Awesome / Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Two of the greatest wizards clash. It's glorious.

Book

• The fact that Harry was able to teach the DA members, some of them older than him, and do a pretty good job at it despite having had only 2 competent teachers (one of whom was not actually a teacher at all) teaching him before counts as one. And the fact that his training really pays off for them in the next two books.
• The Sorting Hat’s new song. That is all.
• The one thing that each and every teacher agrees on: Umbridge must go. Everyone, from the abusive Severus Snape to the rules stickler Minerva McGonagall to the prankster poltergeist Peeves, all agree on this.
• When Umbridge becomes Headmistress, the gargoyle protecting the headmaster's office refuses to let her in, which means that the castle itself refuses to acknowledge her as a headmistress. It's official. Even Hogwarts Castle itself hates Umbridge, and it's implied that McGonagall is actually running the joint while Dumbledore's out of action.
• Neville is crippled, unable to cast spells, and still stabs a Death Eater in the eye with Hermione's wand. While it would be awesome in any context, it's made more so given how few combat pragmatists we see in the series, especially amongst the purebloods.
• The fact that Harry and his friends, a bunch of fifth-years and fourth-years, managed to escape and defend themselves against about a dozen trained and deadly Death Eaters for quite some time was pretty amazing. This gets lampshaded by Snape of all people in the next book, when he's mocking Bellatrix for the failed mission.
• Harry does something both incredibly brave and daring during the original encounter with the Death Eaters at the Department of Mysteries, which buys the group some time to prepare a distraction. Shortly after the Death Eaters reveal themselves, he says Voldemort's name. This makes Bellatrix very angry, and she tells him to shut up, saying that, as a half-blood, he has no right to speak Voldemort's name. Harry looks her straight in the face and tells her (along with all the other Death Eaters) that Voldemort himself is, in fact, a half-blood. That's right. A fifteen-year-old boy told some of the most dangerous witches and wizards on the planet that they are essentially all hypocrites because their boss is in fact one of the very things they discriminate against.
  • He even asks the group mockingly if Voldemort shared that particular piece of information with them, or whether he felt the need to hide it. It is all but confirmed Voldemort did hide it from them.
• Fred and George Weasley get their moment when they leave the school, and set off a chain of events as a giant "fuck you" to Umbridge that all count as Funny Moments.
  Umbridge: So — you think it amusing to turn a school corridor into a swamp, do you?
  Fred: Pretty amusing, yeah.
  Umbridge: You two are about to learn what happens to wrongdoers in my school.
  Fred: You know what? I don’t think we are. George, I think we’ve outgrown full-time education.
  George: Yeah, I’ve been feeling that way myself.
  Fred: Time to test our talents in the real world, d’you reckon?
  George: Definitely.
  Both: Accio brooms!
  • "Give her hell from us, Peeves!"
  • It gets even better: not only does Peeves do as he was told, he saluted Fred and George as they left. Earning that amount of respect from Peeves, of all people...
    • The reason Peeves is so willing to take the twins' command to heart? Simply put, Hogwarts is his home. The people in the castle are probably the closest thing he has to friends or family, and Umbridge is making the place a misery. He may be more than just a touch crazy, and he's potentially injured students with his pranks in the past, but Dumbledore has never once tried to send him away, and the kids tend to get used to him pretty fast even if he gets on their nerves a lot. The kids, and even the school itself, are fighting back against Umbridge. Fred and George are showing him a level of faith and respect nobody appears to have ever done before now by asking him to take up the fight against her, and it looks like he wanted to reward that trust by following through on their request.
  • And then we have all of the teachers letting Umbridge get hoisted by her own petard (metaphorically) and the twins (literally) by making her run all through Hogwarts to help them with the twins' fireworks (bonus points since, while Umbridge finds it extremely difficult to deal with them, they would have no problem at all doing it on their own). Flitwick gets the crown by openly mocking Umbridge to her face for it, and suffering no consequences at all.
    Flitwick: I could have cleared it up myself, of course, but I wasn't sure I had the authority...
  • Professor McGonagall just looks at a firework interrupting her class and sends a student to fetch Umbridge to deal with it. It's official, folks. Minerva McGonagall gives no fucks. Credit to it, unlike most things and people, the firework doesn't whither under McGonagall's glare...
  • Dumbledore never says anything to Fred and George about it in the future, so apparently even he tacitly approves.
  • As well as everything that the mass of unnamed students who took up after the twins left did. Hexing Umbridge's minions, making themselves sick to get out of class (her class, specifically), putting Nifflers in her office (Lee Jordan admits he's the culprit for that one after Umbridge ousts Hagrid, who she believed was responsible), the list goes on.
  • And before that, the speech they give to Hermione declaring that they don't care about getting thrown out anymore; in fact, they're only staying at all to do their bit for Dumbledore.
  • One of the Slytherins (namely Graham Montague) tries to use his Umbridge-given powers to bully Fred and George. He ends up stuck in Vanishing Cabinet limbo for weeks.
