in progress
Every day Harry hides from the Dursley inventing new ways to listen to the news, anxious for any news about Voldemort, since they don’t let him if they see him.
Dudley tells them he goes for tea to his friends houses every night, but Harry knows he is around with his gang, vandalising. Harry is very skinny, with old, almost ruined clothes; Dudley is something of a little boxe champion now. Harry has fun teasing him now because Dudley is scared of his wand, but Dudley heard him having nightmares at night, saying “don’t kill Cedric” and tease him asking if he’s his boyfriend. While they are quarrelling outside, the sky turns dark. Dudley hits him hard and stumbles away, but then Harry feels them. Dementors. One gets near, Harry tries the patronum charms twice but it doesn’t work, he can’t find any happiness, then he thinks of his friends and it works. He saves his cousin from another one with the same stag.
Mrs Figg arrives, she knows about what happened. She’s a squib. She and Mundungus Fletcher were supposed to keep an eye on him to protect him, but he left. She couldn’t tell him over the years because Dumbledore ordered it, and she had to be a little unpleasant because the Dursley wouldn’t have let him go to her if they thought he’d enjoy it… (which means she knew well how the Dursleys were, so Dumbledore must have known too… at least if he ever asked…) . Mundungus arrives, carrying an invisibility cloak, and she sends him to warn Dumbledore, then she walks the boys home. He carries Dudley home and yet he says that Harry did this to him, point his wand at him and made them feel things in his head, voices and despair. Vernon raises his fists when an owl arrives (ok, it’s a kids book so no violence is shown, always prevented like now, but what about the many days of summer we don’t see, did Vernon ever hit Harry? That ‘raised his fists’ is suspicious and worrying…). A letter from the Ministry of Magic tells him he’s expelled for doing magic a second time, and that his wand will be broken, and that he’ll have to go to a hearing at the Ministry, but another owl from Arthur tells him not to give up his wand, not run away, and that Dumbledore will try and sort it out.
Harry tries to explain to Vernon it wasn’t him but two dementors, and Aunt Petunia knows what they are! Another letter from the Ministry tells him to stay put, that he’s only suspended and they will decide at his hearing about his expulsion and his wand, then Sirius writes to him to stay in the house and not go out. Nothing more, Harry is very disappointed by this. Vernon insists on asking questions, and Harry explains about Voldemort being back (why do they call him Lord, I know he likes the title but why do they give him such an honor…) and now Vernon has reached his limit, he says that if he’s back and after murdering his useless parents is now after him, then Harry must go so not to endanger his wife and son. At that moment, a howler arrives… for Petunia, addressed to her, in the kitchen of Prived drive n.4. “Remember my last, Petunia”. She simply says that the boy will have to stay, without explaining anything.
Harry writes to Sirius, Ron and Hermione saying he wants to know what’s going on, very frustrated. He’s quite harsh to Hedwig and then feels guilty about it. He has no replies for days, then Vernon locks him in while going out, then people arrive: Moody, but also Lupin and Tonks (with violet hair). Also Shackebolt and a few others. Tonks turns her hair bubblegum pink, saying she’s a metamorphmagus and can change her appearance at will. She packs for him, then Moody disillusions him for the broom ride. Lupin leaves a letter for the Dursleys then they fly away. They land and Harry reads a piece of paper: “the headquarters of the order of the phoenix may be found at number 12, Grimmauld Place, London.” Inside Mrs Weasley hugs him and hushes him towards Ron’s room, where Hermione hugs him very tightly. Harry is rather pissed hearing that Dumbledore made them swear not to tell him anything, and that everyone knew he was being followed but him. He’s also rather bitter for being left with the Dursleys. So bitter he starts yelling that he’s the one who did so many things and saved their lives and battled dragons and sphinx… but they could not tell him, and Hermione has desperate tears in her eyes, and they still don’t have much to tell him because they’re not allowed in the meetings because too young… they have eavesdropped a little (the twins invented extendable ears…). The twins are there, and Ginny too. Snape is part of the order. Harry is surprised to hear Bill is there too, he was working in Egypt last he heard, but is now here to help the order, and Fleur works with him for Gringotts. Charlie is in the order too, but still in Romania. Percy had a row with Arthur because he had been promoted at the ministry, very close to Fudge, so Arthur told him it was to spy on his family, so Percy told him he had no ambition and that’s why he was poor, and also that he was an idiot to side with Dumbledore… Percy said the only evidence of Voldemort’s return was Harry’s word and it was not good enough. Even though Skeeter is not currently writing, others in the Prophet have been writing about him, ridiculing him. Meeting over, they see Snape but hear nothing. In the house, everyone whispers, but Tonks falls down tripping over the umbrella thing, and a life-size portrait of a woman started screaming. Then the other portraits yelled too. Mrs Weasley stunned the others, then Sirius and Lupin managed to close the woman’s portrait’s curtains and she stopped screaming. Sirius tells Harry it was his mother. This was his house, and he gave use of it to the order. He is quite bitter, not as enthusiastic to see Harry as one would expect. He resents that Dumbledore wants him to stay inside the house. He speaks as if Harry was lucky to be at the Dursleys, as he could at least take a walk outside… (really? Does anyone have an idea what’s it like there? And he was even followed and monitored, so they ‘should’ have a pretty good idea…).
