Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix wraps up with Chapter 38, “The Second War Begins,” and Slug Club supporter Ivana joins Andrew, Eric, Micah, and Laura to say goodbye to book five.
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Stream the episode above, and scroll down for a rundown of our thoughts on the chapter.
Fudge Finally Admits Voldemort Is Back
Order of the Phoenix ends with the Daily Prophet doing a complete about face. Cornelius Fudge has confirmed that Voldemort has returned, Dumbledore is back at Hogwarts, and Harry is suddenly “the Boy Who Lived” again instead of a disturbed liar.
Eric was not ready to forgive Fudge. By controlling the media and suppressing the truth, Eric said, “he gave people the opportunity to not believe something that would have helped them.” A whole year was lost that the wizarding world could have spent preparing. When the conversation turned to how the Ministry should respond now, Eric kept it simple: “The most important thing for the government to do right now is tell the truth.”
The hosts also talked about what kind of safety advice the Ministry might start putting out, which reminded Eric of the 1950s “duck and cover” campaign, when American kids were taught to hide under their desks in case of an atomic bomb. Advice like that can give people a false sense of security if it isn’t paired with the whole truth.
How Did Dumbledore Rescue Umbridge From the Centaurs?
We also learn that Dumbledore walked into the Forbidden Forest and came back out with Dolores Umbridge, who had been carried off by the centaurs. Micah wanted to know how that conversation went. What did Dumbledore have to say to get them to let her go?
Ivana has always pictured something out of a mob movie. “I always just had this very mafia scene in my head,” she said, imagining Dumbledore having a quiet, very intimidating Godfather style talk. It’s a side of Dumbledore we rarely get to see on the page.
Back at the castle, Umbridge sneaks out of the hospital wing, and Peeves chases her out of the school. Ron also has some fun making hoofbeat noises around her. Eric was surprised Hermione and Ginny laugh along. Laura wondered if the students just don’t know what might have happened to Umbridge in the forest. “Ignorance is bliss,” she said. Ivana had another thought: after everything they’ve been through, maybe they’re so traumatized that they’re desensitized to other people’s trauma.
Harry’s Grief and Sirius’s Mirror
Much of this chapter is Harry wandering the castle after Sirius’s death, unsure whether he wants to be around people or left alone. Ivana found it hard to read. “Grief is such a visceral experience, and reading him going through these motions was really emotional,” she said.
The cruelest moment might be when Harry finally unwraps the package Sirius gave him at Christmas and finds a two-way mirror. He could have used it to contact Sirius all along. The hosts talked about what a painful missed opportunity it is, though there’s no way of knowing if it would have changed what happened at the Ministry.
Nearly Headless Nick Can’t Bring Sirius Back
Harry’s next hope is that Sirius might come back as a ghost, so he goes to find Nearly Headless Nick. Nick gently explains that Sirius has “gone on,” and that he himself chose to stay behind because he was afraid of death. Being a ghost isn’t much of a life. As Eric put it, describing Nick’s existence, he’s stuck “neither here nor there.”
It’s a heartbreaking scene. Harry tries a magical mirror and then a conversation with a ghost, and neither gives him what he desperately wants.
Luna Lovegood Gets Through to Harry
The emotional heart of the chapter, for Ivana and the hosts, is Harry’s conversation with Luna. Luna is looking for her belongings, which other students have hidden again, and she tells Harry that she heard voices behind the veil too. Then she shares that her mother died when she was nine.
Ivana thinks Luna pulls Harry out of himself. “Harry’s stuck in all of the feels, right? Like he’s stuck in his pain and his anger and his sorrow,” she said. Luna reminds him he can still care about someone else. Andrew loved how much Harry’s view of Luna changes. “His whole perspective changes. He realizes that she is not strange at all, and now we have a pair of lifelong friends here,” he said.
Eric added that sometimes it’s easier to open up to someone outside your closest circle. With Ron and Hermione, every conversation carries a lot of history. With Luna, Harry can just listen.
The DA Has Harry’s Back on the Train
On the Hogwarts Express, Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle try to ambush Harry, and members of Dumbledore’s Army from other houses jump in to stop them. Draco ends up as something resembling a giant slug. The hosts loved seeing Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws stepping up for Harry.
Ivana also sees this as Draco’s turning point. “Up until this point, threats have always equaled power for Draco,” she said. With his father in Azkaban, he’s about to step into a year where the threats become real, and that’s going to change him.
The Order Shows Up at King’s Cross
The book ends at King’s Cross, where Moody, Tonks, Lupin, and the Weasleys are waiting to have a word with Uncle Vernon. If the Dursleys mistreat Harry this summer, they’ll be hearing about it.
It doesn’t replace Sirius, but the hosts agreed it’s exactly what Harry needed: proof that a whole group of adults is in his corner. Harry still doesn’t want to go back to Privet Drive, and the war is only getting started, but he leaves the station with more people on his side than ever before. For a book so full of denial and isolation, that’s a hopeful note to end on, and a promising start to everything that comes next in Half-Blood Prince.