THE SECRET OF HOGWARTS

Chapter 1:

The summer of Lena and Calla's first year after Hogwarts was lovely. Spending time with their family in their little London cottage without magic was a little worse for wear with the girls, but they dealt with it because they did not want to get in trouble. Ron and Hermione had already written to them within the first week of the holiday, and so did Fred and George, insisting on coming ASAP. The only one who hadn't written was Harry, which worried the girls slightly, so they tried writing to him once. No reply came. This only lengthened the girls' worry.

For Evie and Ethan's sake, they tried to ignore the fact that their friend was being silent the whole summer. Evie and Ethan were very excited this summer, because mum and dad had decided to let them go to Hogwarts and sent Merlin to Professor Dumbledore letting him know this. They got word back the week later with the 'okay'. Questions sprung from the little siblings. 'What is it like at Hogwarts?' Ethan had asked as soon as they got Dumbledore's reply. To which, the girls said simply: 'It's really fun! You'll enjoy your time there!'

While the girls spent their summer at home, Harry Potter was at his aunt and uncle's house on Number Four, Privet Drive. The Dursleys pretended that Harry wasn't living in their house for most of the time he was there, the only thing he was useful for in their mind was making breakfast and cleaning. A fight had broken out over the household, about Harry's restless owl, Hedwig, making so much noise in her cage, waking Uncle Vernon up.

"She's bored," Harry explained anxiously. "She's used to flying around outside. If I could just let her out -"

"Do I look stupid?" snarled Uncle Vernon, a bit of fried egg dangling from his bushy moustache. "I know what'll happen if that owl's let out."

He exchanged dark looks with his wife, Petunia.

Harry tried to argue back but his words were drowned out by the loud, long belch from his ungrateful cousin Dudley.

After a few moments of calm conversation between Vernon and Petunia with their son, Harry then got in trouble just by saying the word, 'magic'. He was mistreated in this rather muggle home, because he was abnormal to his aunt and uncle. He was a wizard, they weren't.

Harry missed Hogwarts so much, it was like having a constant stomachache. He missed the castle, with its secret passageways and ghosts, his classes (though perhaps not Snape, the Potions master), the mail arriving by owl, eating banquets in the Great Hall, sleeping in his four-poster bed in the tower dormitory, visiting the gamekeeper, Hagrid, in his cabin next to the Forbidden Forest in the grounds, and, especially, Quidditch, the most popular sport in the wizarding world (six tall goal posts, four flying balls, and fourteen players on broomsticks).

Uncle Vernon was going on about some meeting with some important clients for his job. "I think we should go through the schedule one more time," he said. "We should all be in position by eight o'clock. Petunia, you will be -?"

"In the lounge," said Aunt Petunia promptly, "waiting to welcome them graciously to our home."

"Good, good. And Dudley?"

"I'll be waiting to open the door, Dudley put on a foul, simpering smile. "May I take your coat, Mr. and Mrs. Mason?"

"They'll love him!" cried Aunt Petunia rapturously.

"Excellent, Dudley," said Uncle Vernon. Then he rounded on Harry. "And you?"

"I'll be in my bedroom, making no noise and pretending I'm not here," said Harry tonelessly.

"Exactly," said Uncle Vernon nastily. "I will lead them into the lounge, introduce you, Petunia, and pour them drinks. At eight-fifteen-"

"I'll announce dinner," said Aunt Petunia.

"And, Dudley, you will say -"

"May I take you through to the dining room, Mr. and Mrs. Mason?" said Dudley, offering his fat arm to an invisible woman.

"My perfect little gentleman!" sniffed Aunt Petunia.

"And you?" said Uncle Vernon viciously to Harry.

"I'll be in my room, making no noise and pretending I'm not there," said Harry dully.

