He was bearing down on Harry like a great bulldog, all his teeth bared. "Well, I've got news for you... I'm locking you both up... You're never going back to that school... never... and if you try and magic yourself out — they'll expel you!" Uncle Vernon was as bad as his word. The following morning, he paid a man to fit bars on Harry's window and locked my bedroom door since I don't have a window. He himself fitted a cat-flap in the bedroom door, so that small amounts of food could be pushed inside three times a day.
They let us out to use the bathroom morning and evening. Otherwise, he was locked in his room around the clock. Three days later, the Dursleys were showing no sign of relenting, and I couldn't see anyway out of his situation.I lay on his bed watching the sun sinking behind the bars on the window and wondered miserably what was going to happen to him. The cat-flap rattled and Aunt Petunia's hand appeared, pushing a bowl of canned soup into the room. Harry, whose insides were aching with hunger, jumped off my bed and seized it. The soup was stone-cold, but I drank half of it in one gulp seeing as I haven't sate all day. Then I looked at Moonwatcher and gave her some of the vegetables that were at the bottom and tipped the soggy vegetables at the bottom of the bowl into her empty food tray. She ruffled her feathers and gave him a look of deep disgust.
"I know, I know- but it's all i've got" I sighed ruefully. After about a hour I heard my door knob rattling and it opened to reveal Fred and George. "No time to explain" Fred said as George started to pick up my books and stuff. "Here's your trunk, you have two minutes to pack" I grabbed a bunch of stuff and threw them into my trunk, picked up Hedwig's cage and asked "What about my firebolt?" "Already put in in the car" He grinned. I followed them to Harry's room where the bar was broken and there was a flying car. "What the- I told you questions later" Fred said as he threw my stuff into the car. I climbed into the backseat where Harry and Ron were sitting until Harry yelled "I forgot Hedwig" and rushed out of the car to get his owl. Harry tore back across the room as the landing light clicked on — he snatched up Hedwig's cage, dashed to the window, and passed it out to Ron. He was scrambling back onto the chest of drawers when Uncle Vernon hammered on the unlocked door — and it crashed open. For a split second, Uncle Vernon stood framed in the doorway; then he let out a bellow like an angry bull and dived at Harry, grabbing him by the ankle.
Me, Ron, Fred, and George seized Harry's arms and pulled as hard as they could. "Petunia!" roared Uncle Vernon. "Their getting away! THEIR GETTING AWAY!" But the Weasleys gave a gigantic tug and Harry's leg slid out of Uncle Vernon's grasp — Harry was in the car — he slammed the door shut — "Put your foot down, Fred!" yelled Ron, and the car shot suddenly toward the moon. I looked back to see Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia, andDudley looking out Harry's window, dumbstruck. "See you next summer!" Harry yelled. The Weasleys roared with laughter and Harry settled back in his seat, grinning from ear to ear. "Let the owls out" I told Ron who opened the cages. "So — what's the story, Harry?" said Ron impatiently. "What's been happening?" Harry told them all about Dobby, the warning he'd given Harry and the fiasco of the violet pudding. There was a long, shocked silence when he had finished."Very fishy," said Fred finally. "Definitely dodgy" agreed George.
"So he wouldn't even tell you who's supposed to be plotting all this stuff?" "I don't think he could," said Harry. "I told you, every time he got close to letting something slip, he started banging his head against the wall." He saw Fred and George look at each other. "What, you think he was lying to me?" said Harry. "Well," said Fred, "put it this way — house-elves have got powerful magic of their own, but they can't usually use it without their master's permission. I reckon old Dobby was sent to stop you coming back to Hogwarts. Someone's idea of a joke. Can you think of anyone at school with a grudge against you?""Yes," said Harry and Ron together, instantly. "Draco Malfoy," Harry explained. "He hates me." "Well you haven't been very nice to him either have you?" I questioned defending my friend. They ignored me and continued their conversation.
