"Who wants to read now?" asked Bill.

"Can I?" said Dr. Clark.

"Sure you want to?" said Remus faintly.

"Why not?" said Dr. Clark. "It sounds like Harry escapes."

He took the book and read the title, he looked a little puzzled.

"The Burrow. What burrow are they talking about?" asked Dr. Clark.

"It's sort of the name of our house." said Fred shrugging.

"Oh! Okay!" said Dr. Clark with a smile. "Then he does get away."

"Ron!" breathed Harry, creeping to the window and pushing it up so they could talk through the bars. "Ron, how did you—What the-?"

"You looked like you got hit with a brick. It was really funny." said Ron with a smirk.

Harry's mouth fell open as the full impact of what he was seeing hit him. Ron was leaning out of the back window of an old turquoise car, which was parked in midair.

Several first years looked at the Weasely's with shocked looks. Their faces slowly turned to intense excitement. They wanted to know what else the twins and Ron would do next.

Grinning at Harry from the front seats were Fred and George, Ron's elder twin brothers.

"Like we would let Ickle…*cough*...we could let Ron go on a rescue mission alone." said Fred, catching himself quickly.

"All right, Harry?" asked George.

"Just looking at him, I should have known he wasn't alright. Last we saw him, he had some meat on his bones, looking at him then, his skin was getting tighter to his bones. Hell, he didn't look much better than Quirrell did in that Scattered Shot." said Fred trying hard to suppress a shudder.

"What's been going on?" said Ron. "Why haven't you been answering my letters? I've asked you to stay about twelve times,

"I didn't know someone was stealing your mail, mate." said Ron apologetically.

and then Dad came home and said you'd got an official warning for using magic in front of Muggles—"

Umbridge strained against the ropes and the gag once again.

"What's the problem now?" said Lionus rolling his eyes.

"I think it's complaining that Mr. Weasely knew about it." said Tempest looking over at Umbridge haughtily.

"How did you find out about Potter's warning?" asked Fudge suspiciously.

"Mafalda never keeps secrets, she tells everyone who'll listen who uses magic outside of school." said Madam Bones rolling her eyes. "It's no surprise that he heard about it."

"It wasn't me—and how did he know?"

"He works for the Ministry," said Ron. "You know we're not supposed to do spells outside school—"

"Nice to know you guys believed me." said Harry with a smirk.

"I think we were more shocked by how you looked and the bars on the window." said George trying to apologize.

"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.

"That's a grey area." said Dumbledore with a smile.

But doing magic in front of those Muggles you live with—"

"You don't listen to him do you?" said Dr. Clark looking over at Ron with raised eyebrows.

"We planned to tell him off, but the speech sort of fell apart." said Fred.

"When we saw him locked up." said George quietly. "And saw the state he was in."

"I told you, I didn't—but it'll take too long to explain now—look, can you tell them at Hogwarts that the Dursleys have locked me up and won't let me come back, and obviously I can't magic myself out, because the Ministry'll think that's the second spell I've done in three days, so—"

"Did you just ask them to go and find a teacher and rescue you?" asked Sirius worriedly.

"I was kinda desperate." said Harry shrugging.

Sirius stared at him with his mouth open.

"Stop gibbering,' said Ron. "We've come to take you home with us."

"You make it sound like he's a puppy." said Anthony with a smirk.

"But you can't magic me out either—"

"He's got you there." said Dean.

"We don't' need to," said Ron, jerking his head toward the front seat and grinning. "You forget who I've got with me."

"There's nothing we can't do." said Fred and George with broad smiles.

"Tie that around the bars," said Fred, throwing the end of a rope to Harry.

"If the Dursleys wake up, I'm dead," said Harry as he tied the rope tightly around a bar and Fred revved up the car.

"Now I think he really meant it." said Fred quietly to George.

"Don't worry," said Fred, "and stand back."

Harry moved back into the shadows next to Hedwig, who seemed to have realized how important this was and kept still and silent.

"Wow, she's brilliant." said Dr. Clark leaning over and stroking Hedwig's feathers.

"She sure is." said Harry with a smile.

The car revved louder and louder and suddenly, with a crunching noise, the bars were pulled clean out of the window as Fred drove straight up in the air.

"Yay! Jailbreak!" shouted Sirius happily.

"I knew you were going to say something like that." said Remus shaking his head.

Harry ran back to window to see the bars dangling a few feet above the ground. Panting, Ron hoisted them up into the car.

"Hey! They were heavy!" said Ron to the snickers that creeped through the hall.

Harry listened anxiously, but there was no sound from the Durselys' bedroom.

"Not even snoring?" asked Fred looking confused.

"No, only Dudley snores." said Harry.

When the bars were safely in the back seat with Ron, Fred reversed as close as possible to Harry's window.

"Wait a minute. How old were you?" asked Lionus.

"Um, we were, what Fred, fourteen?" said George.

"Wow, you were able to drive with that much precision? I'm impressed." said Lionus with a smile.

Fred and George beamed at each other.

"Get in," Ron said.

"But all my Hogwarts stuff—my wand—my broomstick—"

"Harry, wands, books, cauldrons and broomsticks can be replaced, you can't be." said Dumbledore sadly over to Harry.

Harry shifted uneasily in the bowl.

"Where is it?"

"Locked in the cupboard under the stairs, and I can't get out of this room—"

"Never saw him look so desperate." said Fred shaking his head.

"No problem," said George from the front passenger seat. "Out of the way, Harry."

Fred and George climbed catlike through the window into Harry's room.

"And you thought leaping cat-like was impressive? You guys looked like had practiced that." said Harry with a smile.

"Well, one never knows when one has to save someone from a second floor, locked bedroom and you need to climb over a car seat to do it." said Fred with mock dignity.

You had to hand it to them, thought Harry, as George took an ordinary hairpin from his pocket and started to pick the lock.

"And you couldn't think of that?" asked Lionus with a smirk.

"Do I look like I use hairpins?" said Harry with a smirk. "Besides, there isn't one to find in the Dursley's. Aunt Petunia only uses hairspray."

"You knew how to do that?" said Fred in shock.

"Not with a hairpin, till you taught me." said Harry with a smile. "I can do it with a paper clip, but there wasn't one in the room either, and my knapsack was in the trunk."

"A lot of wizards think it's a waste of time, knowing this sort of Muggle trick," said Fred, "but we feel they're skills worth learning, even if they are a bit slow."

"FRED!" yelled Mrs. Weasley. She didn't want her son learning such things.

"Mum, it was either that or magic. We weren't going to leave Harry there." said Fred tiredly.

"Of course you shouldn't leave him there, but….never mind…it was for a good cause…." said Mrs. Weasely in a guilty tone.

"I think Mum is still reeling from the whole 'not believing the bars and starvation' thing." said George to Fred in a whisper.

"Who taught you how to do that?" asked Remus wonderingly.

"Umm…the source of our knowledge must be kept secret." said George unconvincingly.

Harry, Sirius, and Remus all saw Mr. Weasely mouth, "Me" behind his wife's back.

