Chapter 17: Order of the Phoenix part 1

Hermione looked around at all of them, grim faced. Each year was only going to get harder. She looked down at her notes and remembered how angry Harry had been at them all keeping secrets from him. Sirius squeezed her hand and she took a deep breath.

"Ok. Start of this year, Harry was back at the Dursley's. Professor Dumbledore had told Ron and I we couldn't tell Harry anything in case the owls were intercepted so he had no real news from the wizarding world."

"You left him alone to deal with everything that happened to him at the end of last year? What were you thinking?" James cried, grasping little Harry closer to him.

"It does makes sense not to put it in a letter." Remus said slowly.

"So get one of us to apparate to Harry and talk to him." Sirius suggested with an annoyed look at the headmaster.

"One day he was trying to listen to the muggle news for mysterious deaths or disappearances."

"Too soon Harry." Remus sighed. "Voldemort just came back and the first thing you did was tell Professor Dumbledore. While the Ministry aren't doing anything he will keep a low profile."

"Very good Mr Lupin." Dumbledore smiled at him.

"The Dursley's were suspicious, so he had to hide from them to actually hear the news. He ended up hiding in the bushes underneath the open window. As he was getting up from the bushes there was a loud crack of someone disapparating. His uncle got mad because he thought Harry made the noise so Harry went for a walk as he had spent most of the summer doing."

"You let him wander around the streets alone, unable to do magic?" Lily asked, incredulous.

"He wasn't exactly alone." Hermione muttered. "Professor Dumbledore had wizards trailing him."

"But they couldn't even speak to him to give him news?" Sirius cried out, indignant on his godson's behalf.

Hermione scowled over at Dumbledore and they decided that was answer enough. "On his way he met Dudley and his gang. Dudley taunted him about his nightmares."

"What a scumbag. If he knew what Harry had really gone through he wouldn't be making jokes." Sirius said, his face flushed in anger.

"Oh Harry." Lily cried, clutching her son close. "You poor boy." James was pale.

"As he and his cousin were walking it suddenly got very cold and dark even though it was middle of summer."

"Dementors? In a muggle suburb?" Lily asked in hushed tones. Hermione nodded.

"They attacked. Harry managed to do a patronus so both he and Dudley were ok."

"Again, a really goo thing you taught him Remus." Lily breathed. Remus just nodded, glad he was able to help poor Harry.

"What about those wizards you said were protecting him?" James growled, but he was glaring at Dumbledore.

"Well, Mundungus was watching him. He disapparated when Harry was in the bush."

"He was on duty, after everything Harry went though, and he left my son alone?" Lily shrieked. James' face grew red and his hand twitched towards his wand.

"I'm gonna kill Dung." Sirius hissed through gritted teeth. All the Professors looked equally angry and stunned.

"You let him guard Harry?" McGonagall asked, looking at Dumbledore in shock. He looked sombre, but didn't answer.

"Anyway, Mrs Figg found him and escorted him and Dudley home. The Dursley's blamed Harry, who did try to explain what happened. Then he got an owl saying he hand been expelled for underage magic."

"WHAT?" Roared James, forgetting the baby next to him. "You are allowed to use magic to protect yourself." He snarled. Just then, baby Harry started crying and James picked him up, rocking him gently.

"If he wanted to do anything to his cousin it would not be a patronus charm." Scoffed Remus.

Well, really. What is the Ministry turning into. They don't expel students for underage magic." Squeaked Flitwick.

"It was the second time. He also got in trouble for Dobby using the hovering charm."

"Damn." James cursed.

"Mr Weasley then sent an owl saying Professor Dumbledore was at the Ministry to sort it out and not to do anything. Next was an owl saying he wasn't expelled, but he had to go to a hearing about it. Sirius sent an owl saying don't leave the house."

"Real helpful Padfoot." Snorted James.

"Sirius gave sensible advice?" Lily asked, in surprise.

"Why is that a shock?" Sirius asked.

"Because it's you. You don't do sensible."

"I do when my godson's life could be at risk." He defended.

"Maybe it wasn't such a bad choice." Lily smiled up at James. James grinned and sent a secret wink to Sirius.

"Harry's uncle finally understood that Voldemort had come back and was looking for Harry. The dementor attack was the last straw, he ordered Harry to leave and not live in his house."

"He what?" It was Lily who yelled in anger this time. "His nephew is in danger and he wants to throw him out on the streets? Not even Petunia could sink so low."

"Petunia then received a howler saying 'Remember my last'. She said Harry could stay and sent him to bed."

"Thank goodness. Your sister can at least be called human." Remus said to Lily.

"Barely." Lily muttered.

"Who would sent her a howler?" Sirius asked, looking puzzled.

"Remember my last? Someone who had contact with her recently. It wasn't you Professor?" Remus concluded, looking at Dumbledore. "When you left Harry with them, that letter, it probably had something in it."

"I can't say for certain." Dumbledore said, although he was sure it was the case.

"Harry went upstairs. He sent letters to me, Ron and Sirius to try and get some answers. The Dursley's locked him in his bedroom and pushed food through the catflap."

"I take back what I said." Remus snarled. McGonagall and Flitwick looked appalled.

