Yates had this to say: "The ministry is this bureaucratic authoritarian regime trying to impose a fundamental doctrine on this liberal wacky school. The ministry isn't very good at accepting the beauty of differences. Everything has to fit in a box, and if it doesn't fit, it must be removed. The wonderful thing this story tells kids is that it's OK to be different."
OOTP presents Harry with his toughest experiences yet, and that's what Yates is focusing on. "I've stretched Dan quite a bit. He's a very intuitive person, very bright, quite sensitive. I'm just helping him wake those things up. You can see his determination and ambition, and he can switch things on a sixpence, so I can't wait for people to see what he's achieving."