  • After Umbridge left, Flitwick removed the swamp they made, which Filch had been trying to get rid of for months with no success in about 3 seconds (since Filch is a squib, this makes sense, although one wonder why Umbridge never tried removing it herself), leaving just a small patch, commenting it was "A nice piece of Charms work".
• Bellatrix overdid her share of amazing things during the series, but her crowning moment of awesome occurred at the end of The Order of the Phoenix, where she defeated Tonks, Sirius, and Kingsley, which were half of The Order of the Phoenix present at the battle. Not only that, but she deflected Dumbledore's spell while all the other Death Eaters were easily caught by that same spell. She also delivered a Curb-Stomp Battle with Harry when he tries attacking her. None of this was shown during the movie, but Helena Bonham Carter's acting made up for that flaw. Of course, she was later owned by Dumbledore's enchanted statue, but still, it took Dumbledore to defeat her.
• Antonin Dolohov also proved to be very capable during the battle. First, he almost killed Hermione, crippled Neville, defeated Mad-Eye Moody (who was once a legendary Death Eater catcher and is still a very powerful wizard!), and was on the verge of defeating Sirius before Harry hit him in the back with a spell. For a minor character, Dolohov clearly made his mark.
• Dumbledore destroying the Ministry's trumped-up charges against Harry and calling them out for their corruption, all while being completely calm and extremely polite.
• Damn near everything McGonagall does, period, which, again, also counts as Funny Moments. Especially her response to being inspected by Umbridge in Order of the Phoenix.
  • This deserves some elaboration: Umbridge is constantly interrupting McGonagall's lesson to harp on some trivial thing. Eventually, McGonagall turns to her and calmly, but with unmistakable snark, asks how she expects to learn anything about McGonagall's teaching methods if she insists on interrupting, as talking during the Transfiguration lesson is not generally allowed. Not only does Umbridge hold her tongue until the end of class after being admonished by McGonagall, she doesn't follow her around as she does with the other teachers. Harry wonders if this is because she thinks it wouldn't be allowed. Fridge Brilliance there, as depending of how old is Umbridge, she likely had McGonagall as a teacher, meaning she knows full well how stern she can be.
    • In the passage immediately before this, it was mentioned that most students were worried about how their favorite teachers would fare against Umbridge, but Ron was looking forward to Umbridge visiting Professor McGonagall's class because he expected McGonagall to come out ahead in any confrontation. Events immediately after showed that Ron was spot on.
  • He's probably (read: definitely) right; McGonagall was able to keep James Potter and Sirius Black in line in her classes — a miracle in itself and apparently only Dumbledore and James's parents managed it before — so Umbridge has no chance in hell of following her around.
  • "It unscrews the other way." That is all.
  • On a similar note, her inability to join Peeves in chasing Umbridge from the school is because he had stolen her walking stick, which he used to whack Umbridge with. The way it's written — and said, on the audio tape — makes it plainly clear that Peeves went to McGonagall and told her explicitly what he was going to use it for and she allowed him to use it.
  • McGonagall railing all over Umbridge's attempts to crush Harry, saying she'll do everything she can to get him made an Auror even if she has to die in the process, all the while giving Umbridge the hate glare.
    • And as McGonagall and Harry are discussing his career ambitions, Umbridge keeps clearing her throat to get their attention. McGonagall ignores her at first, then starts offering her cough drops. It's after this that she starts cutting Dolores Umbridge down to size in epic fashion.
  • "You are raving," said McGonagall, superbly disdainful.
  • Professor Umbridge stood up. Since she was so short, this didn't make much of a difference... Professor McGonagall stood up. In her case, the effect was much more impressive.
  • McGonagall's answer to Umbridge about Harry getting poor grades in her subject: "I should have made my meaning plainer. He has achieved high marks in all Defense Against the Dark Arts tests set by a competent teacher." Which, at that point, pretty much meant the fake Moody from the previous year... and Lupin. Umbridge must have loved that.
    • Even better is the fact that she looked Umbridge dead in the eyes while saying that. This wiped the simpering smile right off Umbridge's face and replaced it with a stupid look that would've made Goyle proud.
    • It also means that McGonagall is placing Gilderoy freaking Lockhart, a guy being possessed by Lord Voldemort and an Ax-Crazy Death Eater above Umbridge.
  • It may not have achieved anything, but she ran into battle against four Aurors to stop them from arresting Hagrid. And taking four Stunners in the chest in the process. Madam Pomfrey assures Harry that none of those four Aurors, whom McGonagall herself earlier described as exceptionally talented elites who underwent three years of harsh training, would have stood a chance against McGonagall in a fair fight. They had to resort to suddenly whirling round to attack her without warning.
    • McGonagall survives this. Madam Pomfrey is pretty clear that a woman of McGonagall's age and constitution, hit at that close range in the chest by Stunning Spells that powerful, could very easily have died, but Minerva's not done yet.
  • She also offered to duel Fudge, Umbridge, and two Aurors on Dumbledore's behalf and only backed off when Dumbledore told her that Hogwarts needed her (which also implies that Minerva could have won).
  • McGonagall protecting Trelawney from Umbridge. She may disdain the woman's profession, but NO ONE is throwing one of her teachers out but her. Her moment goes to Dumbledore in the movie, but Maggie Smith's icy glare to Umbridge while standing in front of a sobbing Trelawney deserves a mention of its own.
