The cool air rushed through his hair as the group flew up quickly, leaving Privet Drive far behind them in a matter of minutes.

Harry felt an exhilaration as he flew through the air. An exhilaration he couldn't get anywhere else. He was finally flying again, a feeling so natural that he felt like he could forget everything else and just concentrate on that wonderful feeling.

"Hard left, hard left, there's a Muggle looking up!" shouted Moody from behind him. Tonks swerved and Harry followed her, watching his trunk swinging wildly beneath her broom. "We need more height . . . give it another quarter of a mile!"

Harry's eyes watered in the chill as they soared upwards. The lights below them turning into pin-pricks.

"Bearing south!" shouted Moody. "Town ahead!"

"Bear southeast and keep climbing, there's some low cloud ahead we can lose ourselves in!" called Moody.

"We're not going through clouds!" shouted Tonks angrily, "We'll get soaked, Moody!"

Harry felt relieved to hear her, his hands were growing slightly numb from the cold. Remembering how he had gone through this once already, he wanted to hit himself over the head for not thinking about wearing a coat and gloves. He suddenly wished he could somehow warm up.

No sooner had he had this thought, he felt a strange warmth build up in his body. It started in the very depths of his chest and slowly started to spread. Its speed increasing as time passed.

The warmth soon spread through his entire body and slowly emanated outside, spreading in his surroundings, heating it up.

"Wait, why is it getting warm all of a sudden!?" Tonks shouted, surprised.

The other members of the advance guard seemed to notice as well as they kept looking towards Harry, the source of the warmth.

"What are you doing boy?" asked Moody, even more irritable than usual.

Harry tried to think of an explanation but realising he himself had no idea what was going on, he decided to just be honest. "No idea. It started on its own and it's keeping the cold away so enjoy it while it lasts!"

"Haha! Thanks Harry!" Tonks replied cheerfully.

"Turning southwest!" yelled Moody "We want to avoid the motorway!"

Harry looked around as they flew. Now rather comfortable, he could divert more of his attention to his surroundings and watched as the members of the advance guard kept moving around him. Some taking his sides at fixed intervals before moving along.

"We ought to double back for a bit, just to make sure we're not being followed!" Moody shouted.

"ARE YOU MAD, MOODY?" Tonks screamed from the front. "Even if we're not frozen to our brooms like earlier, if we keep going off-course we're not going to get there until next week! Besides, we're nearly there now!'

"Time to start the descent!" came Lupin's voice. "Follow Tonks, Harry!"

Harry followed Tonks as she dived down, feeling nostalgic as he neared his godfather's house.

'I can't wait to meet Hedwig and Sirius again' thought Harry, barely able to contain his excitement.

Having landed, the team quickly walked towards the houses, finding the right now.

Standing on the sidewalk, in front of the dingy houses, Moody pulled out a silver lighter. He pointed it in the air and clicked it once. A streetlamp near them went out. He kept clicking it over and over again till all the streetlamps in the vicinity went out, plunging their surroundings into darkness.

"That should keep those pesky muggle's out of our business" said Moody.

Harry just looked around his surroundings, paying attention to the houses as he hadn't bothered doing that the last time they were here. The darkness couldn't even hinder him a little as his sight was as clear as if he were out during the day.

As Harry was looking around, Moody handed him a piece of parchment, "Here", he handed a piece of paper to Harry while using his lit wand to illuminate it, making it harder for Harry to read it. "Read quickly and memorise"

Harry looked down at the piece of paper. The familiar narrow handwriting on it read:

The Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix may be found at number twelve, Grimmauld Place, London.

"Super secret society?" asked Harry with a smirk.

"Haha, in a way, yes" laughed Tonks from the side.

Moody quickly grabbed the piece of parchment from his hand and lit it on fire. As the parchment curled into flames and floated to the ground, Harry recalled what had happened the last time around and thought about what he had read.

The moment he reached the part about Grimmauld Place, a door materialised in front of him. Quickly followed by walls and windows which seemed to push the houses next to it out of the way and materialised in front of him.

Harry looked at the newly appeared house, his emotions rolling around, unable to contain his excitement or anxiety. He wanted to rush into the house and find Hedwig and Sirius but he had to be a little more patient.

