Since the novel Order of the Phoenix had already been published four years earlier, in 2003;
And the finale of Harry Potter, Deathly Hallows, had officially been released two weeks ago;
For Harry Potter fans who could enter the theater and watch Order of the Phoenix (Part One) at the earliest opportunity, nothing on screen was particularly new. No matter how the film was made, it was still telling a story whose ending had already been set in stone.
Because of this, the main reason people went to see the film was their lost youth and the feelings they once had for the series. What they wanted to find on screen was the emotion they had felt when first reading the story, along with a chance to make up for regrets they had once longed to resolve but could not. And when those emotions met the opening of Order of the Phoenix (Part One)—
What they wanted was for Harry, Ron, and Hermione to get along.
Because in the original Order of the Phoenix, the argument between Harry, Ron, and Hermione never reached a proper conclusion.
Ron and Hermione could not explain to Harry why they, who usually treated school rules as meaningless, had suddenly become such obedient little children.
That infuriated Harry and made him feel betrayed.
Of course, when J.K. Rowling wrote this part of the story, she probably never intended for the Golden Trio to sort everything out.
The reason was simple.
The Golden Trio in Order of the Phoenix were all teenagers going through puberty.
And teenagers' emotions were naturally volatile.
Under those circumstances, every argument between them could simply be attributed to emotion.
Since all the shouting was caused by hormones, most of their conflicts did not need a clear resolution.
Furthermore, this seemingly pointless argument could show the audience Harry's anxiety and agitation in such a suffocating environment.
But—
All of that might have been true and realistic, but it could not be used unchanged in a film.
A film was an independent narrative medium presented to the general public. The protagonist's actions needed a clear beginning and end. Otherwise, the audience would inevitably feel the writing was "terrible."
To put it more plainly, Harry could be angry because Dumbledore had deliberately kept him in the dark, but that anger could not simply disappear. If the film followed the novel exactly, with Harry shouting a few lines before the plot immediately moved on, the Harry on screen would appear incredibly stupid, reckless, and one-dimensional.
Yes.
The main reason Hermione accepted the full force of Harry's emotions on screen was to keep his characterization intact!
To make him look less foolish!
To tell the audience directly that Harry was the savior, but he was also a child—a living, breathing person with thoughts of his own!
This change might not have been perfect—
Because growth was a linear process, while the film only showed the result from a single angle.
But the same point still applied: when the contents of a single Harry Potter book were too extensive to fit into even two films, accurately presenting one side of it was already the greatest degree of faithfulness possible.
Finally, everything had two sides—
Since Harry chose to vent his grievances by shouting, thereby proving he was a person with real emotions, did that not mean the person who endured all of it was showing him the greatest possible tolerance with her broad and generous heart?
And that characterization—
Was even more admirable than Harry's realism!
So—
Hehe~
Harry was not a petty person. Or rather, in Malfoy's eyes, Harry was practically a saint willing to sacrifice himself for justice. Therefore, when Hermione sincerely apologized and showed him how much everyone cared about him, the knot in Harry's heart dissolved along with the tears spilling from his eyes.
After that, the Golden Trio huddled together on screen and began moving the plot forward—
Having calmed down, Harry asked Ron and Hermione what exactly the Order of the Phoenix was.
Since Ron and Hermione genuinely knew very little, they could only shake their heads regretfully in response.
At that moment, the Weasley twins suddenly appeared and brought Harry a pair of Extendable Ears.
They were magical devices capable of listening to sounds from a great distance.
However, Harry's future wife, Ginny, told everyone that the adults had placed an Imperturbable Charm on the door of the room where they were talking, making it impossible to use the Extendable Ears to hear their conversation. With no other option, the group began discussing other matters.
During the conversation, Harry learned that Ron's brothers, William Weasley and Charlie Weasley, had both joined the Order of the Phoenix. Percy Weasley, however, had chosen the opposite side and was currently serving as a junior assistant in Minister Fudge's office.
With this revelation, the positions taken by the various members of the Weasley family became perfectly clear.
The scene changed.
After finishing their vague discussion of the situation, everyone went downstairs for dinner.
During this time, Harry learned something else: the Order of the Phoenix's headquarters was the ancestral home of the Black family.
His godfather's wealth made the godson extremely happy.
Although Harry was not short of money, there probably were not many people in the world who complained about having too much of it, right?
Ah, no—
Harry did complain about having too much money!
After winning the Triwizard Tournament the previous school year, he had thrown the entire prize into the Weasley brothers' hands.
Even so, the audience was once again reminded of a fact:
Even the greatest writers did not dare claim in their novels that wealth was earned through hard work.
Harry embraced his godfather.
Then he sat down in the dining room to eat.
After briefly greeting the members of the Order of the Phoenix, Harry asked about the current situation in front of everyone.
Since Sirius, Professor Lupin, and Mr. Weasley all believed Harry had the right to know everything, they handed him the latest issue of the Daily Prophet.
