Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Chapter 1
All along Privet Drive, windows were shut and darkened, the curtains having been drawn hours before. The clouds obscured the light from the moon, giving the street an eerie feeling of a deserted town. But at Number 4, a light burned from an upstairs window, which made an odd glow in the foggy night.
Harry Potter stretched and rubbed his eyes. He had been working on homework for the last three hours, and had decided to take a break. He looked over at the clock on the bedside table, which read 11:50. "I'll be 15 years old in ten minutes," he thought. It was unusual how little Harry looked forward to his birthday. His only living relatives, the Dursleys, had done their best to pretend that Harry didn't exist. Harry sighed. What he wanted more than anything was to be normal - to look forward to birthdays and live in a home where he wouldn't be treated as some sort of slug.
But the simple fact is that Harry Potter is not a normal boy. Everything about him is unusual. He is small and skinny with black hair that grows in every direction and green eyes that shine from behind his glasses. But perhaps most unusual thing about Harry is that he happens to also be a wizard. Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia and his cousin Dudley, Muggles who had not a drop of magical blood in their veins, lived in constant terror that someone would discover their secret, and tried very hard for ten years to keep Harry as downtrodden as possible to squash the magic out of him. But it hadn't work. He had just completed his fourth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and was perhaps the most well known person in the wizarding world.
Harry brushed his hair off of his forehead, revealing a small white scar shaped like a lightening bolt. It was the scar that was most of the reason that Harry was so well known. Fourteen years ago, when he was only a year old, a Dark wizard by the name of Lord Voldemort came to the house where Harry lived with his parents. There Lord Voldemort murdered Harry's parents and then turned his wand on Harry. But the curse, which had disposed of many fully-grown witches and wizards, failed to kill the small boy, and rebounded on its originator. Weak and deprived of power, Lord Voldemort fled. But the previous year, Lord Voldemort returned, to which Harry shuddered to remember.
It had only been a few months since they had last met, but Harry still remembered it well. Wormtail, a servant of Voldemort, had performed a spell of Voldemort's invention, and brought him back to his former body and strength. Harry sighed. He knew Voldemort was still looking for him, infuriated that Harry had managed to escape his grasp yet again.
He looked down at the homework which he had been working on, a rather boring essay for History of Magic, on the history of the Ministry of Magic. He had a sense of longing as he looked at it. He missed Hogwarts, the castle and all of its secret passages, Quidditch (the sport of the wizarding world, which Harry thought was the best game in the world), even his teachers, though not Professor Snape. The Potions professor was Harry's least favorite teacher. Harry's hatred of Professor Snape was matched only by Professor Snape's hatred of Harry. But Professor Snape was the least on Harry's mind at the moment. What he missed more than anything were his friends.
He strode across the room to the window. To his right, a cage stood empty. His snowy owl, Hedwig, had gone on a hunting trip a few nights before and hadn't returned yet. Harry gazed absentmindedly out of the window. He thought of his best friend, Ron Weasley. Ron is tall and gangling, with fiery red hair and freckles. He had been in touch with Ron, and hoped to stay with him later in the summer. Harry had also been in contact with his other best friend, Hermione Granger. Hermione is a witch with loads of bushing brown hair and is the top student in their class. Even as Harry thought about his best friends, he saw a different face in his mind. Cho Chang is a pretty sixth year, the Seeker on the Ravenclaw Quidditch team, the same position that Harry held on the Gryffindor team. He wondered what she was doing, and hoped that she was safe, wherever she was. His stomach gave a funny little flop when he thought of her.
While Harry was still gazing absentmindedly out of the window, he became aware of eyes, like someone was watching him. He shook himself and looked around the ground. He couldn't see anything at first, but the clouds across the moon thinned slightly, and he thought he saw movement at the corner of the hedge. He hurried to turn off the light so that he could see better and rushed back to the window.
He couldn't see anything at first, but then - "Sirius!" he hissed softly. Underneath his window sat a shaggy black dog with matted hair and glowing yellow eyes. It wagged its tail at the sight of Harry. Harry rushed to his bed and pulled his trunk from under the bed, searching frantically for his Firebolt, his beloved broomstick. Locating it, he ran back to the window. He looked around carefully to see if anyone was watching and on and flew out of the window to the ground, where the dog had transformed into his godfather.
