Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Chapter 1

Time To Party

Harry Potter awoke with a start on a morning in late July, as he had been waking up every morning since the death of Cedric Diggory and Voldemort's return. Harry was having a nightmare with all of the dark times in his past as if a dementor was in his presence. He'd been having these nightmares for a while, but he could never get used to them. This particular nightmare had to have been one of the worst so far.

The nightmare had started out with the night his parents died, Halloween nearly fourteen years before. Harry's father, James told Harry's mother, "Lily, take Harry and go! It's him! Go! Run! I'll hold him off-." Then his mother's voice pleading, "Not Harry! Not Harry! Please- I'll do anything-," and then Voldemort interrupting, "Stand aside. Stand aside, you silly girl," followed by a flash of green light and a cackle of high-pitched laughter.

The nightmare continued straight to the Triwizard Tournament's third task, where Harry was trying to persuade Cedric to tie for the cup. From there, they were transported to a graveyard, the graveyard where Voldemort's muggle father, Tom Riddle, was buried. There was a murmuring of the words Avada Kedavra and Cedric Diggory fell to the ground dead. The next thing Harry knew, Voldemort had rose again and challenged him to a wizard's duel. Harry was glad that he knew how to duel, even if he wasn't taught very much at the Dueling Club because of Gilderoy Lockhart. Voldemort said, "Avada Kedavra," as Harry said, "Expelliarmus!" Harry and Voldemort's wands connected because of Priori Incantatem, where two wands share the same core, which in their case was a tail feather from the phoenix Fawkes. Echoes began to come out of Voldemort's wand. The echoes were of Cedric Diggory, Frank Bryce, Bertha Jorkins, and Harry's parents. Harry's parents told him what to do and Cedric told Harry to take his body back to Hogwarts to his parents. Harry used the summoning charm to get the Triwizard Cup, which was a portkey, while he picked up Cedric's body.

The nightmare kept going to show all of that night's events, until finally it ended when Sirius left him and went to carry out Dumbledore's orders. At this point, Harry woke up with a start and a burning pain coming from his scar, as if a bucket of boiling water had been poured over his head! He looked at his watch, which used to be Dudley's. It was only two o'clock in the morning.

Harry lay in his bed for ten minutes, pondering his nightmare, when he heard a tap at his window, Harry got up and saw eight owls at his window. Four of the owls he recognized immediately as Errol, Pigwidgeon, a barn owl from Hogwarts, and finally his own owl, Hedwig. He suddenly remembered that it was his birthday, and like the past two years, he was getting a ton of letters. Harry walked over to his window, opened it and all of the owls swooped into his room.

Harry relieved Errol of his package first, so he could have a nice long drink from Hedwig's water dish, and would have a longer time to recover. He opened the package and inside was a box with a cake in it and four letters. The letters were from Ginny, Fred and George, Mr. Weasley, and Mrs. Weasley.

Harry opened the letter from Fred and George first, which was attached to another package. Harry was surprised that Errol hadn't passed out right after he left the Burrow. The letter from Fred and George said:

Harry-

We're just writing to say thanks again and to let you know that we bought Ginny a cat and dress robes for ickle Ronniekins. The rest has been and will be going towards "Weasley Wizard Wheezes." Enclosed is our new invention, they're not a joke or anything. We're going to have a line of these for snacks too. They are called LV's. LV's are just breakfast, lunch, and dinner so far, but that will change next summer after we leave Hogwarts when we have more time on our hands to experiment. We gave you 100 of each. Tell us what you think, enjoy! Thanks again.

-Fred & George

What will they think of next? Harry thought, shaking his head, as he put the letter down, and picked up Ginny's. It read:

Dear Harry,

How are you? Everything is okay here, except George and Fred are being weird. Then again, when are they not? Anyway, they are buying all this expensive stuff. They bought me a cat the other day. Do you know where they got the money? Do you, Harry? I'm running out of ink, maybe I can get "Gred" or "Forge" to buy me some. Hmm.

Lo Sincerely,

Ginny

When Harry looked at the closing, Harry knew that Ginny had begun to write "Love," but he just didn't like her that way. He thought of her as more of his sister, not his girlfriend. Harry hoped that Ginny wouldn't be too upset if she ever found out. Harry sighed and picked up the other two letters from the package and opened Mrs. Weasley's first. She wrote him saying:

Dear Harry,

Don't blame yourself for Cedric Diggory's death! (How does she know me so well!) Arthur and I just talked to the Diggorys and they don't blame you in the slightest. I'll miss you this summer, but Dumbledore said you'd be safer at the Grangers'. If Fudge doesn't admit You-Know-Who has risen, there will be a definite riot, even Percy has started to notice! I might come and visit you at Hogwarts.