Harry then saw a pile of attacks directed at him:
The Daily Prophet described him as a "joke," claiming he was "an obsessive attention seeker who would do anything to make others notice him" and "a fool who imagined himself to be a tragic hero."
The reports left Harry both astonished and furious.
Sirius spoke at the appropriate moment. "Harry, based on what you told us, You-Know-Who made a huge mistake immediately after his resurrection. He allowed you to return alive to Dumbledore."
"Dumbledore is the only person You-Know-Who has ever feared."
"Thanks to you, Dumbledore was able to reassemble the Order of the Phoenix within an hour of You-Know-Who's return. The Order's current mission is to do everything in our power to stop his plans."
"But what does that have to do with the Daily Prophet's reports?"
Harry looked at his godfather in confusion. "Why are they attacking me?"
Mr. Weasley coughed softly and took over the explanation. "Of course it's connected. Fudge says you're lying."
"We all know what happened before. Fudge refused to accept your account, so he used every resource available to make the media smear anyone who claimed the Dark Lord had returned."
"That's right." Professor Lupin nodded. "Fudge's mind has been warped by power. To preserve his position, he is promoting a false peace. He wants to drag both you and Dumbledore through the mud."
"And Harry, your treatment could almost be described as fortunate by comparison. After Dumbledore publicly announced that You-Know-Who had returned, Fudge immediately contacted the International Confederation of Wizards and had them vote to remove Dumbledore as Supreme Mugwump."
"He has also begun discussions on behalf of the British Ministry of Magic about revoking Dumbledore's Order of Merlin, First Class—"
In the films before Order of the Phoenix, whether it was Prisoner of Azkaban or Goblet of Fire (Parts One and Two), Chris Columbus had devoted a certain amount of screen time to depicting Fudge's stupidity and obsession with power.
Therefore, in Harry's eyes, Fudge's current descent into darkness and his increasingly Death Eater-like behavior felt entirely natural.
And in the eyes of the audience?
"Oh—darling—Harry Potter is the most consistent film series I've ever seen—"
"Without exception!"
Yara Carson leaned slightly to the side and nudged her companion with her elbow.
Her companion, who felt exactly the same way, immediately nodded in agreement. "Yeah. Almost every plot point connects perfectly. That's incredibly rare—maybe that's the advantage of having such a stable production team—"
"So, shall we watch Iron Man together next year?"
The moment her companion finished speaking, Yara Carson offered another invitation.
"Hm? Why did you suddenly bring that up?"
Her companion looked confused.
"Because Isabella was the one who supported splitting the Harry Potter films into multiple parts, right? So I have a feeling—Isabella is planning something huge."
"…"
"…" Yara Carson's abrupt leap in logic left her companion speechless.
She tilted her head slightly and glanced at Yara through the dim lighting of the theater.
The deep shadows across Yara's sharply defined features made her purse her lips.
While the two of them were distracted, the scene on screen changed again.
Sirius told Harry that Voldemort might secretly be searching for something extremely important to him. However, just as Harry tried to ask what the mysterious object could be, Mrs. Weasley suddenly interrupted and declared they had already told him enough.
He would only be allowed to hear the rest after officially joining the Order of the Phoenix.
And how could he join the Order?
Simple.
Find Dumbledore.
But that was something they could not do at the moment.
So—
Harry's investigation into the unknown could only end there.
Mrs. Weasley had always treated Harry very well.
Therefore, after realizing how firm her attitude was, Harry stopped dwelling on the matter and no longer tried to pry for more information.
However, after the scene cut back to the bedroom, Harry still began speculating about what might happen next with Ron and Hermione.
Harry and Ron brainstormed possibilities, but Hermione was still the one who reached the final conclusion.
She suggested that Voldemort might be searching for a weapon.
And the basis for her theory was—
"A feeling."
Hermione said something completely out of character with an entirely serious expression.
"A feeling?"
Harry and Ron were instantly dumbfounded. They had never expected Hermione to be making a wild guess just like them.
Their excitement made Hermione laugh. She shrugged and rolled her eyes. "All right, I lied."
"Harry, do you remember what you told us earlier? When you fought You-Know-Who, you realized you were somehow able to struggle against him and accidentally triggered Priori Incantatem. Under normal circumstances, you shouldn't have had any chance to resist him at all. So—I personally think his weapon may have restricted his power?"
"If he had to struggle even when fighting you, how could he possibly deal with Dumbledore?"
"He may need a new weapon."
Harry and Ron found her reasoning convincing.
Just as they were about to continue the discussion, Hermione clapped her hands and brought the idle conversation to an end.
"Okay, it's getting late. Let's rest."
As soon as she finished speaking—
The scene changed again.
That night, Harry had a nightmare.
He dreamed that Voldemort was calling his name;
He dreamed that he had been expelled from Hogwarts;
He dreamed that Sirius was showing him around the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix—
Ah!
That last part was not a dream!
Sirius really did take Harry around his ancestral home and show him the tapestry displaying the Black family tree!
This was an extremely important scene.
It connected to many events later in the story.
