Author's note-
For those of you who haven't read OOTP in a while I will 'set the stage' as it were. Harry has been at Privet Drive since the beginning of summer after he witnessed Voldemort's, return. In a futile effort to stay abreast of the Wizard Society he has been watching the news and reading the daily prophet, however he still know nothing about the status of Voldemort or really anything else for that matter. The story picks up as Harry first arrives at Grimmauld place. He has already been attacked by dementors, expelled from school, threatened to have his wand destroyed, re-instated in school, given a court date at the Ministry of Magic by the Improper Use of Magic Office. It's nearly a week after the attack when he is finally retrieved by the OOTP, and he isn't terribly impressed by the whole situation.
Summer of Fifth year
Harry was still out of sorts from the dementor attack, having been nearly expelled from school, and the long summer of absence from his friends and the wizarding world in general. The long flight certainly wasn't helping either. He was furious at having been kept in the dark so long. After Moody, Lupin, Tonks and the rest picked him up he started to wonder. If they could rescue him now, why couldn't they have taken him away earlier.
As Moody handed Harry a piece of paper, Harry wondered if his life really mattered to Dumbledore. Harry was herded into the house, and greeted by Mrs. Weasly and promptly pushed upstairs. All the while she was mumbling about some meeting and being late. The house was dark and smelled faintly of old people and rot. Before he even had a chance to breath he was attacked from behind by a furry of brown curls.
"Harry! O Ron! Harry is here!" yelled Hermione as Ron rounded the corner into the small room. Before Harry knew what was happening all of his pent up frustration directed itself towards the two, his so-called friends.
"WHAT IS GOING ON! WHERE ARE WE! WHY IS NOBODY TELLING ME ANYTHING!"
"Oh, Harry, we are so sorry but Dumbledore told us not to tell you anything in our letters."
"yeah mate, he said they could be intercepted so don't write down anything important or about the order."
"So why's Dumbledore been so keen to keep me in the dark?" Harry asked, trying hard to calm himself. "Have either of you bothered to ask?"
"We told Dumbledore we wanted to tell you what was going on," said Ron. "We did, mate. But he's really busy now, and he didn't have much time, he just made us swear not to tell you important stuff when we wrote."
"I still could have been kept informed" Harry said shortly.
"I thought that too. But he didn't want you to know ANYTHING," added Hermione.
"Maybe he thinks I can't be trusted," Said Harry, watching their expressions.
"Of course he doesn't think that" said Hermione anxiously.
"So how come you two are allowed to know everything that's going on-?"
"We're not!" Ron interrupted. "Mum won't let use near the meeting, she says we're too young…"
But before he know it, Harry was shouting.
"SO YOU HAVEN'T BEEN IN THE MEETINGS, BIG DEAL! You've still been here, haven't you? You've still been together! ME, I'VE BEEN STUCK A THE DURSLEYS' FOR A MONT! AND I'VE HANDLED MORE THAN YOU TWO'VE EVER MANAGED AND DUMBLEDORE KNOW IT! WHO'S SAVED BOTH YOUR SKINS TIME AND AGAIN?" All of the feelings he was half-ashamed of finally burst their boundaries.
"WHO HAD TO BEAT DRAGONS AND SPHINXES AND EVERY OTHER FOUL THING LAST YEAR? HOW SAW HIM COME BACK? WHO HAD TO ESCAPE FROM HIM? ME!"
Hermione looked close to tears, and Ron stood slack jawed clearly stunned, but Harry plowed on.
"BUT WHY SHOULD I KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON? WHY SHOULD ANYONE BOTHER TO TELL ME WHAT'S BEEN HAPPENING?
"Harry, we wanted to tell you, we really did," Hermione began.
"CAN'T HAVE WANTED TO THAT MUCH, CAN YOU, OR YOU'D HAVE SENT ME AN OWL, BUT DUMBLEDORE MADE YOU SWEAR! FOUR WEEKS I'VE BEEN STUCK IN PRIVET DRIVE, NICKING PAPERS OUT OF BINS TO TRY AND FIND OUT WHAT'S BEEN GOING ON! WHILE YOU'VE BEEN HOLED UP HER TOGETHER, I SUPPOSE YOU'VE BEEN HAVING A REALLY LAUGH, HAVEN'T YOU."
"harry, we're really sorry!" said Hermione desperately, her eyes now sparkling with tears. "You're absolutely right, Harry- I'd be furious if it was me!"
"Harry glared at her, trying to catch is breath, still breathing deeply, then turned away. After a long pause, "Hat IS this place anyway?"
"Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix," said Ron at once.
"Is anyone going to bother telling me what the Order of the Phoenix is?"
"It's a secret society," said Hermione quickly. "Dumbledore's in charge, he founded it. It's the people who fought against You-Know- Who last time."
"Who's in it?" said Harry, coming to a halt with his hands in his pockets.
"quite a few people-"
"-we've met about twenty of them," said Ron, "but we think there are more…"
Harry glared at them.
"Well?"
"Er," said Ron. "Well what?"
"VOLDEMORT!" said Harry furiously, and both Ron and Hermione winced. "What's happening? What's he up to? Where is he? What are we doing to stop him?"
"We've TOLD you, the Order doesn't let us in on their meeting," said Hermione nervously. "So we don't know the details- but we've got a general idea" she added hastily seeing the look on Harry's face.
"Fred and George have invented Extendable Ears, see," said Ron. "They're really useful, only we've had to stop using them lately because Mum found out and went berserk. Fred and George had to hide them all to stop Mum binning them. We know some of the Order are following know Death Eaters, keeping tabs on them, you know-"
"—some of them are working on recruiting more people to the Order," said Hermione.
"—and some of them are standing guard over something," said Ron. "They're always talking about guard duty."
"Couldn't have been me, could it?" said Harry sarcastically.
"Oh yeah," said Ron with a look of dawning comprehension.
"AARGH" Jumped Hermione at the sound of two rather loud cracks. "Stop DOING that!" shouted Hermione, as Fred and George appeared.
"Sorry there Hermione!" Grinned Fred- "Hello, Harry" said George, "We thought we heard your dulcet tones."—"You don't want to bottle up your ganger like that harry, let it all out," said Read, beaming at him. "There might be a couple of people fifty miles away who didn't hear you."
"You two passed your Apperation tests, then?" asked Harry grumpily.
"With distinction," said Fred, holding what looked like a piece of very long, flesh-colored sting.
"It would have taken you about thirty seconds longer to walk down the stairs," Said Ron.
"Time is Galleons, little brother," said Fred. Anyway, Harry, you're interfering with the reception of the extendable ears. We're trying to hear what's going on downstairs."
"If Mum sees those again…" warned Ron
"it's worth the rist, that's a major meeting they're having," said Fred, just a Ginny entered.
"Hello Harry," Ginny said brightly. "I thought I heard your voice." Turning to Fred and George, "It's a no go with the Extendable Ears, there's an Imperturbable Charm on the kitchen door. Tonks told me know to find out, and I just chuck stuff at the door and if it can't make contact with the door I know it's been Imperturbed."
"Shame," said Fred, " I really wanted to hear what Snape's been up to and who that little girl is."
Thank Jesus this chapter is over, it is nearly word for word the 4th chapter of book 5. I thought I was going to die of copyright infringement
It should get better from here as I introduce my new character, but first I wanted everyone to be on the same page. Harry is pissed, Ron and Hermione don't know anything, and Fred and George are as annoying as ever.
I also found a mistype while copying this chapter. a fine little grammatical error on page 67.
Thanks' to everyone who subscribed. It makes me really want to update frequently so you have something to tune into