Disclaimer - I don't own anything

Chapter 1: A Night in London

As dusk settled over London, the streets slowly came to life. The day had been the hottest yet of the summer, and so people had stayed in their comfortable homes, enjoying a respite from the heat. Now, however, they ventured out, eager for the many sights and activities their city had to offer in the cool evening. Most everywhere, people strolled casually along the walkways, stopping to chat with friends and neighbors they met along the way. It was a pleasant way to spend the evening. Grimmauld Place, however, was quite a different story.

It was in an older part of town, and was rather run-down. The grass was unkempt, and here and there, broken windows could be seen in the houses that lined the road. Not a soul walked along these sidewalks. The inhabitants here kept to themselves, and rarely had visitors. But what most people found most curious about Grimmauld Place was the house numbers. Those that lived in the old, grimy houses had long since accepted the strange curiosity that there was no Number 12 Grimmauld Place; the house numbers skipped it entirely, going from 11 straight to 13. A variety of theories had been proposed over the years to explain this oversight, however, none of the inhabitants of that miserable little square could have ever guessed the truth. The fact was, there was a Number 12 Grimmauld Place - but it had been hidden from them magically by the owners long ago.

Had any of the neighbors been able to enter the house, they would likely have stared in wonder at what lay inside, for the long-time owners, a family called Black, had been wizards of great wealth and fame, so the house held many magical and mysterious artifacts. It was quite ironic, then, that the bushy-haired girl sitting at the large dining table inside Number 12 was staring not in wonder, but in frustration, at the piece of parchment lying in front of her.

Her name was Hermione Granger, and until four years ago, she had been just like the people in the surrounding houses – completely unaware of the magical world hidden around them. It wasn't until she had received an invitation to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (which she, of course, had never heard of) that she had discovered that she was a witch, one of the lucky few with the innate ability to perform real magic. During her years at Hogwarts, she had learned and done things she never would have imagined. She had faced challenges that non-magic folk, commonly referred to as Muggles by those in the wizarding world, would not have believed possible.

This particular evening, however, she faced a much more mundane challenge. Her lips moved silently as she reread the short letter she had written.

Dear Harry,

I hope you enjoyed the chocolates I sent for your birthday, and I hope that it was an enjoyable day. Did you do anything fun?

She stopped reading right there. Of course he didn't do anything fun, she thought, angry with herself. Her friend Harry Potter lived with his aunt and uncle, who, like Hermione's parents, were muggles. Unlike Hermione's parents, they despised everything to do with magic, including, it seemed, Harry himself. She still remembered the shock she had first felt when she learned that her friend had never had a birthday party. Most years, they forgot his birthday altogether. Asking if he did anything fun would probably do nothing more than remind Harry that he was stuck in a house he hated with people who hated him. She sighed as crumpled up the piece of parchment and threw it into the wastebasket with her previous failures.

"Writing to one of my best friends should not be this difficult," she exclaimed to no one in particular.

Across the table, her other best friend, Ron, looked up at her. "Still having trouble figuring out what to write?" he asked. She nodded. "You know you can't really write what you want to, so there's no point in trying so hard. Just put something down and send it," he said as he stood up.

Hermione stared in amazement. "You're already done?" she asked disbelievingly. As Ron stretched, she quickly took the opportunity to snatch the letter he had written, narrowly avoiding his attempts to grab it back. She made no effort to keep the scorn out of her voice as she read his letter out loud.

Dear Harry,

Hope it was a happy birthday. Can't wait to see you. I've got loads to tell you, but I can't say it here in case the owl is intercepted.

Your Friend,

Ron

Hermione stared for a moment at the parchment, then turned to glare at Ron. "You were actually going to send this?" she asked in an accusatory tone. He tried to meet her gaze, but finally focused on the table instead, his face going nearly as red as his hair.

"Well, what's the point?" he muttered. "Dumbledore made us swear not to tell Harry anything..."

Hermione wanted to scream in frustration. Not at Ron. He was right. No matter how many times they had this conversation, it always came around to that one simple fact. Professor Dumbledore, the Headmaster of Hogwarts, had made them promise. Unfortunately, he hadn't explained why he wanted Harry kept in the dark. It made no sense. Harry was a very talented wizard, who had demonstrated both his courage and his abilities many times before. And Hermione knew that now, more than ever, Harry would want to know everything that they knew.

