Forever Together

A New Change

I've decided to skip ahead to the start of fifth year because the events don't change.
Harry looked around nervously. Moody growled,
"Well! Go on,boy!"
Harry moved forwards reluctantly. To his relief, Mrs Weasley hugged him and said,
"Harry,dear! Oh,thank goodness! Ron and Hermione are upstairs."
"Mrs Weasley,why-?"
"Ron and Hermione will explain everything,dear!"
Harry cautiously walked upstairs,passing a house elf uglier than Griphook the goblin he met four years ago. Finally,he opened a door which Moody had told him that he would stay.
To his surprise,a mane of bushy brown hair covered his eyesight.
"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 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 of Underage Sorcery for the use of magic in life-threatening situations-"
"Let him breathe,Hermione," said Ron,grinning,closing the door behind Harry. He seemed to have grown several more inches during their month apart,making him taller and more gangly looking than ever,though the same long nose,bright red hair and freckles were the same.
Hermione,still beaming,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!"
The snowy owl clicked her beak and nibbled his ear affectionately as Harry stroked her feathers.
"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 but.
"Oh,yeah," Harry said. "Sorry about that,but I wanted answers, you know....."
"We wanted to give them to you,mate," said Ron. "Hermione was going spare,she kept saying you'd do something stupid if you were stuck all on your own without news,but Dumbledore made us-,"
"-swear not to tell me," said Harry. "Yeah,Hermione's already said."
The warm glow that had flared inside him at the sight of his two best friends was extinguished as something icy flooded the pit of his stomach. All of a sudden-after yearning to see them for a solid month-he felt he would rather Ron and Hermione left him alone. After all,he'd have thought that Hermione,being his girlfriend, would tell him everything. Even if it meant breaking her oath to Dumbledore.
There was a strained silence in which Harry stroked Hedwig automatically,not looking at the others.
"He seemed to think it was best," said Hermione,rather breathlessly. "Dumbledore,I mean."
"Right," said Harry. He noticed that her hands too bore the marks of Hedwig's beak and found that he was not at all sorry.
"I think he thought that you were safest with the Muggles-," Ron began.
"Yeah?", said Harry,his eyebrows raised. "Have either of you been attacked by dementors this summer?"
"Well,no-but that's why he's had people tailing you from the Order of the Phoenix all the time."
Harry felt a great jolt in his guts as though he had missed a step going downstairs. So everyone knew that he was being followed except him.
"Didn't work well,though,did it?", said Harry doing his utmost to keep his voice even. "Had to look after myself,didn't I?"
"He was so angry,", said Hermione in an almost awestruck voice. "Dumbledore. We saw him. When he found out that Mundungus had left before his shift ended. He was scary."
"Well,I'm glad he left.", said Harry coldly. "If he hadn't, I wouldn't have done magic and Dumbledore would've left me at Privet Drive all summer."
"Aren't you......aren't you worried about the Ministry of Magic hearing?", said Hermione quietly.
"No,", Harry lied defiantly. He walked away from them,looking around,with Hedwig nestled contentedly on his shoulder,but this room was not likely to raise his spirits. It was dank and dark. A blank stretch of canvas in an ornate picture frame was all that relieved the bareness of the peeling walls.
"So why's Dumbledore been so keen to keep me in the dark?"
He glanced up just in time to see them exchanging a look that told him he was behaving just as they feared he would. It did nothing to improve his temper.
"Harry,", Hermione said. "We tried. We really did."
"Well you didn't try harder.", Harry snarled. The anger that was holding itself in by the fact that they would tell them everything the next day was bursting from his mouth. Hermione looked shocked.
"What?!", Harry snapped. Hermione looked at him sadly. "How come you two are allowed to know everything that's going on-?"
"We're not!", Ron interrupted. "Mum won't let us near the meetings,she says we're too young."
But before he knew it,he was shouting,
"SO YOU HAVEN'T BEEN IN THE MEETINGS,BIG DEAL! YOU'VE STILL BEEN HERE,HAVEN'T YOU?! YOU'VE STILL BEEN TOGETHER! ME,I'VE BEEN STUCK AT THE DURSLEYS' FOR A MONTH! AND I'VE HANDLED MORE THAN YOU TWO'VE EVER MANAGED AND DUMBLEDORE KNOWS IT-WHO SAVED THE SORCERER'S STONE? WHO GOT RID OF RIDDLE? WHO SAVED BOTH YOUR SKINS FROM DEMENTORS?"