    Umbridge: Something you'd like to say, dear?
    McGonagall: There are several things I would like to say!
• The title of the 36th chapter (yes, a chapter title is a CMoA) says everything you need to know about Voldemort's true view of Dumbledore: "The Only One He Ever Feared".
  • The whole chapter is a CMOA for Dumbledore and Voldemort. The two most powerful wizards in the world show us, definitively, how they earned their titles.
  • Dumbledore vs. Voldemort. Here we have the two best wizards in the series duelling and showing Harry why exactly everyone shows such fear and awe towards them.
  • For most of the duel Voldemort actively tries to kill Dumbledore. Dumbledore on the other hand merely spends most of the battle casually blocking or deflecting Voldemort's spells, though once he starts throwing them back Voldemort quickly realizes that he cannot win and flees! Dumbledore literally scared Voldemort off without even trying too hard! Imagine what he could do if he'd really been trying to win.
    • Just to prove how powerful Dumbledore and, in turn, Grindelwald, is - Dumbledore and Grindelwald were fighting to kill in their final fight, and both survived. Voldemort has to run away because he can't win - whatever he did, Grindelwald is implied to have gone down fighting to the last second. This is why he lasted for over 20 years in power, taking over most of a continent and Voldemort manages about 10 and one country in total.
  • In a blink-or-miss-it CMOA that was cut from the movie, Voldemort nearly gets Dumbledore with a Killing Curse combined with Teleport Spam. Unfortunately for him, Dumbledore is so Crazy-Prepared that he had an out for any drop in his own guard. Before the killing curse hits Dumbledore, Just in Time, Fawkes swoops in and takes the blast, saving Dumbledore.
  • There is also Dumbledore mocking Voldemort for being unable to accept the concept of Fate Worse than Death, and telling him that "merely" killing Voldemort wouldn't satisfy him.
  • Even better, Dumbledore is showing that living "forever" isn't bad — Fawkes lives forever (or, at least, dies and comes back over and over again for all of his many lives). It's not immortality that's bad — it's Voldemort that is the problem. What you do with "forever" is what's important — look at Flamel; he literally found a way to achieve immortality and discovered many uses of Dragon's Blood, but all Voldemort wants to do is murder.
  • After that, he states (and is probably not bluffing) that he's ready to take on every one of Fudge's people there, and win again. And then he creates an illegal Portkey right in front of Fudge's eyes and hands it to Harry, before offering Fudge half an hour of his time, and telling him that if Fudge has any more questions, "letters addressed to the Headmaster will find me." After all that, he has the patience to help Harry through the initial onset of grief and rage.
  • You have to give Voldemort some credit though. He arrived at the Ministry knowing that the only wizard he feared was there and he engaged said wizard in a duel promising to kill him.
• Another for Voldemort himself is that he actually averts Bond Villain Stupidity: Here, he shows up, has a quick word with Bellatrix, and then almost immediately throws a Killing Curse at Harry. Thankfully, Dumbledore is on hand, but it's still a notable departure from Voldemort's usual arrogance.
• Dumbledore showing up right when the Order members begin losing to the Death Eaters. By the time the Death Eaters realize what's going on, Dumbledore already has his wand out and quickly disables all of them (except Bellatrix Lestrange and he even gets her soon enough). As soon as he arrives, Harry instantly thought to himself "we are saved" before Dumbledore had even done anything except show up!
  • One Death Eater gets one for being the only one smart enough to start running the moment Dumbledore shows up. Unfortunately for him, Dumbledore effortlessly captures him as well.
• As a prefect at Hogwarts, and especially in her house, it was only a matter of time before Hermione had her authority challenged by the red-headed twins of chaos Fred and George. When she stands up to them, and they stand up to her, they taunt her with challenges to give them detention. But Hermione utterly terrifies them with the promise, "I will write to your mother." Made even better because the twins immediately complied, an act which was never seen before, or since.
  • This is pretty justified, as it's been well-established across the series that you do not make Molly Weasley angry. Fred and George would know how she would react to their antics and how she would disapprove. They'd sooner just get detention than have her on their case. And Hermione's hung out with the Weasleys enough to know that.
    • It then becomes even more awesome when you remember that, in Deathly Hallows, we see just how scary Molly can be when you royally and truly piss her off.
• After Umbridge grabs the student Marietta Edgecombe in Dumbledore's office, shaking her very hard before anyone can see him, Dumbledore pulls out his wand and says that he will not allow her to harm one of his students; it even mentions that it was one of the few times that anyone has ever seen Dumbledore angry. May also double as a Heartwarming Moment to see how much Dumbledore cares for his students. Umbridge is rightfully terrified
  • Keep in mind that Marietta was the one who betrayed the others and Dumbledore in the first place. Dumbledore will even protect the students who work against him.
• During that scene, Kingsley modified that student's memory to make it seem like there were only two meetings of the DA. On the spot, without getting noticed by Fudge or his cronies. So either he had his wand hidden up his sleeve, or he did an excellent Memory Charm, on the fly, wandlessly.
