Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters or anything, except for the ones that I have made up. All of them that appear in this fanfiction that are seen in the real Harry Potter books belong to J.K. Rowling.
Chapter 2: The Invitation
Harry woke up in the middle of the night as he heard a tap-tap-tapping on his window. He put on his glasses and turned his lamp on, and saw that the tapping was being made by a large, handsome reddish-brown owl. He opened the window, let the bird in, and untied the letter on it's leg. He opened the envolope and unfolded the piece of parchment enclosed. His heart lept when he noticed the handwriting to be Sirius'. It said:

Hello, Harry! I hope you've been doing all right. Though, by the letter that your friend Hermione had sent me, she doesn't seem to think that you're doing too well. I know just how to cheer you up, though! I'm currently hiding out at Remus' house, and he assured me that he would be delighted if you could come stay with us! Send us an answer right away. If you tell me it's alright, then we'll be picking you up on August 10th, at two o'clock p.m.. Hope to see you soon!

Sirius

He got done reading, and couldn't believe it. Stay with his godfather and one of his fathers best friends? Did he really have to answer and tell them that he'd want to come? August 10th was only two days away. He didn't know how long it would take for Hedwig to give Sirius the answer, as he didn't have a clue where Lupin lived, so he decided to write to him right away. He got out a piece of parchment, some ink, and began writing hurriedly:
Yes, of course I would love to come! I can't wait to see you both!

Harry

He finished writing, woke up a disgruntled Hedwig, tied the letter to her leg, and sent her off with his letter, doing all of this as fast as he could. For once in such a long time, he felt truly happy. In just two days he would get to see Sirius and Lupin! He smiled contentedly, got back into the covers of his bed, and fell back asleep.



The next day was a long one. He had many more chores to do, and the only way he got through them all was the thought of staying at a Remus' house. It would only be the second wizarding house he had ever been to, and was sure that Lupin's would be especially interesting. Impatience was eating away as soon as he woke up, and he didn't think he could take the wait any longer.

Aunt Petunia stuck her head out of the window and barked, "Breakfast! Hurry up!" Harry put down the shovel he had been using to lay down compost on the Dursley's garden, wiped his forehead with his sleeve and came in. He washed up and went to the kitchen, where Uncle Vernon and Dudley were already eating scrambled eggs and toast. He was about to get himself something to eat, when he realized he'd have to tell the Dursley's about Sirius and Remus picking him up.

He got himself some bacon and sat down uneasily. He took a deep breath and started, "Er...Uncle Vernon..." Uncle Vernon grunted to acknowledge that he was listening. "Er...Well, you see...My...My godfather..." Uncle Vernon choked on his piece of toast at Harry's last word. "Well, he's coming to pick me up on the tenth, you see, and, well...I just thought I'd ought to tell you..." Harry trailed off, staring at the horrified look on his Uncle's face. Aunt Petunia dropped the dish she had been washing and clasped her hands to her mouth; Dudley had started panicking and his eyes started darting about the room from out of his pudgy face; Uncle Vernon looked ready to kill, breathing out of his nose loudly. "Er...I'll just go up to my room, then..." Harry said akwardly, edging out of the room, the three Durleys staring at him as if he were a horrifying beast..

He sighed gratefully and went up to his room.



The next day went by very uneventfully, to Harry dislike. Nothing was helping him get by the wait, and he felt like he was going crazy with anticipation. He kept pacing around his room, thinking about all of the things he would do the next day. He thought it odd to be wanting to do something so badly; he hadn't felt like doing anything for such a long time.


Finally, finally the next day came up. Though it had, the wait was getting even more unbearable, because Harry knew that in mere hours he would be away from the Dursleys for almost a year, and safe with fellow wizards. The problem was, every hour kept feeling like a week.




"Just---Just go and meet y-your...your bloody godfather...outside. We'll be in the kitchen," Uncle Vernon staggered angrily, his small, mean eyes glaring at Harry madly. Harry glared back. He didn't care if the Dursleys got mad at him; it was 1:50 and Sirius would be arriving at any moment. The Dursleys wouldn't dare do anything to Harry when it was so close to his godfather's arrival.

Suddenly the door bell rang. Uncle Vernon edged out of the room, his face more purple and mad looking than Harry had seen for a long time, and he could hear Dudley screaming from the kitchen as he ran over to the door, happiness flooding through him. He opened the door, and there stood, "Hullo, Sirius, Remus!" Harry said as he hugged both of them. He smiled widely and laughed. "No offense, but I didn't expect you to know how to use the doorbell!" he added. Sirius laughed. "Well, I should, I had lived in a Muggle house for my whole childhood!" he said happily. Harry noticed that he was looking much better than he had before; his face seemed to have much more color to it, his tattered grey robes had been replaced with clean new black ones, and his hair had been trimmed a bit, though he noticed it was still quite long.

Remus, on the other hand, looked more tired than ever, though his shabby robes had been replaced with new ones as well. "You lived in a Muggle house, Sirius?" Harry asked. "Yes, I'm half-and-half! Thought I'd already told you that! Quite an advantage, really," Sirius said joyfully. Sirius and Remus exchanged smirks and Remus said, "May we meet the Dursleys, Harry? We'd really like to, you know," "Er---sure!" Harry replied, wondering if they were going to turn them into anything. He wondered if they should, though, even if they turned them back. He lead them to the kitchen anyway, smiling.



Authors Note: Hi there! This is my first time writing on fanfiction.net! I know that the chapters are pretty short, and I might try to lengthen them up a bit later. This'll get much more interesting as I get farther into the story, don't worry! ^^ Though I hope you like it so far! Please review, I'd really appreciate it.