Welcome back to the fifth installment of our Life Lessons in Harry Potter blog series!
For those just joining, my friend Erica Haskett and I (Erica Rose) decided at the beginning of this year we’d re-read our all-time favorite series, Harry Potter, and pick out all the empowering life lessons within then write a duel blog about them!
This truly has been so much fun to do and it’s been even more amazing to re-vist these beloved books and get inspired by magic once again.
Here we are today at The Order of the Phoenix, which is Erica Haskett’s personal favorite!
This book is so big on emotions; one thing I always personally loved (and know Erica agrees with!) is how Harry truly feels every emotion in this book. Ordinarily heroes are just purely good and optimistic, but it seems so much more realistic having a hero that gets annoyed at his friends, that gets frustrated by the adults in his life, that is angry about his lot in life, and yet still does occasionally have some moments of joy as well. By having such an emotional protagonist, it does in a way really help to normalize feeling all of your emotions, and it being really, really okay and normal! As Dumbledore tells Harry at the end, feeling is exactly what makes you human!
There’s so many great gems we can takeaway in this lengthy novel, so let’s get into it!
Erica Haskett, House Hufflepuff
Okay so let’s talk about what I’ve always considered my favorite book in the whole HP series–Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. This is the longest book of the series, and the one I find to be the most relatable, the funniest, and also the one that angers me the most (thank you Dolores). OOTP is all over the place in many ways, but mostly emotionally. Harry, Ron and Hermione are 15 in this book so hormones are definitely in full force, Voldemort’s back but no one believes them, Dumbledore is ignoring Harry, the Ministry is running amuck in Hogwarts, OWL’s are coming up, and 9 million other things are happening all at once. It’s wild, it’s long, and it is truly, truly, truly a book 5. Let’s dive in.
First off, the emotions in this book are just so authentic and real. I’m a pretty emotional person and I can never quite explain my emotions (or at least I don’t feel like I can), so I relate to Harry ssooo much in this book and all that he’s feeling. All the confusion, the anger, the wanting to isolate yet be around his favorite people, the liking someone and not knowing what to do about it, just everything. I empathize with Harry in this book like none of the others, and I appreciate the way everything is written. I also appreciate at the end of the book when Harry and Dumbledore are finally talking and Dumbledore tells Harry that there’s no shame in what he’s feeling, because it is absolutely the truth! There is no shame in any feeling EVER, but in fact so much power in feeling your feelings and being in touch with them on a deep level. Your feelings can tell you so much about who you are and what you believe in and what your life’s purpose is, so leaning into them and truly, fully feeling them is one of the most powerful things we as humans can do. This is something I’m learning more and more lately as I feel more and more feelings, and it is absolutely amazing to me how strong my emotions are and how much they can guide me. They don’t always guide me in the right place (and they didn’t always guide Harry in the right place), but the more I tune into my feelings and into myself, the more me I feel and the more things are aligning in my life, so if you’re feeling feelings–sit with them. Listen to them. Learn from them. Grow with them. They are so powerful and purposeful, and should not be treated with shame ever.
Going along with feeling your feelings, let’s talk about having some nerve and standing up for what you believe in. Fred and George had ssooo much nerve this whole book, and they made everything ssooo incredibly funny and just really chased their dreams in spite of everything going on. Ginny even said at one point that anything was possible if you’ve got enough nerve and that Fred and George taught her that, and I love that so much it’s so true. Anything is absolutely possible-you just have to go for it! Believe in yourself and do the dang thing no matter what anyone says. Fred and George did just that and are honestly such an inspiration😂 The fireworks and swamps and just general mayhem they caused all for the sake of chasing their dreams is truly admirable, and they are absolute legends for it all. A great life lesson from Fred and George–anything is possible if you’ve got enough nerve. Cheers to the twins.
Also, let’s talk about the room of requirement–my favorite room ever. The ROR is literally an instant manifestation tool to anyone that knows how to use it. All you have to do is focus on what you want/need, walk past the wall 3 times focusing on your desires, and boom–instant manifestation of exactly what you need! It’s that simple, and definitely a note that can be taken on manifesting in general. It’s so easy to do. We just have to ask, believe, and receive! It’s not always quite as instantaneous as the ROR, but it’s definitely as easy as using the ROR, and thinking about manifesting in terms of the ROR is such a fun way to go about manifesting that I had never thought of before this re-read. So simple and ingenious! I love how it came about and how they used it for so much good in OOTP. The ROR scenes are some of my favorite ever. Even how it came about was a manifestation. How they found it. So. Much. Manifesting! I love it.