  • Kingsley had smartly used the time where the rest were distracted by Dumbledore and made use of the fact that he was behind Harry by using Harry's body as a coverscreen.
  • The fact that Harry was the only person in the room to realize what Kingsley did. To elaborate: he notices Kingsley's spell flying behind him and Kingsley himself murmuring something, he recognizes the effects of the Memory Charm in Marietta, and it takes him about five seconds to link the two facts and realize what happened.
• Dumbledore assures Fudge that he won't be taking on him, 2 Aurors, and his Senior Undersecretary alone... "not unless [they were] foolish enough to force [him] to".
  • Made better by Phineus Nigellus's line which ends the chapter "You know, Minister, I disagree with Dumbledore on many counts...but you cannot deny he's got style..."
  • "You seem to be laboring under the delusion that I am going to — what is the phrase? 'Come quietly.' I am afraid I am not going to come quietly at all, Cornelius. I have absolutely no intention of being sent to Azkaban. I could break out, of course — but what a waste of time, and frankly, I can think of a whole host of things I would rather be doing."
    • This has to be elaborated on: Azkaban is a prison guarded by creatures that literally suck all the joy and happiness out of the prisoners, leaving most of them with no will to even contemplate breaking out, which only one person has ever broken out of... and Dumbledore says he wouldn't want to break out because it's a waste of his time and he'd rather be doing something else. He's talking about breaking out of a maximum-security wizard prison the way most people talk about minor troublesome tasks and given that Gellert Grindelwald, who only lost out on the top spot of "supreme evil wizard" because Voldemort came along, didn't dare come to Britain while Dumbledore was around, Dumbledore is someone you do not trifle with.
    • By the way, they are foolish enough to try and force him. They don't even get time to act. Also, he's able to only hit the four who are coming at him (although Kingsley was actually on Dumbledore's side, not to mention savvier than the others, but they couldn't risk blowing his cover) and them only, leaving the other people in the room completely unharmed.
    • Even better — Dumbledore says he wouldn't want to break out of Azkaban because it's a waste of his time and he'd rather be doing something else, but he later breaks into the Ministry of Magic — apparently without breaking a sweat.
• You've gotta give Percy some credit. He might act horribly toward Harry and his family throughout the whole book, but consider this: his family never had that much of a reputation in the Ministry, and now they are also all really close to the boy the Ministry is accusing to be a fraud and the wizard they are accusing to be actually trying to overthrow the Ministry, and yet that doesn't seem to slow down Percy's career in the slightest. An awful prick he might be, but the kid is good at his work.
• Hermione showing just how much she owned Rita in the Three Broomsticks. Also (while pretty cruel) that she had the foresight to see that one of DA might betray them and came up with a jinx that even Pomfrey couldn't remove to mark them — and her spell incapacitated Marietta enough that she was prevented from spilling too much about the DA. Not to mention that she came up with a pretty good lie to keep Umbridge from torturing Harry later on.
• Snape, showing nothing but contempt to Umbridge when she catches Harry and the DA. Especially awesome when he's telling her to suck it and using lame excuses when he is asked for Veritaserum, and you realize later on that he was the first to inform the Order of the situation.
  • And he gets in a lovely little Stealth Insult: "You surely didn't use it all? I told you that three drops would suffice." Umbridge can only look embarrassed and put him on probation, which he makes clear that he doesn't take seriously.
  • Even better, it was revealed that the Veritaserum he gave her was a dud anyway. One wonders just when Snape learned how to brew fake Veritaserum and, more importantly, why?
    • Snape literally hates everything. When Umbridge is around, however, everything else gets some time off while he masterfully drags her.
• Hermione Granger vs. The Ministry of Magic's propaganda campaign. Hermione wins.
• "None of them had seen Hagrid in a real temper before..." Umbridge has two teachers dismissed from Hogwarts during her reign as High Inquisitor: Professor Trelawney (Divination teacher) and Professor Hagrid (Care of Magical Creatures teacher), the former because she wasn't actually a prophet (or so she thought), the latter because he was a half-giant. When Professor Trelawney is dismissed, she cries like a baby, begging Umbridge to let her stay, saying "Hogwarts is my home!" and generally being really pathetic, even though it was a sad scene nonetheless. When Hagrid is dismissed, does he cry? No. Does he beg to be allowed to stay? No. What does he do? He delivers an epic Curb-Stomp Battle to the four Aurors (read: exceptionally powerful wizards) that came to take him away, with his bare hands, while holding his unconscious dog under his arm, while the whole time Stunning Spells are bouncing uselessly off him (which Hermione later explains is due to his giant's blood, giants being notoriously hard to Stun). Umbridge is freaking terrified, two of the Aurors get knocked out cold by Hagrid (who as mentioned before, is not using any magic, and is facing a team of the most highly-skilled wizards there are), and it ends with Hagrid fleeing into the Forbidden Forest, still being bombarded with spells that are doing absolutely nothing to him.
  Dawlish: Be reasonable, Hagrid!
  Hagrid: Reasonable be damned! Yeh'r not takin' me like this, Dawlish!