"How could anyone do that to a child?" McGonagall asked. Dumbledore looked grave, anger flashing in his eyes.

"A few days later, the Dursley's went out and a bunch of wizards came to take Harry to a safehouse. Remus was there, with Tonks, Nymphadora to you."

"My little cousin? Awesome." Sirius grinned. "What happens to her?"

"She becomes an auror." Hermione smiled."

"Good on her." Sirius beamed. "I always liked her. She will be at Hogwarts in a couple of years."

"Moody came too, along with quite a few others. The flew away from there and took Harry to Grimmauld Place."

"What? That can't be Order Headquarters." Sirius exclaimed. Hermione looked at him sadly. "Wait, if the headquarters is there the house is mine. That means Reg…" He trailed off looking morose. "Carry on without me, I need some air." He muttered, standing up and going out the front door. Hermione stared after him, then decided to leave him alone for a while. He had loved his brother despite what he said about his family

"Well, Harry arrived but an order meeting had just started so he was sent upstairs. He found me and Ron. We were so happy to see him. Harry started yelling though."

"I'm not surprised. He seems to have his mother's temper." James sighed. Lily glared.

"We tried to explain that Professor Dumbledore told us not to and that we had wanted to give him news. After a while the twins came in and between then and Ginny he finally calmed down. We told him that Percy, Ron's brother, had deserted the family. He was promoted to junior assistant to the Minister, and after the way he handled the Crouch affair the order were suspicious."

"They should be. Clearly they want Percy to spy on his family." Sirius scowled.

"He did. Percy and Mr Weasley had a massive row and Percy ended up leaving. He started living on his own in London."

"Poor Molly." Lily sighed.

"Harry finally calmed down completely after that."

"I do understand why Harry is upset though. He went through all of that and yet nobody tells him a thing, even though wizards were tailing him all the time. That would be enough to anger anyone." James said. Dumbledore was looking pensive and avoiding the glare McGonagall was giving him.

"Mrs Weasley called us all down to dinner where Tonks knocked over an umbrella stand and a portrait of Mrs Black started screaming. Remus and SIrius managed to close it, and Harry finally got to see Sirius again."

"Good. Now he has someone on his side." James smiled.

"Dinner was good, but afterwards Sirius said he was surprised Harry hadn't started asking questions as soon as he arrived. He said that he had tried asking us, but Sirius suggested that Harry be allowed to hear some of it from the order. Up till then we had been using an invention of Fred and George. Extendable ears."

"What?" James' head snapped up, looking eager."

"Basically ears on string so you can hear through doors and stuff far away."

"I love those twins so much." He grinned. Mcgonagall was sighing dramatically.

"Mrs Weasley said he was too young and shouldn't hear anything. Remus sided with Sirius, saying it would be better for us to hear it from them than bits and pieces that could be misunderstood."

"Nice Remus." James smiled. He was delighted his friends were taking as good a care of Harry as they could in his absence.

"In the end Harry stayed to get his questions answered. The twins, Ron and I all stayed too because the twins were of age and Harry said he would tell us as soon as he could anyway. We found out that Voldemort was lying low, as Remus correctly said earlier. Fudge was living in denial, using the Daily Prophet to smear Harry and Dumbledore so nobody believed them."

"Stupid, stupid man." James growled. Just then Sirius walked back in.

"Miss much?" He asked with a forced smile. Hermione could see the tear tracks down his face. She stood and gave him a hug as Remus caught him up to speed. Hermione and Sirius sat back down.

"Harry then wanted to join the order."

"He is fifteen. No way!" Lily cried.

"I'm proud of your guts son, but you are too young." James sighed, ruffling Harry's hair.

"He wasn't allowed, don't worry." Hermione assured them. "After that, we spent most of the summer cleaning the house."

"Damn. What did you do to deserve that? Commit murder?" Sirius asked in horror.

"It would have been less punishment if we had." Hermione scowled. Sirius snorted with bitter laughter. "The twins told us about their new sweets that they had developed."

"Those two are so awesome." Sirius grinned.

"What did I do to deserve them in my house?" McGonagall sighed. "I get all the troublemakers."

"My lot are too smart to cause such trouble." Flitwick grinned at her smugly.

"You saying we aren't smart, Professor?" Sirius asked, looking hurt.

"Yes, Mr Black." Flitwick chuckled.

"Just checking." Sirius said, with a grin of his own.

"If you need to check, you definitely don't belong in Ravenclaw." Lily snorted. Sirius pouted.

"We found some nasty stuff in the house and got rid of it. Sirius showed Harry the family tree and told him a bit about the family."

"Wow. You told him that?" James asked.

"I doubt I told him all of it." Sirius said darkly.

"All of it?" Hermione asked nervously. Sirius shook his head. "Soon, it was Harry's hearing. Mr Weasley took him to the Ministry, but they had changed the time and place of his hearing so he ended up being late."

"They are trying to make him look bad!" James hissed angrily.

"How dare they?" Lily exclaimed. "That's ridiculous."