Harry spent the night in his bedroom, as he was told to do, silently. He was miserable. It was his birthday, and he was in the mindset that none of his friends had written to him at all this summer. None of them wished them a happy birthday. There were no card, no presents, and he would be spending the evening pretending not to exist. More than anything else at Hogwarts, more even than playing Quidditch, Harry missed his best friends, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, and Lena and Calla Lockhart. They however, didn't seem to be missing him at all. He was very surprised to not find an owl with a letter from Ron inviting him to stay at his house.

Little did he know, miles away, his friends were worried sick about him. They missed him too. They all wanted to hear from him. There was a force that was preventing him from receiving any of the letters that they'd sent him, all the presents, the cards wrapped in packages. Even some homemade fudge from Mrs. Weasley.

When Harry had gone downstairs for the sped up dinner he was able to eat before the Mason's got to the house, a little house-elf was jumping on his bed.

He went up the stairs, got a scolding from Uncle Vernon about not making a peep when the Mason's arrived, he opened his door to find a creature on his bed. It took a lot for him to keep from shouting. The little creature had large, bat-like ears and bulging green eyes the size of tennis balls. Harry knew instantly that this was what had been watching him out of the garden hedge that very morning. As they stared at each other, harry heard Dudley's voice from the hall.

"May I take your coats, Mr. and Mrs. Mason?"

The creature slipped off the bed and bowed so low that the end of its long, thin nose touched the carpet. Harry noticed that it was wearing what looked like an old pillowcase, with rips for arm- and leg-holes.

They exchange greetings. The small creature introducing himself as Dobby the house-elf. Aunt Petunia's high, false laugh sounded from the living room. The elf hung his head. Harry asked why the elf was in his bedroom. Dobby burst into tears when Harry offered him to sit.

Throughout this ordeal, Harry learned many things, got into trouble for noise from Uncle Vernon once, and had to stuff a house-elf into his wardrobe. Harry learned that Dobby had been the one stopping his friends' letters from turning up, saying that it was for Harry Potter's own good. Dobby was trying to prevent Harry from wanting to go back to Hogwarts, to which Harry called his real home. The house-elf cause raucous in the Dursley household by dropping pudding with mountains of cream and sugared violets on top of the head of Mrs. Mason. And with a crack like a whip, vanished as soon as the damage was done.

After that, an owl with a letter from the Ministry of Magic arrived, saying that he would be expelled if any more underage use of magic were found on his part.

That very night, Lena and Calla had arrived at Ron's house just in time to hear what he, Fred and George had planned. A rescue of Harry Potter. The girls were excited. Their first adventure with the three Weasley brothers!

"So," Fred said that night, an hour before everyone else was asleep, "We'll sneak out of the house once everyone is asleep and get to the car out front. George and I will use the spell dad uses to expand the car whenever we go to King's Cross so that you two can fit in the backseat and with Harry and Ron," he explained.

"Where did you say he lived, Ron?" George questioned his younger brother.

"Somewhere in Surrey," Ron said, "He never really explained to me where he lived."

"He lives on Number Four, Privet Drive," Calla chimed in. Ron looked at her confusedly.

"We asked him where he lived once, and he told us," Lena explained, an innocent smile on her face.

"Right," Fred said, slinging an arm around Calla's shoulders. "So, are we set on the plan?" he asked everyone, to which they all nodded with enthusiasm.

Thank God Evie and Ethan are still at home, Lena Kelted to Calla immediately after this exchange.

Calla looked at her sister and nodded. Yeah, she replied simply.

An hour later, the Weasley household was getting ready for bed.

"Thanks again for letting us stay here, Mrs. Weasley," Calla said as they made their way up the stairs.

"We really appreciate it," Lena added.

Mrs. Weasley smiled at them once they reached the top and hugged the girls motherly. "It's no problem, dears. You're welcome to stay with us any time!" They felt a little guilty for what they were about to do with the three Weasley boys, but the thought of seeing Harry again made up for it.

