I finished the fifth book of the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, late last night.

Yesterday, during my lunch break at work, I nipped off to the mall and zoomed into the bookstore as quickly as I could to get my hands on a copy. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was officially released on June 21st.

The book is the longest so far in the series and doubtlessly the most harrowing for our hero and his friends.

As the story progresses to culminate in Harry’s seventh year, events just get darker and darker and, lately, have been ending in painfully tragic deaths.

The much-hyped “death” in OOTP made me cry. J.K. Rowling killed off the character with whom I fell in love, since I first read about him.

For sure, I will mourn this loss not only today but in the weeks that will follow.

Rest in peace, my brightest, dearest star.

Amazon.com has this excellent product description and review:

Harry has just returned to Hogwarts after a lonely summer. Dumbledore is uncommunicative and most of the students seem to think Harry is either conceited or crazy for insisting that Voldemort is back and as evil as ever. Angry, scared, and unable to confide in his godfather, Sirius, the teen wizard lashes out at his friends and enemies alike.

The head of the Ministry of Magic is determined to discredit Dumbledore and undermine his leadership of Hogwarts, and he appoints nasty, pink-cardigan-clad Professor Umbridge as the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher and High Inquisitor of the school, bringing misery upon staff and students alike.

This bureaucratic nightmare, added to Harry’s certain knowledge that Voldemort is becoming more powerful, creates a desperate, Kafkaesque feeling during Harry’s fifth year at Hogwarts. The adults all seem evil, misguided, or simply powerless, so the students must take matters into their own hands.

Harry’s confusion about his godfather and father, and his apparent rejection by Dumbledore make him question his own motives and the condition of his soul.

Also, Harry is now 15, and the hormones are beginning to kick in. There are a lot of secret doings, a little romance, and very little Quidditch or Hagrid (more reasons for Harry’s gloom), but the power of this book comes from the young magician’s struggles with his emotions and identity.

Particularly moving is the unveiling, after a final devastating tragedy, of Dumbledore’s very strong feelings of attachment and responsibility toward Harry.

Graduate School enrollment was this morning, as the first semester in Philippine schools formally kicks off this coming Monday.

I got 12 units, four subjects. They are as follows:
· Organizational Development (Mondays)
· Human Resource Development (Tuesdays)
· Research and Statistics in Public Administration (Wednesdays)
· Human Behavior in Organization (Thursdays)

This is, by far, the coolest and most interesting line-up of subjects that I have enrolled for in one semester.

Credit goes to my mother, who had instilled in me a great love for Human Resource/Behavior subjects as far back as I could remember.