Harry Potter was going through his entire vocabulary of curse words, and living with Ron Weasley nine months out of the year for four years meant they were quite extensive. Harry and his cousin (a fact none of them were happy about), Dudley had been cornered by two Dementors and Dudley being the bright boy that he was, had managed to punch Harry and knock his wand out of his hand as a result. Yes, Harry was being sarcastic as well as swearing, a fit that would have made him proud had he been in any other situation.
As it was, he was on all fours, crawling around blindly trying to locate his wand. It was testament to his desperation that he had shouted "Lumos", even though he didn't have the wand in his hand, and the wand had flared brightly. He didn't have time to consider it at that time, but now that he was sitting on his bedroom, his aunt and uncle fussing over a drooling Dudley in the next room, he couldn't stop thinking about it. The fact that he had done magic without his wand, although from his wand, hmm, that needed some thinking, but also the fact that he had received ministry letter for his Patronus charm but not the Lumos, had opened up all sorts of questions and planning, things he wasn't ready to share yet. Any other time, Hedwig would have already been winging towards Hermione with his list of questions. But not this time, her most unhelpful letters this summer had put her squarely in his irritation list.
He did manage to write to her asking for some reading suggestions, citing boredom, which she was very happy to help with and had sent him her owl order catalogue from Flourish and Blotts. He had been surprised to find an additional letter from Ginny Weasley and another owl order catalogue from a used bookshop in Diagon Alley. He was torn between irritation knowing that it was common knowledge what he wrote in his letters, and gratitude towards Ginny for the catalogue, since the owl order books from Flourish and Blotts looked pretty expensive to him. He had only a handful of Galleons left from his last years visit to Gringotts. But he was able to order 'Wandless and Wordless: Magic of the Mind' from that used bookstore.
He received his package the day before he was picked up by the Order. Inside was a letter apologising for the fact that they didn't have his book on stock but they had sent another book and hoped it would come useful. Harry seethed as he tore away the brown paper packaging; inside was an old book whose peeling letters proclaimed 'Mind Magyc'. He leafed through the book he didn't order but spent his galleons on anyway. It was about some magic called Legilimency and Oclumency, reading minds and preventing our mind being read. It reminded him of Snape, and how he seemed to look right into his head. He shook his head and tossed the book into his trunk and considered writing another letter to the store.
He thought about it, but didn't act on it until he reached the Order Headquarters, which was another source of irritation altogether. It looked like he would be last person to know everything, including the fact that his Godfather was the heir of one of the most notoriously dark wizarding families in UK.
Seeing Sirius however, halted his thoughts from going into fully blown rage. Sirius was the last living Black, at least in name, the owner of the house. But it was clear from his bearing that he was far from happy here. The order members brushed him off same way they did Harry. Harry felt like this was Sirius' own version of #4 Private Drive. He was a bit cold towards them, but Harry refrained from shouting at Ron and Hermione after they tried to explain, lamely he might add, how they could not write him anything important. Ron was looking at him like he could blow up any moment, Hermione was chewing on her lips, eyes too bright. Harry rubbed his face, as if trying to wipe the scowl residing there, and sighed, "Look, I can't lie and say I'm not mad. Sure Dumbledore told you not to write anything important, AND-" here he glared at Hermione who had opened her mouth and closed it promptly. "They may have been scanning your letters, but I can't believe you gave up so easily. I would have developed a new code language for you, I would have found a way if you were in my shoes. "
Hermione sniffed quietly, Ron's ears had gone pink. "Dinner's ready." Ginny passed by, but stopped at last moment. " Oh hi Harry, didn't know you're here. I expected some shouting to be honest." She grinned.
Harry shrugged, smiling. "Yeah, well. Let's get going, I'm starving." Ron and Hermione got up to leave at once, looking relieved. Harry let them reach the door and then asked casually, "So Ginny, how's the summer?"
"Oh, well enough" Ginny shrugged and Harry was pleased to note that she seemed to have gotten over her shyness around him. She had hung back to let Ron and Hermione pass and joined Harry as they took the stairs, "We moved in here early into the holidays. This is the Order headquarters you see, and we're the maintenance crow."
Harry kept his face straight, "Maintainance crew, you mean? Hey listen, thanks for the catalogue." Ginny smiled, "I saw you wrote to Hermione for books." She added quietly, glancing at her. "She doesn't know, I just wanted to know how you were doing."
Harry fought between amusement and indignation, she was the twins' sister alright. "You are welcome to write to me. " He smiled instead and changed the subject, "The books were quiet cheap compared to Flourish and Blotts. They cost almost five times as much, I understand its second hand, but still."
"They are a muggleborn shop, aren't they?" Ginny said as if that was normal, even though she glanced at Hermione and had dropped her voice. "What-" Harry was interrupted by two loud claps and the twins had appeared on the landing, almost on top of where Ron and Hermione just descended. Several things happened at once, Hermione let out a startled shriek, curtains blew out from what looked like a window but on closer inspection turned out to be a portrait and a woman began to scream profanities at them and the world in general, one twin gave Harry a salute, the other gave Ginny an exaggerated wink, they both cuffed Ron on the head simultaneously and disappeared with another loud crack. They reappeared in front of the kitchen for where they proceeded to collide with Mrs. Weasley who had come out with a spatula in hand. Sirius came loping next and neatly jumped over the Weasley pile, up the flight of stairs and slammed the curtains closed. There was a ringing silence for a moment and then Sirius tossed his towards the kitchen like nothing was wrong and said, "Come on Harry, aren't you hungry?" Harry closed his mouth and followed him down the stairs.