  • Even better... Before the Aurors hit McGonagall and Fang, Hagrid was just defending himself and trying to reason. Them attacking McGonagall and Fang hit his Berserk Button, and only then he delivered a brutal Curb-Stomp Battle in two seconds flat. He went in a Roaring Rampage of Revenge... then saw they weren't worth the trouble, picked up his dog, and quietly left.
    • Just to hammer it home — Hagrid's hands are, in the first book, described as being "as big as dustbin lids". This means that two of the Aurors were knocked unconscious by hands the size of dustbin lids hitting them with all the force an eleven-foot-six-inch-tall half-giant can hit someone with. Those aurors were lucky that Hagrid's hits didn't outright killed them.
• Hagrid also gets one earlier on when he saved Firenze from about a dozen centaurs in the woods. Though we don't get to see this, it really shows that you do not mess with Hagrid. Later on, when Hagrid is in the woods with Harry and Hermione, the centaurs attempt to threaten them, only for Hagrid to put them in their places. Though the centaurs let them off with a warning because he is with "foals", it's possible that they were simply too wary of Hagrid after the last time. Hagrid even brushes off the centaurs' threat toward his little brother Grawp, saying the Forbidden Forest belongs to Grawp as much as the centaurs.
• Neville standing up to Bellatrix in the Ministry of Magic. Keep in mind this isn't some rent-a-cop Death Eater. This is Bellatrix freaking Lestrange, arguably the most dangerous witch in the world, the one who tortured his parents into insanity. And not only does he meet her taunt ("Why, I've had the pleasure of meeting your parents, boy!") with pure, unadulterated rage as opposed to fear, he charged in to save Harry. With a wand that didn't work properly for him. Unable to pronounce spells. His line "HE'S DOT ALONE! HE'S STILL GOD BE!" (Translation: "He's not alone! He's still got me!") is one of his biggest CMOAs yet. It was just a taste of the awesome to come.
  • He was, in the DA, improving so rapidly that near the end of their lessons with Harry he was the second person after Hermione to master the spell they were learning. And even though he was injured, inarticulate, and unable to perform magic, he still charged an armed Death Eater who could've killed him and stuck a wand in his eye to save Harry. Gryffindor, indeed.
  • During the scene where Bellatrix is taunting him, Neville struggles so hard that the Death Eater restraining him asks for someone to Stun him. Neville is so determined to attack her, even bare-handed and with a broken nose, that a grown man asks that someone Stun a high-school student.
    • For Neville, it's not just because Bellatrix is an evil wizard — It's Personal. No wonder Neville's kicking up a fuss. His parents have literally gone bat-shit insane because of her and he wants to avenge them and, by God, he intends to, his own safety be damned.
• "Weasley Is Our King" is transformed from a mocking taunt to a song of triumph — one of the few victories that Ron wins for himself.
• Harry subdues Bellatrix while tracing her down, tapping into his Unstoppable Rage. This is the woman known as Voldemort's best lieutenant. She's supposed to be Voldemort's most skilled Death Eater, except for Snape. Harry has only ever had one, maybe two, competent Defence against the Dark Arts teachers and five years experience of in fixing Hogwarts's problems on his side.
  • It should be noted that he only "subdues" her for about two seconds. Once she gets up and starts getting serious, Harry clearly finds himself outmatched. Still, once he realizes how out of his league she is duelling-wise, he opts to taunt her by telling her the prophecy broke and that even if she kills him, Voldemort will be furious with her for failing the mission. It works.
  • And how does Harry subdue her temporarily? The Cruciatus Curse. Harry pulls out an Unforgivable Curse, he's just that angry. But Harry's real Moment of Awesome is that it only works temporarily, since as Bellatrix says, "you have to really mean them. Righteous anger won't hurt me for long." Despite being the angriest he's been in a book full of him being angry, Harry's still a fundamentally good enough person that he doesn't want to see a person he hates suffer horribly for no reason.
• Peeves is at his finest chasing off Umbridge and it is definitely one of the highlights of the book, especially for standing apart from the rest of the book.
• Peeves trying to invoke Falling Chandelier of Doom on Umbridge. Granted, it didn't work, but hey, it's the thought that counts.
• An off-page one for Lupin, who is the only Order member bar Dumbledore to escape the battle in the Department of Mysteries unscathed, even taking down Lucius Malfoy relatively quickly in a duel. Bear in mind that this same battle ended with Tonks (a junior Auror) unconscious, Moody (a hugely experienced Auror) pretty much incapacitated, Kingsley (another experienced Auror) injured, and Sirius dead. Not bad for a geeky teacher.
  • Tonks herself didn't do too badly — barely qualified as an Auror and she still manages to hold off Bellatrix freaking Lestrange for a lot of the battle. She also launched a stunning spell at Lucius Malfoy (though it's unknown if it hit, it was still enough to allow Harry to get away from him).
    • Moody took Tonks as his protegée. Apparently Moody really is a good teacher, as he taught a woman who is always falling over due to her constantly shifting centre of balance to be a competent fighter.