In Isabella's previous life, David Yates had deleted this entire section.
Otherwise—
How could that guy possibly have earned his reputation as a repeat offender?
Anyone who had watched a few films or television dramas should know that warmth was always followed by pain.
Therefore, once the nostalgic atmosphere had been fully established, the image on screen suddenly froze.
The next second, an intense confrontation descended without warning.
Led by Mr. Weasley, Harry arrived at the Ministry of Magic and found himself subjected to Fudge's deliberate persecution.
Fudge truly was making things difficult for Harry!
For example—
To destroy Harry, Fudge changed the hearing time for Harry's misuse of magic in the Muggle world at the last minute;
Even though Mr. Weasley had set out early with Harry, they were still late;
Fudge immediately used this as an excuse to accuse Harry of showing contempt for the Ministry of Magic.
Another example—
Fudge arbitrarily changed the location of Harry's hearing;
It was Courtroom Ten of the Ministry of Magic, which had not been used since Voldemort's fall;
The courtroom had once been reserved specifically for the trials of Death Eaters;
Barty Crouch Jr. had been tried there.
And another example—
Fudge used his authority to turn an ordinary hearing into a trial before the full Wizengamot;
The former was generally little more than a formality when dealing with an underage wizard;
The latter was a genuine criminal trial. The number of interrogators increased from one to three, including Fudge himself, while the court recorder was Percy, the member of the Weasley family who had openly sided with the Ministry.
And even all of that did not represent the full extent of Fudge's methods—Fudge had actually carried out his persecution of Harry behind Dumbledore's back;
Fudge believed that as long as Dumbledore did not appear in the courtroom, he could get rid of Harry Potter directly.
Unfortunately—
Dumbledore had anticipated everything.
He knew Fudge would persecute Harry, so he arrived at the Ministry of Magic three hours in advance.
He also brought Harry a witness who could prove he had not carelessly used magic in the Muggle world: Mrs. Figg.
Honestly, anyone who had not read the original novel would assume Fudge was a Death Eater after watching these scenes, because everything about him made it seem as though he was on Voldemort's side.
But—
Fudge was not a Death Eater.
That made his actions even more revolting. To preserve his own power, he had chosen to persecute loyal and innocent people. In the current Harry Potter film series, Fudge was played by the veteran British actor Robert Hardy.
One of his most famous roles in the history of cinema was Winston Churchill.
After spending so much of his career portraying political figures—
A single look from him was enough to make the audience sense the arrogance and contempt radiating from his body.
He was clearly a rotten bastard!
"Oh—this Fudge is played so well—"
"Honestly, I really want to punch Minister Fudge in the face right now!"
"Minister Fudge really is an honorary Death Eater! If Voldemort had recruited him earlier, he probably would have conquered the magical world long ago. He would never have needed to fight Harry Potter until the very end!"
"Exactly! If Voldemort had given him a Dark Mark, he would have taken control of the British magical world ages ago!"
"…"
"…"
Harry's trial was the second most important storyline in Order of the Phoenix (Part One).
Its purpose was to tell the audience that Harry had now become a thorn in the side of Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge.
Because of that, the more disgusted the audience felt by Fudge on screen, the more successful this section of the film could be considered. And once Minister Fudge's identity as an antagonist had been firmly established—
The scene changed again.
Harry returned to the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix and shared the good news of his acquittal with his friends.
At the same time, he complained to them about Dumbledore's cold attitude toward him.
Although Dumbledore had appeared at the Ministry hearing in time, he had not spoken casually with Harry from beginning to end.
This left Harry deeply confused.
Just as Ron suggested that the headmaster might have his own arrangements—
An owl suddenly appeared.
The little creature brought Harry and the others their lists of required supplies for the new school year.
At the same time, it also revealed that Ron and Hermione had been selected as prefects.
The moment this fact was revealed—
Everyone sensed that something was wrong!
In everyone's eyes, Hermione being selected as a prefect was only natural, but Ron?
It was not that Ron was incapable!
But Harry was clearly more outstanding than Ron!
Therefore—
Harry had not become a prefect?
This—
"Maybe—Dumbledore—has made some special arrangements?"
Hermione looked cautiously at Harry.
Even someone as intelligent as her did not know how to comfort him at that moment.
Harry was extremely disappointed.
From concealing the existence of the Order of the Phoenix to denying him the prefect position, Dumbledore had already dealt Harry several consecutive blows.
Harry did not understand why Dumbledore was treating him this way.
But he did not have time to remain upset.
The new school year was about to begin—
He needed to prepare everything required for his classes.
Seeing that Harry was unhappy, "Mad-Eye" Moody gave him a present: a group photograph of the previous members of the Order of the Phoenix. After learning that the people in the photograph were now either dead or insane, with even the "best outcome" involving an entire family being wiped out, Harry instantly realized that what awaited him was no longer a childish game, but a genuine war.
Since the flames of war had already been ignited, he had neither the time nor the right to continue dwelling on anything else.
This realization helped him recover his determination and embrace the arrival of his fifth year.