Fred and George had made a fort just for show so that Mrs. Weasley would think that they were going to be sleeping. When right under her nose, they would be sneaking back down the stairs and to the car within a matter of minutes. The quartet stayed in the rather large room that was surrounded with pranks and doodads that the twins had invented, until they were sure that the whole house was asleep, even Ginny. Ron had tip-toed into the twins' room a few minutes after they heard the last door screech shut.

"Ready?" The twins muttered. Ron, Lena and Calla nodded. Fred and George left the room first, making quite sure that every door was closed before tip-toeing down the stairs. The Lockhart sisters and Ron followed suit, Lena and Calla checking over their shoulders every so often to see if Mrs. Weasley was watching them.

As soon as the group made it outside the Burrow, the twins did the enlargement incantation on the muggle car, widening the backseat so that four seats were visible. The twins sat in the front, and Ron, Calla and Lena took their seats in the back and placed their seatbelts on. Ron followed soon after.

"Everyone good?" George asked, turning around in his seat to look at the three. They nodded. "Right," he said, "Go on, then, Fred!"

Once the car flew up into the air, Lena and Calla gasped as the altitude they reached went higher and higher. Fred chuckled and pressed the button labeled 'Invisibility Booster'. They flew into the night, Calla and Lena looking out the window frequently, seeing the clouds below them move along with them. Ron looked at them with an amused expression.

"Did you honestly, think we'd be using the Muggle function of a car?" Ron asked, laughter in his voice. The girls blushed slightly.

"We've never been in a flying car," Calla explained. "Our parents don't use magic like your family does." Ron nodded in realization.

"Almost there!" Fred exclaimed happily, motioning the car downwards as if to land. As the car made its way down, the girls noticed that the street sign was labeled Privet Drive. Harry's street. The excitement bubbled in their throats as they reached the window of Number Four. Harry stood looking out his window, blinking occasionally.

"Ron?" He breathed when they reached an inch away from the window. "How did you - what the?" His mouth fell open. Ron was leaning out of the window of an old turquoise car which was parked in midair. Grinning at him from the front seats were Ron's older twin brothers, Fred and George. And behind Ron in the back seat were Lena and Calla Lockhart, who were waving and smiling at him on either side of the redhead.

"Alright, Harry?" asked George.

"What's been going on?" Ron asked, "Why haven't you been answering my letters? I've asked you to stay like twelve times, and then Dad came home and said you'd got an official warning for using magic in front of Muggles -"

"I'm sure that Harry wouldn't do such a thing, Ron," Calla said from behind. Harry nodded gratefully with a slight smile.

"It was me - and how did he know?" he asked.

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

"You should talk," said Harry, staring at the floating car. Calla and Lena giggled.

"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 those Muggles you live with -"

"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 used in three days, so -"

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

"But you can't magic me out either -"

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

"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.

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

Harry moved back into the shadows next to Hedwig, who seemed to have realized how important it was and kept still and silent. 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 into the air. Harry ran back to the window to see the bars dangling a few feet above the ground. Panting, Ron hoisted them up into the car. Harry listened anxiously, but there was no sound from the Dursleys' bedroom. When the bars were safely in the back seat with Ron, Calla and Lena, Fred reversed as close as possible to Harry's window.

"Get in," Ron said.

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

"Where is it?" Lena asked anxiously.

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

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

"A lot of wizards think it's a waste of time, knowing this sort of Muggle trick," said Fred, "but we feel they're skilled worth learning, even if they are a bit slow." There was a small click and the door swung open.

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

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

Harry dashed around his room, collecting things and passing them out of the window to Ron and the Lockhart sisters. Then he went to help Fred and George heave his trunk up the stairs. Harry heard Uncle Vernon cough.

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. Calla and Lena positioned themselves behind Ron in the backseat, pulling against his shirt. Inch by inch, the trunk slid through the window.

Uncle Vernon coughed again.

"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.

But as Harry climbed onto the windowsill there came a sudden loud screech from behind him, followed immediately by the thunder of Uncle Vernon's voice.

"THAT RUDDY OWL!"

"I've forgotten Hedwig!"

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.