There was a small click and the door swung open.

"Not bad, boys, not bad." said Nightstrike with a broad grin.

Fred and George beamed at each other.

"So—we'll get your trunk—you grab anything you need from your room and hand it out to Ron," whispered George.

"So who was making sure the car didn't fall, with Ron in it?" asked Sirius over to Fred.

"It's an automatic hover." said Fred shrugging.

"Watch out for the bottom stair—it creaks," Harry whispered back as the twins disappeared onto the dark landing.

"I didn't hear that, did you George?" said Fred.

"Nope, good thing we jumped that step." said George staring wide-eyed.

"And jumped over it as we went up the stairs." said Fred gulping.

Harry dashed around his room, collecting his things and passing them out of the window to Ron.

"There wasn't a whole lot there, just a few notebooks and few of Hedwig's things." said Ron.

Then he went to help Fred and George heave his trunk up the stairs. Harry heard Uncle Vernon cough.

"I thought Harry was going to have a strained neck, he looked around so quickly." said George with a small smile.

"We looked in that cupboard, the one where your stuff was, please say it wasn't THAT cupboard you slept in." said Fred with a worried look. He of course knew the answer, but he wished it weren't true.

"Umm…." said Harry looking down.

"How could you fit in there?" said George looking confused and angry all at the same time.

"I'm small, I can get into almost anything just fine." said Harry shrugging.

At last, panting, they reached the landing, then carried the trunk through Harry's room to the open window. Fred climbed back into the car to pull with Ron, and Harry and George pushed from the bedroom side. Inch by inch, the trunk slid through the window.

"I wanted to say to you: 'What in blazes do you have in this thing?'" said Fred staring at Harry.

"Almost everything I owned." said Harry with a smile.

Uncle Vernon coughed again.

"We all stopped when we heard that." said Ron with a smile.

"A bit more," panted Fred, who was pulling from inside the car. "One good push—"

Harry and George threw their shoulders against the trunk and it slid out of the window into the back seat of the car.

"Okay, let's go," George whispered.

"You got out of there without waking them up! Good work!" said Remus with a bright smile.

"Not quite." said the twins, Ron and Harry.

But as Harry climbed onto the windowsill there came a sudden loud screech from behind them,

"Screech?" asked Bill.

"Did Petunia wake up?" said Snape with a smirk.

"No, we forgot something important." said Fred.

"VERY important." said Harry stroking Hedwig's feathers.

followed immediately by the thunder of Uncle Vernon's voice.

"THAT RUDDY OWL!"

"Hedwig? Oh no! You forgot her!" said Dr. Clark looking over to Harry in horror.

"I've forgotten Hedwig!"

"At least you remembered her before you left." said Luna dreamily.

"She was mad at me for the longest time though, especially after what happened when we arrived at Hogwarts." said Harry

"What happened?" asked Sirius.

"You'll…um…uh…" said Harry.

"Let me guess, 'you'll find out later'?" said Sirius looking at him with one eyebrow raised.

"Yeah." said Harry scratching the back of his head.

"Well, do I have to wait very long?" said Sirius tapping his forefinger on his knee.

"No, not really." said Harry with a slight smile as Hedwig hooted loudly.

"Too soon for her liking, I think." said Dumbledore with a smile.

Harry tore back across the room as the landing light clicked on—

"Better hurry it up!" said Bill worriedly.

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—

"Occupied!" shouted Fred.

Despite the tension, a ripple of laughter wandered about the hall.

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.

"NO!" shouted Sirius and Remus.

"I'm gonna kill him…" muttered Dr. Clark, his knuckles tightened on the side of the book.

Dumbledore closed his eyes and rocked back and forth in his purple plush rocking chair. His jaw clenched.

Harry took notice of Dumbledore's rocking, which was quickly getting faster and faster, he leaned forward and magicked a small phial of Calming Draught to slightly bounce off the tip of his crooked nose. Dumbledore's eyes snapped open and recoiled slightly from the crystal phial.

"Drink it, please." said Harry quietly.

Dumbledore smiled over to Harry, guilt written all over his face. He put the phial to his lips and drank the contents down in one gulp.

Ron, Fred, and George seized Harry's arms and pulled as hard as they could.

Madam Pomfrey Dr. Clark sent stern looks over to the twins and Ron.

Sirius noticed this, "What's up, Doc?"

Hermione, Harry and other Muggleborns began laughing out loud. Even the sides of Dr. Clark's mouth twitched.

"What's so funny?" asked Sirius.

"It's…what you just said is something a cartoon character in the Muggle world says." said Harry with a smile.

Sirius thought quickly. "Is it at least a cool character?" he said with a smile.

"And here I thought James was always the egotistic one of the group." said Lupin with a smile and fond remembrance of his old friend.

"Oh, yeah, Bugs Bunny was always brilliant." said Harry trying not to laugh.

"….I quoted a bunny?" said Sirius with a disbelieving look.

"You asked." said Hermione with a cheeky grin.

"Wish I hadn't. A bunny?" he shook his head quickly. "Anyway, why are you looking pissed off at Ron and the twins?"

"They could've hurt Harry, pulling him the way they did." said Dr. Clark. He then turned to Harry quickly. "Were you sore, later?"

"A little bit, but I would rather be sore at the Weasely's then trapped at the Dursley's." said Harry with a weak smile.

"Point taken." said Dr. Clark.

"Petunia!" roared Uncle Vernon. "He's getting away! HE'S GETTING AWAY!"

Dumbledore heaved a sigh and continued to rock back and forth in his chair.

"HOW DARE YOU ACT INDIFFERENT?" screeched Mrs. Weasely.

"He's not Mrs. Weasely, he just took a calming draught. A freshly brewed, super strong one." said Harry.

"It's true, Molly." said Snape. "I just made it this morning; it's what you should have received the other day. Dumbledore now cannot even try and work himself up, which may be for the best."

"I don't see how!" said Mrs. Weasely.

"I don't feel like electrocuting him again, Mrs. Weasely." said Harry simply.

Mrs. Weasely paled and looked down, shame etched across her face. "Sorry."

"It's alright Molly, I would be upset too." said Dumbledore kindly. "I am trying to stir up some anger, but I can't seem to do so at the moment. I've never had a Calming Draught this strong before, it is an odd sensation."

"I would rather you have that sensation, than me shocking you." said Harry with a smile.

But the Weaselys gave a gigantic tug and Harry's leg slid out of Uncle Vernon's grasp—Harry was in the car—he'd slammed the door shut—

The students cheered and applauded the twins and Ron. Mr. Weasely gave each of his youngest sons a large hug.

Mrs. Weasely was still ashamed of her not believing her sons and snapping at Dumbledore for wishing to avoid another heart attack.

"Put your foot down, Fred!" yelled Ron, and the car shot suddenly toward the moon.

Harry couldn't believe it—he was free.

Sirius smiled and gave Harry a hug.

He rolled down the window, the night air whipping his hair, and looked back at the shrinking rooftops of Privet Drive. Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia, and Dudley were all hanging dumbstruck, out of Harry's window.