Every bitter and resentful thought that Harry had had in the past month was pouring out of him; his frustration at the lack of news, the hurt that had all been together without him, his fury at being followed and not told about it: All the feelings he was half-ashamed finally burst out of their boundaries. Hedwig took fright at the noise and soared off on the top of the wardrobe again; Pigwidgeon twittered in alarms and zoomed even faster around their heads.
"WHO HAD TO GET PAST DRAGONS AND SPHINXES AND EVERY FOUL THING LAST YEAR? WHO SAW HIM COME BACK? WHO HAD TO ESCAPE FROM HIM? ME!"
Ron was standing there with his mouth half-open,clearly stunned and at a loss for anything to say, while Hermione looked on the verge of tears.
"BUT WHY SHOULD I KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON?! WHY SHOULD ANYONE BOTHER TO TELL ME WHAT'S BEEN HAPPENING?!"
"Harry,we wanted to tell you,we really did-!", Hermione began.
"CAN'T'VE WANTED TO THAT MUCH,CAN YOU,OR YOU'D HAVE SENT ME AN OWL,BUT DUMBLEDORE MADE YOU SWEAR-!"
"Well,he did-!"
"FOUR WEEKS I'VE BEEN STUCK IN PRIVET DRIVE,NICKING PAPERS OUT OF BINS TO TRY AND FIND OUT WHAT'S BEEN GOING ON-!"
"We wanted to-!"
"I SUPPOSE YOU'VE BEEN HAVING A REAL LAUGH,ALL HOLED UP TOGETHER!
AND YOU,HERMIONE! I THOUGHT WE HAD A GOOD RELATIONSHIP! BUT,NO,YOU PROBABLY HAVE BEEN HERE NOT CARING ABOUT ME!"
"No,Harry! That's not-!"
"YOU CAN'T HAVE NOT!"
"Harry,we're really sorry!", said Hermione desperately,her eyes now sparkling with tears.
"You're absolutely right,Harry-I'd be furious if it was me!"
Harry glared at her,still breathing deeply,then turned away from them again,pacing up and down. Hedwig hooted glumly from the top of the wardrobe. There was a long pause,broken only by the mournful creak of the floorboards.
"What is this place,anyway?!", he snapped.
"Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix.", said Ron immediately.
"Is anyone going to bother telling me what the-?"
"It's a secret society,", said Hermione quickly though her eyes were still wet with tears.
"Dumbledore's in charge,he founded it. It's the people who fought You-Know-Who-."
Harry cleared his throat.
"Oh,alright,Voldemort,then! It's the people who fought Voldemort last time."
"Who's in it?"
"Quite a few people. At least, twenty,I'm sure."
"Well?"
"Er...well what?"
"Voldemort!",Both Ron and Hermione winced.
"What's happening? What's he up to? Where is he? What are we doing to stop him?"
"We told you, the Order doesn't let us in on their meetings. But Sirius let slip that he's looking for something."
Harry gasped.
"Sirius is here?! And you didn't tell me?!"
"Harry,calm down. We've been decontaminating this house,it's been empty for ages and stuff's been breeding in here. We've managed to clean out the kitchen,most of the bedrooms and I think we're doing the drawing room tomo- AARGH!"
With two loud cracks, Fred and George,Ron's elder twin brothers,had materialised out of thin air in the middle of the room. Pigwidgeon twittered more wildly than ever and zoomed off to join Hedwig on top of the wardrobe.
"Stop doing that!", Hermione said weakly to the twins who were as vividly red-haired as Ron though stockier and slightly shorter.
"Hello,Harry!", Fred greeted. "We thought we heard you,but then we realised that none of you idiots would shout that loud except Harry.", but with a look from Hermione,he changed his tone. "And by idiots I mean Harry and Ron! So how are you?"
"Good."
George looked at him and said,
"We're sorry,by the way,mate."
"It's alright. I've already let it out on Ron and Hermione."
Fred and George smirked while Hermione frowned. Ron didn't do anything.
The door creaked open and the head of Mrs Weasley popped in.
"Come down you lot. The meeting's over now. Dinner's ready."
Harry made to leave but Hermione grabbed his arm and stopped him.
"What?"
"Harry,I'm really sorry. Truly. I was about to send you a letter explaining everything but Mrs Weasley caught me. Please forgive me."
"Of course,I will,Mione."
Hermione pressed her lips onto his. Harry happily kissed back. Out of a corner, Ron's voice interrupted,
"OI!"
They broke apart and Hermione looked at him,furious.
"Ronald Weasley!"
"What did I do? Honestly,Hermione,you sound like Mum!"
Hermione cleared her throat.
"Well,we best be going to dinner. Come on,Harry!"
Harry gladly followed her hoping that he would always have her by his side.

Sorry this was extremely long! I got sidetracked! Love you all! Bye!