After dinner, he wonders why Harry hasn’t asked questions, quite a thing to say since Harry has done little else, and immediately he starts quarrelling with Mrs Weasley because the woman doesn’t want to tell the kids anything, says Dumbledore ordered that he shouldn’t be told anything that he doesn’t “need to know”, which is… you know, and she goes on and on about how he is too young, but Sirius insists on at least telling him something, so he learns that Voldemort hasn’t made any major moves, no killings, he’s probably trying to recruit his own army like he did the last time, while they are trying to inform as much people as possible about his return, but the ministry makes it difficult. He only tells him something, then Mrs Weasley insists furiously that it is enough and sends them all to bed. She acts like a mom, and also like it doesn’t involve Harry… but well, at this point in time did any of them know about the prophecy? Probably not, so it is understandable, I guess.
The twins are now of age, seventeen, and they got their apparition license so they keep apparating all around the house.
Mrs Weasley wants the kids to help with the cleaning of the house, infested with various creatures. They also meet Kreacher, the houseelf loyal to his old mistress, who keeps calling them all either mudblood, halfbloods, or blood traitors. Sirius shows Harry the family tapestry where his name has been burned out, after he ran from home at sixteen and stayed a bit with the Potters before he found his own place. His younger brother Regulus died young, he had joined Voldemort. The rest of the family didn’t, but they did believe in what he preached. He despises his family and house and positively loathes Kreacher, who tries to save as many things as he can because Sirius would throw everything away. Tonks is his cousing, and both her and her mom Andromeda have been taken off the family tapestry. “Andromeda was my favourite cousin” says Sirius. Harry sees that Bellatrix and Narcissa are still on there. Sirius tells him how the pureblood are all interrelated.
The day of the hearing Harry is terrified of expulsion.He goes with Arthur, taking the )I think) subway, and using the public entrance via a muggle phone box out of use. They got there early, fortunately, because the time has been changed and now Arthur has to drag Harry hurriedly to a courtroom and they’re already late. Arthur can’t go in and Harry is scared, but inside, for the defence, there is Dumbledore. Fudge, Umbridge, Amelia Bones and even Percy are there to judge him, and from how Fudge speaks it looks like they changed the time hoping that one or both of them didn’t show at ll.
Fudge doesn’t want to believe a word Harry says; Mrs Figg testifies that he was battling dementors (which, I learn now, muggles can’t see, now I kinda understand why Dudley thought it was all Harry’s doing…) but they really want to make it look like Harry is a liar. The majority votes to clear him of all charges, so Fudge has to let it go. Arthur was astonished to see that he had been tried by the full court. Percy went with the others ignoring them completely.
They see Fudge talking to Lucius Malfoy. Sirius seems to be a little bit upset, and Hermione thinks he hoped he would stay with him in the house, and that Mrs Weasley is right and Sirius thinks of Harry as James.
Ron has been made prefect and has his own badge. Everyone’s shocked that it was Ron and not Harry. Only his mom is all happy and proud. Harry doesn’t say but he would have expected to get it himself. Ron gets a new broom as a reward, a new Cleansweep, one they can afford.
Moody shows Harry a picture with many members of the old Order, with the Longbottoms, his own parents, Wormtail… then Harry sees Mrs Weasley losing battle with a boggart: it kept transforming into members of her family, even Harry at last, dead, and she kept crying failing her spells until Lupin did it for her.
When they need to leave for the train, Moody insists on a guard for Harry, and Sirius joins too as a dog. Tonks is there as an old woman. They go on foot, then Moody carries the trunks, Arthur comes with Ron and Hermione, and the twins with Lupin. The kids board the train.