"See you next summer!" Harry yelled.

Remus lightly smacked the back of Harry's head.

"Yipe! What?" said Harry rubbing the back of his head.

"Don't goad them. I don't want to hear that they were horrible to you next year." said Remus sternly.

"Well…" said Harry teasingly. "They weren't the ones mean to me next year."

"You're going to love what happens next summer." said Fred eagerly.

"Can't wait." said Remus skeptically.

The Weaselys roared with laughter and Harry settled back in his seat, grinning from ear to ear.

"Let Hedwig out," he told Ron. "She can fly behind us. She hasn't had a chance to stretch her wings for ages."

"That was so nice of you to think of her." said Katie. "Especially after you almost left her." she finished with a smirk.

"I thought I would try and make it up to her." said Harry shrugging slightly.

George handed the hairpin to Ron and, a moment later, Hedwig soared joyfully out of the window to glide alongside them like a ghost.

Hedwig's fans all sighed with enjoyment, while Ron had to dodge his mother's glare, she didn't know her youngest son could pick locks too. Harry, Sirius and Remus all smiled at each other. Mr. Weasely's secret was safe with them.

"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.

"That's all you could say?" said Sirius looking over to the two of them in shock.

"Hey! It was late at night and we were still riding off the excitement." said Fred defensively.

"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.

"House-elves can't lie. It is physically impossible for them to." said Dumbledore with a smile.

"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?"

"At the time, the entire Slytherin house." said Harry with a smile.

"Yes," said Harry and Ron together, instantly.

"Draco Malfoy," Harry explained. "He hates me."

"Draco Malfoy?" said George, turning around. "Not Lucius Malfoy's son?"

"The one and only." said Ron with a smirk.

"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 big supporter of You-Know-Who."

Several students turned and stared at Malfoy. He looked down, unwilling to meet the other student's gaze.

"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."

"He was proven innocent!" shouted Fudge.

"Hang on," said Harry as he whipped out his black notebook and copied down something on a spare piece of parchment. "Here you go, Madam Bones." he said handing her the piece of parchment.

She took it and read it slowly, her eyes getting wider and wider until the monocle couldn't hold itself to her face.

Ranger Lionus walked over and read what was written, his eyes widening as well. "It would seem," he said without taking his eyes away from the parchment. "that I need to utilize my authority and request to my chief that he perform an audit of your Ministry goings-on."

Fudge gulped loudly, however Madam Bones agreed whole-heartedly. "Things must be changed, for the better. I will fully cooperate with your superior."

"He'll appreciate it." said Lionus with a smirk. "The chief's getting on in years and he isn't all that active in the field anymore."

"Mind your tongue, Lionus. He still manages to beat you in the training room every time." said Dr. Nicodemus, with a smirk.

Nightstrike and Tempest shared a broad smile.

Harry had heard these rumors about the Malfoy family before, and they didn't surprise him at all.

"Are there really rumors about me?" said Malfoy quickly.

"There are rumors about everyone." said Harry. "Some are proven true, some aren't. Your father's rumors were easy to prove."

Malfoy made Dudley Dursley look like a kind, thoughtful, and sensitive boy.

"Ouch, that really, really hurts." said Bill with a smirk.

"I don't know whether the Malfoys own a house-elf…." said Harry.

"We do." said Malfoy. "Two of them, one's assigned to do house work and be the valet to my father and I and the other is my mother's personal maid."

"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.

"Dobby should have gone to my house, Mum would have loved him." said Ron whispering to Hermione, who sat quietly.

She was torn between trying to stand up for what she called 'Elf Rights' and what Harry and Dumbledore had told everyone about 'Elf Culture'. She knew slavery was wrong, and she knew that Ron and Harry believed that too. But…could there be a situation in the Magical world where creatures depend on the work they are given? That if they had no family to care for, that they would perish? She wasn't sure what to believe now, at least on a 'SPEW' perspective.

"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…."

"There isn't anything wrong with 'The Burrow'." said the Weaselys and Harry.

"And I don't know why a house-elf wouldn't be at the Weasely home, it should be large enough…" said Lionus quietly, looking over at all the Weasely children.

Harry was silent. Judging by the fact that Draco Malfoy usually had the best of everything, his family was rolling in wizard gold; he could just see Malfoy strutting around a large manor house. Sending the family servant to stop Harry from going back to Hogwarts also sounded exactly like the sort of thing Malfoy would do.

"Malfoy shifted nervously in his seat, he had toyed with the idea of pranking Harry in his own home.

Had Harry been stupid to take Dobby seriously?

"You never know when people mention danger you need to retain CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" said Tonks yelling the last part a few inches away from Moody's ear. As he pulled himself off the floor, cursing all the way, she moved her chair quickly and sat beside Dumbledore, grinning cheekily over to her mentor.

"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—"

"Errol?" asked a Slytherin third year.

"He was the last hatchling of the owl I had with me when I went to school." said Mr. Weasely with a smile.

"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.

"I never did understand that. How come Percy got to get two things for becoming Prefect when Bill and Ron only got the one thing each?" asked Fred.

"Well, that was a mistake, no offence Percy, that your father and I made. I got him the robes. I forgot to tell your father that I had already rewarded him, so he went out and got Percy his own owl. Ron, dear, did you want something else to go with that broom? To make up for it?" said Mrs. Weasely anxiously.

"No Mum, the broom was more than enough." said Ron with a smile.

"But Percy wouldn't lend him to me," said Ron. "Said he needed him."

"What reason did you have anyway?" said George looking puzzled.

"None of your business." said Percy quickly.

"It was a girl than." said Fred with a smirk. Percy turned bright red.

"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 said pointing at the compass on the dashboard. Fred twiddled the steering wheel.

"I wanted to call you a backseat driver." said Fred with a smirk.

"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."

Both Charlie and Bill snorted loudly. That was never going to happen. Their mother knew everything that goes on at home.

"What does your dad do at the Ministry of Magic, anyway?"

"He works in the most boring department," said Ron. "The Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office."

"Um..er..dad…uh.." said Ron quickly.

"It's alright Ron. My department is pretty boring next to the others." said Mr. Weasely with a smile.

"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.

"It's a very important department. That's way we give Ministries full funding for the department, to pay for the resources and the people to work in it." said Lionus with a smile.

The Weaselys looked over to the Ranger curiously while Fudge shifted nervously.

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 in it. It was a nightmare—Dad was working overtime for weeks."

"God man! Glad someone besides the Aurors has a work ethic." said Dr. Nicodemus approvingly.

"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—

Lionus stared at the book, "That can't be right, I sign the monetary release every month and it states there are supposed to be ten people in there."

Fudge gulped loudly.

Lionus looked up to him quickly, his eyes blazing, "Explains why I only get two reports every month."

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 of Muggle stuff. He takes it apart, puts spells on it, and puts it back together again. If he raided ourhouse he'd have to put himself under arrest. It drives Mum mad."

Fudge ceased his nervous antics and glared at Mr. Weasely menacingly. Who took his turn at shifting about.