"Fudge was being ridiculous most of the time." Hermione sighed. "They didn't believe him when Harry told them about the Dementor. Then Professor Dumbledore turned up. Fudge made a bit of an idiot of himself as he ended up proving in front of the whole Wizengamot that he cared more about slating Harry than the law."

"That…" Sirius growled, but Lily put a silencing charm on him.

"They tried him in front of the whole court?" She asked in a whisper. Hermione nodded. Dumbledore was shaking his head sadly.

"He used Mrs Figg as a witness, although she wasn't very convincing, and they managed to get Harry cleared of all charges."

"Thank you professor." Lily said gratefully, looking at Dumbledore. He smiled slightly and nodded.

"On the way out of the hearing they saw Lucius Malfoy with Fudge, giving him gold we think. Mr Weasley then dropped Harry off and we celebrated him being let off. We got our Hogwarts letters and found that Ron and I had been made prefects."

"Congrats 'Mione." Sirius grinned, performing the counter curse on himself. "Of course it was expected." He winked.

"Nice touch making Ron prefect. He has spent so long feeling inferior to Harry that it will be good for his confidence." Remus smiled over at Dumbledore, whose eyes were twinkling.

"The twins were disgusted with him. Mrs Weasley was thrilled that everyone had become a prefect."

"What about the twins?" Lily asked.

"That's what they said."

"Well, if Molly doesn't want them I will adopt them." James offered.

"No!" Lily cried.

"Definitely not. They do not need training by you two." McGonagall said firmly. "Besides, Molly loves all her children."

"Never mind. We can still offer to babysit, Prongs." Sirius grinned.

"Yes, babysit James." Remus chuckled. "I've tried for long enough, he still won't behave."

James and Sirius high fived. Remus and Lily threw them dirty looks which made them both snigger quietly.

"Mrs Weasley got him a new broom for being made prefect."

"You should have seen my mum's face when I got head boy." James grinned.

"Lily's was a picture too if I remember correctly." Sirius smirked. "Didn't she throw a tantrum and scream about how you must have confunded Dumbledore?"

"Oh yeah. After she was through trying to make me give it back to Remus." James snickered. Lily blushed. "But all of that was before she threatened to hex me into next week if I wasn't on my best behaviour in every prefect meeting."

"She did hex you because you were late once." Remus pointed out.

"Oh yeah." James grinned. McGonagall shook her head in despair and Lily scowled. Hermione was laughing along with Sirius and Remus.

"Anyway, we had a party. Mrs Weasley was trying to get rid of a boggart while everyone was celebrating, but it kept turning into her family dead, and Harry. Harry found her and then Remus came in and got rid of it."

"That's what we keep him around for." Sirius grinned.

"Soon after that it was time to go back to Hogwarts." Everyone cheered. Hermione sighed. They wouldn't be cheering soon. Sirius saw her face and stopped.

"You ok?" He asked in a low voice.

"Not really." She sighed. "But let's get this over with." He still looked concerned. She added in a louder voice. "Sirius accompanied us to the station as a dog. Ron and I had to go to the prefect's carriage, so Harry sat with Neville, Ginny and a girl called Luna Lovegood. Luna is Xenophilius' daughter."

"Say no more." Sirius grinned."

"Be nice." Lily chided.

"Ron and I didn't get back until way after lunch time. Malfoy had been made Slytherin prefect."

"Of course he had. His competition included Crabbe and Goyle." James pointed out with a snort of derision. Hermione chuckled.

"He came in and made a comment that made Harry and I think he knew Sirius had been on the platform. Obviously Wormtail had told Voldemort about his disguise."

"Stupid, traitorous, rat." Sirius snarled under his breath.

"Other than that it was pretty uneventful. So then we were at Hogwarts. Harry saw the Thestrals pulling the carriages for the first time."

Lily sniffled and James paled. They were all thinking back to Cedric and the graveyard.

"Let's all go to bed." Hermione suggested. Everyone nodded eagerly. They all knew tomorrow would be even worse. The professors all bade goodnight and left to go back to the school. Lily went to put Harry to bed. Sirius turned to Hermione.

"So what kind of sweets did the twins make?" He asked eagerly. James came over quickly and they both looked at her with expectant, eager expressions. She laughed.

"Ok. They were called skiving snackboxes."

"Sound perfect already." James grinned hugely.

"Nosebleed Nougat, Fever Fudge, things like that. One end made you ill so you got sent out of class, the other healed you so you were perfectly fine." She explained. Delight filled the faces of James and Sirius.

"Since Harry won't be able to give those two the triwizard winnings, I'm totally going to help them open the joke store." James said with a dreamy look on his face.

"Me too." Sirius added.

"We had better go, Sirius." Remus reminded him. He nodded.

"Be safe." He said quietly as he pulled her in for a hug. As he released her, he disappeared and Hermione sighed. Remus also wished them goodnight and disapparated himself. Tomorrow would be another problem. She said goodnight to Lily and James and crawled into bed, mentally exhausted. She had never quite appreciated how much Harry had gone through before. No wonder he snapped all the time and was withdrawn. She would make it better, she vowed to herself. It was her last thought before she fell asleep.

(A/N I'm so sorry about the horrendous update time. Please forgive me and REVIEW! They really make my day :) Love you all)