Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

How it opens

On the hottest day of the summer so far, Harry Potter hides in the flowerbed outside number four, Privet Drive, listening to the news for anything that might point to what Lord Voldemort is doing. Later, in an alleyway in Little Whinging, two Dementors attack Harry and his cousin Dudley, and Harry drives them off with the Patronus Charm. Back at the house, a letter from the Ministry of Magic expels him from Hogwarts, and a second Ministry letter changes this to a suspension until a disciplinary hearing on the twelfth of August. Uncle Vernon orders him out of the house, but after a Howler arrives for Aunt Petunia, she says that he stays.

Who you meet early

• Harry PotterHarry Potter has spent four solid weeks stuck in Little Whinging, cut off from the magical world. He watched Cedric being murdered in a graveyard and saw Voldemort come back a month ago, but the letters from Ron, Hermione and Sirius carry no proper news.
• Dudley DursleyDudley Dursley, Harry's cousin, has recently become the Junior Heavyweight Inter-School Boxing Champion of the Southeast. His parents believe he has tea with a different member of his gang every night of the summer holidays.
• Vernon DursleyVernon Dursley, Harry's uncle, is the director of Grunnings, a firm that makes drills. This summer he has threatened to lock Harry in the shed if Harry ever comes home after Dudley again.
• Petunia DursleyPetunia Dursley, Harry's aunt, is his mother's sister. Harry has never heard her mention her sister except in one outburst years ago, when she screamed that his mother had been a freak.