Harry looked at Mr. Weasely worriedly, and then turned his attention to the Ranger, who was snarling at the Minister. The Ranger snapped his fingers and Nightstrike came swooping over to Lionus' side. The Ranger captain whispered in Nightstrikes' ear and in an instant, the werewolf was gone.

"That's the main road," said George, peering down 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 Harry saw a dark patchwork of fields and clumps of trees.

"We're a little outside the village," said George. "Ottery St. Catchpole."

"Hey, that town is near the area we were going to take you fishing! Man, you almost met the Weaselys early." said Dr. Clark with a broad smile.

Lower and lower went the flying car. The edge of a brilliant red sun was now gleaming through the trees.

Fred and George both gave a loud crow like a rooster, to the amusement of their fellow students.

"Touchdown!" said Fred as, with a slight bump, they hit the ground. They had landed next to a tumbledown garage in a small yard, and Harry looked out for the first time at Ron's house.

"I love the Burrow." sighed Harry fondly. Mr. Weasely and Mrs. Weasely beamed at each other.

"As do I, it is such a restful place." said Dumbledore with a smile. Mr. and Mrs. Weasely beamed even brighter. Despite her recent disagreements with Dumbledore, she was happy that even he thought highly of their home.

It looked as though it had once been a large stone pigpen, but extra rooms had been added here and there until it was several stories high and so crooked it looked as though it were held up by magic (which Harry reminded himself, probably was).

"Yeah, about once a year we need to reinforce the spells." said Mr. Weasely with a smile.

"Why are you living in a refurbished pigpen? No offense meant, but I pay you enough to own a large house. Why do you have need to live there?" said Lionus growing genuinely concerned.

"How much do you think you pay dad, sir?" said Bill looking over to the Ranger Captain with raised brows.

"I signed the release for your father to get paid about twenty-five galleons an hour. He's been in that department for so long and his reports are always good." said Lionus, when he saw their disbelieving looks; he turned an even more furious glare towards the Minister. "How much do you get paid, Mr. Weasely?" he said without looking at the man he was addressing.

"about five galleons's an hour." said Mr. Weasely looking confused.

"I AM going to find out where the money went, and you better hope that I'm in a fair mood when I do, Cornelius. If I'm not, I'll send you to the same place I'm gonna send her!" he shouted.

He then turned quickly over to Mr. Weasely, "Expect a check for back wages, Arthur." he said shortly.

Mrs. Weasely gripped her husband's arm and smiled. "I always said you were worth more than what they were paying you."

"You did, you really did." he said giving her a kiss.

Four or five chimneys were perched on top of the red roof. A lopsided sign stuck in the ground near the entrance read, THE BURROW. Around the front door lay a jumble of rubber boots and a very rusty cauldron. Several fat brown chickens were pecking their way around the yard.

"It's not much," said Ron.

"It's wonderful." said Harry happily, thinking of Privet Drive.

"An outhouse would be wonderful compared to Privet Drive." said Ron with a smirk.

"True, but I loved your house the moment I saw it. It was perfect, you couldn't believe how jealous I was of you." said Harry with a smile.

"….what?" said Ron weakly.

"I would have given everything I had, just to be you for ten minutes. Have a home that's really a home, a family I could hold and all that went with it. I still wish that quite often." said Harry with an even more sincere smile.

"You don't need to wish anymore, you've got it." said Sirius hugging him.

"You two are way too cheesy for me." said Remus with a smirk.

"Go howl at a moon, Moony." Sirius shot back.

Both Remus and Nightstrike laughed loudly.

"Come join us." said Nightstrike nastily.

They got out of the car.

"Now we'll go upstairs really quietly," said Fred "and wait for Mum to call us for breakfast. Then, Ron, you come bounding downstairs going, 'Mum, look who turned up in the night!' and she'll be all pleased to see Harry and no one need ever know we flew the car."

"I wouldn't have bought that." whispered Mrs. Weasely to her husband, who snickered.

"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.

"What happened? What frightened Ron that much?" said Neville quickly.

The other three wheeled around.

Mrs. Weasely was marching across the yard,

"That'll do it." said the Weasely children, Harry, Sirius, Remus and Dumbledore.

scattering chickens, and for a short, plump, kind-faced woman, it was remarkable how much she looked like a saber-toothed tiger.

Sirius gave a bark-like laugh. "She is over-protective of her cubs, not to mention everyone else's cubs too."

"I'll take that as a compliment." said Mrs. Weasely with a smirk.

"Good! Cause I meant it as one." said Sirius with a grin.

"Ah," said Fred.

"Oh, dear," said George.

Mrs. Weasely came to a halt in front of them, her hands on her hips, staring from one guilty face to the next.

Harry thought back to that day and gulped loudly. Mrs. Weasley would never hurt him like his Uncle would, or at all, but he was more afraid of upsetting her than he ever was of upsetting Uncle Vernon.

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.

"It didn't come out that way." said Fred, Ron, Harry and Mrs. Weasely.

"What did it sound like then." said George who looked hurt.

"Like a mouse being stepped on." said Fred with a smirk.

"Have you any idea how worried I've been?" said Mrs. Weasley in a deadly whisper.

"What time did you see the car gone, mum?" asked Charlie eagerly.

"I saw them pull out of the driveway." said Mrs. Weasely sending a stern look to her three youngest sons.

"Damn, I knew she heard you tripping over that bucket." said George to Fred.

"How was I to know that dad magicked it to fill itself full of chicken feed in the middle of the night?" said Fred defending himself.

"You should have known! We watched him enchant it the day before!" said George.

"Oh…right…" said Fred looking sheepish.

"Sorry, Mum, but see, we had to—"

All three of Mrs. Weasley's son 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. Weasely, prodding a finger in Fred's chest.

"Would rather not to be perfectly honest." muttered Fred to George. Neither one of them was all that forgiving to Percy yet.

"You could have died, you could have been seen, you could have lost your father his job—"

"I think the first one would have been the most important one." said Kingsley in his calm, deep voice.

"I know, but…just…." said Mrs. Weasley.

"We understood you mum." said Fred with a smile.

It seemed to go on for hours. Mrs. Weasely had shouted herself hoarse before she turned on Harry, who backed away.

"You fling yourself into a fight with a troll, and a dark wizard and you back away from an angry mother?" said Dean with a smile on his lips.

"You weren't there." said Ron and Harry together.

"I'm very pleased to see you, Harry, dear," she said. "Come in and have some breakfast."

"I was really taken aback. I had never seen anyone do an about-face like that." said Harry with a smile to Mrs. Weasely.

"She's good at that, she can soothe and comfort one kid and scream at the other for getting the other one hurt." said Fred with a smirk.

"Happens a lot at home." said George.

"Especially with you two for brothers." said Ginny with a grin.

She turned and walked back into the house and Harry, after a nervous glance at Ron, who nodded encouragingly, followed her.

"You looked so pale, I was afraid you were either going to faint or get sick." said Ron with a small smile.

