A few days later, Dumbledore came to check up on Harry.
"How are things going Harry?" Dumbledore asked him.
"Well, it's really boring being kept inside this house all the time. I know how Sirius felt now," Harry said, saddened at the thought of Sirius.
"Well, things are about to change about it being boring here. The Order members have decided that we think you are ready to be able to sit in on our meetings," Dumbledore told him.
"Wow! You really mean it?" Harry asked with a big grin on his face.
"Yep. We decided last night," Dumbledore told him.
"Can Ron and Hermione come too?" Harry asked.
"It's up to you. Just remember what kinds of things we will be talking about. Do you really want your two best friends to hear all about it?" Dumbledore said thoughtfully.
"Well, I guess you're right. They have enough on their minds. They don't need to know every bad thing that is going on with Voldemort," Harry said.
"Alright, the first meeting that you are entitled to go to is tomorrow night," Dumbledore told him.
"Okay professor," Harry said in return.
He went back to his room and started to read some of his books he had gotten for the upcoming school year. He had started to read when Ron walked in.
"Harry, can I talk to you for a minute?" Ron asked him.
"Sure. What about?" Harry returned.
"Well, it's just that there's this girl I really like, okay. And we're already really good friends. And I don't know how to approach her and let her know," Ron said, with a weird expression on his face.
"Hermione?" Harry asked.
"No!" Ron said defensively as soon as Harry said her name.
"It's okay Ron. You can tell me. I'm your best friend," Harry told him.
"Alright, yes it's Hermione. But I don't know what to do," Ron told him.
"Well, just take it easy Ron," Harry told him, encouragingly, "Ask her if she wants to go to Hogsmeade with you when the time arises for the first Hogsmeade visit."
"Alright, thanks a lot Harry. I knew I could count on you," Ron said, with a smile growing on his face. He walked out of the room, and where he went next, Harry did not know. The only thing Harry knew was that he could not help but keep thinking about what Ron had just told him.
He could not wait until the Order meeting the following night, which was driving him crazy. He was finally going to be able to know what is going on. He had wanted to know what Voldemort's plans were, and now he had the chance of getting his questions answered. He could not stop thinking about the meeting so much, that he continued to pace back and forth in his room until he heard Mrs. Weasley's voice.
"Harry! Come on down here! Dinner's ready!" he could hear her calling to him. Had it really been that long that he was pacing? He walked down the steps and was immediately reminded of when Ron had fallen down the same steps earlier in the week. He hoped he didn't fall down as well. He walked into the kitchen and took his regular seat at the table. He looked around to see if there were any guests eating with them that night. It turned out that Lupin was there, as usual, he had eaten there almost every night, as well as Tonks. Harry thought he saw something happening between Lupin and Tonks that was more than just friendly, but then decided that he was just thinking crazy thoughts. Lupin and Tonks were just friends, nothing more.
He began to slowly devour his food, having not eaten since breakfast that morning. He must've been spacing out when Mrs. Weasley called him for lunch. He had been doing that a lot lately. He would just space out and not realize anything that was happening in the world around him. He hurriedly ate his dinner, wanting to be able to take a look at his broom.
"Harry, excited about your birthday tomorrow?" Lupin asked him.
"Oh my god! Tomorrow's my birthday!" Harry thought to himself. He had completely lost track of the days. He just laughed at how stupid he was. "Of course! I can't wait for it to come!" he told Lupin, with a big grin on his face. Harry finished his dinner and ran up to his room. Ron ran after him, wanting to take a look at the Lightning Star also. They entered his room and Buckbeak made a growling noise at Ron. Ron bowed to Buckbeak, and Buckbeak returned the bow, meaning that Buckbeak trusted Ron. Harry went over to Buckbeak and started to stroke him right by his wing.
"Hey Bucky," Harry said to the big creature before grabbing his new broomstick. He brought it over to his bed and sat down. He took out his broom polish and took the compass off his old Firebolt.
"Did you hear that Fred and George are going to buy me a new broomstick since I'm on the Quidditch team?" Ron asked.
"Cool!" Harry said, happy for his friend.
"Of course, it's nothing like a Lightning Star. They're getting me the Nimbus 2001. It's still pretty fast. A lot faster and easier to handle than the broomstick I have now," Ron told him.
"Yeah, it's definitely much easier!" Harry exclaimed. He began to apply the broom polish to his broomstick, trying to make it look as shiny as he could. Then he attached the compass to the end of the broom.
