ron wins a game. Even if they didn’t include it in Order of the Phoenix, I think the song could have been included in Half-Blood Prince since Ron playing Quidditch is included in that film.

This chapter ends on the trio finding out that Hagrid is back, but that does not happen in the films until much later. The films go straight from the first DA meeting to Mr Weasley being attacked, Christmas and then Hagrid gets back, but that is not the order it’s supposed to be done it. I couldn’t tell you why they decide to change the order of some events so much, but it is what it is and at least they included it at all.🤷‍♀️🤦‍♀️

“Things we lose have a way of coming back to us in the end, if not always in the way we expect.” – Luna Lovegood

Chapter 20 – Hagrid’s Tale

Generally this chapter is pretty accurate if you ignore the fact that they showed it in the wrong place and the events in the wrong order. This chapter entirely consists of Hagrid telling them where he’s been and not to tactfully ignoring their questions about his face, before Umbridge then comes to interrogate him. They did show this in the film, although it was shown as Umbridge interrogating him first and then the trio talk to him and also it was shown like 2 months after when he was supposed to get back, which I still don’t particularly understand. The story Hagrid tells them about the giants is also fairly accurate, although it was definitely a stripped down, bare-bones version of it because it didn’t include a lot of the details the book did.  Other than that though, this chapter was a pretty standard movie adaptation version, which is good enough for me.

Chapter 21 – The Eye of the Snake

The beginning of this chapter wasn’t in the films at all, which I think is a real shame because it would have shown just how cruel Umbridge really is. It is the scene in Hagrid’s first lesson back where they learn about the Thestrals and Umbridge comes to observe it. She proceeds to mime to him as if he can’t understand English and treat him like utter filth, which insenses me everytime I read it because Hagrid is the sweetest character in the whole series and has done nothing but good and yet he gets so much shit for being a half-giant (which is hardy his fault) and for being a little overly fond of scary creatures. As I said, I do understand why they didn’t think this scene was necessary, but I think movie-only watchers would have gotten a much better idea of Umbridge’s cruel and vile nature if they’d been shown this scene.

There is of course then the final DA meeting before Christmas, which is shown perfectly in the film as well the kiss between Harry and Cho. You all already know how I feel about her, but it happened and the film managed to get the love story part spot on yet again. (I’m only a little salty… can you tell?)

Harry then has the vision about Mr Weasley being attacked, which is incredibly accurate in the film, but before we get onto that I wanted to mention just how good J.K.Rowling is at writing dreams. Of course Harry’s visions of Voldemort are a little different, but when he is actually just dreaming, they are very realistic. Most authors write dreams as making lots of sense and just use them as a tool to show the reader what the character wants (usually the love interest), but J.K.Rowling writes dreams as the actually are: a jumbled mess of thoughts, moments and fears all meshed into one non-nonsensical dream.

Dream rant aside though, the vision was very accurately shown in the film with harry being the snake that attacked Mr Weasley. The only thing that isn’t shown is Harry waking up and the boys in the dormitary being very concerned. Harry actually throws up in the book and Neville has to run off and get Mcgonagall. Of course, they didn’t show this in the film because I imagine it’s quite difficult to fake someone throwing up, but it’s just another small detail that you only get if you read them books.

Chapter 22 – St Mungo’s Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries

There’s a lot that happens over the next few chapters and 90% of it isn’t shown in the films because a lot of it is character development and/or information that could techincally be passed onto Harry through other people, so we’ve got a lot to get through. The chapter starts pretty accurately with Harry being taken to Dumbledore, who ignores him to get the portaits to sort things out and sends Fawkes to warn them when Umbridge is approaching. In the films Harry shouts at Dumbledore, which I suspect is their way of showing some of Harry’s anger without including all the other scenes, but this doesn’t happen in the books. He does, however, feel very violent when he makes eye-contact with him as he and the Weasley’s take the portkey to Grimmauld Place. This is where the films start missing a lot out as Harry doesn’t take the portkey with the Weasleys and is instead dragged downstairs with Snape to learn occlumency, then magically appears at Grimmauld Place for Christmas where Sirius shows him the family tree (you remember the one I mentioned all the way back in Chapter 6?) and reassures him that he is a good person before they all return to Hogwarts.

