When Harry returned to Number 4 Privet Drive, he walked right past the kitchen where the Dursley's were sitting. Uncle Vernon didn't even notice when Harry walked past. Harry went straight up to his room and closed the door.

The first thing he noticed was an unfamiliar owl sitting on his bed. The owl, seeing that he had returned, dropped the letter it was carrying and flew out the open window.

Scooping the letter up off of his bed, Harry ripped open the envelope and started to read.

Dear Mr. Potter,

Mrs. Molly Weasly has owled me asking if you would be able to stay at the Weasley's house fore the remainder of the summer vacation. I will allow you to stay there, so long as you do not leave the house after dark and do not go anywhere without one of the Weasleys or Miss Granger, who is also staying at the Weasleys. Under these conditions you will be able to stay there.

It is to my knowledge that they are picking you up on July 21st. They will be arriving in a Ministry car.

Albus Dumbledore

Headmaster

Harry smiled happily and looked up at the calendar. The 21st was two days away. Still smiling Harry went downstairs and into the kitchen.

"Er… Uncle Vernon?" Harry said timidly. Grunt.

"I'm going to be leaving in two days," Harry said. "To go to the Weasleys."

That definitely got Uncle Vernon's attention.

"What?" he hissed.

"In two days the Weasleys are coming by car to pick me up," Harry repeated. "I'm just going to leave, only one of them is probably going to come in the house. There will be no talking."

Vernon's beady eyes narrowed as he surveyed Harry. Dudley was staring at Harry with a horrified look on his face. He was obviously remembering the last time the Weasleys had come to number 4 Privet drive. Dudley's tongue had grown four feet in length.

"All right," Uncle Vernon finally growled. "You can go to that ruddy family's house."

"Thank you," Harry said, turning around and starting to go back upstairs.

"Damn weirdos," Vernon growled after Harry had gone.

When Harry was up in his room he almost collided with Ron's owl Pig, who was rocketing around the room.

"Calm down!" Harry said, grabbing the owl and removing the letter.

Harry-

You can come! Dumbledore wrote you in case you didn't know. Mum says that you have to follow a bunch of rules while you're here. That bites. Anyway, we're picking you up at noon.

On a lighter note, Dad got us tickets to the European Cup! It's England verses Spain. We don't even have to camp this time! The Quidditch Field is only a mile away! Of course, the tickets aren't as good as last years, but they're still pretty good. Only 2 more days!

Ron

Harry picked up his quill and wrote a quick reply.

Ron-

The Dursleys say it's okay if I go (not that it would really matter). The European Cup? Cool!

See you in two days

Harry

Harry gave the letter to Pig and he flew out of the room faster than a bullet. The next thing Harry did was write a quick note to Sirius, telling him that he was going to be staying at the Weasleys. Harry watched as Hedwig flew out of the window and into the sunset.

Harry couldn't wait until he got to see Ron and Hermione again. The next day Harry walked around with a big grin on his face and got a lot of glares from the Dursleys. On the 21st Harry could definitely tell that the Dursleys were getting nervous about the Weasleys coming.

"What time are they coming?" Barked Uncle Vernon that morning at breakfast.

"Noon," Harry said. Uncle Vernon grunted.

All of Harry's stuff was packed. Hedwig's empty cage was sitting on top of his trunk. Harry was upstairs pacing his room when his Uncle opened the door. Without saying a word to Harry he dragged the trunk out of the room and down the stairs. He dropped it right in front of the door, so that Harry would be able to leave as soon as possible.

Harry sat on the stairs, when the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it!" Harry yelled. He ran to the front door and pulled it open.

Tall, gangly, with flaming red hair and freckles all over his face, was Ron Weasley.

"Hey Harry," he said.

"Hi Ron," Harry replied.

"Ready?"

"Yep."

Harry and Ron each picked up an end of the trunk and brought it out to the Ministry car that was waiting outside.

Mr. Weasley was sitting beside the driver with his window open.

"Hello Harry," Mr. Weasley said. "Have a good summer?"

"Yes Mr. Weasley," Harry replied, putting his trunk in the back of the car.

"Good, good," Mr. Weasley said. Harry got in the car with Ron.

"Harry, we have something very important to discuss with you when we get to the Burrow," Mr. Weasley said, turning around in his seat.

"Mum told him about Snuffles," Ron whispered in Harry's year. "He's going to ask you about him. He's been asking me about him all summer."

"That reminds me, I saw him two days ago."

"Who? Snuffles?"

"Yeah, I was visiting Mrs. Figg and he came inside and gave Mrs. Figg a letter. Remember when Dumbledore told Snuffles to contact her? That's what he's doing now."

"Wow," Ron said.

The Ministry car got to the Burrow in record time. Before Harry knew it, he and Ron were carrying his trunk into the Burrow.

"Hello Harry," Fred said. He was sitting on the couch, writing on a piece of parchment. Harry could tell that it was an order form. It seemed that Mrs. and Mr. Weasley had stopped fighting Fred and George about Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, which was Fred and George's joke business.

"Hey Fred," Harry said, panting from the weight of the trunk.

"Here," Mrs. Weasley said, flicking her wand and making it disappear and reappear in Ron's room.

"Have you had lunch yet dear?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

"No Mrs. Weasley," Harry said.