Good luck in your fifth year, and remember, Don't Blame Yourself! I hope you like the cake, I know you're still on that diet that you started last year because of your cousin, Dudley, I hope you don't have to stay on it much longer! See you soon, and I'll be in touch with you and everyone throughout the year

to let you know how things are going.

Love,

Molly Weasley

Harry folded the letter back up, and placed it on the ever-growing pile of letters. He reached for the letter from Mr. Weasley and started reading.

Dear Harry,

Just wanted to let you know what is going on in the wizarding world, since you seem to be cut off from it entirely at your Aunt and Uncle's house. Basically, Mr. Diggory has had a major downfall, and Mrs. Diggory is in depression, honestly, we've tried everything! Not even cheering charms will work...

On second note, You-Know-Who's power has been getting more obvious everyday! Fudge has been sweating more and more, and Rita Skeeter has been down his back all last and this month. Something is definitely fishy, I've been suspicious of Fudge for a longtime, I think I'll go after his job, I have got tons of supporters, maybe just fifty or so, but I'm working on it.

So long, I'll be seeing you,

Arthur Weasley

Harry then placed this letter on the pile too, and was glad that Mr. Weasley was going to run for Minister of Magic, and hoped he won. Harry knew that Dumbledore would definitely want Mr. Weasley to win, because if he didn't, there would be no hope for the Ministry to come to terms with Voldemort's rising.

Harry went over to Ron's owl, Pigwidgeon, who was flying around rather energetically for a little owl his size. The letter, of course, was from Ron. None of it was a surprise, because he had heard about the things that he was talking about from other members of his family.

Harry-

Fred and George seem to have a lot of money, I mean, they bought me dress robes! Do you know anything about this? Did you hear from Hermione yet? She sent me an invitation to her house. I mean, I thought that we had an unspoken agreement that we would always get together at my house! Dad's been coming home late lately. Muggles are being tortured everywhere! Dad says if Fudge doesn't admit the rise of You-Know-Who, soon the Ministry will be in ruins! See you when Hermione and I come pick you up from the Dursleys, we're going with Hermione's parents in their car.

-Ron

P.S. I think Percy and Penelope might be engaged or something, Percy keeps gloating that he's gotten 20 letters from her so far! Be glad you aren't coming over here this summer.

Harry thought to himself, Wow! Imagine getting engaged after only dating someone for about four years! I wonder how the Weasleys will feel about getting another addition to the family...And with that he placed that letter on the pile, and took the letters from the Hogwarts barn owl, who immediately after took flight. The letter from the school was thicker than usual, the other, which Harry could tell was from Hagrid because of the untidy scrawl, he read first:

Harry-

I won't be in school this year, working on Hogwarts business, kinda. Charlie Weasley will have your present from me. Happy 15^th birthday, and I'll try to get done soon to visit you.

-Hagrid

Harry was very sad at this news, he was worried that he would never see Hagrid again, and if that did happen, it would just crush him. I hope Dumbledore isn't making him do anything too dangerous...

Harry picked up the letter from Hogwarts; it was not only thicker, but also heavier than usual. Inside were three pieces of parchment. The first one said:

Dear Mr. Potter,

We are pleased to inform you that the staff has agreed that you will be one of the Gryffindor prefects. Enclosed is your badge. An owl will be sent to you the day before term begins with more information. As always, term begins on September first, from Platform 9¾ at King's Cross Station at 11:00. There is a list of school supplies, along with a note from the Ministry of Magic inside. Have a good rest of summer holiday.

Yours Sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall

Minerva McGonagall,

Deputy Headmistress

Harry put the letter from Professor McGonagall aside, onto the pile, and took the other two papers out of the envelope. The note from the Ministry of Magic said:

Dear Mr. Potter,

We are very much aware here, at the Ministry of Magic, that Albus Dumbledore has told all of his students at Hogwarts that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named has returned. On account of this, we think it wise and for the best, that we get rid of the law, temporarily, that states that under-age wizards are not allowed to use magic. This will be stopped once He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is again destroyed. Thank you for your cooperation, Mr. Potter. We will inform you again when this law has been reinstated. Note: This ban has only been lifted for you, so do not tell your friends, especially Mssrs. Fred and George Weasley, as we know they will get a bit out of hand if they could do magic.

