Days 14 & 15, 2,097

Days 14 & 15 : July 6th and 7th
Current Book : Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, page 
Total pages read : 2,097 of 4,100 (51% completed)


     And we're off to the Order of the Phoenix! Right now, I'm starting Chapter 14, and am just getting that first taste of how evil Umbridge is at Hogwarts!


     The idioms in Harry Potter have really caught my eye so far. It's great, they're just subtly hidden in there that really sell you on the idea that there's really a whole new culture that we're learning about here. "...Well, it's no good crying over spilled potion, I suppose ... but the cat's among the pixies now..." says Ms. Figg, and later Ron says "Poisonous toadstools don't change their spots".


     When the advance guard comes to transport Harry to the Order of the Phoenix, they arrive at 12 Grimmauld Place and Harry says "it was as though they had just entered the house of a dying man". He finds out that it's actually Sirius's house a while later. It's a great subtle bit of foreshadowing there! I'm actually really proud of myself for catching this...


     The trio is subjected to help deep-clear the house! They come across a lot of items including "a heavy locket that none of them could open". It's the horcrux locket!


     Lupin and Tonks are discussing work and he Order, and say "What were you saying about Scrimgeour?" "Oh...yeah... well, we need to be a bit more careful, he's been asking Kingsley and me funny questions". It's good that we're getting a little shred of his character before he becomes Minister.


     When Mr. Weasley escorts Harry to the Ministry for his hearing, they meet a man in the elevator. "Urgent business, Bode" ... "Ah, yes," said Bode, surveying Harry unblinkingly. "Of course." Harry barely had emotion to spare for Bode, but his unfaltering gaze did not make him feel any more comfortable. More introduction of Bode! We'll be hearing more about him later.


     "I don't believe it! Oh Ron, how wonderful! A prefect! That's everyone in the family!" "What are Fred and I, next-door neighbors?" said George indignantly, as his mother pushed him aside and flung her arms around her youngest son. Again, the Weasleys are missing the point when it comes to Fred and George. They're different, but they're not inferior.


     "Been having a nice little chat with her about whether or not I'm a lying, attention-seeking prat, have you?" Harry said loudly. "No," said Hermione calmly, "I told her to keep her big fat mouth shut about you, actually. And it would be quite nice if you stopped jumping down Ron's and my throats, Harry, because if you haven't noticed, we're on your side." FINALLY! When Harry said this I was seriously about the drop the book because he's has been so freaking angsty. Luckily the next line is Hermione putting him back in his place. Thank God for Hermione. 


     Two funny quotes! "Ah," said Fudge, who looked thoroughly disconcerted. "Dumbledore. Yes. You --- er --- got our --- er --- message that the time and --- er --- place of the hearing had been changed, then?" "I mist have missed it," said Dumbledore cheerfully. "However, due to a lucky mistake I arrived at the Ministry three hours early, so no harm done."


     "Well, I had one that I was playing Quidditch the other night," said Ron, screwing up his face in an effort to remember. "What d'you reckon that means?" "Probably that you're going to be eaten by a giant marshmallow or something," said Harry, turning the pages of The Dream Oracle without interest."


     I actually had a deep thought about what I've read so far in Order of the Phoenix (Before I went to Steubenville, mind you). Harry is getting extremely angry and frustrated because Dumbledore isn't filling him on what's been going on. And Dumbledore has been making a few decisions that Harry doesn't like, for example, making Ron a prefect instead of him, or having members of the Order tail him. Harry feels betrayed and starts to lash out at his friends. But what he doesn't understand is that Dumbledore knows SO much more about the situation than he could even guess. Dumbledore had Ron be prefect because he felt that being in the public eye and having even more responsibilities would be the last thing Harry would want. He had members of the Order tail Harry to keep him protected. He withholds information from Harry because Harry doesn't need to know the whole plan yet! 
      It reminded me a lot of how we deal with God sometimes. He has a plan and we want to know all of it NOW! But if you're giving someone directions to a far-away place, you don't just quickly list off all of the turns and steps! You go slowly and one-by-one, because if you just regurgitate all that information, the person won't understand. 
     God has a fantastic plan for us, but if He revealed it all to us it would be so crazily overwhelming. So we receive the plan one step at a time. We sometimes get frustrated, angry, and feel betrayed because we don't understand why God is doing certain things. But we just have to remind ourselves that God has a plan, and it would be silly to think that it's good for us to be told the entire plan right now. Trust!


     Only 2,003 pages left to go!