Author's Note: Alright here we go....my first fic. Be nice please....r/r.

Chapter 1

Catching Up (Harry)

Harry Potter's sixth year at Hogwarts had been most like any other year. The trio had had their fights throughout the year but that was completely normal. The only thing that had been any different was the battle with Lord Voldemort and what had happened afterwards.

The "Great Battle" as it had been called was the war of their generation: good against bad, light against dark, the Order against the Death Eaters. After many days and countless nights of attacks and counter-attacks Voldemort and his followers fled, suffering great losses. The magical community was at ease once again, but only for a short time, for they knew he would return. After that battle in May, Harry Potter and his friends returned to school, much to everyone's relief. Harry had suffered many injuries throughout the battle and his friends were worried about him, though they dare not say it. Those not in the Order had been happy to see them return relatively unharmed, though the images of the battle occasionally came back to haunt its participants.

Harry had returned to the Dursley's after his sixth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Harry hoped it would be the last summer he spent in the presence of his Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon and horribly abusive cousin Dudley. He had grown to hate them even more as he had attended Hogwarts, for there he had learned what a real family was supposed to be like, and the Dursley's, haters of all magical things (including Harry), just weren't a real family.

Although Harry had many reasons not to go back to the Dursley's he found for the first time in his life that he also had reasons to go:

1. Scaring the knickers off Dudley had become quite an amusement of the past few years (Harry knew that he was acting quite similarly to the way Dudley had when they were younger, but honestly, that didn't bother him in the least: "What goes around comes around."). Not to mention that each of the Dursley's had become, for lack of a better word, nicer to Harry since the quite ominous threat of Alastor Moody still lingered in their minds.

2. Ever since the last battle with Lord Voldemort Harry was in no mood to be constantly looked after by the members of the Order of the Phoenix. They knew Harry had his own demons to deal with and had been watching him quite closely since the battle in May. This had begun to annoy Harry to no end, so he finally spoke up:

Flashback

Harry sat in the kitchen at number 12 Grimmauld Place facing all the members of the Order of the Phoenix. It was mid-June and he, Ron and Hermione had been whisked away from the castle for this meeting. He had sat in silence long enough, just barely tolerating listening to them talk about him safety as if he were still a little boy.

"I am not a child." Harry said tonelessly.

"Yes, yes Harry, dear. We know that." said Mrs. Weasley, evidently trying to avoid this conversation.

"No! Apparently you don't!" he screamed, becoming impatient rather quickly. He rose looking at each member of the Order in turn. "I'm tired of everyone always worrying about me. I can take care of myself."

Harry gave them a cold stare before continuing, "I've been doing it for as long as I can remember. All of you bloody well know that the Dursley's didn't give a damn about me."

"Well excuse us for caring about one Harry James Potter!" Hermione said in a huff, "Just because your parents died doesn't mean you're alone in the world!"

Oh no, she'd played the parents card, how stupid of her. The instant she said it she wanted to take it back. "I mean-" she faltered, "I- I didn't...I'm sorry, Ha-"

"Oh bloody hell!" Harry screamed, and turned and ran out of the kitchen.

End of Flashback

Harry had returned to Hogwarts for the last week of term before the summer holidays and hadn't spoken to Ron or Hermione since. In fact he hadn't spoken with any members of the Order since the incident.

Harry grimaced as he remembered these events. He looked up from his bed to find a large screech owl perched on the window sill with what looked like a Hogwarts letter clutched in its beak.