Sincerely,

Cornelius Fudge

Cornelius Fudge,

Minister of Magic

Whoa! Harry thought to himself, Why only me? Do they expect Voldemort to get through all of the protection I have and try to kill me? I sincerely hope not, and I can't even talk about this with Hermione. But what's going to happen once I get to her house, I mean Ron and Hermione will notice if I start using magic and don't get a letter saying I'm expelled from Hogwarts. Maybe I should write a letter to Dumbledore. I'll write letters to everyone once I read the rest of them. Harry then decided to look at his list of school supplies and his prefect badge after he read all of his letters and wrote back to people.

Harry took the letters from Hedwig and said, "Hedwig, you can go sleep, I know you probably wanted to get me letters from people I haven't heard from, and to that I am grateful, but next time, don't leave while I'm asleep." Hedwig gave a short, tired hoot in response, and flew to her cage obediently, covered her head with her wing and quickly fell asleep.

Harry took the letters from the rest of the owls, and was surprised to see that one of them was an eagle owl that he recognized as Draco's owl (he had seen it enough times at school to be able to recognize it). Taking the letter from the pompous owl, he thought, why would Draco send me a letter? Unless it's to threaten me or something... Harry opened up the folded piece of parchment, and saw only a few short sentences. It read:

Potter-

Join the Dark Lord or watch your friends die as you try and fight him. See you at school.

-Malfoy

What am I going to do? Harry asked himself, I can't let them get killed! And whom would Voldemort think of as my friends? Hagrid, Hermione, Ron, George, Fred, Ginny, basically any of the Weasleys. Would he think my fellow Quidditch team members? Now, the bigger question is, how should I act around my friends? Should I try to protect them by pretending not to be their friends, or should I talk to them and see how they react and ask them what they want to do? I'll decide that once I'm at Hermione's, I guess. But in the mean time, Malfoy had better not do anything to any of them, or it will just ruin the rest of the summer holiday, and maybe the entire school year.

Harry took the letter that was delivered by the other eagle owl, the one he didn't recognize. All of the owls had taken flight now, except for Hedwig, who was in her cage, the two eagle owls, and Pigwidgeon, who were flying around Harry's room. Harry opened the letter and immediately recognized Hermione's tiny, neat handwriting. He smiled and read the letter which said:

Dear Harry,

I just finished visiting Viktor Krum, his villa in the South Seas is wonderful. I went with him to his Quidditch practices and learned some tricks seekers use. There is one called the switcher. It involves spotting the snitch, having a bludger keep an eye on it for you, and then zooming off in the other direction. When you have confused the other seeker, you turn around, and capture the snitch.

Guess what I heard! Karkaroff is off hiding in the Alps, we have no need to worry about him. Yet. You're also probably wondering about Rita Skeeter. I let her go, and she hasn't posted a lie or rumor all summer, well except for saying that she doesn't think that Fudge is doing his job efficiently...

Harry, would you like to come over this summer, to my house in Bristol? Ron will be here, along with Fred and George, and Ginny too. We'll have so much fun! I will expect my new owl, Lily, with a reply (My parents got her for me for a welcome home present.) Auf Wiedersien. (That's German for good-bye.)

Sincerely,

Hermione

P.S. When I left Viktor's house, he kissed me good-bye!

At the last line Harry's face fell. What! He kissed her! Well she doesn't know, so its okay, I guess, he thought, a little concerned. Harry picked up a letter that had been left by a snowy owl. The letter was, surprisingly, from Viktor Krum.

Harry-

Don't know if my Herm-own-ninny sent you letter yet. Just wanted to ask a favor. Can you make sure that she doesn't fall for any guys at Hogwarts? (Harry inwardly groaned) Good luck with Quidditch this year. I'll be seeing you.

-Viktor Krum

P.S. Tell Ron I said hi.

Harry was very depressed about what Krum asked him to do. How am I going to keep Hermione away from other guys, when I like her myself! There is going to be a definite problem with this one. Now I have two ways to ruin my friendship with Hermione. I can either ruin it by being her bodyguard from guys, or tell her how I feel. I would choose neither. But if I had to choose, I would choose tell her how I feel, Harry thought about his dilemma. Harry picked up the three remaining letters, the ones that Hedwig had brought. The letters were from Sirius, Lupin, and someone who just signed with their initials.