Ron and Hermione have to go for Prefect’s duty; Neville can’t find a compartment - a totally empty one, but Ginny drags them into one with only Loony Lovegood (Ginny calls her that)
Ginny introduces her to Neville. Luna is Ginny’s year, but a Ravenclaw. Neville shows them his new Mimbletonia plant proudly. Cho Chang stops to say hi to Harry. When they come back, Ron and Hermione are pissed over the Slytherin Prefects: Malfoy, Harry guesses immediately, and also Parkinson (Hermione calls her a cow). Ernie and Hannah from Hufflepuff and Goldstein and Padma from Ravenclaw. Luna shocks everyone laughing like crazy at something Ron said, then Harry notices her Quibbler. there’s a cartoon on Fudge and an article saying he kills and cooks goblins, and one on Sirius, saying he’s innocent because he’s actually a singer in disguise. Hermione says the Quibbler is rubbish and Luna turns serious and tells them her father is the editor, then she goes back to read it upside down. Draco appears and mocks them on him being a prefect and Harry being second best to Weasley, and tells him he’ll be dogging him this year, making him scare that he might know about Sirius. Prof Grubbly Plank is here again in place of Hagrid, and she’s the one to call for the first years. They use the ‘hundred or so horseless stage coaches’ but now Harry can see the creatures. Ron can not, then Luna explains that she can see them too, has always been able to, and that he is ‘just as sane as she is’…
Luna says Hagrid is not a good teacher. They though are worried because Hagrid is nowhere to be seen. Harry recognises Umbridge among the teachers. The hat then sings a new song, one that speaks of unity and common goals, of the founders being united and friends, of Slytherin and Gryffindor being friends just as Hufflepuff was friends with Ravenclaw, and how could it go so wrong, and that is because Slytherin decided to teach only those ‘whose ancestry is purest’, and Ravenclaw only those ‘whose intelligence is surest’, and Gryffindor only those with ‘brave deeds to their name’, and Hufflepuff … ‘I’ll teach the lot, and treat them just the same’. Still they got along for a long while until discord started and then Slytherin left; houses became divided and even though the hat has to sort the new students now, he fears that it’s a wrong thing to do. Nearly-headless-Nick tells them that the hat has given such advice before, when it thought the school was in great danger, but Harry looks at Draco Malfoy and thinks it will not be possible to be friends with Slytherins. (There are two Creevey, Colin and Dennis; I don’t remember Dennis’ age, when did he join his brother?) - (Ron stuffs his mouth with food and disgusts Hermione by speaking with his mouth very full) - Dumbledore announces that Plank will be again the Magical creatures teacher, while Umbridge will teach Defence against the dark arts. She stands up interrupting his speech and gives a very boring one that only Hermione understands it means that the Ministry is interfering with Hogwarts and what the students can learn. Hermione is also annoyed when Ro calls the first years ‘midgets’. All the students stare at Harry and whisper about him and stop talking if he comes near, then Seamus tells him his mom didn’t want him to come back because she believed everything the Daily Prophet wrote about Harry, and so Harry gets angry, they fight, then Ron stops it, saying he totally believes Harry (Seamus then calls them both mad). Dean’s parents are muggles and know nothing of what happened since he didn’t tell them, while Neville’s grandma believes Dumbledore and cancelled her Prophet’s subscription.
Fred and George are looking for test subjects for their inventions.
Harry and Ron think they’d like to be aurors after school, but Hermione would like something “more worthwhile” like her spew… This is the year they’ll have to sit their OWLs.
Cho approaches them again, rather awkwardly. At potions, Snape targets Harry again (he was not the only one who did it wrong, but still, Snape was right, he did it wrong)
Harry keeps snapping at Ron and Hermione, frustrated with everyone thinking he’s a liar and also at their constant bickering.
Umbridge’s lesson is to return to “basic principles” and “theory centered”. She has them read the first chapter of a book like little children, but Hermione doesn’t read, instead she asks what about “using” defensive spells. Umbridge says they have no need to ‘use them’, they won’t do magic in her class. When Harry says they need to protect themselves against Voldemort, she says his return is a lie and gives him a detention. Several evenings in fact. McGonagall gives him a biscuit but also snaps at him for being an idiot.
(he is a hotheaded idiot, what use is shouting at Umbridge, they all know who she is and why she’s there, he won’t change it shouting loud enough)
Harry is so angry at everything that snaps even at Hermione.
Fred and George do tests on first years - who fall unconscious - and Hermione gets angry at them (sweets to make people faint). They mock her, not worried about detention, but she threatens them with writing to their mother.
Hermione leaves around knitted hats for the house-elves - but she covered them in papers and broken quills so Ron is right, she’s trying to trick them, she’s so sure they do want to be freed. In the morning she’s all pleased because they’ve disappeared and she thinks the elves do want to be free and took them. In transfiguration, they are taught vanishing spells (too early for conjuring spells).