"Sirius!" Harry said, gaping open-mouthed at the man who stood before him. "What are you doing here?" he exclaimed as soon as he found his voice again.
Sirius grinned down at him. "Well, it is your birthday isn't it? I'm fulfilling my duty as a godfather. I wanted to be here."
"But you shouldn't be here! What if someone sees you? I thought you were at Professor Lupin's!" Professor Lupin had been Harry's Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher in his third year.
"Don't you worry about that - we all have other things to worry about these days." Sirius replied, looking grave. Then his face brightened. "I've brought you something."
Harry didn't know what to feel. He was shocked that his godfather had risked his life to come see him, but at the same time it felt good to have someone to talk to. He took the package from him and opened it. It was a book. Harry flipped through it quickly but couldn't find anything in it.
Harry gave a puzzled look to Sirius. "What is it?" he asked.
Sirius smiled. "It's a photo album. I thought you might be able to fill it up with pictures of your friends. It'll give you something positive to do - and keep you out of trouble." He gave Harry a rather stern look.
"I don't good looking for trouble you know," Harry said, a little irritated. "Trouble finds me on its own." This was only partly true. Harry, Hermione and Ron had spent more time wandering the school at night than any other student at the school, except perhaps Fred and George, Ron's twin older brothers.
"Even so, I thought you might like it." Sirius said.
"I do!" Harry said quickly. He meant it. He could think of lots of things he wanted to get pictures of. Cho's face floated across his mind again.
Turning slightly red, he looked at Sirius again. "How long are you going to stay here?" he asked.
"I can't stay long - I have some things I need to see to, but I wanted to make sure to be here for your birthday."
Harry felt a rush of gratitude and anguish at the same time. He was grateful that Sirius had come, but he didn't want him to leave.
"Where are you going?" he asked.
"I can't tell you that just yet."
"Does this anything to do with Voldemort?"
Sirius raised an eyebrow. "You don't need to be worried about Voldemort. Whatever he is up to, it is best if you keep out of it. You have a lot of people working to keep you safe, and there's no need to jeopardize that."
Harry felt embarrassed. "Sorry," he mumbled quietly. "I know better than to go looking for trouble" he added, more emphatically.
"Is there anything I can get you before you go?" Harry asked, knowing that it was likely to get him in trouble with the Dursleys.
"No, I need to be off soon. Besides, I don't think you need any more trouble from the Muggles. If you need me for anything, you can still send me owls at Professor Lupin's. I won't be gone too long. Oh, and happy birthday Harry." Harry glanced down at his watch. It read 12:03. "Thanks Sirius." He grinned at Sirius, who had just transformed back into a black shaggy dog. "Be careful." He added, looking grim. Sirius wagged his tail once to show that he had heard, and trotted off along the hedge. Harry watched him until his tail disappeared into the shadows around the side of the house. He sighed and looked around again carefully in case anyone happened to be looking out of a window. Seeing nothing he hopped onto the Firebolt and flew back to his second story window.
He couldn't help but think about all that had happened since his last birthday - an imposter had attacked the famous Auror Mad-Eye Moody, and had come to Hogwarts in his place while the real Mad-Eye Moody laid imprisioned in his own trunk. The imposter had entered him into the Triwizard Tournament. The Tournament featured three students from each of the three major schools in Europe - Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, and Durmstrang. Harry's name was added under a fourth school, making him the fourth champion to compete. A shudder ran through Harry as he thought about it.
On the last task, Harry and the other Hogwarts champion, Cedric Diggory, Captain and Seeker of the Hufflepuff House Quidditch team reached the end of the task at the same time. They had decided to take the Triwizard Cup together, making it a tie for the Tournament, but still a Hogwarts victory. Instead, the cup had been changed into a Portkey, and it took them to a graveyard hundreds of miles away. Cedric had been killed. Harry had been forced to attend a "rebirthing" ceremony for Voldemort. And now he was back. Somehow things managed to stay relatively quiet so far. But then again, living with the Dursleys meant that Harry was cut off from the rest of the wizarding world, and didn't really know what was going on.
