Harry Potter: 10 Most Underrated Chapters
7. The Beetle At Bay – The Order Of The Phoenix
Chapter Synopsis: Harry heads into Hogsmeade for a Valentine’s Day he’ll never forget.
The first part of this chapter focuses on Harry’s disastrous date with Cho Chang. The young couple share an emotional exchange in Madam Puddifoot’s Tea Shop, which ends when Cho storms out of the room and back onto the streets of Hogsmeade.
Frustrated by Cho’s behaviour, Harry heads to The Three Broomsticks and finds Hermione sitting with Luna Lovegood and Rita Skeeter. The dialogue between this unlikely trio is highly entertaining. The combination of Hermione’s cool superiority, Rita’s bitter resentment, and Luna’s up-in-the-clouds personality makes for one of the best dialogue segments in the entire series.
It’s all the more disappointing, therefore, that this conversation was left out of the movie adaptation. It would have been great to see Emma Watson, Miranda Richardson, and Evanna Lynch tackle such an unusual scene.