"Draco Malfoy?" said George, turning around. "Not Lucius Malfoy's son?" "Must be, it's not a very common name, is it?" said Harry. "I've heard Dad talking about him," said George. "He was a big supporter of You-Know-Who." "And when You-Know-Who disappeared," said Fred, craning around to look at Harry, "Lucius Malfoy came back saying he'd never meant any of it. Load of dung — Dad reckons he was right in You- Know-Who's inner circle." I heard these rumors about Draco's family before but usually just ignored them. "I don't know whether the Malfoys own a house-elf..." said Harry.
"Well, whoever owns him will be an old wizarding family, and they'll be rich," said Fred."Yeah, Mum's always wishing we had a house-elf to do the ironing," said George. "But all we've got is a lousy old ghoul in the attic and gnomes all over the garden. House-elves come with big old manors and castles and places like that; you wouldn't catch one in our house...""I'm glad we came to get you, anyway," said Ron.
"I was getting really worried when you didn't answer any of my letters. I thought it was Errol's fault at first —" "Who's Errol?" "Our owl. He's ancient. It wouldn't be the first time he'd collapsed on a delivery. So then I tried to borrow Hermes —" "Who?"
"The owl Mum and Dad bought Percy when he was made prefect," said Fred from the front. "But Percy wouldn't lend him to me," said Ron. "Said he needed him.""Percy's been acting very oddly this summer," said George, frowning. "And he has been sending a lot of letters and spending a load of time shut up in his room... I mean, there's only so many times you can polish a prefect badge... You're driving too far west, Fred," he added, pointing at a compass on the dashboard. Fred twiddled the steering wheel. "So, does your dad know you've got the car?" said Harry, guessing the answer. "Er, no," said Ron, "he had to work tonight. Hopefully we'll be able to get it back in the garage without Mum noticing we flew it." "What does your dad do at the Ministry of Magic, anyway?" I asked."He works in the most boring department," said Ron. "The Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office." "The what?" "It's all to do with bewitching things that are Muggle-made, you know, in case they end up back in a Muggle shop or house. Like, last year, some old witch died and her tea set was sold to an antiques shop. This Muggle woman bought it, took it home, and tried to serve her friends tea init. It was a nightmare — Dad was working overtime for weeks." "What happened?"
"The teapot went berserk and squirted boiling tea all over the place and one man ended up in the hospital with the sugar tongs clamped to his nose. Dad was going frantic — it's only him and an old warlock called Perkins in the office — and they had to do Memory Charms and all sorts of stuff to cover it up —" "But your dad — this car —" Fred laughed. "Yeah, Dad's crazy about everything to do with Muggles; our shed's full ofMuggle stuff. He takes it apart, puts spells on it, and puts it back together again. If he raided our house he'd have to put himself under arrest. It drives Mum mad." "That's the main road," said George, peering down through the windshield.
"We'll be there in ten minutes... Just as well, it's getting light..." A faint pinkish glow was visible along the horizon to the east. Fred brought the car lower, and I saw a dark patchwork of fields and clumps of trees. "We're a little way outside the village," said George. "Ottery St. Catchpole." Lower and lower went the flying car. The edge of a brilliant red sun was now gleaming through the trees. "Touchdown!" said Fred as, with a slight bump, they hit the ground. They had landed next to a tumble down garage in a small yard, and I looked out for the first time at the Weasley's house. "It's not much," said Ron. "It's wonderful," said Harry happily. They got out of the house when Fred whispered
"Now, we'll go upstairs really quietly," said Fred, "and wait for Mum to call us for breakfastThen, Ron, you come bounding downstairs going, 'Mum, look who turned up in the night!' and she'll be all pleased to see the two of you and no one need ever know we flew the car."
"Amaya, we'll sneak you into Ginny's room-she won't mind"
"Right," said Ron. "Come on, Harry, I sleep at the — at the top —"
Ron had gone a nasty greenish color, his eyes fixed on the house. The other three wheeled around which made the four of us wheel around.
Mrs. Weasley was marching across the yard, scattering chickens, and for a short, plump, kind faced woman, it was remarkable how much she looked like a saber-toothed tiger. "Ah, "said Fred. "Oh, dear," said George.