Harry is actually supposed to take the portkey with the Weasleys where they all sit in very tense silence until they learn he is okay and will visit him tomorrow. Harry is already feeling very guilty at this point because he thinks that he somehow to be blame for Mr Weasley being hurt because of the way he viewed his dream and all the other negative emotions he has been feeling lately. We of course, know this is not true, but Harry’s worries only worsen when they overhear the Order talking to Arthur at the Hospital saying that Dumbledore thinks Harry is in danger of being possessed by Voldemort. I suppose that all of this wasn’t technically essential, but it shows us a lot of Harry’s thinking process and gives us so much more character devlopment for Harry, the trio, Ginny and them all together as friends.

Chapter 23 – Christmas on the Closed Ward

Harry’s drama queen streak comes out to play again at the beginning of this chapter as he spends a good day and a half sulking around and considering running away to live in isolation in order to protect his friends as he thinks he is being possessed by Voldemort… It’s a bit dramatic isn’t it and it’s not the first time. In fact I actually believe this is the 3rd time he has considered something like this and the 2nd time in this book alone! Ginny puts him in his place though by reminding him that she has been possessed by Voldemort and since he has experience none of the same things, he really needs to pull himself together! One thing I will never forgive the movie for is taking away all of Ginny Weasley’s personality! Ginny is fiesty, funny and doesn’t take anyone’s bullshit, but Movie!Ginny has all the personality of a brick wall. 😑😒😭

While they did show some of the emotions and Harry’s drama streak in the films in other ways, something they can’t wriggle out of was the fact that we didn’t get to see the following 3 things: Mr Weasley trying out ‘muggle medicine’, much to Mrs Weasley’s disgust, meeting Neville’s parents and of course, meeting Gilderoy Lockhart! I agree that the muggle medicine bit wasn’t really important and more just another funny little nugget you get if you read the books, but I think Neville’s parents are important to the story and we were quite frankly, deprived of the opportunity to see Lockhart again! Neville, his story and his character development are practically non-existent in the films, which is pretty common knowlegde and something I think every Potterhead is annoyed about because Neville is truly one of the most interesting and loveable characters, in my opinion anyway. Since they hadn’t included Neville so many times before, I can see why they chose to leave this out because there was little point trying to introduce him back in now, but still I would have liked to see it. Speaking of things I would have like to see, I cannot believe they would deny us the opportunity to see Gilderoy Lockhart not knowing who he is, signing autographs for people in his little hospital room!

The hospital visit not being included also meant that the trio didn’t get yet another little piece of information that would help them piece together the story afterwards. They are supposed to see one of the nurses give a paitient a plant, which kills him, as they later find out from the Daily Prophet. I’ve talked a lot before about how they leave out all the little clues that help the trio deduce what is going on all by themselves, which is why the films don’t seem to make a whole lot of sense sometimes, so I won’t go on about it again, but this is just another example.

Chapter 24 – Occlumency

This is where the film and the book start to mirror each other a little more with the occlumency lessons, although the films do miss out the fact that Snape is supposed to come to Grimmauld Place to tell Harry about them, where he also takes the time to tease Sirius as well. The occlumency lessons go about as well in the books as they do in the films, which is to say, terrible, but they are supposed to help Harry figure out where he has seen the door that he has been dreaming about for months, which he rushes off to tell Ron and Hermione. Harry does mention this in the film, but not until the day he has the vision about Sirius.

The film also doesn’t show how Harry collapsed after his first occlumency lesson as he felt what Voldemort was feeling. Hermione thought it was probably because his defences have been temporarily weakened by the lessons, but they will surely help in the long run; however, all it does is make Harry more suspicious of Snape.

Chapter 25 – The Beetle at Bay

The majority of this chapter is incredibly cringey as my all time favourite character returns: Cho Chang. Only this time, Harry has actually asked her on a date, so I have to endure that too. (I really don’t like Cho Chang… can you tell? Before his cringey af date though, there is a bit more of life just passing as Hogwarts as normal (or as normal as Hogwarts gets), with mountains of homework, Harry’s scar always hurting and, unsurprisingly, Hagrid has been put on probation. Then there comes the dreaded date with Cho, which honestly couldn’t have gone any worse if they’d tried. It’s also one of the reasons I don’t like Cho because even though I do understand she has been through a lot, a date in a small teashop surrounded by other couples is not the time to talk about your ex-boyfriend who your current boyfriend saw die. I understand she needed to talk about it, although as Harry rightly pointed out to her, he had already talked about it and had begun moving on, so he is perfectly within his right to not want to talk about it, there is a time and place for that sort of talk and that just wasn’t it.