He sighed again as he put his Firebolt away. He looked up just in time to see an owl fly into his open window. It was his own snowy female, Hedwig. She had a small package tied to her leg, along with a letter in neat handwriting on the top he immediately recognized as Hermione's. After he had relieved her of her burden, Hedwig floated across the room to her cage, where she settled down to sleep.
Harry tore open the package to find a camera. Slightly confused, he opened the letter.
Harry, I hope you got Sirius's present. He told me what he was getting you, so I thought this might be useful as well. I got a letter from Hogwarts this week. I've been made prefect! I haven't told Ron yet. I've also been getting the Daily Prophet delivered. I haven't seen anything in it about You-Know-Who.
Sirius, Professor Lupin, and Professor Dumbledore were the only ones Harry had ever heard use Voldemort's name. All other wizards flinched at the sound of the name, and generally avoided saying it. He continued reading.
I do hope you're alright. I'm on holiday in Bulgaria right now, but I'll be in Diagon Alley the last week of August. Any chance of seeing you there? Please be careful! All the best, Hermione
Harry grinned at the note. He wondered if Ron knew that Hermione was in Bulgaria. The Durmstrang champion of the Triwizard Tournament, Viktor Krum, was also a well known Quidditch player, having been the Seeker for Bulgaria's national team in last year's World Cup. He also happened to be very smitten with Hermione. She must be visiting him there, he thought.
And she's been made a prefect! Harry didn't know how that would affect their friendships. Harry, Ron, and Hermione always seemed to be out of bed for some reason. If she was made prefect. But she hadn't told on them so far, so that couldn't be bad, right? He wondered what Ron would have to say about it.
Just then, a tiny little owl zoomed in through the open window, with a small package for Harry. It was Ron's owl, Pigwidgeon, commonly known as Pig. He zoomed around the room, twittering madly in delight. Harry snatched him out of the air, hoping that the noise hadn't wakened the sleeping Dursleys. Hedwig clicked her beak in annoyance. She genuinely disapproved of such behavior from a post owl. Harry listened intently to be sure that his cousin Dudley was still snoring away in the next room before he loosened the package on the minute owl's leg and released him back out of the window.
Harry, Alright there? I hope the Muggles aren't treating you too bad. I'm afraid that I'll have to give you your birthday present the next time I see you. Pig's too small to carry the package, and Errol would never make it.
(Errol was the Weasley family's ancient owl, who often collapsed on deliveries)
I've enclosed something you might enjoy before then anyway. Hermione says she's on holiday in Bulgaria. I wonder if she's there to see Krum. Do you know? I think Mum's going to ask Dumbledore if you can stay with us soon. I'll let you know something soon. Happy Birthday! Ron
Harry was curious now. What could be so big that Pig couldn't carry? Well, most anything, he thought. But what about Errol? Did that mean that he was getting so feeble that he couldn't carry anything more than normal post anymore? Harry supposed that he would just have to wait.
Another three more owls swooped into the room. Harry looked at them in amazement. He'd never been so popular before. Where did all of these owls come from? There was a big package tied to the largest of the lot, a big barn owl. It was some homemade rock cakes and fudge from Hagrid. Harry had too much experience with Hagrid's cooking to be overly thrilled at this, but it was still nice of him anyway.
But who were the other two cards from? He opened the first card, and the mystery was solved. It was from Fleur Delacour, the Beauxbatons champion from last year's Triwizard Tournament. She indicated that she would be at Hogwarts in the fall, although she didn't say what she was going to be doing. The second card was from Viktor Krum. Harry was rather surprised. He hadn't been particularly close to either of the other champions, but it was good to hear from them all the same. They were all on the same side now, after all.
Harry looked at the clock again. It was after one o'clock in the morning. Harry figured that anything else could wait until morning. He set all of his cards on the bedside table. He took off his glasses and climbed into bed. He turned to face his birthday cards and smiled, for once feeling very normal as he drifted off to sleep.