"Well that's magical" said Harry with an admiring sigh causing Lupin to speak up next to him with a smile. "Oh good, you got it to work"

Harry walked up the worn stone steps, staring at the newly materialised door. Its black paint was shabby and scratched. The silver doorknocker was in the form of a twisted serpent. There was no keyhole or letterbox.

Lupin tapped his wand on the door and Harry could hear many loud metallic clicks. Soon, the door swung open to a pitch dark hallway.

"Get in quick, Harry," Lupin whispered, "but don't go far inside and don't touch anything."

========

Harry stepped over the threshold into the almost total darkness of the hall. Lupin and Tonks carrying his trunk and Hedwig's cage, entered after him and the rest filed in behind them. Moody was standing on the top step releasing the balls of light the Put-Outer had stolen from the streetlamps; they flew back to their bulbs and the square glowed momentarily with orange light before Moody limped inside and closed the front door.

"Here"

He rapped Harry hard over the head with his wand causing Harry to feel as though something hot was trickling down his back. He knew that the Disillusionment Charm must have been lifted.

"Now stay still, everyone, while I give us a bit of light in here" Moody whispered.

He heard a noise and then old-fashioned gas lamps sputtered into life all along the walls, casting a flickering insubstantial light over the peeling wallpaper and threadbare carpet of a long, gloomy hallway, where a cobwebby chandelier glimmered overhead and age-blackened portraits hung crooked on the walls.

There were hurried footsteps and Ron's mother, Mrs Weasley, emerged from a door at the far end of the hall. She was beaming in welcome as she hurried towards them. Harry felt a loving warmth emanate from her as she approached them.

"Oh, Harry, it's lovely to see you!" she whispered, pulling him into a tight hug, one that he remembers being much more painful the last time but he didn't really feel much different this time around. She soon pulled away and held him at arm's length, examining him critically. "You're looking sickly. you need food, but you'll have to wait a bit for dinner, I'm afraid."

She turned to the wizards behind him and whispered urgently, "He's just arrived, the meeting's started."

"Where are Sirius and Hedwig?" Harry whispered urgently to Mrs. Weasley.

"Sirius is attending the meeting for Order members, Harry and Hedwig should be upstairs in the room with Ron and Hermione" she replied. "You can wait with them until the meeting's over, then we'll have dinner. And keep your voice down in the hall" she added.

Pressing her finger to her lips, she led him on tiptoe around a large umbrella stand that looked as though it had been made from a severed troll's leg up the dark staircase, passing a row of shrunken heads mounted on plaques on the wall.

They continued in silence till they reached a certain door on the second landing.

"You're the door on the right. I'll call you when it's over" she said and then hurried off downstairs again.

Harry quickly turned the knob and opened the door. He wasn't able to see much of the room before he heard a loud shriek and his vision was completely obscured by a large quantity of very bushy hair.

Hermione had thrown herself on to him in a tight hug, while Ron's tiny owl, Pigwidgeon, zoomed excitedly around their heads.

"HARRY! Ron, he's here, Harry's here! We didn't hear you arrive! Oh, how are you? Are you all right? Have you been furious with us? I bet you have, I know our letters were useless - but we couldn't tell you anything, Dumbledore made us swear we wouldn't, oh, we've got so much to tell you, and you've got things to tell us! the Dementors! When we heard - and that Ministry hearing - it's just outrageous, I've looked it all up, they can't expel you, they just can't, there's provision in the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery for the use of magic in life-threatening situations - "

"Let him breathe, Hermione" said Ron, grinning as he closed the door behind Harry.

Still beaming, Hermione let go of Harry, but before she could say another word there was a soft whooshing sound and something white soared from the top of a dark wardrobe and landed gently on Harry's shoulder.

"Hedwig!" Harry almost choked when he saw her.

The snowy owl clicked her beak and nibbled his ear affectionately.

"She's been in a right state" said Ron. "Pecked us half to death when she brought your last letters, look at this - "

He showed Harry the index finger of his right hand, which sported a half-healed but clearly deep cut.

"Hey, is there another bedroom I could borrow for a few minutes? I really want a moment alone with Hedwig" said Harry, trying his hardest to keep his voice level.

"Uh, yeah sure, mate" said Ron. "You could just do it here, we'll wait out in the hall" he continued, looking towards Hermione for confirmation.

"Definitely" confirmed Hermione as the two of them quickly opened the doors and made their way out, Pigwidgeon following them closely.

