Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: Chapters 10–16

by J.K. Rowling
In his fifth year at Hogwarts, Harry must contend with terrifying dreams, malicious gossip, and a nasty new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. He continues his struggle against Lord Voldemort in this fifth installment of J.K. Rowling's popular series.

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. smirk
    smile in a mocking or condescending way
    Harry looked around; he had expected this, but that did not make the sight of Draco Malfoy smirking at him from between his cronies Crabbe and Goyle any more enjoyable.
  2. detention
    a punishment in which a student must stay after school
    “Manners, Potter, or I’ll have to give you a detention,” drawled Malfoy, whose sleek blond hair and pointed chin were just like his father’s. “You see, I, unlike you, have been made a prefect, which means that I, unlike you, have the power to hand out punishments.”
  3. hallucination
    illusory perception
    Harry did not want to tell the others that he and Luna were having the same hallucination, if that was what it was, so he said nothing about the horses as he sat down inside the carriage and slammed the door behind him.
  4. insubstantial
    lacking material form
    Harry had once before had the experience of seeing something that Ron could not, but that had been a reflection in a mirror, something much more insubstantial than a hundred very solid-looking beasts strong enough to pull a fleet of carriages.
  5. peril
    a source of danger
    Oh, know the perils, read the signs,
    The warning history shows,
    For our Hogwarts is in danger
    From external, deadly foes
    And we must unite inside her
    Or we'll crumble from within
  6. reconcile
    bring into consonance or accord
    Harry was too used to their bickering to bother trying to reconcile them; he felt it was a better use of his time to eat his way steadily through his steak-and-kidney pie, then a large plateful of his favorite treacle tart.
  7. loathe
    dislike intensely; feel disgust toward
    Her voice was high-pitched, breathy, and little-girlish and again, Harry felt a powerful rush of dislike that he could not explain to himself; all he knew was that he loathed everything about her, from her stupid voice to her fluffy pink cardigan.
  8. replenish
    fill something that had previously been emptied
    The treasure trove of magical knowledge amassed by our ancestors must be guarded, replenished, and polished by those who have been called to the noble profession of teaching.
  9. accountability
    responsibility to someone or for some activity
    Let us move forward, then, into a new era of openness, effectiveness, and accountability, intent on preserving what ought to be preserved, perfecting what needs to be perfected, and pruning wherever we find practices that ought to be prohibited.
  10. claim
    assert or affirm strongly
    Of course everyone was staring at him: He had emerged from the Triwizard maze two months ago clutching the dead body of a fellow student and claiming to have seen Lord Voldemort return to power.
  11. rubbish
    nonsensical talk or writing
    “You believe all the rubbish he’s come out with about You-Know-Who, do you, you reckon he’s telling the truth?”
  12. unhinged
    affected or as if affected with madness or insanity
    How many more people were going to suggest that he was lying or unhinged?
  13. hoodwink
    influence by slyness
    Dumbledore had believed Harry, announced his version of events to the whole school and then to the wider Wizarding community. Anyone who thought Harry was a liar had to think that Dumbledore was too or else that Dumbledore had been hoodwinked.
  14. console
    give moral or emotional strength to
    Neville and Ron both gave Harry it’s-his-problem-not-yours looks, but Harry was not much consoled. How much more of this was he going to have to take?
  15. succinctly
    with concise and precise brevity; to the point
    “Seamus reckons Harry’s lying about You-Know-Who,” said Ron succinctly, when Harry did not respond.
  16. discord
    strife resulting from a lack of agreement
    “About You-Know-Who, he said, ‘His gift for spreading discord and enmity is very great. We can fight it only by showing an equally strong bond of friendship and trust—
  17. soporific
    inducing sleep
    He never varied the form of their lessons, but lectured them without pausing while they took notes, or rather, gazed sleepily into space. Harry and Ron had so far managed to scrape passes in this subject only by copying Hermione’s notes before exams; she alone seemed able to resist the soporific power of Binns’s voice.
  18. precisely
    in a sharply exact manner
    The ingredients had to be added to the cauldron in precisely the right order and quantities; the mixture had to be stirred exactly the right number of times, firstly in clockwise, then in counterclockwise directions; the heat of the flames on which it was simmering had to be lowered to exactly the right level for a specific number of minutes before the final ingredient was added.
  19. seething
    in constant agitation
    While everyone around him filled their flagons, Harry cleared away his things, seething. His potion had been no worse than Ron’s, which was now giving off a foul odor of bad eggs, or Neville’s, which had achieved the consistency of just-mixed cement and which Neville was now having to gouge out of his cauldron, yet it was he, Harry, who would be receiving zero marks for the day’s work.
  20. glower
    look angry or sullen as if to signal disapproval
    “Yeah, well,” said Harry, glowering at his plate, “since when has Snape ever been fair to me?”
  21. enmity
    a state of deep-seated ill-will
