OotP make you Blue?

[tub_of_earwax]

No: HPFGUIDX 80858

Usually I am but a lurker, but I have made the choice to come out of 
Lurkdom to make my point on OotP. Now if you will have some patience 
and read this post with an open mind, I am sure I can let you see 
the purpose of the tone, feel etc of OotP and why it is wonderful, 
nothing short of ecstasy. 

1) I must start with the end of GoF. At the end of GoF something 
extraordinary happened. Harry found out that Mad-Eye Moody was not 
really Mad-Eye Moody, exposing him to the possibility that someone 
who you trust (Harry trusted Alastor) is not the person you thought 
him to be. I know that with Quirrell we have about the same thing, 
but Harry never really trusted Quirrell, or better said, had any 
sort of bond with The Quivering Prof. 
2) he has been exposed to new heights in which his fame has caused 
him trouble. He lost his friends, he got broadcasted over the whole 
WW by Rita Skeeter as a crying baby etc. From the still famous, but 
compared to GoF relative peacefulness of PoA to the hectic life of 
GoF. 
3) He had to see Voldy come back to life, so to speak. Going from 
Baby!Voldy, to Back and better than ever Voldy. This, with his 
closests followers at his feet. It's like seeing a bomb being
made, 
and being aware of the consequences. 
4) He saw the person that sold his parents, that sold the lives of 
his parents while being their "friends" give Voldy another
gift: 
flesh. This when Harry gave him a chance to live the year before 
that, in PoA. Harry saved Wormtail, only the next year to see that 
again he is at voldy's side, plotting Harry's destruction. 
5) Harry saw Cedric being Killed, and being treated as "the
spare". 
If it had not been for Harry Wormtail had not escaped, and even if 
that was not his fault, if it weren't for Harry Cedric
wouldn't have 
touched the cup and Cedric would be happily walking around. Most 
people have no idea how horrible it is to see someone die. I saw it, 
and I am 16, my father. How horrible it is to feel someone's body
go 
from warm to cold, and then knowing that you can NEVER ever hear 
his/her voice again, never can you ask him/her something ever again. 
And then when that person is not supposed to be dead is even more 
horrible (also my father). Even though cedric wasn't that close
to 
Harry, they had an understanding with eachother and you know? 
6) the emotional bang of seeing his parents appear as an echo. He 
never saw his parents before in this much close to living, actually 
saying something directly to him. 
7) the reality of the injustice of the MoM, with Barty jr not being 
questioned, and Cornelius not believing the return of Voldy. 
And last, but not least, being a teenager. A fourteen year old, with 
a crush, and with school and with growing up to do. 

Harry had all of these things, in ONE YEAR! Plus, being a 14 year 
old, even if he is almost 15. Now all of the above is what Harry 
felt, according to me, so not that I am saying that Cedric's
death 
is Harry's fault, but that is what he feels. This is the way we
let 
him go back to the worst place in the world for him: Privet Drive. 

When arriving at Privet Drive he hears nothing! When he has played 
such a pivotal role in Voldy's downfall and rising, he is told 
Nothing, and he thinks that other people do know a lot (like 
Hermione and Ron). So Obviously he is mad at people for not a) 
comforting him, and b) making him part of the war. Harry also does 
not understand why he is not made prefect. He thinks it is because 
just as not making him part of the war, they think him weak, like he 
thought Lupin thought in PoA with the Boggart. Harry is AGAIN (note 
the again) not believed, and seen as a freack, and he does not know 
who to trust. Alastor turning out to not be Alastor, Peter being the 
traitor, he has enough experience with that. And now without 
Dumbledore's twinkly eyes to look at Harry he does not trust, and
is 
frustrated. In OotP Harry cannot play Quidditch and is being 
terrorized by Dear sweet Dolores. Out to ruin your life even more. 

Now we all know some of Harry's –uhm, more annoying character 
traits. These are not telling people, wanting to do it himself, 
being brave and foolhearty, listening to his emotions a little too 
much at times instead of his head, his reason (or just Hermione), 
and he always feels misunderstood (so doesn't even bother asking 
Ginny for the posessing thing for example). 

Harry see that he is very alone when it comes to life. He is the 
only one to have defeated Voldy, he does have friends, but they do 
not have the emotional baggage that he carries. He does not have a 
family. Sure, the weasley's, but when Arthur got bitten you can
see 
that he still does not fully see them as his own very own family. 
That is why he leans on Sirius so much, they are a lot in the same 
boat. Both alone, rebellious, come from unwanted families, and 
Sirius' whole life-goal is to help and save Harry. He lives to be 
there for Harry, and Harry knows this. Mrs. Weasley lives to help 
all of the weasley kids, Arthur, harry and Hermione. A lot more. 
Plus, Sirius is more of a brother to Harry whereas Molly is a 
typical Mom-firgure. So when he sees Sirius unhappy, and later dead 
he is completely devastated. Oh, kind of trailed off here, Harry has 
no real family, only semi-family now. Harry must yet learn how much 
some people love him, because he forgot about that. 

So do you see the utter, complete horror that Harry needs to have 
faced in OotP. No wonder the "tone" is different, because he
has 
changed a little because of his experiences. And the WW has changed. 

But there were great times in the books, even though they were 
sometimes clouded by Harry's utterly horrible mood. Gred and
Forge 
were very Funny, and very cool. Tnks I found amusing, Luna was such 
a wonderful contribution! Then there were great times at Christmas, 
and he had a great time while teaching the DA. Lockhart was amusing, 
and in general I liked al the St. Mungo scenes, as they had a 
typical HP let's go on an adventure (when they didn't even
know it), 
and find out some stuff thing. 

The character advances were wonderful, James not being so great 
always, Neville finally having some drive to go on, Ron becoming 
more independent, Ginny's greater role and how much she is
powerful 
and fun, Luna contradicting Hermione, or the other way around, Harry 
in the end not having a crush on cho anymore, Dumbledore's faults 
but also we finally see his very powerful and scary side when 
dueling with Voldy. The terror of Bellatrix! Oh how that woman is 
Ever so Evil! And Umbridge, whom I loathe!

I think that JKR has painted a very realistic and very colorful 
drawing of Harry's world in OotP. And I cannot wait to see what
she 
has in store for us next. The world is not all peaches and cream, 
and I know that many people think JKR is abusing Harry, but think 
about how much Neville was abused really, or think about how lucky 
Harry is I some ways. How many lifetime friends he has, and even 
though most of `em may die, he knows he will always have a
shoulder 
to lean on, even if he doesn't believe it himself. 

Toodles, 

*Lara*. 

PS. Sorry if this is late.