Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Chapter Twenty-Two:
St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries

"Next!"

Synopsis by Maureen Knight
Notes and links by Steve Vander Ark and Michele L. Worley

US hardcover edition: pages 466-491
UK paperback edition: pages 513-541
Timeframe: 18-19 December, 1995 [Y15]

In which Arthur Weasley is rushed to St. Mungo's Hospital, Dumbledore sends Harry and the Weasleys back to Sirius' house, and they visit Arthur in hospital as he makes his recovery.

Interesting facts and notes about the text of this chapter:

The floor guide of St. Mungos gives us quite a lot of information about the place in addition to the parts actually visited by Harry and his friends. The patients and their problems are an interesting source of medical magic information.

In passing, we also encounter the first werewolf we've met up to this point other than Remus Lupin (though not the last we're going to meet).

raising an unusually thick wand that looked not unlike a birch rod

If Harry had ever sat through a longer night than this one he could not remember it.

a station in the very heart of London

One of his jinxes backfired, the toilet exploded and they found him lying unconscious in the wreckage covered from head to foot in -

Characters introduced in this chapter:

• Black, Phineas Nigellus (his first formal appearance)

• Derwent, Dilys

• Everard

• (unnamed) other former Hogwarts headmasters, in their portraits

• (unnamed) wizard asking for directions to Spell Damage section of St. Mungo's

• (unnamed) wizard asking to see Broderick Bode

• (unnamed) Welcome Witch at the St. Mungo's desk

• (unnamed) Arthur Weasley's roommate: the newly-turned werewolf

• (unnamed) Arthur Weasley's roommate: the woman who wouldn't say what bit her

Characters returning in this chapter:

• Black, Sirius

• Dippet, Armando (in his portrait for the first time)

• Dumbledore, Albus

• Fat Lady

• Fawkes

• Finnigan, Seamus

• Kreacher

• Longbottom, Neville

• McGonagall, Minerva

• Moody, Alastor (Mad-Eye)

• Norris, Mrs.

• Potter, Harry

• Thomas, Dean

• Tonks, Nymphadora

• Weasley, Arthur

• Weasley, Fred

• Weasley, George

• Weasley, Ginny

• Weasley, Molly

• Weasley, Ron

Characters mentioned in this chapter:

• Bode, Broderick

• Cragg, Elfrida

• Fletcher, Mundungus

• Llewellyn, Dai

• Lupin, Remus (not named)

• Podmore, Sturgis

• Pye, Augustus

• Rackharrow, Urquhart

• Riddle, Tom Marvolo (as Voldemort, You-Know-Who)

• Smethwyck, Hippocrates

• Umbridge, Dolores

• Weasley, Bill

• Widdershins, Willy

• large snake that bit Arthur Weasley (in Harry's vision)

• (unnamed) patients waiting for service at St. Mungo's

• (unnamed) St. Mungo's Healers

• (unnamed) Muggles who lost fingers to Willy Widdershins's biting doorknobs

Settings and locations introduced or returning in this chapter:

• Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

  • Dumbledore's Office

  • Gryffindor Tower: Harry's Dormitory

• London

  • number twelve, Grimmauld Place

    • Harry and Ron's bedroom

    • kitchen

    • pantry

  • Purge and Dowse Ltd.

  • St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries

    • Dai Llewellyn Ward and Mr. Weasley's Room

    • Reception Area

  • Underground

Settings and locations mentioned in this chapter:

• Burrow, the

• Diagon Alley

• Hogwarts: Gryffindor Tower Common Room

• Ministry of Magic Headquarters

Exceptional character moments:

• Arthur, who even in hospital on a course of Blood-Replenishing Potion still manages to work up enthusiasm for the idea of possibly meeting a few Muggle patients.

Spells and Potions:

• Accio

• Blood-Replenishing Potion

• Conjured Items

• Entrail-Expelling Curse (mentioned)

• Imperturbable Charm

• Portus

• possession

• (unnamed) regurgitating toilet jinx

• spells that affected the patients in the St. Mungo's reception area

Links and Resources:

• map of Harry's dormitory

• Bestiary

  • boggart

  • house-elf

  • phoenix

  • werewolf

• butterbeer

• essays

  • The Limits of Magic

  • Prejudice: A Great Theme of the Books

• Harry's dreams

• items and devices, magical

  • Dumbledore's instrument

  • Extendable Ears

  • wands

• Order of the Phoenix

• passwords

• portraits

• transportation:

  • Floo Network

  • Portkeys

• Seers

Memorable lines:

• "Your father knew what he was getting into, and he won't thank you for messing things up for the Order!" said Sirius angrily in his turn. "This is how it is - this is why you're not in the Order - you don't understand - there are things worth dying for!"

• They greeted Tonks and Mad-Eye, who had turned up to escort them across London, gleefully laughing at the bowler hat Mad-Eye was wearing at an angle to conceal his magical eye and assuring him, truthfully, that Tonks, whose hair was short and bright pink again, would attract far less attention on the underground.

• "The shoes don't prevent you reading, do they?"

• A very old, stooped wizard with a hearing trumpet had shuffled to the front of the queue now. "I'm here to see Broderick Bode!" he wheezed. "Ward forty-nine, but I'm afraid you're wasting your time," said the witch dismissively. "He's completely addled, you know, still thinks he's a teapot.... Next!"

• "Yeah, well," said Moody, "there's something funny about the Potter kid, we all know that."

Strictly British:

• dresser

• peaky

• queue

• the Underground

Timelines/Calendar:

We know that the Harry's vision of Arthur Weasley and the snake happens on a Wednesday night, since they visit Arthur in the hospital the next day (Thursday) and Hermione shows up the following day (Friday) saying it was the last day of term.  We also know that this takes place the final week before Christmas, so using September 2 as a Monday - the first day of term - we can deduce that this chapter takes place on Wednesday and Thursday, December 18 and 19.