What was the best scene in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix?

I can talk about how Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix dishes out pro-liberty themes all day, but one scene epitomizes what liberty lovers value.

Continuing my coverage of libertarian themes in Harry Potter, I wanted to talk about the best scene in Order of the Phoenix. There is no book in the series with more libertarian leanings, especially when you relate the content inside the work with the censorship crusades of the 2020s.

If you know anything about censorship, it’s nothing new, as here in the US, it’s happened several times since the early days of the country’s history. We can point to the John Adams, Abraham Lincoln, Woodrow Wilson, and Franklin D. Roosevelt presidencies specifically, and you’ll catch a plethora of censorship. 

And yes, if government schools conditioned you to believe Lincoln, Wilson, and FDR were among America’s greatest head honchos, do yourself a favor and check out Tom DiLorenzo’s Axis of Evil: America’s Three Worst Presidents. It might shed a new light onto your worldview.

I’ll never tell you what to believe, but it never hurts to check out alternative viewpoints. If anything, doing so will help you better craft your own argument. Anyway, before I stray too far, let’s talk more about the absolute best scene in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and what makes it so great. 

Actions Leading to the Scene

Before we take a deep dive into the scene, let’s cook up some context as to what happened leading up to it. On Valentine’s Day in 1995, Harry Potter accompanied his crush and I guess at this point, his girlfriend, Cho Chang, into a coffee shop in Hogsmeade Village for a romantic date. 

Or at least, I was hoping it would have been romantic since I was rooting for this couple when I first read this book in the summer of 2003. Why? I dunno, but it’s probably because I find East Asians attractive. So yeah, naturally, I’d have rather seen an ending to the series where Harry rekindled with Cho as opposed to marrying Ginny. But whatever…

Anyway, the date goes poorly, and 33-year-old TC gets it since this is what makes for interesting reading, even if 12-year-old TC wasn’t too happy about it. But ironically enough, 33-year-old TC is now grateful for this because if Harry ditched his meeting with Hermione Granger at the Three Broomsticks to hang out more with Cho, the best scene in the book never would have played out. 

After a brief and strange run-in with Hagrid, Harry found Hermione sitting with Rita Skeeter and Luna Lovegood. Not long after, Harry tells the world his side of the story in The Quibbler, of all magazines - think Buzzfeed meets Babylon Bee, and it gives you a good idea of what The Quibbler would be like in the Muggle World. 

But hey, desperate times call for desperate measures or something like that, so Harry had to take what he was given here. Therefore, and much to Skeeter’s dismay when she found out she wouldn’t make a single bronze knut off this tabloid or whatever you want to call it, Harry gives his interview.