  • Similarly, if on a smaller scale, there's a moment of awesome for Ron. He's the only one of the DA members, besides Harry, that was completely undefeated by any of the Death Eaters. He is incapacitated, but he's the only one besides Harry never to lose his wand or be restrained by any of the Death Eaters.
• Madame Maxime gets an off-page one as described by Hagrid. The Gurg (chief giant) they'd been negotiating with was killed in an uprising two days after they'd managed to make contact and the new one turned out to not be as welcoming. Hagrid was grabbed by two of the new Gurg's men and says that would have been the end of him if Maxime hadn't been there. "She pulled out her wand an' did some o' the fastes' spellwork I've ever seen. Ruddy marvelous. Hit the two holdin' me right in the eyes with Conjunctivitus Curses an' they dropped me straightaway—" Considering whose spellwork Hagrid has seen in his time and how multiple spells later bounce off him when he's only half-giant, this is high praise indeed.
• Hermione tricking Umbridge into the Forbidden Forest and getting the centaurs to take care of her by making good use of the latter's rampant bigotry.
• Malfoy and his gang getting blasted into quivering slugs when they decide to ambush Harry in front of a compartment full of DA members.
• After returning to Hogwarts, Dumbledore walks into the Forbidden Forest and singlehandedly rescues Umbridge from the centaurs. Not only that but he walks out of the forest without a scratch. Keep in mind that this is after Dumbledore asked Firenze to come to teach at the school, meaning the Centaurs probably weren't fans of Dumbledore at the moment.
  • Granted the Centaurs might not have an issue with Dumbledore, being as they were probably aware of Dumbledore's kind attitude towards magical creatures; they might have handed Umbridge right over. If that's the case, then it's even more awesome; Dumbledore can inspire the respect of a herd of (we-have-no-need-for-human-ways-or-laws, we'll-attack-whoever-we-want-in-our-forest) Centaurs.
• The Order subtly threatening the Dursleys, saying that they'll find out if Harry is mistreated from here on out.
  • Tonks is in this scene; Vernon Dursley trips over a luggage trolley and Tonks, the universal klutz who can barely stay on her own feet without falling over, does not actually fall over.
• Harry's done astonishingly well on his Defence Against the Dark Arts O.W.L. (teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts to a bunch of fellow students will have that effect) and the examiner is quite pleased... then notes that he heard Harry can produce a Patronus, and offers him extra credit if he does so. Harry looks at Umbridge (who, it turns out, sent the Dementors that made him use the Patronus that almost got him expelled at the beginning of the year), grins a shit-eating grin, imagines her getting sacked, and uses that as his "happy thought" to summon his stag Patronus, which canters down the hall as everyone stares at it in awe (except Umbridge, who's extremely annoyed). Harry leaves not only confident he's scored an "Outstanding" (which he has), but also having given Umbridge a big, silver, stag-shaped middle finger.
  • Even better, it means someone from Harry's trial was openly defying Fudge to mention it to Professor Tofty. Professor Tofty, for his part, evidently gives no fucks about obeying the Ministry.
• We learn that Frank and Alice were tortured into insanity by Death Eaters for information on Voldemort's whereabouts. However, those particular Death Eaters never actually learned anything about his whereabouts... which means that, despite the fact that were literally being tortured into insanity, they did not squeal.
  • While this accomplishment may seem somewhat diminished by the fact that neither Frank nor Alice would have any idea where Voldemort (whom by this point had reduced himself (through his own sheer stupidity) to 'less than the meanest ghost') was, keep in mind that nowhere do we hear that the Longbottoms gave the Death Eaters anything. They could have easily given them any old rubbish ("oh, he's at so-and-so street at Number 50") which could have led to a better outcome for them, but, instead, they faced torture and didn't give Bellatrix, Barty Crouch, or any of the Death Eaters the satisfaction of breaking them!
• J.K. Rowling has revealed that, no matter what anyone else thinks, Luna is perfectly fine with how she is — she just gives no fucks to anyone else's thoughts: she is happy with who she is. Who else can say that?
• Assuming Luna is actually reading the Quibbler upside down and not just doing it to be weird (or that there's some upside-down text), then she's very intelligent as it is notoriously hard to read backwards and/or upside-down words.
• Grimmauld Place has doxies, a troll foot umbrella stand, a clock that shoots bolts and, as mentioned in Chapter 9, a burping bin! One wonders just what else is in that house?
• Harry averting Love Makes You Dumb when he calls out Cho for defending Marietta. Yes, it's harsh to tell her not to run off crying, but also Harry is not going to just let his crush for a girl forget that her so-called best friend would have let them all get expelled. He's right that Marietta made a choice, and it's her fault Umbridge became headmistress. What's more, Harry realizes that his crush was just an infatuation because if he actually knew Cho, he would have known about her irrational loyalty to Marietta. Then he's fine with moving on from her when she goes on to date Michael Corner.
• To contrast, Ginny never has a moment of miscommunication with Harry, unlike Cho. When he isolates himself from everyone after Christmas, she tells him off for forgetting that Voldemort once possessed her. She tells him that if it had happened, he would have gaps in his memory, and would have ended up in places without knowing how he got there. Usually, Harry is furious when his friends call him out; here, Ginny actually calms him down by reassuring him he's not the weapon that nearly got her father killed.
