"Ron!" breathed Harry, creeping to the window behind me and pushing itup so we could talk through the bars. "Ron, how didyou — What the — ?" I stammered. My mouth fell open as the full impact of what we were seeing hit me. Ron was leaning out of the back window of anold turquoise car, which was parked in midair. Grinning at Harry and me from the front seats were Fred and George, Ron's elder twinbrothers. "Hello, little apprentice" said Fred, tipping an imaginary hat at me." "All right, Harry?" asked George."What's been going on?" said Ron. "Why haven't you guys been answering my letters? I've asked you both to stay about twelve times, andthen Dad came home and said you'd got an official warning for using magic in front of Muggles —"
"It wasn't us — and how did he know?"
"He works for the Ministry," said Ron.
"You know we're not supposed to do spells outside school —"
"You should talk," said Harry, staring at the floating car."Oh, this doesn't count," said Ron. "We're only borrowing this.It's Dad's, we didn't enchant it. But doing magic in front of thoseMuggles you live with —" "Again, I say" I said "We didn't do it. Besides, are you even allowed to drive a car? Is it legal, because I sincerely-" it'll take too long to explain now —" said Harry interrupting me look, can you tell them at Hogwarts that the Dursleys have lockedme and Emma up and won't let us come back, and obviously we can't magic ourselves out, because the Ministry'll think that's the second spell we'vedone in three days, so —Ouch!" I had hit him at the back of the neck. "Do you even know your best friend?" I asked with an eye roll "He's here to get us out."
"Listen to your sister Harry" said George with a smirk. "Stop gibbering," said Ron. "We've come to take you both homewith us."
"But you can't magic us out either —"
"We don't need to," said Ron, jerking his head toward the frontseat and grinning. "You forget who I've got with me.""Tie that around the bars," said Fred, throwing the end of a ropeto Harry."If the Dursleys wake up, we're dead," said Harry as we tied therope tightly around a bar and Fred revved up the car. "We'll be dead either way when they wake up tomorrow and we're not here" I said.
"Don't worry," said Fred, "and stand back."Harry and I moved back into the shadows next to Hedwig, whoseemed to have realized how important this was and kept still andsilent. The car revved louder and louder and suddenly, with acrunching noise, the bars were pulled clean out of the window asFred drove straight up in the air. I ran back to the window tosee the bars dangling a few feet above the ground. Panting, Ronhoisted them up into the car. I kept my ears strained anxiously, but therewas no sound from the Dursleys' bedroom.When the bars were safely in the back seat with Ron, Fred reversed as close as possible to our window.
"Get in," Ron said.
"But all our Hogwarts stuff —" I whispered " our wands — Harry's broomstick —"
"Where is it?"
"Locked in the cupboard under the stairs, andwe can't get out ofthis room —"
"No problem," said George from the front passenger seat. "Outof the way, Harry."Fred and George climbed catlike through the window into our room. George took an ordinary hairpin from his pocket and started topick the lock."A lot of wizards think it's a waste of time, knowing this sort ofMuggle trick," said Fred, "but we feel they're skills worth learning,even if they are a bit slow."There was a small click and the door swung open."So — we'll get your trunks — you grab anything you need fromyour room and hand it out to Ron," whispered George."Watch out for the bottom stair — it creaks," Harry whisperedback as the twins disappeared onto the dark landing.Harry and I dashed around our room, collecting our things and passingthem out of the window to Ron. Then I went to help Fred andGeorge heave our trunk up the stairs. I heard Uncle Vernoncough.
At last, panting, we reached the landing, then carried the trunkthrough Our room to the open window. Fred climbed back intothe car to pull with Ron, and Harry and George and I pushed from thebedroom side. Inch by inch, the trunk slid through the window.Uncle Vernon coughed again.
Same process with the other trunk. "A bit more," panted Fred, who was pulling from inside the car."One good push —"Harry and George and I threw our shoulders against the trunk and itslid out of the window into the back seat of the car."Okay, let's go," George whispered. I clambered to the window, eased my legs out so I was dangling, I reached and jumped. Ron grinned at me.
But as Harry climbed onto the windowsill there came a suddenloud screech from behind him, followed immediately by the thunder of Uncle Vernon's voice."THAT RUDDY OWL!" "Hedwig!" I hissed. Harry tore back across the room as the landing light clickedon — he snatched up Hedwig's cage, dashed to the window, andpassed it out to Ron, who passed it to me. He was scrambling back onto the chest ofdrawers 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.Ron,Me, Fred, and George seized Harry's arms and pulled as hard asthey could."Petunia!" roared Uncle Vernon. "They're getting away! THEY'RE GETTING AWAY!"But the Weasleys and I gave a gigantic tug and Harry's leg slid out ofUncle Vernon's grasp — Harry was in the car — he'd slammed thedoor shut —"Put your foot down, Fred!" yelled Ron, and the car shot suddenly toward the moon.I couldn't belieave it.
We were free.
Harry and I looked at eachother. "We're out." he whispered "WE'RE OUT" I yelled, reaching over him to roll down the window, he and I shared a smirk as we yelled "SEE YOU NEXT SUMMER!" The Weasly's roared with laughter. "I missed you guys!" I said hugging Ron, the George. "No hug for me?" asked Fred, in fake disappointed. "Your driving" I said "I don't- watch out!" he swerved to avoide being tangled up in some wires.