Regardless of that mess though, Harry then heads to the 3 broomsticks to meet Hermione, Luna and Rita Skeeter, which is far more interesting in my opinion! All that really happens then is Hermione cleverly blackmails her into doing what she wants, which is for her to write and publish an article all about what actually happened the night of the 3rd task. Harry and Rita agree to it and Luna sees that it is published. None of this was included in the books, which is kind of a shame because I would have loved to see Hermione blackmail Rita Skeeter as she well-deserves. The date with Cho isn’t included in the film either, but I think we all know that I’m not particularly upset about that!

“Youth can not know how age thinks and feels. But old men are guilty if they forget what it was to be young.”  – Albus Dumbledore

Chapter 26 – Seen and Unforseen

All but a small portion of this chapter was left out of the film, which I think is a shame because it was incredibly funny and also an excellent example of how students really behave. The article was published as planned and Harry got a free copy as well as a bit of ‘fan-mail’, which Umbridge of course despises! She immediately bans the magizne, which, as Hermione rightfully points out, made the matter 10 times worse because the quickest way to get kids to do something is to tell them they can’t. The students bannded together to read the article, using all sorts of tricks and enchantments to disguise it, which is EXACTLY what would happen in real life. The power students and any large group of people have when they have a common goal is really astounding and it’s something I rarely see mentioned even though I have seen it happen personally in my real life multiple times. Malfoy and co. also can’t deny the fact that their fathers are deatheaters as Harry suggested in the article because they can’t admit they’ve read it, which I imagine would have been incredibly funny!

Harry also has another vision, which he sees through Voldemort’s eyes this time as he is talking to some of his death eaters. Snape finds out about this in their next occlumency lesson, which Harry still sucks at, but we also get to see a few of Snape’s memories (although not very interesting ones) and Snape confirms that it is indeed his job to spy on Voldemort.

The one part of this chapter that was in the film was the part where Trelwany was being kicked out, which they did do very well, but what they didn’t show was Dumbledore promptly replacing her with Firenze the centaur, which infuriated Umbridge as she hates Half-Breeds, which was I’m sure the intended reaction!

Chapter 27 – The Centaur and the Sneak

Again, some of this chapter was in the film, but not all of it. They left out Firenze’s class and his warning to Hagrid of course, since he wasn’t introduced in this film at all, but we do see the next DA meeting, which ends in them getting caught. In the books, Dobby apparates into the room to warn them, but in the film Umbridge simply blows the wall up, which I’m pretty sure is not how the room works, but we all know by now that the producers clearly just didn’t want to include Dobby if they didn’t have to, presumably because it was difficult to do.

Harry is caught and is dragged up to Dumbledore’s office, where they are confronted by the Minister. The scene in the film was pretty similar to that in the book, but they left out Marietta’s character and Hermione’s rather excellent curse. They did at least leave in Dumbledore’s very dramatic and very extra escape though, which I’m very glad about because it is one of the few times they actually managed to capture some of his humour.

Chapter 28 – Snape’s Worst Memory

Most of this chapter was also not in the film, but to be fair not all of it was that imporant. Umbridge is made head of course, which is mentioned and we do get to see Fred and George at least deciding that they are going to course some mischief, although we don’t get to see them releasing fireworks that the teachers just couldn’t get rid of without Umbridge’s help…! 😂😂😂 This is also when Harry gets to see Snape’s memory about how his dad and Sirius bullied him, which really bothers Harry in the book as he is concerned that they were every bit as arrogant as Snape always said they were, but we don’t get to see that reaction in the films. In fact we don’t get to see any sort of reaction from Harry about the memory he saw, which is shame because it really did bother him in the books as he had admired his dad and Sirius for so long that seeing something that paints them in such a harsh light like that hit hard.