"Oh, dear! I didn't mean to frighten you!" said Mrs. Weasely anxiously.

"I was a little tired, Mrs. Weasely, and hungry. I was jumping at the least little thing." said Harry soothingly.

"I hope you got to eat something and get some sleep." said Remus quickly.

"I got to eat, but after a while, I wasn't tired at all." said Harry. "Adrenaline is a fickle visitor."

"You're talking like Dumbledore again." said Sirius with a smirk.

The kitchen was small and rather cramped. There was a scrubbed wooden table and chairs in the middle, and Harry sat down on the edge of his seat,

"You still have wonderful posture, Potter." said Madam Pomfrey.

"It comes from Aunt Marge visiting constantly." said Harry bitterly.

"I don't see why you should sound so bitter…" said Madam Bones.

"She hates it when anyone slouches, with the great exception of Dudley. You'll find out in the next book why I despise her." said Harry with a snarl.

looking around. He had never been in a wizard house before.

"Any other wizard house would pale in comparison." said Harry with a grin.

"Wait'll you see ours, after I clean all the kitten crap out of there." said Sirius beaming.

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,

"That clock is such a wondrous thing, Molly. I greatly admire it." said Dumbledore with a broad smile.

"It was a wedding gift from my grandmother." said Mrs. Weasley with a smile. "She used it for her own family."

books with titles like Charm Your Own Cheese, Enchantments in Baking, and One Minute Feasts—It's Magic!

"I looked at those books while I was there; I was really interested in the 'Enchantments in Baking' one." said Harry. "There was a few recipes that attracted my attention and I wrote them down quick…let me see…oh here's the one I wanted to make but I haven't had the time. 'Black Magic Cake'."

"Black Magic Cake?" said Sirius slowly.

"Oh it's delicious!" said Mrs. Weasely earnestly. "Remus, I think you would like it, it's a chocolate cake with a taste of coffee."

"If it has chocolate in it or on it, he'll eat it." said Sirius with a smirk.

And unless Harry's ears were deceiving him, the old radio next to the sink had just announced that coming up was "Witching Hour, with the popular singing sorceress, Celestina Warbeck."

"Sirius is a big fan of hers." said Remus with a smirk.

"Hey! She's got a great singing voice!" said Sirius defensively.

"That's not the only thing you like about her." said Remus slyly.

Mrs. Weasely was clattering around, cooking breakfast a little haphazardly, throwing dirty looks at her sons as she threw sausages into the frying pan.

"I cook when I'm pissed too, but it's better if there is no one else in the room. I tend to fling things around." said Harry with a smile.

"Like what?" said Sirius quickly.

"Knives, plates, you name it, it's flying." said Harry with a smile.

Every now and then she muttered things like "don't know what you were thinking of," and "never would have believed it."

"I don't blame you, dear," she assured Harry, tipping eight or nine sausages onto his plate.

"I could tell that he was just about or near starving to death, but I was so angry that I didn't even give my children the chance to explain further. I only thought of the four of them crashing to the ground." said Mrs. Weasely shamefully. "I'm so sorry that I didn't listen to you boys, back then!"

"It's okay mom, it must have sounded like we were just trying to get out of trouble." said George quickly.

"And beside Mrs. Weasley, you made me all better." said Harry with child-like grin.

"But…" said Mrs. Weasley worriedly.

"Hindsight is twenty-twenty." said Dumbledore and Harry.

"We all have parts of our lives that we wish we could go back and change it. I have several points in my life that I wish I could go back and change." said Dumbledore kindly, "Due to these books, the list of moments are growing with each passing day." he finished with a grieved look.

"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 Ron by Friday.

"What day was it?" asked Dean.

"It was a Tuesday." said Harry.

"You wouldn't have been able to get out of the room on your own if they had waited till Friday." said Madam Pomfrey bitterly.

But really" (she was now adding three fried eggs to his plate to his plate),

"You went from eating only half a can of soup for a meal to eating enough for two people? That won't go well with your stomach." said Dr. Clark worriedly.

"I got sick later in the garden, yeah." said Harry quietly.

"That'll happen when you aren't used to eating that much." said Dr. Clark sadly.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Harry!" said Mrs. Weasely horrified.

"It's alright, Mrs. Weasely, I didn't throw up everything." said Harry trying to comfort her. "I managed to keep some of it down."

"flying an illegal car halfway across the country—anyone could have seen you—"

She flicked her wand casually at the dishes in the sink, which began to clean themselves, clinking gently in the background.

"That charm is really handy when I cook here at school." said Harry with a broad smile. "Love to cook, hate to do the damn dishes."

"It was cloudy, Mum!" said Fred.

"You keep your mouth closed while you're eating!" Mrs. Weasley snapped.

"Were you eating Fred?" asked Lee in a whisper. "Or was your mom still freaking out?"

"No, I was eating. She always tells me to close my mouth. It's a reflex with her." he said with a smile.

"Cause you do eat with your mouth open." said George. "It's nasty when you eat mashed potatoes."

"They were starving him, Mum!" said George.

"And you!" said Mrs. Weasley,

"So you didn't believe him?" asked Sirius frowning.

"I could see that he was very thin, but…I just couldn't believe that any family could be so cruel." said Mrs. Weasely anxiously.

"I know just how you feel Molly. First year in the Emergency room and the things I saw, not just the accidents, but all the abuse and self-inflicted wounds, I couldn't believe people could do things like that. It was so horrible." said Dr. Clark, a full-body shiver ran through his body. He then gave Harry a tight one-arm hug. "I saw you when you first came in there and you….I wanted to spend the rest of my life protecting you the best I could." he said with a broad smile.

but it was with a slightly softened expression that she started cutting Harry bread and buttering it for him.

"Well, at least you're being gentle with him." said Dr. Clark kindly. "He'd had enough going on that summer."

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 sent a stern glare around the school, but she couldn't stop one person who wolf-whistled. She turned slowly over Harry with a smirk, Harry, in turn, smiled back and shrugged his shoulders.

"I'm going to get you for that." said Ginny, still smirking.

"Like last time? I shaking in my shoes." he grinned cheekily.

"Ginny," said Ron 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.

"I think we'll have a bit of lunch real quick. While we read." said McGonagall quickly, she had heard a loud grumble coming from several different students, she whipped out her wand and summoned the table full of food.

Dr. Clark waited until Harry had returned with the four food-filled plates to resume his reading.

Nothing more was said until all four plates were clean, which took a surprisingly short time.

"Food never stays long at the Burrow." said Mrs. Weasely smiling at all her sons who all were wolfing down their sandwiches.

"Blimey, I'm tired," yawned Fred, setting down his knife and fork at last. "I think I'll go to bed and—"

"Oh no you don't, you stay up all night, you don't go to bed during the day." said Bill with a smirk.

"You will not," snapped Mrs. Weasely. "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—"

"Well, at least she gave you a fun job to do." said Charlie. "So she wasn't completely pissed at you. She believed you a little bit."