    Neither of the others answered; all three of them knew that Snape and Harry’s mutual enmity had been absolute from the moment Harry had set foot in Hogwarts.
  22. sufficient
    of a quantity that can fulfill a need or requirement
    Now, it is the view of the Ministry that a theoretical knowledge will be more than sufficient to get you through your examination, which, after all, is what school is all about.
  23. aggressive
    characteristic of an enemy or one eager to fight
    “Is what true?” Harry asked, rather more aggressively than he had intended.
  24. wince
    draw back, as with fear or pain
    “For heaven’s sake, Potter!” said Professor McGonagall, straightening her glasses angrily (she had winced horribly when he had used Voldemort’s name). “Do you really think this is about truth or lies? It’s about keeping your head down and your temper under control!”
  25. prohibit
    command against
    “Yeah...she said...progress will be prohibited or...well, it meant that...that the Ministry of Magic is trying to interfere at Hogwarts.”
  26. reckon
    expect, believe, or suppose
    “He reckons he dueled with You-Know-Who...”
    “Come off it...”
    “Who does he think he’s kidding?”
  27. senile
    mentally or physically infirm with age
    “It’s just that before the truth could sink in, everyone went home for the summer, where they spent two months reading about how you’re a nutcase and Dumbledore’s going senile!”
  28. provocation
    unfriendly behavior that causes anger or resentment
    Harry had a fleeting impression that Seamus had opened his mouth to speak, but sped up, and reached the soothing peace of the stone spiral staircase without having to endure any more provocation.
  29. offend
    cause to feel resentment or indignation
    “D’you mind not offending the only people who believe me?” Harry asked Hermione as they made their way into class.
  30. convenience
    the state of being suitable or opportune
    This is your punishment for spreading evil, nasty, attention-seeking stories, Mr. Potter, and punishments certainly cannot be adjusted to suit the guilty one’s convenience. No, you will come here at five o’clock tomorrow, and the next day, and on Friday too, and you will do your detentions as planned.
  31. scalpel
    a thin straight surgical knife
    The words had appeared on the parchment in what appeared to be shining red ink. At the same time, the words had appeared on the back of Harry’s right hand, cut into his skin as though traced there by a scalpel—yet even as he stared at the shining cut, the skin healed over again, leaving the place where it had been slightly redder than before but quite smooth.
  32. elated
    exultantly proud and joyful; in high spirits
    She smiled at him and departed. He walked on, feeling quietly elated. He had managed to have an entire conversation with her and not embarrassed himself once.
  33. accurate
    characterized by perfect conformity to fact or truth
    I must tell you, Ron, that nothing could put you in danger of losing your badge more than continued fraternization with that boy. Yes, l am sure you are surprised to hear this—no doubt you will say that Potter has always been Dumbledore’s favorite—but I feel bound to tell you that Dumbledore may not be in charge at Hogwarts much longer and the people who count have a very different—and probably more accurate—view of Potter’s behavior.
  34. sever
    cut off from a whole
    It may be that you are afraid to sever ties with Potter—I know that he can be unbalanced and, for all I know, violent—but if you have any worries about this, or have spotted anything else in Potter’s behavior that is troubling you, I urge you to speak to Dolores Umbridge, a really delightful woman, who I know will be only too happy to advise you.
  35. snide
    expressive of contempt
    He knew that half the people inside Hogwarts thought him strange, even mad; he knew that the Daily Prophet had been making snide allusions to him for months, but there was something about seeing it written down like that in Percy’s writing, about knowing that Percy was advising Ron to drop him and even to tell tales on him to Umbridge, that made his situation real to him as nothing else had.
  36. sympathy
    sharing the feelings of others, especially sorrow or anguish
    And with a surge of sympathy for his godfather, Harry thought that Sirius was probably the only person he knew who could really understand how he felt at the moment, because Sirius was in the same situation; nearly everyone in the Wizarding world thought Sirius a dangerous murderer and a great Voldemort supporter and he had had to live with that knowledge for fourteen years.
  37. unprecedented
    novel; having no earlier occurrence
    In a surprise move last night the Ministry of Magic passed new legislation giving itself an unprecedented level of control at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
  38. decree
    a legally binding command or decision
    “And how long d’you reckon it’d take Umbridge to pass another Decree saying anyone who complains about the High Inquisitor gets sacked immediately?”
  39. foist
    force onto another
    “I, personally, am at a loss to see why the Ministry has foisted such a useless teacher upon us at this critical period. Obviously they are in denial about the return of You-Know-Who, but to give us a teacher who is trying to actively prevent us from using defensive spells—”
  40. accommodating
    obliging; willing to do favors
    But Harry was pretty certain that McGonagall would not be so accommodating this time. For all that Hermione had said about study and homework groups being allowed, he had the distinct feeling this one might be considered a lot more rebellious.
Created on Fri Aug 04 11:23:25 EDT 2017 (updated Tue Aug 01 14:43:53 EDT 2023)

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