17 Scariest Moments From The Harry Potter Books

16. Harry's Trial At The Ministry

Book: The Order Of The Phoenix During The Order Of The Phoenix, the books become very political. The Ministry are interfering at Hogwarts by trying to push Dumbledore out, Hagrid has been locked up in Azkaban and everyone's hatred is directed towards Dolores Umbridge who is working on behalf of the Ministry of Magic to make the Hogwarts students' lives hell. This is all in an attempt to make Hogwarts a calm and safe learning environment so obviously the only way to do this is to get rid of one of the most powerful wizards of all time and don't teach students how to defend themselves against the Dark Arts. It's your basic 'we don't know how this environment operates but we know that we can do it better' scenario. Harry is summoned to a Court hearing after conjuring a Patronus in order to get rid of the Dementors which was about to Kiss him and Dudley in Little Whinging. Now, we all know how dangerous Dementors are and that Harry only performed the spell in order to save their lives, but during the trial, it seems as though the Ministry are so determined to punish Harry for spreading panic about Voldemort's return that they're willing to defy the law and logic by expelling him from Hogwarts. You lived in fear alongside Harry for those chapters and this only increased when you discovered that he was going to be trialled by the full Wizengamot. Even though you knew that he did the right thing, you were still worried that he was going to be severely punished for it, all because of Fudge's ignorance.
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Lover of Tolkien's world, Harry Potter and baked goods. A camel once put his head on my shoulder and it was the best day ever. sara@whatculture.com