“Give her hell from us, Peeves.”  – Fred and George Weasley

Chapter 29 – Careers Advice

I have to say that I think this is one of my favourite chapters in the entire series purely because it is both wholesome and hilarious! Sadly, most of it was left out of the films, in fact the only bit that was included was the Weasley twins leaving school with a bang, but that was put in at the end of O.W.L.S instead. We were yet again, robbed of several iconic lines including ‘Would you like a cough drop Dolores’ and ‘Give her hell from us Peeves’! This chapter is mostly just careers advice, where we learn Harry wants to be an Auror and he goes to talk to Sirius and Lupin in the fire place in order to get some reassurance about what he saw in Snape’s memory, which he does. I understand why they left this out of the film because it isn’t exactly essential to the plot, but it is another one of those times where you miss out on iconic one-liners, character personalities and more insight into the lore of the world your reading about.

Chapter 30 – Grawp

We do get to meet Grawp in the films and that bit is largely done pretty well, but the rest of the chapter is not in it at all. They left the Quidditch out of Order of the Phoenix completely, which I already mentioned and seems completely reasonable to me, considering how big of a book it was. Gryffindor did end up winning the match, which ended in a new revised version of Weasley is our King, which as I said earlier, I do wish they had included at least in the Half-Blood Prince briefly when they are doing Quidditch because it is a pretty important step in the right direction for Ron’s character.

Prior to the match though, Harry does come clean about giving Fred and George his Tri-Wizard winnings to start their business, which Ron is thrilled about because that means it is all Harry’s fault and Mrs Weasley can’t blame Ron! 😂 This isn’t mentioned in the films since they didn’t mention it at the end of Goblet of Fire either, but they did include Grawp, although slightly differently. In the film, Hagrid accosts the trio – presumably on a weekend – and shows them Grawp, but he actually takes Harry and Hermione away from the Quidditch match, so that no-one would see them go, which means Ron wasn’t supposed to be there. I do understand why they changed this bit though because Quidditch really wasn’t a hugely important part of OotP, so I actually think they adjusted it quite well to fit the time frame! There’s a first time for everything I suppose..

Chapter 31 – O.W.L.s

The majority of this chapter is literally just everyone taking their exams, which I enjoy reading about as it means I can sort of imagine I’m at Hogwarts taking all of those exams because let’s be real, who wouldn’t want to be studying at Hogwarts?! They didn’t really include the O.W.L.S, but that’s neither here nor there really because they really weren’t that important. What they didn’t include that i do think is important though was Umbridge’s Unprecedented attack on Hagrid! She marched down to his cabin and started attacking him with no reason to do so and then her and her cronies turned their wands on Mcgonagall, delivering a blow that could and should have killed her! Umbridge is still pretty despicable in the films, but there are some moments that just aren’t included and those are the ones that make my blood boil the most!🤬

They do include the scene where Harry passes out as he sees the vision of Sirius being tortured in the Department of Mysteries. They tweaked the situation slightly and had him pass out in the courtyard after Fred and George had done their spectacular exit, instead of in the middle of an exam, but that difference doesn’t really matter. They got the vision spot on though, so they can have some points for that.

Chapter 32 – Out of the Fire

From here on out, the movie gets significantly more accurate as it always does when things start to reach the climax. Hermione is, as usual, the only voice of reason and Harry does actually listen to her in the books and uses Umbridges fireplace to check if Sirius is at home before they go straight to the ministy. They don’t show them checking if he’s home in the film, probably because they didn’t want to have to animate Kreacher again and try and show Harry’s view as he looked out of the fireplace. This is a little annoying because Kreacher does come back into the story a fair bit throughout the next few books, particularly when they are trying to find the real locket in Deathly Hallows, but I suppose it isn’t the end of the world.

The chapter then ends on Umbridge catching them, which does of course happen in the film, so all in all they did an alright job with this chapter.

Chapter 33 – Fight and Flight

Honestly this chapter was almost perfect. All that happens is Umbridge attempts to get the truth out of Harry, Hermione bluffs and leads Umbridge to the forest where they meet the centaurs, who sort her out for them and then they meet back up and fly to London on the Thestrals. The centaurs were signifantly less aggressive towards Harry and Hermione in the films than they were in the books, but other than that they did this chapter very well and even did some of the dialogue word for word, so they can do it if they want to.