"Mind if I test it out one day?" Ron asked him, staring at the broomstick as if it was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.
"Sure," Harry said, also staring at his new broom.
That night, Harry got a good rest. It was one of the only times he did not dream of Sirius' death. It was probably because he was thinking nothing but happy thoughts. Tomorrow was his birthday and it was the first time he would be allowed to take part in an Order meeting. Instead, he dreamt about going back to Hogwarts. Hogwarts was his real home. It was the one place where he fit in with everyone around him, except the Slytherins. He hated the Slytherins. Ravenclaws were annoying sometimes and Hufflepuffs were a little too arrogant at times, but for the most part, Harry got along with the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs. He awoke the next morning to find a big stack of presents at the foot of his bed. When Ron, Hermione, and Ginny heard him wake up, they came running into his room and jumped onto his bed, not wanting to miss watching him open his mountain of presents.
The first present was from Hagrid. Hagrid had given him the normal present of rock cakes, which Harry knew by now not to eat. So he fed them to Hedwig. He noticed something else that appeared to be from Hagrid. It was a black velvet book. He opened the book to see pictures of his parents and Sirius. He had already received one photo album from Hagrid, but it seemed as though Hagrid had found even more pictures. Harry put the book down, and grabbed a new present from his stack at the foot of his bed.
This present was from Hermione. He unwrapped the present and saw a new homework planner, some parchment, and some new quills.
"Thanks Hermione!" Harry said looking at his school supplies.
"Your welcome!" Hermione replied, smiling. He could always count on Hermione to make him think about the bad part of school, all of the homework. Then he opened a present from Ron and Ginny. They had given him a bunch of candy. He had received Chocolate Frogs, Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, and something he knew better than to eat. It was a Canary Cream. Harry had seen them last year when Fred and George had invented them at the school. Harry knew he didn't want to eat them.
Then he grabbed another present, which happened to be from Dumbledore. He unwrapped the silver paper to reveal a pensieve.
"Wow! I could really use this when I am doing Occlumency!" Harry exclaimed. This present would prove to be very helpful in the future. He saw a note stuck to the bottom of the pensieve and took the note off.
Dear Harry,
This pensieve once belonged to your father. It will come in handy with your occlumency lessons and I'm sure you will find great use in it. If you look closely, there is still one memory inside of it, from you father. For some reason, it doesn't seem like he used this pensieve very much.
--Albus Dumbledore
He peered inside the pensieve and saw what Dumbledore had been talking about. There was only one memory inside it. He decided he would look at the memory some other time. He reached for his next present, which was from Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. They had given him some homemade pies, which Harry loved. Harry thought that Mrs. Weasley was perhaps one of the greatest cooks. He especially loved the pies she always sent him for his birthday. Then he grabbed his last present, which was from Fred and George. They had given him a bunch of their new jokes that they created. He would definitely be having lots of fun this year at Hogwarts.
He went downstairs and ate breakfast with the rest of the group, which Mrs. Weasley had graciously prepared for them. They ate up and then decided to go outside in the yard and have fun with Harry's new broomstick. Harry got on it first, and flew around for a little while, to the amusement of the others. He would pull into a dive every once in a while, and then pull out of it right when he was about to hit the ground.
"Oooooo.....ahhh...." he could hear them when he pulled out of the dive successfully for the fourth time. He landed smoothly and then let Ron have a try, since Ron had been begging him to give him a turn on the broom. Ron was flying around, and looked like he was having a lot of fun. He was going to try doing a dive, but decided at the last minute not too, fearing that he would crash and hurt the broomstick. Lastly, Ginny wanted a chance. Ginny started flying, and Harry saw that she was going very fast.
When she landed, Harry told her, "You should definitely try out for Chaser this year. You looked really good."
"Thanks Harry," she said before walking back into the house.
"Are you serious Harry? You want my sister on the team?" Ron asked him disbelievingly.
"Yeah. Did you see her out there? She looked like she would be perfect for the position of Chaser," Harry told him.
They went back inside the house and spent the rest of the day talking all about what they wanted to do this upcoming school year. Harry and the rest could definitely not wait to see Hagrid again, and couldn't wait for Quidditch to start again. Harry hadn't played a game for the longest time. One thing about Hogwarts they didn't miss however, was Draco Malfoy. They talked for a while and played some games before dinner. Snape was there for dinner, and Harry definitely didn't like that. Snape had been acting nicer to him since what happened in Diagon Alley. He had apologized for what had happened and told Harry that he wished he could've warned him, but didn't want to spoil his cover. Harry didn't know why Snape was trying to be nice. Harry knew that Snape wasn't the soft kind of guy.