And finally, let’s talk about how much of a 5 book OOTP is. The number 5 in numerology represents change, and BOY is there a lot that changes in OOTP. The entire structure of how Hogwarts is run changes. People are fired. Dumbledore is replaced. Harry has to have occlumency lessons (which remind me a lot of meditation, but I’ll save those thoughts). The OOTP is reformed. The whole fiasco at the ministry occurs. Harry and Cho get together and break up. Quidditch is a nightmare. Ron and Hermione are prefects and aren’t around as much at time. The DA is formed. Mr. Weasley is attacked. Sirius dies. Just 9 million things occurring 24/7. Constant shifts and change. It’s insane. No wonder Harry’s emotions were all over the place–mine would be too and are lately because this is a personal year 5 for me hahaha so again, I relate to this one on a different level. It’s a true book 5, and it is my favorite and the most relatable to me now and always because of its nature I think, and because of all of the life lessons it holds too!
^since this is Luna Lovegood's book, Erica wanted to include a picture of her and her Dog Łuną!
Erica Rose, House Slytherin
First of all, before I get into my deep life analysis of this novel, I wanted to give a fun little anecdote first!
I remember when Order of the Phoenix was released in June 2003 and I was amazed and thrilled that my school actually included it on our summer reading list. I was in Junior High School at the time and usually, as I’m sure you know, all the books they forced you to read were always so old and lame (and I say this as someone who loves reading and has been a lifelong writer, too), so it was truly a blessed miracle that I could cut out one of the old and lame books and read Harry Potter, which I was planning on reading anyway.
However, I remember feeling frustrated afterwards when we had to write a summer reading essay because one of the prompts was to write about your favorite character and why you admire their heroism. I remember my pre-teen self being so annoyed because I knew school wanted me to write about one of the good and noble characters and how honest and upstanding they were. But, after reading Order of the Phoenix, my favorite characters from it were Fred and George. I thought they were hilarious and awesome and I loved that they didn’t take 💩 from anyone, and I love that they stood up to Umbridge. I thought them creating a swamp and then basically telling Umbridge to F off as they flew away from school forever was the greatest thing. 😆
I remember complaining to my mom that I didn’t want to write about one of the goody-good characters, like Hermione, because I loved Fred and George. So my mom was like “Okay, then write about Fred and George” and she legit helped me find an angle to spin it to make Fred and George seem like admirable, bold, courageous characters so it would be suitable for a school essay. I loved it so much.
Okay now onto the life lessons!
Order of the Phoenix definitely carried over much of the theme from Prisoner of Azkaban with how we can’t always control others perceptions of ourselves. This novel starts with Harry feeling the wrath of everyone thinking he and Dumbledore were liars for saying Voldemort was back. The ministry was adamant everything is fine, he’s not back, and Harry and Dumbledore are insane (again just proof that even news stories aren’t always accurate! People very well can skew news to be whatever they’d like, whatever benefits them, so a reminder to always do your own research before believing just one source of media).
Harry, however, knows for a fact that he’s right, and there’s the vibe that everyone will know they’re right in the end. Which again, reminds us that people may believe lies about you but eventually the truth always comes out. Which it does at the end of the book and everyone is suddenly soooo nice to Harry again. So if you’re going through a tough time with lies, just remember, the truth alwayscomes out eventually.
In the beginning, Seamus and his mom believe the Daily Prophet over Harry and Dumbledore, which causes a huge rift and fight between the two. I loved that afterwards, Ron and Neville give Harry sympathetic “it’s his problem not yours” looks. Which is so, so, so very true and I wish everyone in this world would always keep that in mind.
How others perceive you, while it may hurt, is never, ever your personal problem. It’s always their’s. It’s always something thats going on within them, either something that’s unhealed or a misled truth that they allowed themself to believe.
It wasn’t Harry’s fault Seamus believed lies about him. So, while yes it may hurt so deeply, in the end, it’s never a reflection upon us, so try to remember that as best as you can. You are not responsible for what others believe about you. You are solely responsible for loving yourself and being completely yourself. If you know your own truth, you can make it through.
Like I said in the intro, the emotions are big in this book. Harry is constantly annoyed at everything (which we later learn really is a side effect of being a Horcrux and tied to Voldermort’s feelings let’s be real) and he’s always being short with Ron and Hermione. Hermione straight up tells him to not take his anger out on them and that they’re on his side.