Chapter 34 – The Department of Mysteries

This chapter was also pretty accurate because all that really happened was they arrived at the ministry and eventually found the prophecy, which Harry, of course, just had to pick up. They missed out all the extra rooms, but I can see why because it isn’t really nessecary to get the point, so I don’t mind that.

I do want to talk for one second though about just how INCREDIBLY avoidable that whole scenario was. If Dumbledore or someone had just told him that Voldemort was after a prophecy about him and Voldemort and that therefore only he and Voldemort could pick it up, then he would have known to not go there and no pick it up!!! It was literally that simple and they didn’t even have to tell him what the prophecy was about if they didn’t want to just as long as he understood to not touch the damn thing! Does anyone else agree? Because this has always frustrated me!

“You care so much you feel as though you will bleed to death with the pain of it.”  – Albus Dumbledore

Chapter 35 – Beyond the Veil

Not much happens in this chapter other than they are all fleeing the Death Eaters and Sirius of course dies at the end, but they did that pretty well in the films. Not nearly as many people got as badly injured as they should have done in the film, which I think is a shame because it shows that Harry is a much greater wizard than everyone thinks he is and Hermione is not perfect at everything. It also makes it very plain that although they are capable of a lot, they are still children and fighting fully grown, experienced Death Eaters is very difficult.

Chapter 36 – The Only One He Ever Feared

Harry then of course runs after Bellatrix because she had just killed Sirius, but his rather murderous thoughts are interrupted when Voldemort and Dumbledore show up. Dumbledore and Voldemort fight as they did in the movie, although for once, they book was actually way more dramatic than the film. Generally films tend to exaggerate things and make scenes more flashy like the first task in GoF, but they actually under-did it in this battle, but then I suppose there was A LOT going on and it would have been very difficult to animate all those statues as well.

We do miss out on a bit of dialogue between Dumbledore and Voldemort in the film as they are discussing Voldemort’s fear of death, which is then why he possessed Harry to try and prove a point that ‘if death is nothing, kill the boy’. Generally we do see most of the important parts though. Then the minister turns up just in time to see Voldemort return, which is portrayed pretty well in the film. There is a little more talk between him and Dumbledore before Harry is sent back to Hogwarts via portkey, but otherwise they did this chapter pretty well.

Chapter 37 – The Lost Prophecy

Most of this chapter consists of Harry being ANGRY! None of it was shown in the film at all, which also makes me ANGRY because it was a REALLY important chapter. Dumbledore does his best to explain the prophecy to Harry and why he has been completely ignoring him, but to little avail really because he messed up and I think he realised that at least. I won’t repeat all of the detail of what Dumbledore explained to Harry, but I honestly don’t think he had a leg to stand on. There were so many things he could have done to improve Harry’s life (especially at the Dursleys, which we’ll get to in a moment), he had so many opportunities to tell Harry the truth and his excuse of ‘oh you were too young and innocent and I care about you’ is pathetic. Generally I do like Dumbledore and I think he’s really funny, but his actions in this books especially make me pretty pissed and none of it was shown in the film, which is another case of how you really don’t know the characters unless you read the books.

Chapter 38 – The Second War Begins

This is the last chapter, so it is mostly just the end of term and Harry grieving Sirius, which is very sad, but he does find some solace in Luna. He also finds the mirror that Sirius gave him in order to communicate easier that Harry had never used, so that Sirius wouldn’t do anything reckless. They don’t show the mirror in the film, which is a bit of an error because it is used in Deathly Hallows, which is why the whole Dobby and Aberforth thing never really made sense because he suddenly just had a mirror shard without any explanation. 🤦‍♀️🤷‍♀️

The final thing was Harry arriving back in London to the Dursley’s and a fair few Order members who threaten them, so that they treat Harry better. Although this was a nice thing to do, especially in light of what he had just lost, it does make me angry because it really would have been that easier to make them treat him better from the start and yet no-one did it. None of that is shown in the films, but it makes me angry none-the-less.

AND that is it! Well done if you made it this far because I know these posts are ridiculously long, but I think they’re worth it! I won’t waffle on any more because I dare say you’ve been here long enough, but tell me what you think of Order of the Phoenix down below! What part did they leave out that annoys you the most? What do you think of Dumbledore? I’d love to know, so leave a comment down below or come and chat to me over on my Instagram: @theoriginalbookdragon

Goodbye for now!

Over and Out