"Oh, Mum—"

"And you two," she said, glaring at Ron and Fred. "You can go up to bed, dear," she added to Harry. "You didn't ask them to fly that wretched car—"

"This is when my adrenaline visited me, wasn't tired at all for the rest of the day." said Harry with a smile. "But boy, did I crash that night."

But Harry, who felt wide awake, said quickly, "I'll help Ron. I've never seen a de-gnoming—"

"Oh that's sad; you really shouldn't kick them out. They bring good fortune." said Luna dreamily.

"Gnomes tend to come back if they really like the garden." said Neville grinning.

"That's very sweet of you, dear, but it's dull work," said Mrs. Weasely.

"After doing it, I've had duller work." said Harry with a smile. "It was actually a lot of fun."

"Now, let's see what Lockhart's got to say on the subject—"

Remus and Kingsley both groaned loudly.

"Who is he?" asked Dr. Clark.

"Worthless waste of hair tonic and space." said Remus stiffly.

"And that's being kind." said Kingsley with a scowl.

"How do you two know him?" asked Neville.

"I was in school with that…" Remus coughed loudly into his hand.

"And he just about stalked me all about the Ministry a few years ago." said Kingsley, his fingers massaging the bridge of his nose.

Mrs. Weasely blushed quickly, while her husband smiled broadly.

And she pulled a heavy book from the stack on the mantelpiece. George groaned.

"Mum, we know how to de-gnome a garden—"

"Pick up, spin around and let 'er fly!" said the Weasely children and Harry, who all smiled broadly.

Harry looked at the cover of Mrs. Weasely's book. Written across it in fancy gold letters were the words Gilderoy Lockhart's Guide to Household Pests.

"Did you read that book?" asked Ginny eagerly.

"Yep." Harry said simply. "Wasn't worth the time I spent reading it." he finished shaking his head.

There was a big photograph on the front of a very good-looking wizard with wavy blond hair and bright blue eyes.

Sirius blinked several times and then turned slowly to face the young man in the bowl. He had a smirk on his lips.

"No, I don't go for blokes." said Harry smacking Sirius about the head with a cushion.

"And if you did, you could really do better." said Kingsley with a smirk.

As always in the wizarding world, the photograph was moving: the wizard, who Harry supposed was Gilderoy Lockhart,

"That was a no brainer." said Harry with a smirk.

kept winking cheekily up at them all. Mrs. Weasely beamed down at him.

"Why would you?" said Remus gagging on his plate of turkey sandwiches.

"He was quite dapper." said Mrs. Weasely turning red.

"Oh, he is marvelous," she said. "He knows his household pests,

"He should, seeing as how he's almost always been one." said Remus bitterly.

"I don't think I remember this Lockhart guy…" said Sirius questioningly.

"He's the one that flirted with Lily and, I think you would sort of call it, tried to flirt with James." said Remus carefully.

"Dazzle Gums? That was Lockhart?" said Sirius with widened eyes.

"Yeah." said Remus nodding.

"He flirted with both of my parents?" said Harry staring at Remus dumbfounded.

"Yeah, there were several people at school that played either straight, both sides of the field or the same side, some were secretive about it, some were proud. He was downright obnoxious about it. Thought himself 'God's gift to women and men." said Remus shaking his head.

"The only girls who dated him were only after his looks, the guys, who were either bi or homosexual, wouldn't touch him with a twenty foot broomstick." said Sirius with a small chuckle. "They knew what he was all about. Imagine your dad's surprise when 'Dazzle Gums' asked him out on a date. Your dad ran and hid in the Gryffindor Quidditch Locker Room. We had to use the map to find him, and had to spend the whole weekend coaxing him from the rafters." he finished laughing loudly.

"Lockhart asking him out scared him that bad?" said Harry

"Not so much the whole 'a bloke asking another bloke out' part. Your Great-Uncle Rudolph Potter is homosexual. His boyfriend Leroy is always good for a laugh, great cook too." said Sirius thoughtfully. "It was the fact that 'Dazzle Gums' asked your dad out. James couldn't show his face for three days. Freaking hilarious, it was."

"I have an actual living relative?" said Harry dumbstruck. He was more focused on the knowledge of a living blood relative, than funny stories about his least favorite school teacher.

"Yeah, we'd take you to meet them both, but um…they're in Africa right now. They've been down there for the past…what Moony…fourteen years. They study animals and plants down there. When they come back to Europe, we'll take you to them. They would absolutely adore you. They did when you were a baby. Uncle Rudolph and Leroy would always come over and dote on you something fierce, just like Batty." said Sirius with a broad smile up to Bathilda who blushed heavily.

"They know about Lily and James right?" said Sirius asking Remus quickly.

"I tried finding them years ago, but all I was doing was chasing their dust. I think, last I heard, they were in the Congo." said Remus thoughtfully. "So I don't think they do know. When they get back, I guess we'll have to tell them."

all right, it's a wonderful book…."

"It's got the basics, but nothing more than what anybody else would know from common sense." said McGonagall with an irritated sniff.

"Mum fancies him," said Fred, in a very audible whisper.

"No different than dozens of others. I don't blame you, Molly, he's always been a charmer." said Remus and Sirius.

"Don't be so ridiculous, Fred," said Mrs. Weasely, her cheeks rather pink.

"Wow, Arthur, you don't care about this little crush your wife has?" said Tonks with a cheeky grin.

"I wasn't worried, I knew she fancied him, but she wouldn't run off with him even if the opportunity arose. She wouldn't leave me or the kids." said Mr. Weasely. He and his wife shared a loving kiss.

"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."

"What would have happened if there was a gnome in the garden?" said Sirius looking over to her sternly.

"I don't know, they've always had the garden cleared of gnomes. I never had to dream up anything, I guess they would have had to finish de-gnoming and then weed a patch of the garden." said Mrs. Weasely thinking carefully.

"Yeah, when Mum tells you to do a chore in the house, you do it and do it right." said Bill and the rest of the Weasely children. "But de-gnoming the garden is always fun, so we do it right."

Yawning and grumbling, the Weasely slouched outside with Harry behind them. The garden was large, and in Harry's eyes, exactly what a garden should be.

"Oh thank you, dear!" said Mrs. Weasley happily.

Dr. Clark read a head a little and smirked. "Hold that thought."

The Dursleys wouldn't have liked it—there were plenty of weeds, and the grass needed cutting—

"Fred and George are the ones, who are supposed to cut the grass, but we were all sort of worried about you that Arthur and I couldn't bring ourselves to have the children do much of anything." said Mrs. Weasley looking over to Harry.

"I loved your garden, I still do." said Harry with a broad smile.

but there were gnarled trees all around the walls, plants Harry had never seen spilling from every flower bed, and a big green pond full of frogs.

"Professor Sprout loves to come and look at the plants and our pond every summer." said Bill with a broad smile.

"It has such a lovely specimen of fresh water gillyweed growing in in your pond, Molly." said Sprout eagerly.

"Muggles have garden gnomes too, you know," Harry told Ron as they crossed the lawn.