Ron, Lena and Calla seized Harry's arms and pulled as hard as they could.

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

But the trio 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 -

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

Harry couldn't believe it - he was free. 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.

Everyone in the car 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."

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

"So - what's the story, Harry?" said Ron impatiently. "What's been happening?"

"Yeah!" Calla and Lena said. "We tried writing you and when you didn't reply, we got really worried."

Harry told them all about Dobby, the warning he'd given Harry and the fiasco with the violet pudding. There was a long, shocked silence when he had finished. Lena and Calla shared a concerned glance.

"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 the twins, Lena and Calla exchange a look with each other.

"What, you think he's 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," Harry, Ron, Calla and Lena said simultaneously.

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

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

Harry had heard about Malfoy's family before, and they didn't surprise him at all. Malfoy made Dudley Dursley look like a kind, thoughtful, and sensitive boy.

"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…"

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. Had Harry been stupid to take Dobby seriously?

"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?" Harry interjected.

"Don't blame the owl, Ron," Lena said defensively, "It can't help it if it's clumsy." Ron rolled his eyes.

"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 keeps sending letters to someone," Calla chimed in. "I keep seeing Hermes flying out of his window."

"He'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.

Calla and Lena yawned sleepily, unaware of the time of night. The sky was midnight blue and the clouds were fading to a dark grey. Unknowingly, Calla had rested her head on Ron's shoulder, and Lena on Harry's. George saw this through the passenger side mirror and chuckled.

Me sleepy… Lena and Calla Kelted to the twins. Fred and George looked at each other with slight grins on their faces.

We can see that, Fred replied.

We'll be home soon, George added.

As Harry and Ron talked about Mr. Weasley and his job at the Ministry, the boys had slid their arms around Lena and Calla's shoulders out of sheer instinct. Lower and lower went the flying car as the conversation died down. 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 tumbledown garage in a small yard, and Harry looked out for the time at Ron's house. 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, it probably was). 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.

Ron and Harry poked the girls awake and led them out of the old car. Fred and George took over with their arms slung around the girls' shoulders. Calla felt warmth at her heart where her lily pendant lay.

"It's not much," said Ron to Harry.

"It's wonderful." Harry replied.

"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 pleased to see Harry and no one need ever know we flew the car."

"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 five wheeled 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, tugging Calla closer.

"Oh dear," said George, tugging Lena close.

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. She looked motherly at Lena and Calla and sighed heavily at the sleepy girls.

"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, Charlie or Percy-"

"Perfect Percy," muttered Fred, and Calla looked up at him with a worried look on her face.

"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 -"

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

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

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

The kitchen was small and rather cramped. There was a scrubbed wooden table and chairs in the middle, and Harry sat on the edge of his seat, looking around. He had never been in a wizard house before. 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 mantlepiece, books with titles like Charm Your Own Cheese, Enchantment in Baking, and One Minute Feasts - It's Magic! 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."

Mrs. Weasley bustled about the kitchen , cooking breakfast a little haphazardly, throwing dirty looks at her sons, muttering things under her breath.

"I don't blame you, dear," she assured Harry, tipping eight or nine sausages on his 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 Ron by Friday. But really, (she was now adding three fried eggs onto his plate), "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.

"It was cloudy, Mum!" said Fred.

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

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

"And you!" said Mrs. Weasley, but it was with a slightly softened expression that she started cutting Harry bread and buttering it for him.

There's no use in explaining ourselves, Calla willed into Fred's head from beside him as she ate viciously. Just let her calm down. Fred looked down at her, and she up at him while chewing. He smiled grimly at her and nodded once in submission. She's a mother, she's bound to freak out more than you would. Calla explained, going back to eating. Fred chuckled in her head.

At that moment there was a diversion in the form of a small, red-headed figure in a long nightdress, who appeared in the kitchen, gave a small squeal, and ran out again.

