Harry Potter & The Order Of The Phoenix

Chapter 1 - Back to The Burrow

Harry Potter woke up on the morning of the August 1, 1995 and looked at his alarm clock. It read 8:59. "Three hours of torture to go," he thought to himself as he got dressed and went down stairs to breakfast.

As per normal, the Dursleys ignored the fast that Harry had just entered the kitchen. Harry didn't care though. In three hours, Mr Weasley would pick him up to take him to The Burrow for the last month of the holidays.

Unlike last year, the clocks today seemed to be running abnormally slow. The time had flown by last year for Harry as each of the Three Tasks of the Triwizard Tournament approached. Today, it felt like each hour was really taking two.

Harry finished his breakfast and went back upstairs to finish packing. This didn't take long, as he had packed just about everything the previous night. He sat down on his bed and he allowed his mind to wander. Inevitably, his thought fell on Lord Voldemort.

Harry Potter was a fifteen-year-old wizard who was about to start his fifth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He had grown a few inches of the summer so far, had untidy jet black hair, brilliant green eyes and on his forehead, a scar the shape of a bolt of lightning.

At age one, Harry's parents, James and Lily Potter were murdered by Voldemort. Harry survived the encounter because his mother sacrificed herself to save Harry. Voldemort's killing curse had rebounded into him and barely alive, he fled.

However, at the end of the last school year, Voldemort had captured Harry and used him to restore himself to power. He then tried to kill Harry, but somehow, Harry had escaped yet again.

Harry had expected that Voldemort would start on his conquest immediately. But unless the Daily Prophet was keeping quiet (which he suspected it was), there had been no attacks of any kind.

Harry looked at his alarm clock and was surprised to see that it was now 11:55. "Was I lost for that long," he thought as he went over to Hedwig's cage and prodded her awake.

'Fly ahead to the Weasley's Hedwig, I'll see you there.' She nipped his finger affectionately and took off through the open window. Harry grabbed her cage and his trunk and took them downstairs.

'Bye,' he said to the Dursleys, who were all sitting in the living room. Uncle Vernon just grunted. "Close enough," Harry thought as he went outside. No sooner had he closed the door behind him, a black car pulled up at number four and Mr Weasley got out.

'Hello Harry! Need a hand?'

'Yes please,' Harry replied. Mr Weasley took Harry's trunk and Hedwig's cage and loaded it into the car, before getting in themselves.

'So how have your holiday's been Harry?' Mr Weasley asked him as the driver started off to The Burrow.

'Slow and boring,' Harry said with a grin. 'I can't wait to see everybody again.'

'Don't worry, they all feel exactly the same way about you.'

They sat in silence for about five minutes before Harry spoke.

'Mr Weasley?'

'Yes Harry?'

'I know that there has been nothing in the Daily Prophet, but has there been any news about.....him?'

Mr Weasley shook his head. 'No the Daily Prophet is telling the truth Harry. No one has heard anything at all. The main problem with that is......'

'Trying to figure out if that's a good thing or not' Harry finished.

'Exactly' said Mr Weasley grimly. 'Either he's keeping low or he's planning something big.'

'I'm guessing it's the latter,' Harry mumbled.

'Unfortunately, so do I.'

They lapsed into silence as the car continued on it's journey. After about twenty minutes, Harry spoke up.

'Mr Weasley, has Dumbledore been in contact with you at all?'

Mr Weasley looked at Harry. 'Actually, I wanted to talk to you about that. He has been in touch and we are all meeting in two weeks at The Burrow.'

'All?' Harry asked puzzled.

'Everyone that was in the hospital wing when Dumbledore sent Sirius Black to contact the old crowd.'

Mr Weasley chuckled at the look of shock on Harry's face. 'I know all about Sirius' innocence Harry. Molly told me when she came back from the school. Ron of course, is the only other one of us that knows.'

'I hope he hasn't been showing himself to much, it's dangerous' Harry said. So who exactly is going to be at this meeting?'

'Dumbledore, Molly, myself, Sirius, Remus Lupin, Arabella Figg, Mundungus Fletcher, Hagrid and of course, Ron, Hermione and yourself.'

'Hang on. What about Snape?' Harry asked.

'Snape won't be there. He's on some sort of mission for Dumbledore and before you ask, no I don't know what it is. That may be one of the things that we all talk about.'

The car began to slow and then stopped. Harry was surprised to see that they had arrived. 'That was quick' he said.

'That's the beauty of a ministry car' Mr Weasley said. 'Come on let's go inside.' He grabbed Harry's trunk and took it inside.

Harry collected Hedwig's cage from the driver. 'Have a good day Mr Potter,' he said with a small smile.

'Thank you,' said Harry. He turned to the front door, went inside and walked to the living room.