I love this because sometimes we can be so grumpy about something and take it out on someone we love who’s just trying to help. Or reverse, someone we love could be in a bad mood or bad phase of life and just unfairly take it out on us when we never did anything.
It’s a reminder to all of us to be mindful of our emotions. While we want to fully feel them always, we never want to take our frustrations out on someone who doesn’t deserve it, especially someone who loves and cares for us.
So, that’s where I personally feel like journaling is a really good tactic (obviously make sure your journal isn’t a Tom Riddle Horcrux 😉). It allows us to write everything down, to really truly feel all of our frustrations to give them a voice, and let them out. Exercising is another great release too! It clears our mind and helps us let things go. If only Harry would journal and exercise maybe he would’ve been less likely to lash out on Hermione and Ron, who genuinely always were on his side.
I do really love in this book, when Harry has the most horrible first week, including a tortuous detention with Dolores Umbridge, how he hung onto the tiniest slivers of light - such as that he could possibly see Ron’s tryout from the window of detention and that it was almost the weekend. Harry knew they weren’t much but they were getting him through.
Sometimes that’s all you need in the hardest of times: just a sliver of light to get you through each day. If you can actively choose to focus on the good, focus on the few things that make you happy, that are right, it not only makes things easier and up flits your spirits, but it actually shifts your vibration energetically. By focusing more on the good things (even if the bad things greatly outweigh the good), you start to become more of an energetic match for better things to come your way.
Another life lesson that really resonated with me is during class when Neville is feeling down, McGonagall tells him: “There’s nothing wrong with your work except lack of confidence.”
I love this. It’s so incredibly true. Sometimes we get too in our head thinking we can’t do something or thinking we’re not great at it (either from our own standards or because, especially like in Neville, we’re told we’re no good) that we start to believe it and then it becomes so. But if we switch up our confidence, if we start to embody that “I can do this!” Attitude, it actually does become way more possible! Our mindset and our expectations absolutely create our reality and transform our capabilities.
A perfect example of this is back in December, I went bowling (and haven’t been in years) and I kept throwing gutter balls or getting like two pins. Instead of getting frustrated, I took a few deep breaths and declared, “I am great at bowling” and visualized a strike… and I went up and legit threw a strike!
I think this is also super true for Neville as he progresses. Later in this book, Neville absolutely holds his own in the Department of Mysteries battle and as we see in Deathly Hallows, he leads the students against the Death Eaters and in the Battle of Hogwarts, he fully kicks ass! Neville always had it in him he just need to bring out that confidence!
Other things I loved:
* That the work’s at St. Mungo’s aren’t doctors, they’re called healers. 🥺
* When Ron tells Harry he needs to date someone someone cheerier than Cho Chang, and Harry says “She’s probably happier with someone else!” We love fifteen year olds with emotional maturity to understand that! Sometimes it’s hard, but ultimately we have to recognize that we may just not be compatible with our crushes and that letting them go allows not only them, but us to find deeper happiness elsewhere.
*After Trelawney gets the negative review from Umbridge and is placed on probation, she says she’s been insulted by the establishment. “…Those with eyes too clouded by the mundane to see as I see, to know as I know. Of course we seers have always been feared always persecuted.” I FELT THAT. LOL It seems like people who are so incredibly negative and down on life are always the ones so skeptical of not only psychics, but of hope and optimism.
*The Luna Quote: “Things we lose always have a way of coming back of us in the end,” (& in the movie she delightfully adds: “if not always in the way we expect.”)
And finally, I love the quote: “According to Madam Pomfrey, thoughts could leave deeper scars than almost anything else.” This is soooo true as some of us overthink way too much. We can truly create our own problems and make them way worse by overthinking. We can also allow our thoughts of the past, of pain, of unfortunate moments haunt us. When we’re able to quiet our mind and stop overthinking, when we’re able to let go of the past, and live in the present, that’s when we truly can free ourselves. Our mindset is everything, so choosing our thoughts wisely can not only make a better future, but heal our scars as well.
There was so much to unpack within this one since it’s sooo long (I suspect Half Blood Prince and Deathly Hallows will be similar)!
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Hope you enjoyed our takeaways from Order of the Phoenix! Click here to read our takeaways from the Half-Blood Prince!
& in the meantime, make sure you go follow Erica Haskett on instagram!