Harry-

I've heard from Padfoot that you are becoming more and more like James everyday. I don't know if you'll like this idea of mine or not, but I have a feeling that if James were here, he would have already thought of it. I was thinking that you, Ron and Hermione could become the new generation of Marauders. Sort of like Prongs, Padfoot, that rat and I were. You guys could pull pranks on people, and then send those people notes saying 'brought to you by the new generation of Marauders' or something like that. If you ever want to know why I thought of this or what happened during the original Marauders' years together during and after our years at Hogwarts, all you have to do is ask.

-Moony

Dear Harry,

Hello! I've been waiting to hear from you, how come you didn't respond to my last letter? I hope neither of our letters got intercepted, that could be dangerous for both of us. Listen, Dumbledore has sent me a letter asking me to come back and help with something, but as Hagrid would say, "That's top secret, that is." Anyway, how are you? Dursleys got you down? That won't matter for long now. Trust me on this one, ok?

See you soon,

Padfoot

Dearest Harry-

Stay strong. Dark times await us.

-A.F.

Well, I know what to talk to Ron and Hermione about now, aside from Malfoy's letter. I wonder who A.F. is, and how did Hedwig get a letter from that person, unless... Maybe Sirius or Lupin knows who it is! I'll ask them in my letter to them.

Finally, I can read the very last letter, I wonder who its from, because it looks like one of the owls I saw at Hogsmeade. Harry looked at the letter and saw it was from Fleur. Very curious, Harry read it eagerly.

Dear Harry,

I'm coming to England soon! To improve my English, like I said I would. Watch out. À tout à l'heure!

-Fleur

Harry was very intrigued indeed, he wondered if Fleur was coming because she found Bill Weasley attractive. Well, he thought, If that is the case, won't she be surprised when she finds out that Bill is back in Egypt working for Gringotts. Harry got out a stack of parchment and decided to get started on returning the letters, because Hermione's, Draco's, and Ron's owls were still flying around. He started with the one to Hermione first.

Dear Hermione,

Would love to come, I can't wait! See you then!

-Harry

P.S. Please don't come by Floo Powder. Drive, or something,

and don't mention magic! (as I'm sure you know) By

the way, I love your owl's name.

Harry folded up the letter to Hermione, and attached it to Lily's foot, who flew away with a tiny hoot. Harry took Malfoy's owl to the window and let him out and closed the window. The eagle owl tapped on the window about ten times, and Harry didn't let him back in, so the owl flew away and Harry popped one of the breakfast LV's into his mouth. Then, he again picked up the quill and began to write letters to everyone in the Weasley family who sent him letters:

Ron-

Boy! Do I have a lot to tell you and Hermione about! I can't tell you guys in letters, so it will have to wait until we're at her house. When are you guys picking me up? I have no idea about the money Fred and George have, if you want, I can casually bring up the topic to them at Hermione's. That's cool about Percy and Penelope maybe being engaged. Now you might have another sister! (Well, sister-in-law, but same thing.)

-Harry

Dear Mrs. Weasley,

I'm a little confused. What should I call you? Molly or Mrs. Weasley? Or something else? How did you know that I was blaming myself for Cedric's death? Thanks for the cake, and I hope you can visit during the year, its not going to be the same, not staying at the Burrow over the summer, I mean. Thank you for all you have done for me. You are more like a mother to me than anyone I know.

Love,

Harry

Dear Mr. Weasley,

Just like with Mrs. Weasley, I'm not sure of what to call you. Thank you for filling me in on the wizarding world news. Don't tell anyone I told you, but I know for a fact that Rita Skeeter is an unregistered Animagus. She's a beetle, and the way you can tell is the fact that around her eyes is the design of glasses. I hope you win the election, and I'm glad you and the rest of your family is a part of my life. You are like the family I never had.

Love,

Harry

Dear Ginny,

In answer to your question, no, I really have no clue as to where Fred and George got the money. By the way, what is your cat's name? See you at Hermione's.

Your Friend,

Harry

Fred & George-

Again, your welcome for the money. Don't forget, hurry up with all of the joke stuff, everyone needs something funny nowadays. I've just had one of the breakfast LV's. It was very good, I'm sure I will enjoy all of them. Bring some with you to Hogwarts, I might want refills throughout the year! See you soon!

-Harry

P.S. Ginny and Ron are onto you. I'm going to stage a conversation with you about the money at Hermione's.

I think those letters are fine. I'll write and talk to them more when I get to Hermione's house. I guess now I just have to write to Dumbledore, Sirius, and Lupin. I'll write to Dumbledore first, as it's probably more important that I get that sent out quickly.