Mrs. Weasley came to a halt in front of them, her hands on her hips, staring from one guilty face to the next. She was wearing a flowered apron with a wand sticking out of the pocket. "So," she said.
"Morning, Mum," said George, in what he clearly thought was a jaunty, winning voice. "Have you any idea how worried I've been?" said Mrs. Weasley in a deadly whisper.
"Sorry, Mum, but see, we had to —" All three of Mrs. Weasley's sons were taller than she was, but they cowered as her rage broke over them. "Beds empty! No note! Car gone — could have crashed — out of my mind with worry — did you care? — never, as long as I've lived — you wait until your father gets home, we never had trouble like this from Bill or Charlie or Percy —"
"Perfect Percy," muttered Fred. "YOU COULD DO WITH TAKING A LEAF OUT OF PERCY'S BOOK!" yelled Mrs.Weasley, prodding a finger in Fred's chest.
"You could have died, you could have been seen, you could have lost your father his job —
"I'm very pleased to see you, two," she said looking at me and my brother. "Come in and have some breakfast." The clock on the wall opposite him had only one hand and no numbers at all. Written around the edge were things like Time to make tea, Time to feed the chickens, and You're late. Books were stacked three deep on the mantelpiece, books with titles like Charm Your Own Cheese,Enchantment in Baking, and One Minute Feasts — It's Magic!
"I don't blame you, dear," she assured me, tipping eight or nine sausages onto my plate."Arthur and I have been worried about you, too. Just last night we were saying we'd come and get you ourselves if you hadn't written back to Fred and George by Friday. But really," (she was now adding three fried eggs to my plate) "flying an illegal car halfway across the country — anyone could have seen you —"
"It was cloudy, Mum!" Fred interrupted.
"You keep your mouth closed while you're eating!" Mrs. Weasley snapped at him.
"And you!" said Mrs. Weasley, but it was with a slightly softened expression that she started cutting Harry bread and buttering it for him and then doing the same for me.
At that moment there was a diversion in the form of a small, redheaded figure in a long nightdress, who appeared in the kitchen, gave a small squeal, and ran out again.
"Ginny," I overheard Ron say in an undertone to Harry. "My sister. She's been talking about you all summer."
"Yeah, she'll be wanting your autograph, Harry," Fred said with a grin, but he caught his mother's eye and bent his face over his plate without another word. Nothing more was said until all four plates were clean, which took a surprisingly short time. "Blimey, I'm tired," yawned Fred, setting down his knife and fork at last. "I think I'll go to bed and —"
"You will not," snapped Mrs. Weasley. "It's your own fault you've been up all night. You're going to de-gnome the garden for me; they're getting completely out of hand again —" "Oh, Mum —" "And you two," she said, glaring at Ron and Fred. "You both can go up to bed" she added toHarry and me. "You didn't ask them to fly that wretched car —
"We would love to help you Mrs. Weasley" I said smiling at her.
"That's very sweet of you, dear, but it's dull work," said Mrs. Weasley. "Now, let's see whatLockhart's got to say on the subject —" And she pulled a heavy book from the stack on the mantelpiece which made George groaned.
"Mum, we know how to de-gnome a garden —"
I looked at the cover of Mrs. Weasley's book. Written across it in fancy gold letters were the words Gilderoy Lockhart's Guide to Household Pests. There was a big photograph on the front of a very good-looking wizard with wavy blond hair and bright blue eyes. As always in the wizarding world, the photograph was moving; the wizard, I supposed was Gilderoy Lockhart, kept winking cheekily up at them all.
"Oh, he is marvelous," she said. "He knows his household pests, all right, it's a wonderful book..." "Mum fancies him," said Fred, in a very audible whisper. "Don't be so ridiculous, Fred," said Mrs. Weasley, her cheeks rather pink. "All right, if you think you know better than Lockhart, you can go and get on with it, and woe betide you if there's a single gnome in that garden when I come out to inspect it."