After dinner, all non-Order members were forced to leave the kitchen, since the Order meeting was going to begin. Many people started to show up including Kingsley, Tonks, Moody, Mundungus, and Albus Dumbledore. Mr. Weasley used a charm to lengthen the table so everyone could fit around. Mrs. Weasley made some sandwiches and a few pies for everyone to eat while discussing. Once everyone had arrived, Dumbledore stood and began to speak.
"I think this is everyone. First I would like to hear reports from a few of you on what you have learned," he told them all. Tonks started first.
"Lupin and I have found that all Dementors have now joined up with Voldemort, except one pack of them which we have recruited to guard Azkaban. We have approximately fifteen Dementors working on our side to keep all death eaters in prison," Tonks told the group.
"Very good. That should keep Lucius Malfoy out of our hair for a while," Harry could hear Mundungus saying to another short balding man sitting next to him.
"Nice work Remus and Nymphadora," Dumbledore said to them, smiling.
"I have looked at the polls recently and it seems as though Dolores Umbridge is beating me, but only by about two-percent. I am still confident that I will be able to pull off a victory for us," Arthur Weasley told the members.
"I hope you do win," Harry muttered under his breath.
"Harry Potter," Dumbledore started and Harry looked straight up at the sound of his name, "Has decided to join us this evening. I will be administering the test on him within the next week if I think he is ready."
"What kind of test is this?" Harry pondered to himself.
"We have found that Voldemort is planning to do something involving the veil," Moody told Dumbledore.
"What kind of plan are we talking about?" Dumbledore asked him.
"Well, we're not sure. But we think he is trying to bring back some of his old followers from the dead," Moody answered.
"Wow! Then there's a chance to bring Sirius back!" Harry thought to himself.
"Okay, that's enough for tonight I think. We shall resume this later on when we gather more information," Dumbledore said to them all and they got up to leave.
That night, Harry started dreaming about Sirius again. He could see Sirius fall through the veil. But then, the dream continued. He could see what was behind the veil. He could see some sort of thing back there. It was like the veil was a portal to heaven.
"How are things going Harry?" Dumbledore asked him.
"Well, it's really boring being kept inside this house all the time. I know how Sirius felt now," Harry said, saddened at the thought of Sirius.
"Well, things are about to change about it being boring here. The Order members have decided that we think you are ready to be able to sit in on our meetings," Dumbledore told him.
"Wow! You really mean it?" Harry asked with a big grin on his face.
"Yep. We decided last night," Dumbledore told him.
"Can Ron and Hermione come too?" Harry asked.
"It's up to you. Just remember what kinds of things we will be talking about. Do you really want your two best friends to hear all about it?" Dumbledore said thoughtfully.
"Well, I guess you're right. They have enough on their minds. They don't need to know every bad thing that is going on with Voldemort," Harry said.
"Alright, the first meeting that you are entitled to go to is tomorrow night," Dumbledore told him.
"Okay professor," Harry said in return.
He went back to his room and started to read some of his books he had gotten for the upcoming school year. He had started to read when Ron walked in.
"Harry, can I talk to you for a minute?" Ron asked him.
"Sure. What about?" Harry returned.
"Well, it's just that there's this girl I really like, okay. And we're already really good friends. And I don't know how to approach her and let her know," Ron said, with a weird expression on his face.
"Hermione?" Harry asked.
"No!" Ron said defensively as soon as Harry said her name.
"It's okay Ron. You can tell me. I'm your best friend," Harry told him.
"Alright, yes it's Hermione. But I don't know what to do," Ron told him.
"Well, just take it easy Ron," Harry told him, encouragingly, "Ask her if she wants to go to Hogsmeade with you when the time arises for the first Hogsmeade visit."
"Alright, thanks a lot Harry. I knew I could count on you," Ron said, with a smile growing on his face. He walked out of the room, and where he went next, Harry did not know. The only thing Harry knew was that he could not help but keep thinking about what Ron had just told him.
He could not wait until the Order meeting the following night, which was driving him crazy. He was finally going to be able to know what is going on. He had wanted to know what Voldemort's plans were, and now he had the chance of getting his questions answered. He could not stop thinking about the meeting so much, that he continued to pace back and forth in his room until he heard Mrs. Weasley's voice.