Malfoy makes his friends laugh with something probably about Harry, he thinks, and mocks Hermione with her hand in the air making Pansy laugh more. They study Bowtruckle creatures (and really, what’s Hermione doing in class if she knows everything already?). Malfoy then makes him angry talking about Hagrid, Harry is still very worried about him. Malfoy says that his father is working against “sub-standard teaching” at Hogwarts. Plank is a good teacher and that annoys Harry a lot; he stubbornly insists Hagrid is better. Luna tells Harry that she believes him, but she is so odd that people laugh at her all the time and Hermione says that the creatures she believes in do not exist. Ernie McMillan also tells him that his family is totally behind Dumbledore and believes him.
Angelina is angry at Harry for getting detention on Friday when she wanted to do Quidditch tryouts. He goes to his detention with Umbridge that night and asks her if he can skip Friday, but of course not. She gives him a special quill and no ink and has him write I must not tell lies. He writes and the letters also appear on his skin and it hurts, but he keeps writing. Afterwards she checks his hand and tells he’ll have to do it again. He doesn’t tell his friends about the blood, only about the lines. He has to do it the whole week. Tue-Wed-Thu-Fri. At Thursday the skin does not heal anymore. Ron kept it a secret but now that Harry insists he tells him he wanted to try out as keeper now he has a new broom and of course Harry doesn’t laugh, but now that the words do not heal Ron sees it on his skin. Harry does not want to tell others, to not give Umbridge ‘the satisfaction of knowing she got to him’, which is stupid, and does not want to go to Dumbledore because he has ignored Harry until now , which is… well childish, but he is a child after all, he’s only fifteen. At Friday’s detention, his cuts open and bleed. He tries to look outside the window to see the tryouts, but doesn’t see Ron. Later, he learns that Ron made it on the team. Hermione is very tired, spending her free time to knit for the elves.
Finally Saturday of the first week. He writes a letter to Sirius in code, quite well I admit, then he meets Cho and talks to her a bit, until Filch arrives to harass him. He’s happy that she called him brave for standing up to Umbridge.
At Quidditch practice, the Slytherins are there to mock them, and Ron plays very badly. Ron is upset because Hermione won’t let him copy her homework. Percy writes to Ron to congratulate him on being prefect and also to tell him to stay away from Harry, that Dumbledore won’t be in charge for long and that he can talk to Umbridge, a “truly delightful woman”… After such an infuriating letter, Hermione does their homework. Sirius appears in the fire to talk to them, and also tells them that the ministry is worried that, if trained, they might become an army, that Dumbledore is forming his own army to go against the ministry. Sirius wanted to meet them in Hogsmead as a dog but they tell him no, that it’s too risky, and Sirius is upset and tells Harry that he is less like his father than he thought, not taking risks. He’s rather bitter to the poor boy.
The Daily Prophet reports that Umbridge is now the first High Inquisitor. She can now inspect other teachers lessons. Umbridge keeps making them read the book in class, and not doing anything else, but Hermione has read already the whole book, and also has her own opinions about some of what is in there, but Umbridge does not appreciate it. She even takes points from her.
Harry starts arguing with her loudly, and gets another weeks of detention, not telling anyone that his hand hurt and bled.
McGonagall takes points from Harry because he lost his temper again gaining another detention after she warned him not to. She herself does not have much patience with Umbridge as well when it’s her turn to have her lesson inspected. 39 years of teaching at Hogwarts, she has a hard time ignoring Umbridge.
At Care of Magical Creatures Malfoy answered Umbridge telling her he was injured by a hippogriff during a lesson, and of course Harry called him stupid and earned another detention. Ron wants him to report the use of blood quill, but Harry does not want to. Hermione is the one to suggest they should learn defence by themselves, and she suggests Harry be their teacher. He says he always got lucky and had help, but they insist. Hermione says Voldemort’s name for the first time, and Harry calms down.
Eventually he agrees and they go to the Hog’s head to meet others who might be interested. Of course there are Lavender, Neville, Dean, the Patils, Cho and a friend, Luna, Katie, Alicia, Angelina, both Creevey, Ernie, Justin, Hannah, a Hufflepuff girl, three Ravenclaw boys (probably Anthony, Michael Corner and Terry), then Ginny with a tall blond boy in the Hufflepuff Quidditch team (turns out to be Zacharia Smith), and also the twins and Lee Jordan. Zachary questions Harry about his tale that Voldemort is back.
Susan Bones asks about his ability to produce a patronus. Cho smiles at him and also mentions all the tasks he passed at the tournament.
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