"Ginny," said Ron in an undertone to Harry as the girls giggled and shook their heads. "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. Calla rested her hand on his arm gently. Nothing more was said until all six 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 we'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 can go up to bed, dears," she added to Harry, Calla and Lena. "You didn't ask them to fly that wretched car -"

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

"Neither have we," Calla and Lena said simultaneously.

"That's very sweet of you, dears, but it's dull work," said Mrs. Weasley. "Now, let's see what Lockhart's got to say on the subject -"

And she pulled a heavy book from the stack on the mantlepiece. George groaned. Calla and Lena looked at each other with grim faces.

"Are you two related to Gilderoy?" Mrs. Weasley asked the girls, seeing the exchange.

Lena and Calla nodded grimly. "He's our uncle," they explained, "Father's brother."

Fred and George raised their eyebrows at them. "You never told us about him," they said.

"We don't really associate ourselves with him very much," Calla explained in a tiny voice.

"Fame got to his head and he completely avoided us," Lena added, looking at her sister. Fred wrapped his arm brotherly around Calla's shoulder.

"Oh he is marvelous," Mrs. Weasley said, apparently having not heard the conversation. "He knows his household pests, all right, it's a wonderful book…"

"Mum fancies him," said Fred, in a very audible whisper. Calla almost choked on her juice. Fred patted her back as she coughed.

"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."

Yawning and grumbling, the Weasley slouched outside with Harry, Calla and Lena behind them. The garden was large, and in Harry's eyes, exactly what a garden should be. "You should see the garden we have at our home, Harry," Lena said, "It's beautiful. Our mother takes great pride in it." The Dursleys wouldn't have liked the Weasley's garden. There were plenty of weeds, and the grass needed cutting - 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.

Lena and Calla watched Fred and George as they sat near the pond, dipping their toes in the cool water.

"Muggles have garden gnomes, too, you know," said Harry to 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…"

Fred and George motioned for Lena and Calla to come and help them, so the sisters found their way across the garden.

"Gerroff me! Gerroff me!" the gnome squealed. Harry, Lena and Calla watched as Ron swung the gnome around like a lasso.

"It doesn't hurt them," Ron said reassuringly, "We just got to make them really dizzy so that they don't find their way back to the gnomeholes." He let go of the gnomes ankles: it flew twenty feet into the air and landed with a thud in the field over the hedge. The girls clapped in awe.

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

Harry, Lena and Calla learned quickly not to feel too sorry for the gnomes. Lena and Calla oohed as Harry flung his gnome across the field.

"Wow, Harry - that must've been fifty feet -" Lena said.

The air was soon thick with flying gnomes. Even Calla and Lena decided to give it a go. "See, they're not too bright," said George, seizing five or six gnomes at once, catching the girls off guard. "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." Soon, a crowd of gnomes in the field started walking away in a straggling line, their little shoulders hunched.

"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…"

Just then, the front door slammed.

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

They hurried through the garden and back into the house.

Mr. Weasley 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.

"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…" Mr. Weasley 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…"

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

"Just Muggle-baiting," sighed Mr. Weasley. "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. 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?"

Mrs. Weasley appeared, holding a long poker like a sword. Mr. Weasley's eyes jerked open. He stared guiltily at his wife while Lena and Calla giggled at the exchange.

"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, while really he was enchanting it to make it fly."

After Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had the argument about the flying car, causing Lena and Calla to go into a fit of silent giggles, Mrs. Weasley mentioned that Harry had arrived that morning in the car that Mr. Weasley wasn't intending to fly.

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

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 -"

"Your sons flew that car with Lena and Calla 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? I - I mean," he faltered as sparks flew from Mrs. Weasley's eyes, "that - that was very wrong, boys and girls - very wrong indeed…"

Fred, George, Lena and Calla stayed in the kitchen as Ron and Harry snuck upstairs to Ron's room. As the storm of screaming from Mrs. Weasley increased, a bell sounded at the front door. Lena and Calla jumped up from the table.