All along Privet Drive, windows were shut and darkened, the curtains having been drawn hours before. The clouds obscured the light from the moon, giving the street an eerie feeling of a deserted town. But at Number 4, a light burned from an upstairs window, which made an odd glow in the foggy night.
Harry Potter stretched and rubbed his eyes. He had been working on homework for the last three hours, and had decided to take a break. He looked over at the clock on the bedside table, which read 11:50. "I'll be 15 years old in ten minutes," he thought. It was unusual how little Harry looked forward to his birthday. His only living relatives, the Dursleys, had done their best to pretend that Harry didn't exist. Harry sighed. What he wanted more than anything was to be normal - to look forward to birthdays and live in a home where he wouldn't be treated as some sort of slug.
But the simple fact is that Harry Potter is not a normal boy. Everything about him is unusual. He is small and skinny with black hair that grows in every direction and green eyes that shine from behind his glasses. But perhaps most unusual thing about Harry is that he happens to also be a wizard. Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia and his cousin Dudley, Muggles who had not a drop of magical blood in their veins, lived in constant terror that someone would discover their secret, and tried very hard for ten years to keep Harry as downtrodden as possible to squash the magic out of him. But it hadn't work. He had just completed his fourth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and was perhaps the most well known person in the wizarding world.
Harry brushed his hair off of his forehead, revealing a small white scar shaped like a lightening bolt. It was the scar that was most of the reason that Harry was so well known. Fourteen years ago, when he was only a year old, a Dark wizard by the name of Lord Voldemort came to the house where Harry lived with his parents. There Lord Voldemort murdered Harry's parents and then turned his wand on Harry. But the curse, which had disposed of many fully-grown witches and wizards, failed to kill the small boy, and rebounded on its originator. Weak and deprived of power, Lord Voldemort fled. But the previous year, Lord Voldemort returned, to which Harry shuddered to remember.
It had only been a few months since they had last met, but Harry still remembered it well. Wormtail, a servant of Voldemort, had performed a spell of Voldemort's invention, and brought him back to his former body and strength. Harry sighed. He knew Voldemort was still looking for him, infuriated that Harry had managed to escape his grasp yet again.
He looked down at the homework which he had been working on, a rather boring essay for History of Magic, on the history of the Ministry of Magic. He had a sense of longing as he looked at it. He missed Hogwarts, the castle and all of its secret passages, Quidditch (the sport of the wizarding world, which Harry thought was the best game in the world), even his teachers, though not Professor Snape. The Potions professor was Harry's least favorite teacher. Harry's hatred of Professor Snape was matched only by Professor Snape's hatred of Harry. But Professor Snape was the least on Harry's mind at the moment. What he missed more than anything were his friends.
He strode across the room to the window. To his right, a cage stood empty. His snowy owl, Hedwig, had gone on a hunting trip a few nights before and hadn't returned yet. Harry gazed absentmindedly out of the window. He thought of his best friend, Ron Weasley. Ron is tall and gangling, with fiery red hair and freckles. He had been in touch with Ron, and hoped to stay with him later in the summer. Harry had also been in contact with his other best friend, Hermione Granger. Hermione is a witch with loads of bushing brown hair and is the top student in their class. Even as Harry thought about his best friends, he saw a different face in his mind. Cho Chang is a pretty sixth year, the Seeker on the Ravenclaw Quidditch team, the same position that Harry held on the Gryffindor team. He wondered what she was doing, and hoped that she was safe, wherever she was. His stomach gave a funny little flop when he thought of her.
While Harry was still gazing absentmindedly out of the window, he became aware of eyes, like someone was watching him. He shook himself and looked around the ground. He couldn't see anything at first, but the clouds across the moon thinned slightly, and he thought he saw movement at the corner of the hedge. He hurried to turn off the light so that he could see better and rushed back to the window.
He couldn't see anything at first, but then - "Sirius!" he hissed softly. Underneath his window sat a shaggy black dog with matted hair and glowing yellow eyes. It wagged its tail at the sight of Harry. Harry rushed to his bed and pulled his trunk from under the bed, searching frantically for his Firebolt, his beloved broomstick. Locating it, he ran back to the window. He looked around carefully to see if anyone was watching and on and flew out of the window to the ground, where the dog had transformed into his godfather.