  • Another layer of this is that it shows just how far Ginny has come from blushing whenever she was in Harry's presence to being perhaps the first person to confront him and be able to break through his martyr complex.
• While he's scared that he might have killed Arthur, Harry as a matter of fact saved him by alerting the Order in time about Nagini biting Mr. Weasley. Mrs. Weasley's thanks to Harry are well-earned.
• Honestly, Lily calling Snape "Snivellus" retroactively becomes this. Sure it's Snape's worst memory, but it shows Lily reaching her wit's end at sticking up for a boy who's been cruel to her sister, tries to control who she sees, and hangs around with people who use dark magic on others for fun. She intervenes to stop James from bullying him...and the thanks she gets is being called a slur by her best friend. She fires back with an epic "fuck you", and it's established she refuses to have anything to do with him afterwards. It's very comparable to someone finally coming to terms with an abusive relationship and putting an end to it, which as many can attest to is no easy thing.
  • She also lets James know that he’s no better than Snape, despite his very different beliefs. James is genuinely shocked upon hearing this, and it’s all but stated that he took this to heart and became a better person from this point on.
• Small one for Cho. When Filch is antagonizing Harry about a letter, trying to meddle in his private business, Cho backs him up — and in the audiobooks, Stephen Fry gives her a tone that's daring Filch to try anything.
• One for Harry for his teaching style. He made sure that the DA learn Defense Against the Dark Arts so thoroughly, that the effects of the training is seen in later books. In fact, by the last book, of all the organisations opposing Voldemort, the DA is the only one which casualties are minimal.^note Just three: Colin Creevey to an unknown cause, Fred Weasley to an explosion, and Lavender Brown to Fenrir Greyback.
• The book closes out with one last awesome moment: Lupin, Moody, and Tonks meet Harry at Platform 9¾ to have a few words with the Dursleys before he goes back to live with them for the summer, and Moody tells them in no uncertain terms that they're not going to let Harry have to put up with any more abuse from them and personally freaks them out by showing off his magical eye.

Movie

• Sirius decking Lucius at the start of the fight in Order of the Phoenix. "Get away from my godson". *BAM!* The Malfoys seem to come off on the wrong end of CMoAs.
  • Similarly, Harry's and Sirius's double-duelling with Lucius and Dolohov showcases how awesome our heroes are. Harry, whose only duels have been against Malfoy and Voldemort himself, manages to hold his own just as well as the experienced duelists with decades more experience. Sirius, for his part, seems to be simply enjoying himself.
    • Lucius Malfoy, pure-blood extremist. Meet the fist — a Muggle form of fighting.
    • Even better. All of the Death Eaters are pure-blood extremists, who happen to be there for a prophecy. Said prophecy is in Lucius's hand when he gets punched and is broken when he falls. That Muggle form of fighting screwed up the Death Eaters' entire reason for being there.
• When The Wizengamot is voting whether to convict Harry or not, Madame Bones raises her hand to pardon him. As she does so, she meets Fudge's eyes and glares. When the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement — who, it's implied, was not consulted before the expulsion and the trial occurs — glares at you, you know you've fucked up.
  • Also, credit to her since she's Fudge's subordinate.
• Professor Umbridge is begging for her life, pleading to not be attacked by the centaurs she rather stupidly insulted to their faces, one of whom she nearly strangled to death. She pleads, "Potter, do something! Tell them I mean no harm!" Harry — clearly remembering her 'punishment' — just glares at her and coldly replies:
  "Sorry, Professor. But I must not tell lies."
  • The fact that he says it all without a satisfying smirk just goes to show that he is not willing to stoop down to Umbridge's level.
• The Weasley twins destroying Umbridge's classroom... with fireworks... on brooms... during an exam.
  • The whole scene was kickass. And after destroying her classroom, they create a giant fiery dragon's head, which chases after Umbridge. Then after it clamps down on her, it splits off into hundreds of little rockets, smashing into every single one of her precious decrees. They all fall off the wall, making a huge mess while the twins fly out of Hogwarts, with every single student cheering them on. The scene lingers on a giant W firework floating in the sky.
  • At one point in the crowd, we see Professor Flitwick. He does a victory pose.
    • Appropriately, since as Professor of Charms he taught them everything they just used. Doubles as a well done, boys when you consider heroic use of their lessons.
  • There is even a handful of Slytherins in the giant crowd cheering for Fred and George.
  • They don't give a damn if this gets them immediately kicked out of Hogwarts, as this act of rebellion gives them extraordinary publicity for the joke shop they open afterwards.
  • This was the final scene filmed during production, making perfect sense, since the scenes give a good beginning for the war that lies ahead for Harry.
    • The students were still cheering, when David Yates yelled "Cut! That's a wrap!". Upon hearing this, everyone explodes into celebration. Now that's a big finish.
• When Dumbledore steps out of one of the fireplaces in the Ministry of Magic to fight Voldemort with one simple line. "It was foolish of you to come here tonight, Tom."