"Yeah, I've seen those things they think are gnomes." said Ron, bent double with his head in a peony bush, "like fat little Santa Clauses with fishing rods…."

"And they don't move, made of some sort of clay or something." said Ron.

There was a violent scuffling noise, the peony bush shuddered, and Ron straightened up. "Thisis a gnome," he said grimly.

"Gerroff me! Gerroff me!" squealed the gnome.

It was certainly nothing like Santa Clause.

"Thank goodness, he'd frighten small children if he looked like a garden gnome." said Sirius smirking.

It was small and leathery looking, with a large, knobby, bald head exactly like a potato.

"I remember going over to your house a year ago or so, Seamus, and your mom asked me to go find a potato for the stew she was cooking, scared me out of my mind when I saw a body with it and it was talking to me." said Dean laughing.

Ron held it at arm's length as it kicked out at him with its horny little feet; he grasped it around the ankles and turned it upside down.

"This is what you have to do," he said. He raised the gnome above his head ("Gerroff me!") and started to swing it in a circle like a lasso. Seeing the shocked look on Harry's face,

"You really are way too kind sometimes." whispered Sirius kissing the top of Harry's head. Harry blushed heavily.

Ron added, "It doesn't hurt them—

"And they really enjoy it actually. They get a kick out of it." said George with a grin. "Didn't find that out till the following year, though."

you've just got make them really dizzy so they can't find their way back to the gnomeholes."

He let go of the gnome's ankles: It flew twenty feet into the air and landed with a thud in the field over the hedge.

"Pitiful." said Fred smugly.

"Pitiful," said Fred. "I bet I can get mine beyond the stump."

"And did you Fred?" said Ron cheekily.

"Shut up." said Fred quickly.

"His flew back behind him and smacked the house." said Harry with a large smile. Fred turned beet red when the students and guests laughed good-naturedly.

Harry learned quickly not to feel too sorry for the gnomes. He decided just to drop the first one he caught over the hedge,

"Aww! That was nice of you!" said Parvati.

but the gnome, sensing weakness, sank its razor-sharp teeth into Harry's finger and he had a hard job shaking it off—until—

"Wow, Harry—that must've been fifty feet…."

"It bit you?" said Dr. Clark quickly and closed the book quickly and turning his body to examine Harry's fingers.

"This was three years ago." said Harry as he watched Dr. Clark examine his fingers with worry.

"That explained why Ron hurried in and grabbed a bandage." said Ginny with a small smile.

"Were you hurt badly?" said Dr. Clark quickly.

"No, it was just a small bite. Ron overreacted." said Harry quickly, giving Ron a quick warning look.

The air was soon thick with flying gnomes.

"See, they're not too bright," said George, seizing five or six gnomes at once. "The moment they know the de-gnoming's going on they storm up to have a look. You'd think they'd have learned by now just to stay put."

"Professor Sprout told me that they come up to have a look and to get in line for the de-gnoming." said George beaming up to the Herbology Professor.

Soon, the crowd of gnomes in the field started walking away in a straggling line, their little shoulders hunched.

"They're pretending, makes it more funny for them when they sneak on back." said Fred smirking.

"They'll be back," said Ron as they watched the gnomes disappear into the hedge on the other side of the field. "They love it here….Dad's too soft with them; he thinks they're funny…."

"They are funny! It's the only reason I go out and sit in the garden every night. They pull pranks on each other." said Mr. Weasley grinning broadly. "Reminds me of two twins I know." he added looking over to his twin sons.

They heard this and started shoving each other saying "Gerroff!"

Just then, the front door slammed.

"He's back!" said George. "Dad's home!"

They hurried through the garden and back into the house.

"That's cute! They're so excited when you come home!" said Tonks joyfully.

"I may have a boring office job, but they love the in-the-field stories I bring home." said Mr. Weasley with a broad grin.

Malfoy looked down; his father was never this open with him. His father only talked about their family history. There were no funny stories coming from his father's lips, only serious business.

Mr. Weasely was slumped in a kitchen chair with his glasses off and his eyes closed. He was a thin man, going bald, but the little hair he had was as red as any of his children's. He was wearing long green robes, which were dusty and travel worn.

"By the way, thanks for the new robes I received that year for Christmas, Harry." said Mr. Weasley smiling over to the youth in the bowl.

"What a night," he mumbled, groping for the teapot as they all sat down around him. "Nine raids. Nine! And old Mundungus Fletcher tried to put a hex on me when I had my back turned…."

"Speaking of him…" said a voice by the door.

It was Nightstrike and he had ahold of Mundungus by the collar. In his other hand, there was a large cream colored bag, and it was bulging out at the sides.

"I was coming back from the Burrow when I caught this man coming out of your father's house." said Nightstrike over to Sirius.

"What?" said Sirius and the Weasleys together.

"I'll start with the Burrow: I was ordered by Captain Lionus to seize your muggle artifacts, Arthur." said Nightstrike.

"My…my…why?" said Mr. Weasley stuttering loudly.

"If we seized the things, than that would be the end of it, your Ministry can't touch you on them. Even if we hand them back to you, just as we took them. All you would have to do is pay a fine." said Lionus over to Mr. Weasley.

"What fine? How much?" said Mr. Weasley earnestly.

"Six hundred thousand galleons." said Lionus quietly. Mr. Weasley paled. "I know you can't pay it, I'll discuss how you'll get your belonging later. Now, what was Mr. Fletcher doing in the place in which you found him?" he finished, he knew the significance of the place in which Mundungus was found.

"Looting." said Nightstrike simply. Dropping the bag gently down to the ground, "This is all yours Mr. Black. I however, removed one item, its back at our headquarters. It has some significance, nothing you need worry about at the moment." he said cryptically.

"What are you going to do to Mundungus?" asked George and Fred.

"Nothing, except detain him till the books are over, just to waste his time." said Nightstrike with a grin. "It'll spare other people from falling victim to his sticky fingers"

"Good, he could learn a thing or two from this experience." said Lionus with a smirk.

Mr. Weasely took a long gulp of tea and sighed.

"Find anything, Dad?" said Fred eagerly.

"All I got were a few shrinking door keys and a biting kettle," yawned Mr. Weasley. "There was some pretty nasty stuff that wasn't my department, though Mortlake was taken away for questioning about some extremely odd ferrets, but that's the Committee on Experimental Charms, thank goodness…."

"You don't want to know what they were doing." said Mr. Weasely warningly. He wasn't enjoying himself as he was, he didn't want to have all of his treasures taken away, and as for the fine, how was he going to raise or save up that much money?

"Why would anyone bother making door keys shrink?" said George.

"Just Muggle-baiting," sighed Mr. Weasely. "Sell them a key that keeps shrinking to nothing so they can never find it when they need it….Of course, it's very hard to convict anyone because no Muggle would admit their key keeps shrinking—they'll insist they just keep losing it.

"I wonder if that's what happened to a few sets of my keys. I never did find them." said Dr. Clark absently.

Bless them, they'll go to any lengths to ignore magic, even if it's staring them in the face….But the things our lot have taken to enchanting, you wouldn't believe—"

"LIKE CARS, FOR INSTANCE?"