When Harry had been a year old, Lord Voldemort, a dark wizard so powerful and evil that most people preferred to call him "You-Know-Who" rather than utter his name, had attempted to kill Harry. Somehow, the curse had rebounded upon Voldemort, nearly destroying him. But just a few months ago, one of Voldemort's loyal followers had successfully infiltrated Hogwarts. Harry had been captured, and his blood used to restore Voldemort. Harry had managed to escape and return to Hogwarts, but one of the other students, Cedric Diggory, had not been so lucky. Hermione remembered well the confusion and horror they had all felt when Harry had been magically transported back to Hogwarts, clutching Cedric's body.

Cornelius Fudge, the Minister for Magic, had chosen to ignore the evidence of Voldemort's return, instead convincing himself that both Harry and Dumbledore were deliberately trying to cause panic and confusion. Under pressure from the Ministry, the press had followed suit, treating all reports of Voldemort's growing power as lies. Before this summer, Harry had been famous, and very well respected, commonly known throughout the wizarding community as "The Boy Who Lived". Now he was constantly insulted and belittled for trying to warn people of the immense danger they faced. Though Harry had never cared for the fame (in fact, he had not even known that he was famous until he had come to Hogwarts), she could only imagine how much it hurt every time he was made the butt of one of the Daily Prophet's jokes.

"I know we promised not to reveal anything, but that doesn't mean that we can completely disregard how Harry must be feeling," she finally said. "He experienced the most horrific ordeal imaginable, and he knows that we know more about what... You-Know-Who... is up to than he does. I'm certain he's frustrated. Perhaps even furious! Honestly, knowing Harry, I'm amazed he hasn't done something reckless. The first few weeks, I thought he was going to hop on his broomstick and fly over to your house demanding answers."

Hermione fell silent once more. She remembered how excited she had been when Professor Dumbledore had invited her to spend the summer here, helping the wizards and witches who were secretly defying the Ministry to fight against Voldemort. Known as the Order of the Phoenix, they came from all walks of life. Dumbledore himself was the leader. It was widely said that the only one You-Know-Who had ever feared was Dumbledore. Given that she and Ron were only 15, they were never allowed into the Order's meetings, and had only a vague idea of what was going on, but it had still been wonderful to be a part of something so important. But now, she would have given anything to forget it all, and be back at her home where she was able to write freely to Harry without being constrained by her oath to Dumbledore.

She glanced sideways at the small stack of rejected letters to her friend. "I give up," she finally announced. "I'll write him tomorrow.". Ron reached out to take back his letter, but Hermione instead crumpled it up and threw it over with her letters. "You're not sending that, Ron. The last thing Harry needs right now is more vague hints about what we're up to." Ron opened his mouth to argue, but then closed it without a word.

The door to the dining room slid open, and Ron's younger sister Ginny walked in, looking exhausted. "Somehow, I thought that helping the Order would involve more excitement, and less cleaning," she said as she sunk into a chair.

"You wanted to help the Order, and that's exactly what you're doing," said Ron and Ginny's mother as she strode quickly in from the kitchen, followed by floating dishes laden with an assortment of food. With a flick of her wand, she conjured a tablecloth from nowhere, and directed the flying food onto the table. A few more motions of her wand brought plates, cups and silverware flying in from the kitchen, positioning themselves neatly around the table. "Ginny, go upstairs and tell Fred and George that dinner's ready." Ginny looked like she was about to argue, but stood instead. "Oh, and Sirius, too," her mother added.

Ginny had just reached for the door when two loud cracks filled the room, and everyone jumped. "Did someone say dinner?" Fred asked as he and George sat down. Mrs. Weasley glared at them. "Just because you can apparate does not mean that you should every time you need to move more than a few feet!" she said in a frustrated voice. Although Hermione agreed completely, she secretly thought that Mrs. Weasley was fighting a losing battle. The twins had passed their Apparition test earlier that summer, and now, seemed to consider walking to be a waste of time.

"And how did you hear me say dinner?" Mrs. Weasley asked, looking at the twins suspiciously. Hermione kept her face neutral, though she knew what Mrs. Weasley was thinking. Fred and George were the most notorious troublemakers at Hogwarts. Their lifelong desire was to start a shop selling gag gifts and little trinkets for causing mischief and mayhem. For more than a year, they had been developing products, and one of their most recent ones were the Extendable Ears, which allowed a person to eavesdrop on conversations being held several rooms away. They had attempted to use the Extendable Ears to listen in on the Order's meetings, which they also were not allowed to attend. Mrs. Weasley had caught them, and destroyed the ears, but Hermione knew that Mrs. Weasley suspected the twins had a few more pairs carefully hidden from her.

"Mum," Fred began in a patient voice, "You've known us for 17 years..."