• Voldemort is no slouch during the final battle, producing a huge serpent made of fire and an implosion that shatters everything that's made of glass and then sending every shard of glass Dumbledore's way. For someone who fears Dumbledore, he certainly held his own (briefly).
  • Dumbledore vs Voldemort need some elaboration: after their initial beam-o-war, every spell they unleash is essentially a counter to the other. Voldemort conjures a fire snake? Dumbledore traps him in a bubble of water. Voldemort shatters all the glass and flings the shards at Dumbledore? Dumbledore turns them into a fine powder with a shield spell. What's more, there's no music so you focus entirely on the action. The uncut version (with the fountain statues coming to life, Voldemort using a shield, and Fawkes protecting Dumbledore) would have been excellent had it been released, but the finished version is still quite good.
• Harry overcoming Voldemort's possession by recalling all his happy memories of Sirius, Ron, and Hermione, combined with him ''pitying'' the Dark Lord before breaking the mirror in his mindscape containing Voldemort's reflection.
  • "You're the weak one. And you'll never know love or friendship... And I feel sorry for you!"
• Dumbledore is about to be arrested by Fudge, Umbridge, and Kingsley... and down comes Fawkes with a dangerous cry. Dumbledore's hands grasp Fawkes's tail, Fawkes goes boom, and an enormous shockwave hits the room. Fawkes and Dumbledore are gone immediately. That was when you saw why Dumbledore had the rep he did; even his pets are dangerous.
  • It gets better: the shock wave slammed into everyone but Harry and Cho, and didn't affect anything else in the room. The level of control that would require is just as awesome, if not more so, than the display of power itself.
    Kingsley: You may not like him, Minister, but you can't deny Dumbledore's got style.
• Ginny pulling off a Reducto spell at the Department of Mysteries that's so powerful everybody has to flee the room.
• Snape's responses to Umbridge. All of them, but especially, "...No idea."
• Snape's legendary snark:
  Umbridge: You first applied for the Defence Against the Dark Arts post. Is that correct?
  Snape: Yes...
  Umbridge: But you were... unsuccessful?
  Snape: (with unbelievable sarcasm) Obviously.
  • Even Ron can't stop laughing, and with the exception of Harry, Ron probably hates Snape the most. Umbridge is that bad.
• Luna's CMOA from Order: during the fight in the Department of Mysteries, Luna (already bleeding from her lip) is confronted by a Death Eater flying towards her from a great height. The camera shows her from the Death Eater's POV as she looks up at him placidly, pulls out her wand, and (with an expression of mild curiosity on her face) hits him with a levitation spell that's so powerful it blasts him backwards into a shelf of prophecies. Now, imagine what she could do if she was angry...
• This exchange:
  Bellatrix: Neville Longbottom, is it? How's Mum and Dad?
  Neville: Better, now they're about to be avenged. (pulls out wand)
• In the Department of Mysteries, Moody bangs his staff on the ground, launching a spell from it and taking down a Death Eater. (Now you know why he doesn't carry a wand.)
• An off-screen moment of awesome for the Longbottoms, then part of the first Order of the Phoenix, who were tortured with the Cruciatus Curse for information by Bellatrix — and never gave in. Even in absolute agony, and knowing that their spouse was also being tortured (possibly just a room, or a few feet, away), and they still didn't give away any information.
  • Not that it diminishes what they managed to do, but there was little they could say — they didn't have any information on where Voldemort was, but the Lestranges and Barry Crouch Jr. thought the Longbottoms did and that's why the couple were tortured.
    • What makes it even more awesome is how the Cruciatus is used. It gets stronger the more you want to use it, and Bellatrix is a complete sadist, which would make her use of it a million times worse than anyone barring Voldemort, a normal person would probably have said anything to make them stop.
    • And there are four assaulters. Remember how was it like when Harry is Crucio-ed? It was pain beyond anything Harry had ever experienced; his very bones were on fire; his head was surely splitting along his scar... he wanted it to end... to black out... to die. It is not written specifically, but it is perfectly plausible that poor Frank and Alice suffered from multiple Crucios at the same time. There is no surprise that this is considered the evilest crime in modern wizarding history.
• While Mad-Eye Moody's magical ability is somewhat implied to have atrophied with age in the books (where he is defeated by Dolohov at the Department of Mysteries), he proves himself still formidable by instantly kerb-stomping two Death Eaters by slamming his staff onto the ground, especially when the other members of the Order have more trouble with their opponents.
• This film starts giving Ron his due, and it only goes up from here.
  • Back at Hogwarts, when Seamus antagonises Harry, Ron comes to his defence and calls Seamus — and the entire common room — on the fact that if they have a problem with Harry, they have one with him too.
  • When Harry wakes up from his nightmares, he sees Ron staying up watching over him.
  • He's shown casting a Patronus, which in the books he didn't manage until the last one.
  • When Umbridge says she'll cast the Cruciatus Curse on Harry, Ron flips out and gives Umbridge a Death Glare that tells her if he wasn't being restrained, she wouldn't be conscious, her being his "teacher" and part of The Ministry be damned.

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