Harry made his way to one of the beds, sat down and placed Hedwig in his lap. The snowy owl looked up into his face, tilting her head in confusion.

"I know it's been only a few days for you, since we haven't seen each other but for me, it feels like a lifetime" he said, finally letting a tear role down his face.

Harry lifted Hedwig up and buried his face in her body. Trying to feel as close as he possibly could to her.

"I love you Hedwig, thank you for always being there for me" he said, stroking her back lovingly.

Though the snowy owl didn't really seem to understand what was going on, she did seem to understand Harry's love for her. She hooted softly and affectionately nibbled at his ear before burying her face in his neck.

They stayed like that for several minutes before Harry finally calmed down. He placed Hedwig back in his lap and kept on stroking her as she settled down comfortably.

"You can come back in now" Harry called towards the door.

A moment later, the door opened and his two best friends walked back in.

"What was that about Harry?" asked Hermione curiously.

"Nothing really, I just missed Hedwig and wanted her to know that" he replied with a smile. "So what's going on with the two of you? Having fun at this super secret club?"

The two looked at each other, both fear and surprise could be seen in their expression.

"Not fun, no" said Ron carefully. "They don't really let us in on any of the information. We've managed to deduce some things but well, we don't really know anything since they say we're too young"

"What's this super secret club about anyway?" asked Harry, just to keep up appearances.

"It's a secret society" said Hermione "Dumbledore's in charge, he founded it. It's the people who fought against You-Know-Who last time"

"Right" said Harry. "So what have you guys been upto then? If you're not allowed in the meetings?"

Hermione perked up at that, "We've been cleaning the house, we've so far finished with the kitchen, most of the bedrooms and I think we'll be doing the drawing room tomorrow"

Just as Hermione finished speaking, the door opened up. "Hey, Hermione, I wanted to ask you some-"

Harry looked up to see a cute red-headed girl just a little younger than himself walk into the room, just to pause when she saw him with a look of surprise. "Harry! I didn't know you arrived!" she squealed happily. "How are you?"

Harry smiled at Ginny, Ron's younger sister, "Had a bit of a roller coaster ride the last few weeks but basically fine"

"I heard about wha-" she started to speak only to be interrupted by two loud cracks, Fred and George, Ron's elder twin brothers, materialised out of thin air in the middle of the room.

"Can you stop doing that!?" Hermione asked weakly to the twins.

"Hello Harry, we heard Ginny's squeals announcing your arrival" said George.

"We extend our heartfelt congratulations on your escape escape from the clutches of death itself" said Fred with a dramatic and frankly unnecessary flair.

"Passed your Apparition tests, then? asked Harry.

"With distinction" replied Fred, who was holding what looked like a piece of very long, flesh-coloured string.

"Ginny kind of interrupted our reception there" said George. "Extendable Ears" he added, for no particular reason.

"Its no-go with the Extendable Ears, she's gone and put an Imperturbable Charm on the kitchen door" said Ginny from the side. "Tonks taught me how to check, you just need to chuck something at the door and if it doesn't touch then it's been Imperturbed" she said.

"I just spend the good part of the last twenty minutes chucking dungbombs at the door" she said with a giggle.

"Oh…" Fred sighed in disappointment.

"Shame. I really fancied finding out what old Snape's been up to"

"Snape!" said Harry quickly with narrowed eyes. "So he's here"

"Yeah" said George sitting down on one of the beds; Fred and Ginny followed. "Giving a report. Top secret"

"Git" said Fred idly

"He's on our side now" said Hermione reprovingly.

Ron snorted. "Doesn't stop him being a git"

"Bill doesn't like him, either" said Ginny.

"Oh, Bill's here! I always did like him" said Harry.

"He applied for a desk job so he could come home and work for the Order" said Fred. "He says he misses the tombs, but" he smirked, "there are compensations"

"In what way?" asked Harry.

"Remember old Fleur Delacour?" said George. "She's got a job at Gringotts to eemprove 'er Eeenglish - "

"And Bill's been giving her a lot of private lessons" sniggered Fred.

"Charlie's in the Order, too" said George, "but he's still in Romania. Dumbledore wants as many foreign wizards brought in as possible, so Charlie's trying to make contacts on his days off"

"What's Percy been upto then?"

At Harry's words, all the Weasleys and Hermione exchanged darkly significant looks.

