Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (novel)/Tear Jerker

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Tear Jerkers in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (novel) include:

  • Two words: Sirius Black.
    • A subtle one with Lupin when Sirius dies- he's just lost the last of his best friends (Wormtail doesn't count), but instead of breaking down, he's trying to comfort Harry.
  • The scene where Dumbledore explains to Harry why he wasn't made a prefect:

"I must confess... that I rather thought... you had enough responsibility to be going on with."

  • Molly's personal boggart of seeing her sons (and Harry) killed.
  • Bellatrix taunting Neville about his parents ("Longbottom? Why, I've had the pleasure of meeting your parents, boy!"). It's made all the worse by the fact that we've seen them now. The tear jerker is his furious, heartbroken "I KNOW YOU HAVE!" The sheer emotion brings tears to your eyes, especially when you think about the fact that every time he sees his parents, it hits him all over again that this is the person who did that to them.
    • Personally, I'm a little furious that Neville didn't get to be the one to finish her off.
  • The scene where Moody gives Harry a photo of the original Order of the Phoenix and describes how many of them died. It's pretty sad because all of the subjects are smiling and waving at the viewer, oblivious to the fact that this photo was probably the last time they were all together and alive.
  • The scene in Dumbledore's office at the end of Order of the Phoenix. After everything that happens in the Department of Mysteries, Harry breaks.

Harry: I DON'T CARE! I'VE HAD ENOUGH, I'VE SEEN ENOUGH, I WANT OUT, I WANT IT TO END, I DON'T CARE ANYMORE--
Dumbledore: You do care. You care so much you feel as though you will bleed to death with the pain of it.

    • It's made even worse when coming back to Book 5 after finishing the series. Why is Dumbledore so calm and understanding? Because he went through the same thing.
  • "Snape's Worst Memory" becomes this after you read Deathly Hallows and realize just how much that particular memory hurt for the poor guy.
  • The "flaw" in Dumbledore's plan.

"I cared about you too much. I cared more for your happiness than your knowing the truth, more for your peace of mind than my plan, more for your life than the lives that might be lost if the plan failed. In other words, I acted exactly as Voldemort expects we fools who love to act. Is there a defence? I defy anyone who has watched you as I have - and I have watched you more closely than you can have imagined - not to want to save you more pain than you had already suffered. What did I care if numbers of nameless and faceless people and creatures were slaughtered in the vague future, if in the here and now you were alive, well and happy? I never imagined I would have such a person on my hands."

    • This is basically Dumbledore admitting that, not only did he begin to love his most effective intended weapon against Voldemort the moment he saw how brave and selfless and good he (Harry) had become, he was probably trying to stop himself from caring about anyone this much after what happened to his sister.
Retrieved from "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Harry_Potter_and_the_Order_of_the_Phoenix_(novel)/Tear_Jerker?oldid=2024420"