"Let Hedwig out," harry told Ron. "She can fly behind us. Shehasn't had a chance to stretch her wings for ages."George handed the hairpin to Ron and, a moment later, Hedwigsoared joyfully out of the window to glide alongside us like aghost."So — what's the story, Guys?" said Ron impatiently. "What'sbeen happening?"Harry and I told them all about Dobby, the warning he'd given Harry and me 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 tellyou who's supposed to be plotting all this stuff?""I don't think he could,"I said "I told you, every time hegot close to letting something slip, he started banging his headagainst the wall." We saw Fred and George look at each other."What, you think he was lying to us?" 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 theirmaster's permission. I reckon old Dobby was sent to stop you coming back to Hogwarts. Someone's idea of a joke. Can you think ofanyone at school with a grudge against you?"
"Yes," said Harry and Ron together, instantly.
"Draco Malfoy," Harry explained. "He hates me." I opened my mouth
"Draco Malfoy?" said George, turning around. "Not LuciusMalfoy's son?""Must be, it's not a very common name, is it?" said Harry."Why?""I've heard Dad talking about him," said George. "He was a bigsupporter of You-Know-Who.""And when You-Know-Who disappeared," said Fred, craningaround to look at Harry and me, "Lucius Malfoy came back saying he'dnever meant any of it. Load of dung — Dad reckons he was rightin You-Know-Who's inner circle."Harry had heard these rumors about Malfoy's family before, andthey didn't surprise him at all. Malfoy made Dudley Dursley looklike a kind, thoughtful, and sensitive boy."I don't know whether the Malfoys own a house-elf. . . ." saidHarry."Well, whoever owns him will be an old wizarding family, andthey'll be rich," said Fred. I scowled, at the boys. "Harry maybe" I said "but not me. He's my friend."
Everyone shared a look, I rolled my eyes. "You all don't even know him" I said "your judging him because of his house and family!" "Well," said Fred "Slytherin is-" "What Slytherin is, is a normal house which has been given reputation for being evil. " I said crossing my arms.
Ron changed the subject. "I'm glad we came to get you, anyway," said Ron. "I was gettingreally worried when you didn't answer any of my letters. I thoughtit 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 neededhim.""Percy's been acting very oddly this summer," said George,frowning. "And he has been sending a lot of letters and spending aload of time shut up in his room. . . . I mean, there's only so manytimes you can polish a prefect badge. . . . You're driving too farwest, 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 beable 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. "TheMisuse of Muggle Artifacts Office."
"The what?"
"It's all to do with bewitching things that are Muggle-made, youknow, 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, andtried to serve her friends tea in it. It was a nightmare — Dad wasworking overtime for weeks."
"What happened?"I asked.
"The teapot went berserk and squirted boiling tea all over theplace and one man ended up in the hospital with the sugar tongsclamped to his nose. Dad was going frantic — it's only him and anold warlock called Perkins in the office — and they had to doMemory 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 withMuggles; our shed's full of Muggle stuff. He takes it apart, putsspells on it, and puts it back together again. If he raided our househe'd have to put himself under arrest. It drives Mum mad."
"That's the main road," said George, peering down through thewindshield. "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 Harry and I saw a dark patchwork offields 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 redsun was now gleaming through the trees.
"Touchdown!" said Fred as, with a slight bump, we hit theground. We had landed next to a tumbledown garage in a smallyard, and Harry and I looked out for the first time at Ron's house.It looked as though it had once been a large stone pigpen, butextra rooms had been added here and there until it was several stories high and so crooked it looked as though it were held up bymagic . Four orfive chimneys were perched on top of the red roof. A lopsided signstuck in the ground near the entrance read, the burrow. Aroundthe front door lay a jumble of rubber boots and a very rusty cauldron. Several fat brown chickens were pecking their way aroundthe yard."It's not much," said Ron."It's wonderful," said Harry happily, "Brilliant" I whispered.
"Now, we'll go upstairs really quietly," said Fred, "and wait forMum to call us for breakfast. Then, Ron, you come boundingdownstairs going, 'Mum, look who turned up in the night!' andshe'll be all pleased to see Harry and Emma and no one need ever know weflew the car.""Right," said Ron. "Come on, Harry, I sleep at the — at thetop —Emma--"Ron had gone a nasty greenish color, his eyes fixed on the house. We wheeled around.Mrs. Weasley was marching across the yard, scattering chickens,and for a short, plump, kind-faced woman, it was remarkable howmuch 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 herhips, staring from one guilty face to the next. She was wearing aflowered apron with a wand sticking out of the pocket."So," she said." 'Morning, Mum," said George, in what he clearly thought wasa jaunty, winning voice."Have you any idea how worried I've been?" said Mrs. Weasleyin a deadly whisper."Sorry, Mum, but see, we had to —"All three of Mrs. Weasley's sons were taller than she was, butthey cowered as her rage broke over them."Beds empty! No note! Car gone — could have crashed — out of mymind with worry — did you care? — never, as long as I've lived —you wait until your father gets home, we never had trouble like thisfrom Bill or Charlie or Percy —""Perfect Percy," muttered Fred."YOU COULD DO WITH TAKING A LEAF OUT OFPERCY'S BOOK!" yelled Mrs. Weasley, prodding a finger in Fred'schest. "You could have died, you could have been seen, you couldhave lost your father his job —"It seemed to go on for hours.
Mrs. Weasley had shouted herselfhoarse before she turned on Harry and Me, who backed away."I'm very pleased to see you, Harry and Emma, dears," she said. "Come inand have some breakfast."She turned and walked back into the house and Harry and I, after anervous glance at Ron, who nodded encouragingly, followed her