"Harry! Come on down here! Dinner's ready!" he could hear her calling to him. Had it really been that long that he was pacing? He walked down the steps and was immediately reminded of when Ron had fallen down the same steps earlier in the week. He hoped he didn't fall down as well. He walked into the kitchen and took his regular seat at the table. He looked around to see if there were any guests eating with them that night. It turned out that Lupin was there, as usual, he had eaten there almost every night, as well as Tonks. Harry thought he saw something happening between Lupin and Tonks that was more than just friendly, but then decided that he was just thinking crazy thoughts. Lupin and Tonks were just friends, nothing more.
He began to slowly devour his food, having not eaten since breakfast that morning. He must've been spacing out when Mrs. Weasley called him for lunch. He had been doing that a lot lately. He would just space out and not realize anything that was happening in the world around him. He hurriedly ate his dinner, wanting to be able to take a look at his broom.
"Harry, excited about your birthday tomorrow?" Lupin asked him.
"Oh my god! Tomorrow's my birthday!" Harry thought to himself. He had completely lost track of the days. He just laughed at how stupid he was. "Of course! I can't wait for it to come!" he told Lupin, with a big grin on his face. Harry finished his dinner and ran up to his room. Ron ran after him, wanting to take a look at the Lightning Star also. They entered his room and Buckbeak made a growling noise at Ron. Ron bowed to Buckbeak, and Buckbeak returned the bow, meaning that Buckbeak trusted Ron. Harry went over to Buckbeak and started to stroke him right by his wing.
"Hey Bucky," Harry said to the big creature before grabbing his new broomstick. He brought it over to his bed and sat down. He took out his broom polish and took the compass off his old Firebolt.
"Did you hear that Fred and George are going to buy me a new broomstick since I'm on the Quidditch team?" Ron asked.
"Cool!" Harry said, happy for his friend.
"Of course, it's nothing like a Lightning Star. They're getting me the Nimbus 2001. It's still pretty fast. A lot faster and easier to handle than the broomstick I have now," Ron told him.
"Yeah, it's definitely much easier!" Harry exclaimed. He began to apply the broom polish to his broomstick, trying to make it look as shiny as he could. Then he attached the compass to the end of the broom.
"Mind if I test it out one day?" Ron asked him, staring at the broomstick as if it was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.
"Sure," Harry said, also staring at his new broom.
That night, Harry got a good rest. It was one of the only times he did not dream of Sirius' death. It was probably because he was thinking nothing but happy thoughts. Tomorrow was his birthday and it was the first time he would be allowed to take part in an Order meeting. Instead, he dreamt about going back to Hogwarts. Hogwarts was his real home. It was the one place where he fit in with everyone around him, except the Slytherins. He hated the Slytherins. Ravenclaws were annoying sometimes and Hufflepuffs were a little too arrogant at times, but for the most part, Harry got along with the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs. He awoke the next morning to find a big stack of presents at the foot of his bed. When Ron, Hermione, and Ginny heard him wake up, they came running into his room and jumped onto his bed, not wanting to miss watching him open his mountain of presents.
The first present was from Hagrid. Hagrid had given him the normal present of rock cakes, which Harry knew by now not to eat. So he fed them to Hedwig. He noticed something else that appeared to be from Hagrid. It was a black velvet book. He opened the book to see pictures of his parents and Sirius. He had already received one photo album from Hagrid, but it seemed as though Hagrid had found even more pictures. Harry put the book down, and grabbed a new present from his stack at the foot of his bed.
This present was from Hermione. He unwrapped the present and saw a new homework planner, some parchment, and some new quills.
"Thanks Hermione!" Harry said looking at his school supplies.
"Your welcome!" Hermione replied, smiling. He could always count on Hermione to make him think about the bad part of school, all of the homework. Then he opened a present from Ron and Ginny. They had given him a bunch of candy. He had received Chocolate Frogs, Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, and something he knew better than to eat. It was a Canary Cream. Harry had seen them last year when Fred and George had invented them at the school. Harry knew he didn't want to eat them.
Then he grabbed another present, which happened to be from Dumbledore. He unwrapped the silver paper to reveal a pensieve.
"Wow! I could really use this when I am doing Occlumency!" Harry exclaimed. This present would prove to be very helpful in the future. He saw a note stuck to the bottom of the pensieve and took the note off.
Dear Harry,
This pensieve once belonged to your father. It will come in handy with your occlumency lessons and I'm sure you will find great use in it. If you look closely, there is still one memory inside of it, from you father. For some reason, it doesn't seem like he used this pensieve very much.