"Good, we were just about to sit down for lunch." George came downstairs, as did Charlie and Ginny. Bill was not able to get time off of work and would be coming to the European Cup. Percy was currently at work.

"We're quite worried about Percy," Mrs. Weasley told Harry as she scooped some coleslaw onto his plate. "Some nights he hasn't even come home. He was quite traumatized when he learned of Barty Crouch's death."

"He'll be fine," Mr. Weasley said.

"I know dear, but I worry about him-"

"I know."

Everyone munched on their sandwiches in silence. After lunch, Mr. Weasley pulled Harry to the side.

"Harry, I need to ask you something."

"I know," Harry replied.

"How long have you known about Sirius Black working for Dumbledore?" Mr. Weasley was staring at him sternly.

"About a year or so," Harry replied. Mr. Weasley kept staring into Harry's eyes and eventually said, "All right then." Mr. Weasley then turned around and went into the living room. Harry went upstairs to Ron's room.

"When is Hermione coming?" Harry asked.

"Tomorrow evening," Ron said, dumping a few dead flies into his giant frog's tank. "And then the day after that we're leaving for the European Cup."

"Cool," Harry said, sitting down on his camp bed.

"Ron," said someone from the doorway. It was Ginny. "Mom wants you to help Fred and George de-gnome the garden." Ron heaved a sigh and said, "Harry, wanna help?"

"Sure," Harry said. The two of them left the room.

"It's an absolute disaster at the Ministry," Percy said later that evening. He had just Apparated and dumped a large pile of parchment on the kitchen table. "We finally got the Order of the Pheonix to help us at the European Cup. They're making us pay a whole bundle though."

"Why wouldn't they help you before?" Ron asked.

"The Order of the Pheonix was never exactly on the best terms with the Ministry of Magic," Mr. Weasley said.

"What is the Order of the Pheonix anyway?" Harry asked.

"It's a agency that is totally separate from the Ministry of Magic," Percy sighed. "They have some of the most powerful and smart wizards and witches there. Unfortunately, Sarge (the leader of the Order) does not agree with how the Ministry is run so she hardly ever follows our rules and stuff. In fact, there are over a hundred Animaguses working for the Order of the Pheonix. They have a completely different list. However you can't get much information off of the list, all of the names are Agent 102 or something like that."

"But if you ever need protection for a large group of people, the Order is the best," Mr. Weasley said.

"Yeah, that's why we had to call them. Cornelius Fudge finally agreed to have some protection at the European Cup so we called the Order. There's going to be one agent for ever row of seats, and that isn't cheap."

"Well, if all goes well no one will get hurt by You-Know-Who or one of their Death Eaters," Mr. Weasley said. All of the Weasleys now knew about Voldemort being reborn. Bill had told the rest of the family after the night of the third task.

"I don't think that there are going to be any casualties dealing with You-Know-Who. I mean to say, Lucius Malfoy will probably tell his Master all about our plan," Percy said bitterly.

"Let's change the subject," Mrs. Weasley said. "How has work been for you Bill?"

"Oh! I've missed you both so much!" Hermione said, throwing her arms around both Ron and Harry. Her parents had just dropped her off at the Burrow.

"Hermione! Gerroff!" he said, pulling himself out of Hermione's tight embrace.

"Hermione," said Mrs. Weasley, "You're rooming with Ginny again." After Hermione's trunk was in Ginny's room and she had unpacked a little she, Harry and Ron caught up a little.

"Have you talked to Sirius lately?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah, a few days ago," harry said. "I've told you about Mrs. Figg before haven't I?" Ron and Hermione nodded. "Well, I was visiting her and there was a knock at the door. It was Sirius with a letter to Mrs. Figg. It turns out that Mrs. Figg is actually Arabella Figg and she works for Dumbledore."

"Like Sirius and Professor Lupin?" Asked Hermione.

"Exactly."

"So, do you know if they have a plan to fight You-Know-Who?"

"No, Sirius didn't say."

"Kids!" Called Mrs. Weasley from downstairs. "Dinner!" Ron, Hermione and Harry all returned downstairs for dinner.

At around six at night the next day the Weasleys, Harry and Hermione all started walking toward the location of the European Cup. They had to walk through a large forest with a pathway lit by fairies and lanterns.

When they finally reached the stadium that had been put there, they gave their tickets to a Ministry witch. After getting their ticket stubs they went to their seats.

"Personally, I like the European Cup better than the World Cup," Mr. Weasley said as they took their seats.

"Why?" Hermione asked.

"Because, it doesn't take as much work to organize this, and they have snacks."

Mr. Weasley pointed across the field to where there was a large sign saying SNACKS.

"Do we have time to go get something?" Ron asked.

"But we just ate," Hermione said.

"So?"

"All right, you can go get something," Mr. Weasley said. "But get back before the game starts.

Harry, Ron and Hermione all got up and went to the little alleyway where several vendors were selling food. Several other alleyways went off in different directions, leading to souvenir stores and stuff like that. The three of them walked down the alleyway, glancing at the odd foods from other countries in Europe.

Ron got a pack of Chocolate Frogs and Hermione got an Italian Soda from an espresso shop. The three of them sat down at a small table along side the wall and chatted happily for a few minutes.

They were just about to go back to leave their table, when Harry felt something hard poke him in the back of the head.

"Don't turn around," hissed the voice of Lucius Malfoy, holding his wand to Harry's head.