"And you're still surprised that we can hear the word 'dinner' from just 50 feet away?" George finished.

Still glaring, their mother turned her attention back to the food on the table, checking to make sure that everything was ready. Ginny returned, explaining that Sirius was feeding the Hippogriff, Buckbeak, and would be down in a few minutes.

"Who's the extra plate for?" Ron suddenly asked. Surprised, Hermione looked around at the table once more. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, the twins, Ginny, Ron, herself and Sirius made eight. But Ron was right. There was a ninth plate on the table.

"Tonks is going to be joining us," Mrs. Weasley said absent-mindedly. Ginny's face lit up. Nymphadora Tonks was the youngest member of the Order of the Phoenix. She was also one of the funniest. Most Aurors (the Ministry's elite warriors in the fight against Dark Magic) were very stoic and serious, but Tonks was the complete opposite. She loved joking around, and, if rumor were to be believed, had been quite a prankster during her time at Hogwarts.

"Well, I suppose we can get started," Mrs. Weasley said, looking at the hungry teenagers around her. "Arthur won't be back for another half hour at least, and I'm not sure what time Tonks will be..."

A loud crack cut her off as Mr. Weasley appeared suddenly. "Arthur!" Mrs. Weasley exclaimed, pleasantly surprised. "What are..." Once more she was cut off.

"No time," Mr. Weasley said hurriedly as he looked around the room. "Accio!" he cried, quickly summoning the parchment and quill that Hermione had been using earlier. Everyone in the room gathered around, exchanging confused looks as Mr. Weasley scribbled a short note onto the parchment. Finally, he looked up. "Where's Errol?" he demanded.

Hermione could see Ginny start to blush. She had been using Errol, the family owl, to exchange letters with one of the boys at school all summer, but didn't want anyone else to know. Hermione only knew because they shared a room. She certainly didn't blame Ginny for wanting to keep it a secret. If Fred and George got one whiff of that, she was sure they would never stop teasing Ginny.

"Nevermind, I'll take it to the local Owl Post. It'll be faster that way," Mr. Weasley said hurriedly. "I'll explain everything when I get back," he added as he disappeared with another crack.

No one seemed to want to break the silence. Instead, they all just looked at each other. Hermione was glad to see that everyone else was clearly as bemused as she was. The door slid open, and Sirius Black walked in and sat down, quickly noticing the atmosphere in room. "What's wrong?" he demanded.

"We... don't know," Mrs. Weasley replied slowly. She quickly explained Mr. Weasley's sudden appearance, and equally mysterious disappearance. As she spoke, Sirius' eyebrows gathered together, concern obvious in his eyes. Hermione was confident that she knew what he was thinking.

Sirius had been best friends with Harry's father, and had blamed himself when James and Lily Potter were killed by Voldemort. It hadn't helped that most of the wizarding world had blamed him as well, thinking that he had been in league with the evil wizard. Sirius had been sent to Azkaban, a wizard prison guarded by the horrid dementors, dangerous creatures who spread an aura of fear and despair, stealing every happy thought from anyone unfortunate enough to be around them. He had escaped just two years ago, and managed to identify the real culprit, another wizard named Peter Pettigrew. Pettigrew had escaped, and so, the Ministry had refused to believe that Sirius was, in fact, innocent. But Dumbledore knew, and had given Harry and Hermione the opportunity to help Sirius escape from the Ministry once more. Since then, Sirius had dedicated all his energy to helping and protecting Harry, attempting to make amends for his failure to protect his friends by protecting their son.

"It can't have anything to do with Harry..." Hermione tried to sound confident, but it still came out as a question. "Dumbledore's had members of the Order guarding him day and night all summer." Yet another fact of which Harry was unaware. She didn't even want to think about how he would react when he found out.

"Who was on duty tonight?" Ginny asked, her face pale. She had been quite taken with Harry since she first met him, and Hermione knew that, despite her blossoming relationship with Michael Corner, Ginny still loved Harry.

"Mundungus Fletcher," her mother replied in a tight voice. Hermione could see that everyone was thinking the same thing. The members of the Order of the Phoenix came from all walks of life, and Mundungus Fletcher was definitely at the bottom of the heap. He was a small-time thief and conman, but his connections with the less reputable members of the wizarding community made him a valuable ally at this time. He was not, however, particularly reliable.

"Mundungus Fletcher," Sirius repeated softly, his eyes narrowing into dangerous slits.