"Whatever you do, don't mention Percy in front of Mum and Dad" Ron told Harry in a tense voice.

"Did something stupid did he?"

"You have no idea" said Ron. "Every time Percy's name's mentioned, Dad breaks whatever he's holding and Mum starts crying"

"It's been awful" said Ginny sadly.

"Percy and Dad had a row" explained Fred.

"It was the first week back after term ended" said Ron. "We were about to come and join the Order. Percy came home and told us he'd been promoted"

"Uh…good for him" said Harry, not really caring about that particular piece of information.

"Yeah, we were all surprised" said George, "because Percy got into a load of trouble about Crouch, there was an inquiry and everything. They said Percy ought to have realised Crouch was off his rocker and informed a superior. But you know Percy, Crouch left him in charge, he wasn't going to complain"

"He came home really pleased with himself, even more pleased than usual, if you can imagine that and told Dad he'd been offered a position in Fudge's own office. A really good one for someone only a year out of Hogwarts: Junior Assistant to the Minister. He expected Dad to be all impressed, I think"

"Only Dad wasn't" said Fred grimly.

"That so?" said Harry.

"Well, apparently Fudge has been storming round the Ministry checking that nobody's having any contact with Dumbledore" said George.

"Dumbledore's name is mud with the Ministry these days, see" said Fred. "They all think he's just making trouble saying You-Know-Who's back"

"Dad says Fudge has made it clear that anyone who's in league with Dumbledore can clear out their desks" said George. "Trouble is, Fudge suspects Dad, he knows he's friendly with Dumbledore, and he's always thought Dad's a bit of a weirdo because of his Muggle obsession."

"So Mr. Weasley thinks Fudge just wanted a spy in the family?" asked Harry.

"Exactly. Percy went absolutely crazy at that. He said, well, he said loads of terrible stuff. He said he's been having to struggle against Dad's lousy reputation ever since he joined the Ministry and that Dad's got no ambition and that's why we've always been, you know, poor"

"What as ass" said Harry.

"I know" said Ron in a low voice. "And it got worse. He said Dad was an idiot to run around with Dumbledore, that Dumbledore was heading for big trouble and Dad was going to go down with him, and that he - Percy - knew where his loyalty lay and it was with the Ministry. And if Mum and Dad were going to become traitors to the Ministry he was going to make sure everyone knew he didn't belong to our family any more. And he packed his bags the same night and left. He's living here in London now"

"So does Percy not believe that Voldemort's back?" asked Harry. "Despite how he looks, he can't be that stupid, though I've always wondered otherwise"

"Yeah, well, your name got dragged into the row" said Ron nervously. "Percy said the only evidence was your word and . . . I dunno . . . he didn't think it was good enough"

"Percy takes the Daily Prophet seriously" said Hermione tartly, and the others all nodded.

"Ahh, that explains his reaction, I suppose" said Harry with a sigh, recalling the things the Prophet had done to try and defame him.

"Aren't you upset?" asked Hermione gingerly.

"Well, I was at first, I suppose" said Harry, "Though I think this might be good in a way, I think I can use it to my advantage"

The others looked at him like a madman. "What do you mean use it? The fact that they're calling you a loony?" asked Ron, disbelievingly.

"Yeah! Though I haven't decided what exactly to do with it, I think I can mess with some people with this reputation" laughed Harry mischievously.

The others seemed rather taken aback by Harry's attitude, though not knowing how to react, they could only keep quiet.

A moment later, unable to take the silence, Hermione spoke up. "Are you nervous about the Hearing Harry?"

"Hm, maybe a little, though I don't think they have any right to expel me. It all really depends on whether I can make them believe that" replied Harry.

Just as Hermione was about to ask further, they heard footsteps coming up the stairs.

"Uh oh" Fred quickly gave a the Extendable Ear a hearty tug and then with a loud crack, he and George vanished. Seconds later, Mrs Weasley appeared in the bedroom.

"The meeting's over, you can come down and have dinner now. Everyone's dying to see you, Harry. And Who's left all those Dungbombs outside the kitchen door?" she said.

"Crookshanks" said Ginny, without blinking. "He loves playing with them"

"Oh" said Mrs. Weasley. "I thought it might have been Kreacher, he keeps doing odd things like that. Now don't forget to keep your voices down in the hall. Ginny, your hands are filthy, what have you been doing? Go and wash them before dinner, please"

Ginny grimaced at the others and followed Mrs. Weasley out of the room. Harry, Ron and Hermione started walking out the room as well. Seeming to have made up her mind on something, Hermione spoke up.