"This won't go well." said Remus with a small smile.

Mrs. Weasley had appeared holding a long poker like a sword. Mr. Weasley's eyes jerked open. He stared guiltily at his wife.

"C-cars, Molly, dear?"

"Yes, Arthur, cars," said Mrs. Weasley, her eyes flashing. "Imagine a wizard buying a rusty old car and telling his wife all he wanted to do with it was take it apart to see how it worked, whilereally he was enchanting it to make it fly."

"Mr. Weasley blinked.

"I wasn't too sure why she was bringing it up, we talked about this a year ago, I already got chewed out for it." said Mr. Weasely with a small smile to his wife.

Mrs. Weasley knew what was troubling her husband and reassured him that they were going to get his things back.

"Well, dear, I think you'll find that he would be quite within the law to do that, even if—er—he maybe would have done better to, um, tell his wife the truth….There's a loophole in the law, you'll find….AS long as he wasn't intending to fly the car, the fact that the car could fly wouldn't—"

"Arthur Weasley, you made sure there was a loophole when you wrote that law!" shouted Mrs. Weasely.

"Explains why you asked me all those questions." said Madam Bones with a slight smile.

"Just so you could carry on tinkering with all that Muggle rubbish in you shed!

"I didn't mean it like that, dear." said Mrs. Weasley anxiously.

And for your information, Harry arrived this morning in the car you weren't intending to fly!"

"Harry?" said Mr. Weasley blankly. "Harry who?"

"I wanted to hug you, right then and there." said Harry with a grin.

He looked around, saw Harry, and jumped.

"Good lord, is it Harry Potter? Very pleased to meet you, Ron's told us so much about—"

"I also loved how your eyes didn't look for this stupid thing." said Harry pointing to his scar.

"I had the feeling you were tired of people looking for it." said Mr. Weasely with a smile.

"Your sons flew that car to Harry's house and back last night!" shouted Mrs. Weasley. "What have you got to say about that, eh?"

"Did you really?" said Mr. Weasley eagerly. "Did it go all right?

Laughter rang throughout the hall.

"Why can't my dad be that easy going?" said Dean jealously.

"Mine too." said Draco quietly.

I—I mean," he faltered as sparks flew from Mrs. Weasley's eyes, "that—that was very wrong, boys—very wrong indeed…."

"And that is why I don't scold often, I never can, unless it's a major incident." said Mr. Weasely smiling at his wife.

"Let's leave them to it," Ron muttered to Harry as Mrs. Weasely swelled like a bullfrog. "Come on, I'll show you my bedroom."

They slipped out of the kitchen and down a narrow passageway to an uneven staircase, which wound its way zigzagging up through the house. On the third landing, a door stood ajar. Harry just caught sight of a pair of bright brown eyes staring at him before it closed with a snap.

"Aww! Harry noticed your eyes!" said Tonks squealing with glee.

"Wow, mate, you actually notice eye color?" said Ron in a whisper; he was rewarded with an elbow to the stomach, delivered by Hermione.

"Ginny," said Ron. "You don't know how weird it is for her to be this shy. She never shuts up normally—"

"That's nice." said Hermione with a smirk.

"I meant that she's just as nuts as Fred and George." said Ron defensively.

"It didn't come out that way, mate." said Harry with a smile.

They climbed two more flights until they reached a door with peeling paint and a small plaque on it, saying RONALD'S ROOM.

"Do you have to notice everything?" said Ron exasperatedly.

"Sorry." said Harry apologetically.

Harry stepped in, his head almost touching the sloping ceiling, and blinked. It was like walking into a furnace:

"What? It wasn't that warm in there." said Ron inquisitively.

"Like I said the other day, he's delicate!" said Madam Pomfrey. Harry groaned and buried himself in Sirius' shoulder.

"It wasn't the temperature." mumbled Harry.

Nearly everything in Ron's room seemed to be a violent shade of orange: the bedspread, the walls, covered nearly every inch of the shabby wallpaper with posters of the same seven witches and wizards, all wearing bright orange robes, carrying broomsticks, and waving energetically.

"With all that orange, I was amazed that you liked blue." said Harry with a smile.

"Your Quidditch team?" said Harry.

"The Chudley Cannons," said Ron, pointing at the orange bedspread, which was emblazoned with two giant black C's and a speeding cannonball. "Ninth in the league."

"I'd love to join the team." said Ron dreamily.

"With you as keeper, I'm sure they'd win a lot more." said Harry and Hermione.

However, they couldn't stop a few Slytherins from pretending to cough in their hands.

Ron's school spellbooks were stacked untidily in a corner, next to a pile of comics that all seemed to feature The Adventure of Martin Miggs, the Mad Muggle.

"Do you have the issue where he goes to that place in America, what is it…that Ripley's Believe or Not building?" asked Ernie earnestly.

"Yeah, I got it up in my trunk." said Ron. "Why do you want it?"

"I haven't read it all yet, I lost my copy." said Ernie excitedly "Can I read it later?"

"Sure, I guess." said Ron shrugging.

"Boys and their comic books." said Hermione shaking her head.

Ron's magic wand was lying on top of a fish tank full of frog spawn on the windowsill, next to his fat gray rat, Scabbers, who was snoozing in a patch of sun.

Remus, Sirius, Ron, Harry and Hermione all scowled.

"What's with you guys?" asked Dr. Clark, hearing all the grinding teeth.

"Wait till the third book, Sam." said Remus angrily.

Harry stepped over a pack of Self-Shuffling playing cards on the floor and looked out of the tiny window.

"We use those for poker night." said Harry with a laugh.

In the field far below he could see a gang of gnomes sneaking one by one back through the Weasley's hedge. Then he turned to look at Ron, who was watching him almost nervously, as though waiting for his opinion.

"It's a bit small," said Ron quickly. "Not like that room you had with the Muggles.

"At least my room didn't have bars on the windows and a cat flap on the door." said Ron quietly.

And I'm right underneath the ghoul in the attic; he's always banging on the pips and groaning…."

"I'm still amazed he doesn't' wake you up in the middle of the night." said Ron.

"He did the second night. First night I was just too tired, second I wasn't used to the noise. I went downstairs and slept on the sofa." said Harry with a smile. "After dawn, and after I ran around outside a bit, I went back up to your room and slept for the rest of the morning."

"You get up at dawn?" said Fred and George incredulously.

"I always do, unless I had a rough day the day before." said Harry shrugging.

But Harry, grinning widely, said, "This is the best house I've ever been in."

Ron's ears went pink.

"I should have turned bright red, we saw the McFinn's, they had an awesome house." said Ron quietly.

"Who'd like to read now?" said Dr. Clark.

"I will!" said Professor Sprout eagerly.

Dr. Clark handed the book to her and returned to the bowl.

"Is the next chapter as good as the one I read?" said Dr. Clark eagerly.

"The next chapter is At Flourish and Blotts." said Professor Sprout.

"Nope." said Harry.