--Albus Dumbledore
He peered inside the pensieve and saw what Dumbledore had been talking about. There was only one memory inside it. He decided he would look at the memory some other time. He reached for his next present, which was from Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. They had given him some homemade pies, which Harry loved. Harry thought that Mrs. Weasley was perhaps one of the greatest cooks. He especially loved the pies she always sent him for his birthday. Then he grabbed his last present, which was from Fred and George. They had given him a bunch of their new jokes that they created. He would definitely be having lots of fun this year at Hogwarts.
He went downstairs and ate breakfast with the rest of the group, which Mrs. Weasley had graciously prepared for them. They ate up and then decided to go outside in the yard and have fun with Harry's new broomstick. Harry got on it first, and flew around for a little while, to the amusement of the others. He would pull into a dive every once in a while, and then pull out of it right when he was about to hit the ground.
"Oooooo.....ahhh...." he could hear them when he pulled out of the dive successfully for the fourth time. He landed smoothly and then let Ron have a try, since Ron had been begging him to give him a turn on the broom. Ron was flying around, and looked like he was having a lot of fun. He was going to try doing a dive, but decided at the last minute not too, fearing that he would crash and hurt the broomstick. Lastly, Ginny wanted a chance. Ginny started flying, and Harry saw that she was going very fast.
When she landed, Harry told her, "You should definitely try out for Chaser this year. You looked really good."
"Thanks Harry," she said before walking back into the house.
"Are you serious Harry? You want my sister on the team?" Ron asked him disbelievingly.
"Yeah. Did you see her out there? She looked like she would be perfect for the position of Chaser," Harry told him.
They went back inside the house and spent the rest of the day talking all about what they wanted to do this upcoming school year. Harry and the rest could definitely not wait to see Hagrid again, and couldn't wait for Quidditch to start again. Harry hadn't played a game for the longest time. One thing about Hogwarts they didn't miss however, was Draco Malfoy. They talked for a while and played some games before dinner. Snape was there for dinner, and Harry definitely didn't like that. Snape had been acting nicer to him since what happened in Diagon Alley. He had apologized for what had happened and told Harry that he wished he could've warned him, but didn't want to spoil his cover. Harry didn't know why Snape was trying to be nice. Harry knew that Snape wasn't the soft kind of guy.
After dinner, all non-Order members were forced to leave the kitchen, since the Order meeting was going to begin. Many people started to show up including Kingsley, Tonks, Moody, Mundungus, and Albus Dumbledore. Mr. Weasley used a charm to lengthen the table so everyone could fit around. Mrs. Weasley made some sandwiches and a few pies for everyone to eat while discussing. Once everyone had arrived, Dumbledore stood and began to speak.
"I think this is everyone. First I would like to hear reports from a few of you on what you have learned," he told them all. Tonks started first.
"Lupin and I have found that all Dementors have now joined up with Voldemort, except one pack of them which we have recruited to guard Azkaban. We have approximately fifteen Dementors working on our side to keep all death eaters in prison," Tonks told the group.
"Very good. That should keep Lucius Malfoy out of our hair for a while," Harry could hear Mundungus saying to another short balding man sitting next to him.
"Nice work Remus and Nymphadora," Dumbledore said to them, smiling.
"I have looked at the polls recently and it seems as though Dolores Umbridge is beating me, but only by about two-percent. I am still confident that I will be able to pull off a victory for us," Arthur Weasley told the members.
"I hope you do win," Harry muttered under his breath.
"Harry Potter," Dumbledore started and Harry looked straight up at the sound of his name, "Has decided to join us this evening. I will be administering the test on him within the next week if I think he is ready."
"What kind of test is this?" Harry pondered to himself.
"We have found that Voldemort is planning to do something involving the veil," Moody told Dumbledore.
"What kind of plan are we talking about?" Dumbledore asked him.
"Well, we're not sure. But we think he is trying to bring back some of his old followers from the dead," Moody answered.
"Wow! Then there's a chance to bring Sirius back!" Harry thought to himself.
"Okay, that's enough for tonight I think. We shall resume this later on when we gather more information," Dumbledore said to them all and they got up to leave.
That night, Harry started dreaming about Sirius again. He could see Sirius fall through the veil. But then, the dream continued. He could see what was behind the veil. He could see some sort of thing back there. It was like the veil was a portal to heaven.