A crack once more filled the room, and Mr. Weasley sat down in a chair with a loud groan. Immediately, everyone began asking questions, each speaking loudly to try to make themselves heard over the voices of the others trying to ask the exact same thing. Mr. Weasley held up his hands, and finally yelled, "QUIET!", wincing as he realized what he had done.

Down the hall, an enchanted portrait of Sirius' now-deceased mother awoke, and, as usual, began screaming. Everyone looked at Sirius. "Leave it," he said forcefully as he shut the door with a quick motion of his wand. He turned back to Mr. Weasley. "What happened?"

"Mundungus Fletcher was on duty guarding Harry this evening. He received some information about a less than honest business opportunity, and left. While he was gone, Harry and his cousin were attacked by a pair of dementors."

There was a collective gasp from the listeners, but it was Ron that finally spoke. "Harry's okay, though, right? I mean, he's been able to handle dementors since 3rd year."

"Harry's fine," Mr. Weasley said reassuringly. "That's not the problem."

"Underage magic," Hermione whispered, horrified. Mr. Weasley nodded.

"That's ridiculous," Ginny shouted. "He was defending himself!"

"The Ministry's not going to care about that," Sirius said harshly. "They've been looking for a way to discredit Harry for months. Now they finally have it."

Hermione let out a soft groan as she remembered what Mr. Weasley had said. "And Harry was with his cousin? That means not only was it underage magic, but magic in front of a muggle! The Ministry will claim that Harry violated the International Statute of Secrecy."

Once more, a shout of protest arose. "He was protecting him!"

"And besides," Fred added, "His cousin's seen magic before. When we picked Harry up last year, Dudley ate one of our Ton-Tongue Toffees. After having a six-foot long tongue, watching Harry fight off a couple of dementors was probably nothing."

"What's going to happen now?" Mrs. Weasley asked, the concern in her voice obvious. Harry and Ron had been best friends since they started school 4 years ago, and with Harry's parents gone, the whole Weasley family had sort of adopted Harry into their own.

"The Ministry tried to expel Harry from Hogwarts, destroy his wand and charge him with several violations of wizarding law."

"They can't do that!" Hermione said, shocked at the flagrant violation of due process.

"No, they can't," Mr. Weasley agreed, "And Dumbledore reminded the minister of that. A formal hearing has been set in a few weeks with the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. That's when the decision will be made that determines what happens to Harry."

Sirius stood, and grabbed a quill and some parchment. "I've already written Harry a letter," Mr. Weasley began, but Sirius cut him off.

"And I'm writing him another one," he said in a tone that indicated the decision was not up for discussion. A few moments later, Sirius left the room to give the letter to one of the owls the Order kept on hand. Silence filled the room once more. Hermione could still hear the muffled yells of Mrs. Black's portrait down the hall.

"Well, we can't do anything more right now," Mrs. Weasley said in what she clearly thought was a cheerful voice. "Best not let the food get too cold." Everyone sat down once more, but Hermione could tell that none of them were any more interested in the food than she was.

Hermione and the Weasleys had almost finished eating when Sirius finally reappeared, still looking agitated. Hermione knew that it was taking all of his willpower not to leave the house and go straight to Harry, but with the Ministry still on the lookout for him, it was far too dangerous. Of course, Sirius had never been particularly concerned about danger.

With everyone sitting quietly, filled with worry and anticipation, it was pleasant change when Tonks finally appeared, seemingly as jovial as ever.

"Of course I heard about Harry," she said when they tried to tell her what had happened. "The whole Ministry's talking about it. But it won't be a problem. I know Amelia Bones, the head of the department. She's strict, but she's fair. Since Harry had a good reason to do the magic, she'll make sure that Fudge can't do anything to punish him."

Relief filled Hermione, and she could see from the smiles around the room that she was not the only one. "Are you sure?" Ginny asked.

Tonks smiled reassuringly. "Trust me, it'll be fine. Why, three years ago, there was a 16-year-old out in Sheffield..."

Hermione only partially listened to Tonks' story, instead focusing on her face. She could not help noticing that Tonks' eyes didn't seem quite as unconcerned as the young Auror was pretending to be. Thinking through, Hermione realized the cause of the remaining anxiety, and as she looked at Sirius and Mr. Weasley, she could see that they understood it, too. Harry wouldn't be getting in trouble with the Ministry, but it was still a mystery why the dementors had attacked him at all.

A/N - Don't expect regular updates. I will be focusing mainly on my 'Cry of Freedom' series, which begins with 'Harry Potter and the Vault of Time'. But sometimes you just gotta write something else, so I figured I might as well start posting this one, also. I'll try to update about once a month, but no promises.