A/N: Thank you to my BETA DarklyDreaming and to Jessirose85 for the idea!
Chapter 3:
It had been two weeks since the letter from the Ministry and it had taken those two weeks to get back to normal. After receiving the letter, Hermione had fallen into a depression; she stayed in her room all day, she refused to eat anything that Molly made her, and the only thing that she ingested was water. Other than that she had little interaction with anyone. She refused to talk to anyone, even Ginny, whom she shared a room with. She was now at the table in the kitchen with Ginny eating a breakfast casserole that Molly had made, Ron and the others had already eaten and were off doing other things.
"Are you ok Hermione?" Ginny inquired.
"Yes."
"Do you want to talk about-"
"No."
And with that, Ginny dropped the conversation and they ate in silence. They spent the rest of their time in the library doing homework and catching up on some fun readings.
That's where they were when they heard the door open and several pairs of feet enter the house. She and Ginny looked at each other before they dashed out of the door and down the landing where they almost toppled on top of Fred, George, and Ron.
"What's going on?" Ginny asked.
"The Order," George said.
"They've started to arrive." Fred finished.
"Well let's not be rude," Hermione said before continuing to descend the stairs. The others looked at each other before following her lead. They entered the sitting room where there were a fair amount of people: Alastor Moody, Nymphadora Tonks, Remus Lupin, Molly and Arthur, McGonogall, Sirus, Dumbledore, some other random professors, and four people they hadn't met before.
"Hello children," Remus said after noticing them. "Please, don't be strangers, come in and meet everyone."
They stepped forward where they were introduced to Amelia Bones, Mrs. Longbottom, Neville's grandmother, Kinglsey Shacklbolt and Ted Tonks. Everyone sat to chat for a while, after such there was a flash of green and Severus Snape stepped out of the fire place. All the students simply looked at each other before returning their gazes to their most feared professor. The room was silent for what seemed to be an hour but it was broken by Dumbledore who said, "Ah, Severus. I am glad that you could make it."
"Like I had a choice A...Headmaster," Severus said as he took notice of his students in the room.
"Everyone, now that we have everyone here, it is time to start the meeting. Children, would you all excuse us please? Everyone else please go to the kitchen." Everyone complied and went out of the room. Before he exited as well, Dumbledore turned to his students and said, "I hope that you all remember what I requested of you all when you came here." And with that he was gone, but Molly came in shortly after, "Children, go upstairs and do something while we are in the meeting. I will call you for dinner."
They all hung their heads and walked upstairs. When they reached the top floor George and Fred turned to the two thirds of the Golden Trio that graced their presence. "What did he say when you first got here?" they asked.
"We're not to say a word to Harry. Since You-Know-Who returned, he - well, we - are more in danger now then we have been in years. We can't tell him about the Order, Sirius being in place, or anything going on here."
"Oh," they said in unison.
After about two hours or so, the children were called back down to dinner. When they entered the kitchen, they saw no sign of Snape anywhere.
"Did Professor Snape not stay?" Hermione asked.
"Oh dear heavens no, that man never stays, he comes to the meetings and then he leaves as soon as we are dismissed." McGonagall answered.
"Good because I don't think I could keep my comments to myself with that greasy git sitting at the table," Ron mumbled.
"RONALD!" Molly and Hermione exclaimed. Everyone at the table smirked, if not laughed. Molly continued, "You are not to talk of your professors that way, despite whether you like them or not."
"Frankly, I agree with the boy. He's smart Molly, you should leave him be," Sirius said smiling.
"Don't encourage him Sirius, you boys may have had your differences in school but this is ridiculous. Never in my life did I even teach my children such thoughts." Molly argued.
Everyone chuckled about the event and then went on to enjoy their supper. The rest of the evening went through without a problem, and eventually everyone went their separate ways before the children headed to bed.
About a week and a half later, everyone was sitting at the table enjoying the lovely breakfast that Molly always had a tendency to prepare. Suddenly the door slammed open and two voices were shouting at each other.
"They can't do that to him Albus, he had to defend himself from those…those….those things! They simply can't!"
"I know, Minerva, but the only thing I can think to do is to go to his trial."
"Then DO IT!"
The two professors entered the kitchen, where Molly had already prepared two cups of tea for them. Hermione looked up from her book startled by what her professors were discussing.
"Who's in trouble now professors?"
Minerva looked at her star lion and said, "It's young Mr. Potter, apparently."
"WHAT? What happened?" she exclaimed.
"Well, Mr. Potter and his cousin were on their way home, I guess, and they were attacked by a couple of rouge dementors. Mr. Potter cast a patronous to save his cousin and the Ministry is now out for him and demanding a trial to see to his use of Underage Wizardry," Dumbledore explained. He collapsed into his chair with his tea and Minerva followed.
"Is there anything that can be done?" Molly asked.
"I am sending a select few tonight to go and get him from his aunt's house. They are instructed to bring him straight here. He will stay here until the trial, and then return until school starts." Everyone nodded in understanding, the rest of breakfast was completely silent after that. Everyone left afterwards and all were anxious for Harry's arrival that night.
Sure enough, at seven thirty that evening the door opened, a few pitter patter of feet and a crash signaled that the group had arrived safely. They sat and waited in the boys' room for Harry to open the door, when he did, Hermione rushed to him and engulfed him into a hug.
"Harry! Are you alright?"
"Let the man breath Hermione," Ron said.
Hermione released him and Harry answered, "Yeah, I'm as well as can be expected, I suppose."
"We heard about the attack. This is preposterous, the Ministry simply can't do this, it's out of control."
"I'm afraid that's how everyone feels."
"Yeah, sorry mate," Ron said. "Wish there was something we could do."
"Me too, Ron," Harry said. "So what is this place?"
"Order of the Phoenix," Hermione answered. "Dumbledore formed it back when they first fought You-Know-Who."
"And you couldn't tell me this in your letters."
"Mate, listen, we wanted to but…."
"But WHAT?"
"Dumbledore made us swear."
"So I suppose the fact that I saw HIM come back doesn't mean anything to anyone?"
There was silence before there were two simultaneous pops and instantly stood Fred and George. "So let it out Harry, we are here for you." Fred said.
"Yeah but if that's not enough, would you all like to hear something a bit more interesting?"
Everyone had agreed that there was something more interesting to be heard and they all went to the stairwell and Fred and George pulled out a gadget that they had been working on all summer. "It's an extendable ear," Fred whispered.
They were listening to the Order's conversation when Ginny magically appeared by their sides. Not literally, of course, as she wasn't old enough to Apparate, but it was as if she had come from nowhere. Harry was about to say something when he heard Snape's voice. "Snape's in the Order?"
"Git." Ron hissed.
"SHH!" They listened to the rest of the meeting before they heard footsteps coming closer.
"Meeting adjourned," Albus said. Fred and George scrambled to get the ear up before anyone saw and the others tried to help and they almost didn't make it. They all quickly jumped away from the banister as Molly called up the stairs for them.
Everyone sat down to dinner as the recent stories were released that everyone felt was safe to tell. They didn't want anything getting back to Voldemort; they needed every upper hand they could get.