Hp: Hermione and Darkness

Harry's expression hardened. "He could still've kept me informed if he'd wanted to," he said shortly. "You're not telling me he doesn't know ways to send messages without owls."

Hermione exchanged a troubled glance with Ron before admitting, "I thought that, too. But he didn't want you to know anything."

"Maybe he thinks I can't be trusted," Harry said, bitterness creeping into his voice.

"Don't be thick," said Ron.

"Or that I can't take care of myself."

"Of course, he doesn't think that!" said Hermione anxiously.

Harry's frustration boiled over. "So how come I have to stay at the Dursleys' while you two get to join in everything that's going on here?" he demanded, his voice growing louder with every word. "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 Harry had had enough. His following words came out in a shout, each cutting through Hermione like a knife. "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 PHILOSOPHER'S STONE? WHO GOT RID OF RIDDLE? WHO SAVED BOTH YOUR SKINS FROM THE DEMENTORS? WHO HAD TO GET PAST DRAGONS AND SPHINXES AND EVERY OTHER FOUL THING LAST YEAR? WHO SAW HIM COME BACK? WHO HAD TO ESCAPE FROM HIM? ME!"

Ron stood there with his mouth half-open, stunned and at a loss for words. Hermione felt tears prickling in her eyes.

"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, her voice trembling.

"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, HAVEN'T YOU, ALL HOLED UP HERE TOGETHER—"

"No, honest—"

Hermione couldn't take it anymore. Tears welled up in her eyes, and she felt them spill over. "Harry! We're really sorry!" she said, her voice breaking. "You're absolutely right, Harry! I'd be furious if it was me!"

Harry glared at her, breathing deeply. A chill went through Hermione's body. His eyes seemed so empty, but she tried to hold his gaze long enough for him to see she, indeed, was sorry. He turned away from them, pacing up and down the room. There was a long pause, broken only by the mournful creak of the floorboards beneath Harry's feet. Hermione wanted to look at Ron for support but feared Harry would catch her and misinterpret the gesture.

"What is this place, anyway?" Harry shot at Ron and Hermione, making her jump.

"Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix," said Ron at once.

"Is anyone going to bother telling me what the Order of the Phoenix—"

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

"Who's in it?" Harry demanded.

"Quite a few people—"

"We've met about twenty of them," said Ron, "but we think there are more."

"Well?" Harry demanded, looking from one to the other. Hermione's confusion mirrored Ron's expression.

"Er," said Ron. "Well, what?"

"Voldemort!" Harry said furiously, and both Ron and Hermione winced. "What's happening? What's he up to? Where is he? What are we doing to stop him?"

"We've told you, the Order don't let us in on their meetings," Hermione said nervously. "So we don't know the details – but we've got a general idea," she added hastily, seeing the look on Harry's face.

"Fred and George have invented Extendable Ears, see," said Ron. "They're really useful."

"Extendable—"

"Ears, yeah. Only we've had to stop using them lately because Mum found out and went berserk. Fred and George had to hide them all to stop Mum binning them. But we got a good bit of use out of them before Mum realised what was going on. We know some of the Order are following known Death Eaters, keeping tabs on them, you know—"

"Some of them are working on recruiting more people to the Order—" said Hermione.

"And some of them are standing guard over something," said Ron. "They're always talking about guard duty."

"Couldn't have been me, could it?" Harry said coldly, making Hermione wince.

"Oh, yeah," said Ron, with a look of dawning comprehension.

Harry snorted and began pacing the room again, looking anywhere but at Ron and Hermione. "So, what have you two been doing if you're not allowed in meetings?" he demanded. "You said you'd been busy."

"We have," said Hermione quickly. "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 apparated into the room. Pigwidgeon twittered more wildly than ever and zoomed off to join Hedwig atop the wardrobe.

"Stop doing that!" Hermione said weakly to the twins, trying to get her heart rate back under control.

"Hello, Harry," said George, beaming at him. "We thought we heard your dulcet tones."

"You don't want to bottle up your anger like that, Harry, let it all out," said Fred, also beaming. "There might be a couple of people fifty miles away who didn't hear you." Hermione almost let out an anxious snort of laughter.

"You two passed your Apparation tests, then?" asked Harry grumpily.

"With distinction," said Fred.

"It would have taken you about thirty seconds longer to walk down the stairs," said Ron.

"Time is Galleons, little brother," said Fred. "Anyway, Harry, you're interfering with reception. Extendable Ears," he added, holding up a pair for Harry to see. "We're trying to hear what's going on downstairs."

"You want to be careful," said Ron, staring at the Ear, "if Mum sees one of them again…"

"It's worth the risk; that's a major meeting they're having," said Fred.

The door opened, and Ginny popped her head in.

"Oh, hello, Harry!" she said. "I thought I heard your voice." Hermione could hear a hint of sarcasm in her tone.

....

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