"Sirius!" Harry said, gaping open-mouthed at the man who stood before him. "What are you doing here?" he exclaimed as soon as he found his voice again.
Sirius grinned down at him. "Well, it is your birthday isn't it? I'm fulfilling my duty as a godfather. I wanted to be here."
"But you shouldn't be here! What if someone sees you? I thought you were at Professor Lupin's!" Professor Lupin had been Harry's Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher in his third year.
"Don't you worry about that - we all have other things to worry about these days." Sirius replied, looking grave. Then his face brightened. "I've brought you something."
Harry didn't know what to feel. He was shocked that his godfather had risked his life to come see him, but at the same time it felt good to have someone to talk to. He took the package from him and opened it. It was a book. Harry flipped through it quickly but couldn't find anything in it.
Harry gave a puzzled look to Sirius. "What is it?" he asked.
Sirius smiled. "It's a photo album. I thought you might be able to fill it up with pictures of your friends. It'll give you something positive to do - and keep you out of trouble." He gave Harry a rather stern look.
"I don't good looking for trouble you know," Harry said, a little irritated. "Trouble finds me on its own." This was only partly true. Harry, Hermione and Ron had spent more time wandering the school at night than any other student at the school, except perhaps Fred and George, Ron's twin older brothers.
"Even so, I thought you might like it." Sirius said.
"I do!" Harry said quickly. He meant it. He could think of lots of things he wanted to get pictures of. Cho's face floated across his mind again.
Turning slightly red, he looked at Sirius again. "How long are you going to stay here?" he asked.
"I can't stay long - I have some things I need to see to, but I wanted to make sure to be here for your birthday."
Harry felt a rush of gratitude and anguish at the same time. He was grateful that Sirius had come, but he didn't want him to leave.
"Where are you going?" he asked.
"I can't tell you that just yet."
"Does this anything to do with Voldemort?"
Sirius raised an eyebrow. "You don't need to be worried about Voldemort. Whatever he is up to, it is best if you keep out of it. You have a lot of people working to keep you safe, and there's no need to jeopardize that."
Harry felt embarrassed. "Sorry," he mumbled quietly. "I know better than to go looking for trouble" he added, more emphatically.
"Is there anything I can get you before you go?" Harry asked, knowing that it was likely to get him in trouble with the Dursleys.
"No, I need to be off soon. Besides, I don't think you need any more trouble from the Muggles. If you need me for anything, you can still send me owls at Professor Lupin's. I won't be gone too long. Oh, and happy birthday Harry." Harry glanced down at his watch. It read 12:03. "Thanks Sirius." He grinned at Sirius, who had just transformed back into a black shaggy dog. "Be careful." He added, looking grim. Sirius wagged his tail once to show that he had heard, and trotted off along the hedge. Harry watched him until his tail disappeared into the shadows around the side of the house. He sighed and looked around again carefully in case anyone happened to be looking out of a window. Seeing nothing he hopped onto the Firebolt and flew back to his second story window.
He couldn't help but think about all that had happened since his last birthday - an imposter had attacked the famous Auror Mad-Eye Moody, and had come to Hogwarts in his place while the real Mad-Eye Moody laid imprisioned in his own trunk. The imposter had entered him into the Triwizard Tournament. The Tournament featured three students from each of the three major schools in Europe - Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, and Durmstrang. Harry's name was added under a fourth school, making him the fourth champion to compete. A shudder ran through Harry as he thought about it.
On the last task, Harry and the other Hogwarts champion, Cedric Diggory, Captain and Seeker of the Hufflepuff House Quidditch team reached the end of the task at the same time. They had decided to take the Triwizard Cup together, making it a tie for the Tournament, but still a Hogwarts victory. Instead, the cup had been changed into a Portkey, and it took them to a graveyard hundreds of miles away. Cedric had been killed. Harry had been forced to attend a "rebirthing" ceremony for Voldemort. And now he was back. Somehow things managed to stay relatively quiet so far. But then again, living with the Dursleys meant that Harry was cut off from the rest of the wizarding world, and didn't really know what was going on.