Professor Dumbledore-

I'm very sorry to annoy you over your summer holiday, but so many weird things have happened to me today! Someone with the initials A.F. sent me a weird note, Malfoy sent me a threatening note, and I received a message from Mr. Fudge saying I could use magic outside of school. But why just me? I mean, why not my friends, too? Should I tell them? For example, if I use magic at Hermione's, and don't get expelled, they're going to be suspicious and think its because I'm famous that I don't get expelled, especially since that whole 'Sirius Black is after me' thing in my third year. What should I do?

-Harry

Harry reread the letter and decided it was fine and sent it with Hedwig, who had woken up a few minutes before, and sent the letters to the Weasleys with Pigwidgeon. Harry decided he should write to Sirius and Lupin before Hedwig came back from delivering the letter to Dumbledore. He decided to wait a little while before starting. He went to his trunk, opened it up, and took out his father's Invisibility Cloak, and his Firebolt. Harry was going to go for a short flight.

Harry walked up to the window, mounted his Firebolt, pulled the Invisibility Cloak over his head, and flew out of the window. Harry saw the morning sun peeking up over the horizon and wished his problems could go away, just like the sun could rise and set everyday, come in with dawn and out with dusk. Harry sighed, and flew over the tree-tops before flying back to the Dursleys.

Once Harry had flown back into his room, about two hours later, he could hear Aunt Petunia clashing pots and pans in the kitchen, and the stairs groaning under Dudley's weight, as he made his way down to the kitchen for his very small breakfast. Hmm. Harry mused, Why is Aunt Petunia using pots and pans when everyone is still on the fruits and veggies diet? That makes no sense at all. If I were Aunt Petunia, I would not have caved in, considering the fact that Dudley now looks more like a whale in a wig instead of a pig in a wig. I guess I'd better go downstairs and see what's going on. I probably will tell them about Hermione and her parents coming to pick me up, and ask them if I can go, since I'm in the middle of writing a letter to Sirius.

As Harry made his way downstairs, he didn't notice the rumbling of a car coming from outside Privet Drive. It was Hermione, her parents, and Ron coming to pick Harry up. Of course, Harry had everything packed, since he didn't know when he would be leaving. When Harry walked into the kitchen, the doorbell rang.

"I'll get the door, someone I know might be coming, she invited me over to her house," Harry told his relations.

"What? You have a girlfriend!" Dudley exclaimed, clearly very surprised.

"No, she is not my girlfriend," Harry said. Under his breath, he mumbled, "Right now I don't know what she is to me," as he walked into the hallway. Harry twisted the doorknob, and pulled open the door and there stood Ron and Hermione on his doorstep, the very one he had been left on that night nearly fourteen years ago.

"Harry!" Hermione exclaimed, throwing her arms around his neck, and hugging him tightly and giving him a hello kiss on the cheek. After a little more than a minute, Hermione finally let go and said, "How are you? Lily arrived with your message just as we were about to leave. I figured I couldn't write you a quick note, because we wouldn't have time. Oh its so good to see you!" she exclaimed, giving him another little hug.

"Whoa, Hermione slow down! It's good to see you too. Hi, Ron."

"Hi, Harry, can we come in?" Ron asked, uncomfortably.

"Sure, sorry I couldn't ask before, but someone was babbling a little," Harry said looking at Hermione, who blushed, which made Harry snort, and Hermione relax a little. Harry moved aside and let them in. Harry asked Hermione, "Don't your parents want to come in?"

"Oh, no, they're going to pick us up later, they have to go to a meeting for dentists, that's why we're here so early, we beat all of that traffic coming here," Hermione answered a little guiltily, "sorry I didn't tell you that in my letter, I forgot to mention it, and when I realized it, it was too late, Lily was already here by then, probably."

"It's fine, Hermione, I'm just not sure how my aunt and uncle will react, but I'm sure if I tell them that I'm in the middle of writing a letter to Sirius, they'll be too scared to argue. Besides, I can always say that Fred and George will give Dudley another Ton-Tongue-Toffee, right, Ron?" Harry asked, ready to start laughing.

"Yeah," Ron agreed, "I bet Dudley would run away screaming and your aunt would probably start shrieking and your uncle's face would turn pure white," Ron said smirking, obviously very amused at the thought, which made Harry burst out laughing, making Ron start laughing.

"Now, really, that's not very funny," Hermione scolded them, reminding them of Professor McGonagall and making them laugh harder.

Harry and Ron's laughter drew Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia and Dudley into the room. "WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE?" Uncle Vernon asked Harry, turning purple in the face while Aunt Petunia and Dudley stood as still as a stone.