WE'LL TAKE ON THE WORLD ; h.j.p.

3 | Order of The Phoenix

Waiting for Harry's arrival felt like an eternity, and Hedwig watching the three from the wardrobe with her yellowish eyes did not make it any more enjoyable. Hermione paced up and down the room at an unsteady speed, always lingering a bit longer at the window in case she spotted the group of wizards and witches guarding Harry in the sky.

Ron was apparently so bored that he had begun to tidy up his trunk. All the cleaning was leaving a strange impact on him. Allison had made herself comfortable on the second bed in Ron's room, impatiently tapping the side of the wooden bedframe with her fingertips.

"It's been hours, where are they?" said Hermione and flopped down at the end of the bed Allie was lying on. "You don't think they've been attacked, do you?"

"No, calm down. You know Mad-Eye, he's probably taking a detour to give possible followers the slip," said Allison, nudging Hermione's leg with her own.

"And if they had been attacked, we would know by now," Ron added, shoving his trunk back under his bed with his right foot. Allison threw a look at him while Hermione sunk deeper into the mattress, and Ron helplessly shrugged his shoulders. "What I mean is...they are probably safe. It's just a possibility, but a very unrealistic one, you know, and it's a long way to fly -"

The loud creaking of the stairs saved Ron from having to explain himself any further, and Hermione's head jerked up.

"It was probably just Kreacher," said Allison.

"No, no, that's two people, listen!" Hermione hopped off the bed right as the door got pushed open.

Hedwig gave a loud twittering noise, and Allison caught a short glimpse of Harry before Hermione had thrown herself at him, shrieking loudly. She hugged him with such force that Harry stumbled backwards, holding onto the doorframe so he wouldn't fall, while Ron's tiny owl, Pigwidgeon, zoomed excitedly round and round their heads.

"HARRY! He's here, Harry's here! We didn't hear you arrive! Oh, how are you? Are you alright? 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, we've looked it all up, they can't expel you, they just can't, there's provision in the - the... what was it, Allie?"

"The Decree for the Restriction of Underage Sorcery for the Use of Magic in life-threatening situations," she said, getting up from the bed, glad that the waiting was over, giving him a little wave. "Hello."

"Yes, that! And, oh god, it's just unfair, and -"

"Let him breathe, Hermione," said Ron grinning, closing the door behind Harry.

Hermione, still beaming, let go of Harry. He'd grown just like Ron over the last few weeks, his hair dark and messy as always. Before either of them 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," Ron said, showing Harry the index finger of his right hand, which sported a half-healed but clearly deep cut. "Pecked us half to death when she brought your last letters; Allie had to threaten her with that Monster book."

"Oh yeah," Harry said. "Sorry about that, but I wanted answers, you know..."

"We wanted to give them to you, mate," Ron said. "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 -"