Chapter Two

The Order of the Phoenix

Hermione Granger paced irritably in front of the window, talking animatedly to the tall gangly boy lying on one of the twin beds in the gloomy, high-ceilinged bedroom.

"When do you think Harry will get here?" she asked Ron Weasley impatiently. "I mean, Hedwig's been here for a while already and Harry still hasn't turned up." She gestured at the white owl sitting on the top of a dark wardrobe. "And when he does get here, what'll we tell him?"

Ron sat up from the musty bed, his freckles standing out against his pale skin in the darkness, frowning. "What d'you mean, what do we tell Harry?"

Before Hermione could answer him, the bedroom door opened, letting in considerably more light from the hallway. Hermione blinked rapidly, trying to rid herself of the stars that burst before her eyes. Finding she could see again, Hermione gazed at the unkempt figure in the doorway before launching herself to him.

"HARRY! I can't believe you're here! Ron and I didn't hear you arrive!" Harry caught only a brief glimpse of the room before it was obscured by a large expanse of Hermione's very bushy brown hair.

"Oh, Harry, you must be furious with us! Dumbledore said we couldn't tell you anything, it was terrible, I wrote all these letters and had to burn them up so that I wasn't tempted to send them – all that we could write to you was completely useless – and they told us about the Ministry hearing, it's outrageous, I looked it all up, they can't expel you, they just can't, there's provision in the Decree for the Restriction of Underage Sorcery for the use of magic in life-threatening situations -"

"Let him breathe, Hermione, he only just got here!" Ron grinned at his best friend, who was equally amused at the over-excited girl. Hermione let go of him, still beaming, but anything more she might have said was lost in the sound of beating wings.

"Hedwig!" Harry exclaimed in delight. The snowy owl landed gently on his shoulder, and nibbled his ear affectionately.

"She's been a right mess since she got here, pecked us half to death when she came with your last letters." Ron showed Harry his right hand, where several of his fingers sported clearly deep cuts. "Hermione was going off her rocker with fright too, kept saying you'd do something dumb if you were stuck there without any clue of what was going on."

"Sorry about that. But I wanted answers, you know." Harry said reproachfully.

"We wanted to give them to you, Harry! Really, we did! But Dumbledore –"

"– Made you swear not to tell me," He cut Hermione off abruptly. "I get it."

Hermione paused, biting her lip. Something cold flickered in Harry's eyes, replacing his open smile, and to her, it seemed like a door inside of him had suddenly been slammed shut. There was a strained silence in which she ran her fingers through her bushy hair, noticing out of the corner of her eye that Harry stroked Hedwig almost automatically, attempting not to look at the others.

She decided to break the ice that had been dropped into the room. "He seemed to think it was best for you," Hermione said rather timidly, "Dumbledore, I mean."

"Yeah?" Harry raised his eyebrows at her. "I guess he didn't figure that I'd get attacked by dementors while I was stuck at the Dursleys', huh?"

No one spoke for a minute. Harry found himself focusing once more on Hedwig's white feathers, stroking her mildly rumpled wings in the silence.

"He was so mad when he found out," Ron breathed in an awestruck voice. "It was like he was ready to skin Mundungus alive."

"Mundungus? What does he have to do with this?" said Harry, doing his best to keep his voice even.

"Well, you see, Harry, he was the one tailing you at the time, and he skipped his shift and –"

"Tailing me?" Harry asked incredulously. "There were people following me?"

He saw Ron and Hermione exchanging a glance that told him they were behaving exactly as he feared they would. It did nothing to improve his temper.

"Maybe Dumbledore thinks I can't be trusted." He said shortly.

"Of course he doesn't think that!" Hermione looked disconcerted.

"Or that I can't take care of myself –"

"Don't be thick," Ron tried to interrupt his flow, before getting cut off.

"So how come I have to stay with them, while you get to join in everything that's going on here?" said Harry hotly.

"We're not! They said we're too young, we can't do anything –" Hermione yelped, wincing at Harry's ever-increasing volume. Before she knew it, he was shouting.

"DON'T SAY THAT! YOU'VE BEEN HERE, HAVEN'T YOU? SO WHAT IF YOU CAN'T GO TO THE MEETINGS? AT LEAST YOU'RE HERE. I'VE BEEN STUCK AT THE DURSLEYS' FOR OVER A MONTH, NICKING PAPERS OUT OF BINS TO TRY AND FIND OUT WHAT'S BEEN GOING ON-"

"We wanted to tell you –" Hermione began.

"RIGHT, BUT YOU DIDN'T, BECAUSE DUMBLEDORE MADE YOU SWEAR –"

"Well, he did –"

"AND I'VE HANDLED MORE THAN YOU TWO'VE EVER MANAGED AND DUMBLEDORE KNOWS IT – WHO SAVED THE SORCERER'S STONE? WHO SAVED BOTH YOUR SKINS FROM THE DEMENTORS? WHO SAW HIM COME BACK LAST YEAR? WHO HAD TO ESCAPE FROM HIM? ME!"

Ron was standing there, mouth half-open, clearly at a loss for what to say, which would have been very amusing, had Hermione not been on the verge of tears.

"Harry, we're really sorry!" She exclaimed desperately. "You're right – I'd be furious if it were me!" It was this comment that made Harry close his mouth. He began to pace up and down, still glaring at the floor, trying to cool his temper.

"I – I'm sorry." Harry winced at his own poor apology. "I shouldn't take it out on you guys. But… could someone tell me what this place even is?"

"It's Sirius' house." said Ron at once. "He's letting Dumbledore use the house for whatever he wants." He added. Harry looked up at the mention of his godfather, a mental image of the ex-Azkaban prisoner flashing through his mind.

"Sirius is here?"

"Yeah, but he doesn't want to be. Dumbledore's making him stay here, and away from people who might recognize him in the wizarding world."

"So what's Dumbledore using the house for?" Harry demanded.

"Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix," answered Ron promptly, heading Harry off before he got worked up again.

"It's a secret society," Hermione jumped in, answering Harry's unasked question. "Dumbledore's in charge, he founded it, for fighting You-Know-Who."

"Who's in it?" said Harry, coming to a halt in front of the wardrobe.

Hermione said, "Well, we're not exactly sure about everyone but a lot of them will be at dinner, so you'll meet - AARGH!"