After I retired last year, I borrowed and read the first four Harry Potter books. Before I’d finished reading the fourth book, I ordered the fifth from Amazon.com, and waited impatiently until it arrived.

If you dismiss the Harry Potter books as children’s literature, or if you know Harry Potter only from the movies, you’re cheating yourself of something wonderful.

The sixth book is due on July 16. I’ve had my copy on order for some time now. In anticipation, I’ve been re-reading the first five books.

Recently much was made of parallels between the plot of the latest Star Wars movie and political current events. The movie was considered critical of aspects of the Bush Administration. Director George Lucas denied that the movie was about Bush or the War in Iraq:

Lucas said that a long time ago in a galaxy far away, he had read some history and wondered why, after going to the trouble of killing Caesar, the Roman Senate turned things over to his equally power-hungry nephew, Augustus Caesar? Or that after a revolution, France turned next to Napoleon, a dictator?

That’s what fueled the entire Star Wars saga, Lucas said. “It seems to happen the same way every time: There are threats, and a democratic body, the Senate, is not able to function properly.”

So I was interested, when reading Harry Potter books published before George W. Bush became president, to see parallels to current events every bit as strong as those in the latest Star Wars movie.

For example: Dumbledore, a very good wizard, objects to the practice, at a wizard prison called Azkaban, of using dementors as guards. Dementors are cruel magical creatures that torment the souls of anyone in their power. The Minister of Magic dismisses Dumbledore’s objections as “preposterous,” and adds, “Half of us only feel safe in our beds at night because we know the dementors are standing guard at Azkaban!”

In the books, there are good wizards and evil ones, who practice Dark Magic. Aurors are wizards specially trained to fight against Dark Magic. Voldemort, the worst of the Dark Wizards, led a reign of terror years before, then he mysteriously lost his powers and vanished. Most people in the magical world still fear even to speak his name. Many good wizards believe Voldemort is still alive, waiting to strike again.

The teenaged student wizards, including Harry, notice a certain mistrust between some of the adult foes of the Dark Side. One of their adult friends is talking about a senior official in the Ministry of Magic whom I’ll call John Smith, to avoid giving away too much of the story:

“He’s a great wizard, John Smith, powerful, magical — and power-hungry. Oh never a Voldemort supporter,” he said, reading the look on Harry’s face. “No, John Smith was always very outspoken against the Dark Side. But then a lot of people who were against the Dark Side… well, you wouldn’t understand… you’re too young….”

The teenagers complain, saying, “Try us, why don’t you?” So their friend takes them back to the peak of Voldemort’s power:

“You don’t know who his supporters are, you don’t know who’s working for him and who isn’t; you know he can control people so that they do terrible things without being able to stop themselves. You’re scared for yourself, and your family, and your friends. Every week, news comes of more deaths, more disappearances, more torturing…”

He continues:

“Well, times like that bring out the best in some people and the worst in others. Smith’s principles might’ve been good in the beginning — I wouldn’t know. He rose quickly through the Ministry, and he started ordering very harsh measures against Voldemort’s supporters. The Aurors were given new powers — powers to kill rather than capture, for instance. [Some suspects were] handed straight to the dementors without trial. Smith fought violence with violence[…] I would say he became as ruthless and cruel as many on the Dark Side. He had his supporters, mind you — plenty of people thought he was going about things the right way…”

Gosh, that sounds familiar.