"Why are you so calm, Harry?" she asked. "I thought you'd be more…angry"

Ron nodded quickly to what she said.

Harry thought about it for a moment before he replied, "I was angry, very angry. I'm stuck in that annoying house for the entire summer, no information. Got attacked by Dementors and told that I'd been expelled. Got a Ministry hearing for no rhyme or reason and even then I got no answers no matter who I write to" he said, looking at Ron and Hermione who quickly averted their eyes with a guilty expression.

"But" continued Harry, "I thought about it a lot and finally I realised that, just yelling and screaming wouldn't really get me anywhere. All this anger and resentment can be taken out in the right place at the right time. So I think that thought is what kept everything in control. I really don't feel like exploding right now"

The other two looked at each other, clearly unsure of how to respond. Seeing this expression, Harry couldn't help but chuckle. "Don't worry too much about it. I'm just growing up" he laughed.

"So this Kreacher-" Harry started to say after a short pause.

"That's the House-elf who lives here" said Ron. "Nutter. Never met one like him"

Hermione frowned at Ron. "He's not a nutter, Ron"

"His life's ambition is to have his head cut off and stuck up on plaque just like his mother" said Ron irritably. "Is that normal, Hermione?"

"Well - well, if he is a bit strange, it's not his fault"

Ron rolled his eyes at Harry.

"Hermione still hasn't given up on SPEW"

"It's not SPEW!" said Hermione agitatedly. "It's the Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare. And it's not just me, Dumbledore says we should be kind to Kreacher too"

"Yeah, yeah" said Ron. "C'mon, I'm starving"

Ron led the way down the stairs and on the landing, they saw the members of the Order walking towards the door.

"Snape never eats here" Ron told Harry quietly. "Thank Clod. C'mon"

"And don't forget to keep your voice down in the hall, Harry" Hermione whispered.

As they passed a row of house-elf heads on the wall, they saw Lupin, Mrs Weasley and Tonks at the front door, magically sealing its many locks and bolts behind those who had just left.

"We're eating down in the kitchen" Mrs Weasley whispered, meeting them at the bottom of the stairs. "Harry, dear, if you'll just tiptoe across the hall it's through this door here - "

'Oh shit' thought Harry as he recalled what was about to happen.

CRASH.

"Tonks!" cried Mrs Weasley in exasperation, turning to look behind her.

"I'm sorry!" yelled Tonks, who was lying flat on the floor. "It's that stupid umbrella stand, that's the second time I've tripped over - "

The rest of her words, though, were drowned out by a horrible, ear-splitting, blood-curdling screech.

Moth-eaten velvet curtains next to them flew apart and Harry noticed the painting behind it. The painting of an old woman in a black cap, screaming as tough she were being tortured. It was still just as Harry remembered, extremely realistic and extremely unpleasant.

The other portraits awoke and started screaming as well. With his now enhanced hearing, Harry felt even more affected by the ear-splitting screams, causing him to clap his hands over his ears.

Lupin and Mrs. Weasley darted forward and tried to tug the curtains shut over the old woman but they wouldn't close no matter how hard they tried and the portrait screeched even louder.

"Filth! Scum! By-products of dirt and vileness! Half-breeds, mutants, freaks, begone from this place! How dare you befoul the house of my fathers - "

Tonks apologised over and over again, dragging the huge, heavy troll's leg back off the floor.

Harry tried to bear with the sound but he felt his anger surge up from how much it was affecting him. Soon he felt a surging heat in his chest, a primal urge to assert his dominance over everything in the vicinity and bring it all under his control.

"SHUT! UP!" a thundering roar sounded. The voice seemed both near, yet far. It seemed to originate from right next to them but it resonated with something deep in everyone's souls. The portraits were no exceptions either.

The entire hall turned quiet. The humans were staring dumbfounded at the source, while the portraits seemed to be cowering in their frames, deathly afraid that they would be obliterated if they so much as showed their faces.

"What in the world was that?" came a voice from behind Harry. He turned around to see a man with long black hair.

"Who the hell managed to shut that old hag of a mother of mine up!?" he asked, in utter disbelief.