5:15 P.M. on Friday, June 16th.

That was when Harry was finally supposed to be able to leave the Dursleys for the summer and get picked up by the Order. It was now almost midnight! Harry didn't know whether he should be angry or worried. On one hand, he was mad that the Order had so little respect for his time that they felt that they could give him approximations and then could come whenever they wanted. On the other hand, the Order had never been late before; so there was probably something seriously wrong if no one had arrived yet.

Uncle Vernon's loud bellowing about "freaks" and "your kind" interrupted Harry from these musings, because that could only mean one thing: wizard visitors! Harry grabbed his trunk and ran down the stairs. He saw quite the gang assembled. There was Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody, Remus Lupin, Arthur Weasley, and Albus Dumbledore.

As soon as Harry saw what was going on, he started to laugh lightly. If you had no idea what was happening, you would find the scene comical, too. In one corner, Moody was saying something about blasting away one of Vernon's body parts. Remus was grabbing at Moody's cloak, unsuccessfully trying to calm him down. Mr. Weasley was standing in the corner, acting as if nothing out of the ordinary was taking place. (Granted, if you lived with the twins, these types of events might not be that uncommon.) Dumbledore was on the other side of the room trying to placate Aunt Petunia, who was looking at Dumbledore as if he had a purple beard. But the real reason why Harry started laughing was because, while all of this was going on, Dudley was ignorantly sitting on the couch, eating popcorn, and watching TV.

When Harry started to make a noise, everyone turned around and looked at him. Dumbledore was the first to speak and said, "Good evening, Harry. I trust that you are prepared to leave?"

Harry nodded his head in the affirmative and asked, "Sir, is there anything wrong? Is everybody okay?"

"Yes, dear boy. Everyone is fine. The Wizengamot meeting ran much longer than I had planned; and I find that it is quite difficult for the Chief Warlock to leave early. Come then, we'll be on our way."

"Good evening, Mr. Dursley, Mrs. Dursley. Until we cross paths again," Dumbledore said to Harry's "family." Harry grabbed his things and bolted out the door without as much as a backwards glance towards his aunt and uncle. Moody, Lupin, and Mr. Weasley soon followed.

"Harry, I have planned to transport you to Headquarters for the remainder of the summer. Would that be suitable for you?"

"Yes, professor," Harry responded.

"Very good. I have contacted the Ministry and I have legally secured portkeys for us." Dumbledore said with a wink, and then he grabbed what looked like a stapler from his robes and handed it to Harry. "Everyone please put a hand on this fascinating lead dispenser." It was a tight fit, and again Harry found himself wanting to laugh at the situation. Before he had the chance, Dumbledore waved his wand and Harry found himself at the entrance to Grimmauld Place.

"Harry, it's so good to see you. I've been worried sick about you." Mrs. Weasley appeared out of nowhere, hugging Harry. "How have you been? Have those muggles been feeding you properly?"

Mrs. Weasley gave Harry a very scrutinizing stare which made him feel uneasy. "Erm, I've been fine Mrs. Weasley. Really, I am."

The rest of the Weasley clan proceeded to greet Harry. "Harry, mate, how are you doin'?" the twins said in eerie synchronization.

"Hey, how have you been holding up mate, did you get a chance to jinx those awful muggles?" Ron said, with a smile on his face. It soon vanished, however, when Mrs. Weasley whacked him on the back of his head.

"Ronald Weasley, don't you dare talk about anyone like that. Don't give Harry any awful ideas. I swear, you're such a horrible influence on the boy."

"That's all right, Mrs. Weasley. I really don't mind." Harry interrupted. Ron shot Harry a grateful smile and Harry turned his eyes to the last member of the Weasley clan, Ginny.

"Hey, Ginny. How has your summer been?"

"Hi, Harry. Pretty good. How about yours?" She awkwardly approached Harry, unsure of whether or not to give him a hug. She decided to play it safe and stuck her hand out. Harry, fully aware of Ginny's lingering crush on him, approached her and enveloped her in a hug.

"It's good to see you, Gin." When Harry let her go, he saw that Ginny's face was as red as her hair. She mumbled something about having to go check on the chickens and quickly left the room. As Harry looked around, he saw that all the occupants of the room were smiling at him. Then it dawned on him. They thought he liked Ginny! Sure, he liked Ginny, but not in that way. He liked her in the 'Ron's little sister' way, not a romantic one. He realized that he might have been sending out the wrong signals to her; however, he wasn't going to worry about that problem right now.

"Harry, I have some good news for you. We are planning to go on a trip to Diagon Alley tomorrow afternoon. We are going to meet Hermione there at two. It's almost midnight and I know you've had a busy day, but do you think you're up to it?"

"I feel fine Mrs. Weasley. I'd love to come. Who's all going?"

"Well, since tomorrow is Saturday, Fred and George decided to take the day off from the shop. Ron and Ginny and myself will be coming. I believe that the headmaster has set it up so that five guards will also be coming. He doesn't want to take any risks. I think it's going to be Remus, Tonks, Kingsley, Alastor, and I think Albus talked Minerva into coming along, too."

"All right, it sounds like fun. What are we going to do in Diagon Alley? I didn't think that the school lists had come out yet."

"No, they haven't. Albus figured that it would do you some good to get out and have some fun. How does that sound?"

"Pretty good. What time are we going to wake up?"

"You'll need to wake up at eleven, have a late breakfast and then get ready to go. You should probably get to bed now. In fact, all of you should. We've got a busy day tomorrow."

Harry, with Ron's assistance, managed to carry his trunk up to his room. He quickly changed into something comfortable to sleep in, talked to Ron for a couple minutes, and then went to bed thinking about his trip to Diagon Alley the following day.

A/N: So what did you think of the first chapter? By the way, this will not be a Harry/Ginny fic, there are enough of those out there, and I will try to write about non-traditional pairings. (Probably Harry/OC) Please leave a review. Thanks!