"Erm - Mrs. Weasley -" Calla said cautiously, getting Mrs. Weasley to look at her. "Our brother and sister are here with our parents…" Mrs. Weasley breathed heavily and nodded.

"We'll go and fetch them," Lena added. Fred and George followed the girls to the door.

When the Lockhart sisters pulled the door open, they were bombarded by the growing pups, Ren and Eleanor. They had grown about twice the size over the summer and still flew up on the girls' shoulders, but felt light as air. Evie and Ethan Lockhart, followed by Mr. and Mrs. Lockhart, stepped through the old entryway. Evie and Ethan oohed and ahhed at the figurines on the walls.

"Hello, again," Fred and George said cheerily to the youngsters.

"Hi!" The boy and girl replied, looking up at the red-headed twins.

"Nice to see you again, Mr. and Mrs. Lockhart," Fred said gentlemanly, shaking the hands of Lena and Calla's mother and father. George followed suit.

"Ah," Mrs. Lockhart said with a warm smile on her face. "Good to see you as well, Fred. George." She hugged her eldest daughters tightly as she walked in after Evie and Ethan. She looked to be in her mid-thirties, but there were slight wrinkles when she smiled. Her hair was tied up into a messy bun at the top of her head, as they had been traveling. Mrs. Weasley welcomed them into the cramped kitchen. The amused sounds came from the younger versions of Lena and Calla as they moved around the room, looking fixedly at the clock on the wall.

"Welcome to our abode, Mr. and Mrs. Lockhart!" Mrs. Weasley said brightly, offering them some breakfast that was still left in the pots.

"Please," Mrs. Lockhart said with a smile, her bright blue eyes twinkling, "Call me Olivia." She extended her hand towards Mrs. Weasley, who shook it respectfully.

"You can call me, Molly," Mrs. Weasley replied kindly, returning to the sink and retrieving some fried eggs and sausages. "And this is my husband, Arthur," she added, gesturing to Mr. Weasley who was reading the newspaper. He looked up at the sound of his name, and waved politely to the new guests.

Mr. Lockhart rounded up Evie and Ethan, carrying them to the kitchen table. "Since we're going by first names," he said, sitting them down on two chairs as they laughed, "you both can call me Theodore. Ted for short, if you do so choose."

Ron, Harry! Lena and Calla shouted at the boys from downstairs. Come down and say hello to our parents! Just then, footsteps could be heard coming down the narrow staircase.

Mr. and Mrs. Lockhart looked up at the two boys who had just entered the room. "Hello," Mrs. Lockhart said with a smile.

"Harry Potter and Ron Weasley, correct?" Mr. Lockhart questioned, a slight grin on his lips as he noticed the boys glance at each other. Evie, Ethan, Calla and Lena chuckled. "Our daughters have told us about you two." Harry and Ron looked at the sisters that stood by Fred and George. Nonetheless, they nodded in response.

Mr. and Mrs. Lockhart tucked into their breakfasts handed to them by Mrs. Weasley. "We can't stay long, unfortunately," Theodore Lockhart said as he finished his last sausage. "We both have work to do when we get back to the Lockhart House." Fred and George looked at Lena and Calla, who shrugged.

"We just wanted to say goodbye to our children before they went off to Hogwarts," Mrs. Lockhart said cheerfully as she took a sip of tea. Mrs. Weasley nodded.

"Stay as long as you'd like. We'll be sure to get them their school supplies tomorrow when the lists come." Mrs. Weasley explained. With a flick of her wand, the plates on the table had floated to the sink.

Shortly after Mr. and Mrs. Lockhart had finished their breakfasts, looked around the Burrow and complimented Mrs. Weasley on everything they saw, hugs were given round.

"Thanks so much for letting our children stay with you, Molly, dear," Mrs. Lockhart said, hugging the redheaded woman.

"It's really no problem," Mrs. Weasley said reassuringly.

The Lockharts said their teary goodbyes and Mr. and Mrs. Lockhart left the Burrow in their old, rusted car that, sadly, did not fly.