He sighed again as he put his Firebolt away. He looked up just in time to see an owl fly into his open window. It was his own snowy female, Hedwig. She had a small package tied to her leg, along with a letter in neat handwriting on the top he immediately recognized as Hermione's. After he had relieved her of her burden, Hedwig floated across the room to her cage, where she settled down to sleep.
Harry tore open the package to find a camera. Slightly confused, he opened the letter.
Harry, I hope you got Sirius's present. He told me what he was getting you, so I thought this might be useful as well. I got a letter from Hogwarts this week. I've been made prefect! I haven't told Ron yet. I've also been getting the Daily Prophet delivered. I haven't seen anything in it about You-Know-Who.
Sirius, Professor Lupin, and Professor Dumbledore were the only ones Harry had ever heard use Voldemort's name. All other wizards flinched at the sound of the name, and generally avoided saying it. He continued reading.
I do hope you're alright. I'm on holiday in Bulgaria right now, but I'll be in Diagon Alley the last week of August. Any chance of seeing you there? Please be careful! All the best, Hermione
Harry grinned at the note. He wondered if Ron knew that Hermione was in Bulgaria. The Durmstrang champion of the Triwizard Tournament, Viktor Krum, was also a well known Quidditch player, having been the Seeker for Bulgaria's national team in last year's World Cup. He also happened to be very smitten with Hermione. She must be visiting him there, he thought.
And she's been made a prefect! Harry didn't know how that would affect their friendships. Harry, Ron, and Hermione always seemed to be out of bed for some reason. If she was made prefect. But she hadn't told on them so far, so that couldn't be bad, right? He wondered what Ron would have to say about it.
Just then, a tiny little owl zoomed in through the open window, with a small package for Harry. It was Ron's owl, Pigwidgeon, commonly known as Pig. He zoomed around the room, twittering madly in delight. Harry snatched him out of the air, hoping that the noise hadn't wakened the sleeping Dursleys. Hedwig clicked her beak in annoyance. She genuinely disapproved of such behavior from a post owl. Harry listened intently to be sure that his cousin Dudley was still snoring away in the next room before he loosened the package on the minute owl's leg and released him back out of the window.
Harry, Alright there? I hope the Muggles aren't treating you too bad. I'm afraid that I'll have to give you your birthday present the next time I see you. Pig's too small to carry the package, and Errol would never make it.
(Errol was the Weasley family's ancient owl, who often collapsed on deliveries)
I've enclosed something you might enjoy before then anyway. Hermione says she's on holiday in Bulgaria. I wonder if she's there to see Krum. Do you know? I think Mum's going to ask Dumbledore if you can stay with us soon. I'll let you know something soon. Happy Birthday! Ron
Harry was curious now. What could be so big that Pig couldn't carry? Well, most anything, he thought. But what about Errol? Did that mean that he was getting so feeble that he couldn't carry anything more than normal post anymore? Harry supposed that he would just have to wait.
Another three more owls swooped into the room. Harry looked at them in amazement. He'd never been so popular before. Where did all of these owls come from? There was a big package tied to the largest of the lot, a big barn owl. It was some homemade rock cakes and fudge from Hagrid. Harry had too much experience with Hagrid's cooking to be overly thrilled at this, but it was still nice of him anyway.
But who were the other two cards from? He opened the first card, and the mystery was solved. It was from Fleur Delacour, the Beauxbatons champion from last year's Triwizard Tournament. She indicated that she would be at Hogwarts in the fall, although she didn't say what she was going to be doing. The second card was from Viktor Krum. Harry was rather surprised. He hadn't been particularly close to either of the other champions, but it was good to hear from them all the same. They were all on the same side now, after all.
Harry looked at the clock again. It was after one o'clock in the morning. Harry figured that anything else could wait until morning. He set all of his cards on the bedside table. He took off his glasses and climbed into bed. He turned to face his birthday cards and smiled, for once feeling very normal as he drifted off to sleep.
