Within the confines of the house, everything was dark and silent, save for the sounds of deep, sleepy breathing. The warm night air just added to the dreamlike atmosphere, relaxing the muscles of the Burrow's residents as the night wore on. The atmosphere, as it was wont to do in that home, changed abruptly as the wooden steps creaked under the weight of three people making their badly-concealed way down the stairs.
It was this atmosphere change that woke Arielle Potter up at the ungodly hour of three in the morning. Still clinging to her already forgotten dream, she turned over and buried her face further under the pillow, trying to ignore the sounds of footsteps on the stairs and sink back into her dreams. She gave up her attempts when the source of the noises stopped outside her room and began a whispered argument; shoving the blankets off her body, Arielle tiptoed to the door and listened to her adoptive brothers bickering.
"What if he really doesn't want to come? If we get there and he just tells us to shove off?" That was Ron. Git. Arielle already knew who he was talking about and they hadn't even mentioned his name.
"Come off it, Ron, he wouldn't, especially not after we go all the way out there," came a second voice.
"Well, he might," came a very similar voice to the second.
"But then we'd just nick his trunk—"
"Maybe his owl—"
"Definitely his owl."
"And tell him to get in before we leave him there to rot in that house," both voices finished together. That was Fred and George. Bigger gits. Arielle had to admit they had a point, though: Harry would rather be kidnapped by the twins than stay at his aunt and uncle's house any day.
"Plus, his sister lives here," Fred said.
"Yeah, who wouldn't want to spend extra time around Arielle?" George asked. The humour in his voice caused Arielle to open the door to the bedroom she shared with Ginny and glare at the tall redhead.
Despite the large size difference between the brothers and Arielle, all three boys shrunk under her glare. Fred and George recovered quickly, leaving Ron to shake in his boots—or slippers, as the case may be—by his lonesome.
Grinning like the Cheshire cat, Fred whispered, "Go lie down, you're having a nightmare."
"To right, I am," Arielle replied scathingly. "I wake up really early in the morning only to see your smiling face first thing." She tilted her head and grinned sarcastically at him, batting her eyelashes innocently and laughing on the inside.
"Touché," George said. "Listen, we're going on a rescue mission. Go to sleep and we'll be back before you wake up again."
"Uh-uh," said Arielle, shaking her head, "you're going to get Harry. I'm going with you." She folded her arms across her chest and stared them down, daring them to argue with her.
"Okay, fine," Ron said immediately. "Can we just go? The longer we stand here the more likely it is we'll get caught." Fred and George stood a moment longer before shrugging and sneaking further down the stairs. Arielle followed closely with Ron bringing up the rear.
The quartet crept out of the house and into the garage where the Weasleys' Ford Anglia was parked. Fred slid into the driver's seat and put the car in neutral so the other three could roll it out of the garage using the slight incline and sheer manual force, choosing the slight exertion over starting the engine within the echoing confines of the garage. Once the car was a good distance from its home, Ron, George, and Arielle clambered into the vehicle and situated themselves for the long journey ahead. Fred ignited the engine and started the car down the drive. Once there was a decent amount of open space in front of the Ford, Fred set the car up for a successful take off. Arielle folded her legs into a pretzel and watched the patchwork of land gliding beneath her, thankful for the comfy sweatpants she wore as she thought of the drive/flight they had in store.
In about an hour the unfamiliar landscape of Little Whinging was spread out under the group as they made their slow descent into the sleeping town. After finally scoping out the Dursleys' house, they pulled up to the window that had to belong to Harry, judging from the bars on it. Arielle leaned around Ron to get a better view of the inside. Her anger flared as she noticed the padlock on his snowy owl's cage and the cat flap on the door. Through the open window, Ron rattled the bars in the hopes of waking Harry.
"Stop it," was the distinct muttering that came from the sleeping Harry. Arielle giggled and he continued, believing it was all part of his dream. "Leave me alone…cut it out…I'm trying to sleep." Finally opening his eyes, Harry looked over at the window, taking in Ron and Arielle's faces staring back at him. He whispered something that looked like, "Ron!" before opening the window so that their communication wouldn't wake his aunt and uncle.
"Ron, Arielle, how did you—What the–?" he spluttered, his jaw dropping when he really noticed what was going on.
The twins were grinning at Harry's shocked face. "All right, Harry?" George asked.
"What's been going on? Why haven't you been answering my letters?" asked Ron quickly. "I've asked you to stay about twelve times—"
"Yeah," Arielle interjected, "and then Mr. Weasley came home saying that you'd gotten an official warning for using magic around Muggles—"
"It wasn't me—and how did he know?"
"He works for the Ministry," Ron explained, not seeming to think this information was important. "You know we're not supposed to do spells outside school—"
"You should talk." Harry looked pointedly at the floating car.
"This doesn't really count," Arielle said. "We've just borrowed this one."
"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 done in three days, so—"
"Relax, Harry," Arielle said. "We've come to take you home with us."
"Stop gibbering," Ron added, which was unnecessary as Harry had already shut up.
"But you can't magic me out either—"
"We don't need to. You forget who I've got with me," Ron said, gesturing to the front seat with his head and grinning.
Fred, who had been uncharacteristically silent through the whole explanation, threw Harry a length of rope while making sure he kept at least the end of it in the car. "Tie that around the bars."
Harry did as he said. "If the Dursleys wake up, I'm dead," he reminded them as Fred revved the car.
"Don't worry, and stand back," Fred said. Harry moved into the shadows as Fred drove the car as far away from the house as the rope let him and revved the engine louder until suddenly the car shot straight up when the bars had become detached. Ron hoisted the bars into the car. Once they were secure, Fred returned to the window where Harry stood.
"Get in," Ron said hurriedly.
"But all my Hogwarts stuff—my wand—my broomstick—" Harry stammered.
"Where is it?"
"Locked in the cupboard under the stairs, and I can't get out of this room—"
"No problem," said George from the front seat. "Out of the way, Harry."
The twins climbed out of the car and through the window to Harry's room. Once they were in the shadows by the door, undoubtedly picking the lock in the Muggle fashion, they began to talk to Harry, telling him to hand out anything he needs from his room to Ron and Arielle while they got his trunk. The door swung open and Harry whispered a warning to Fred and George that Arielle couldn't hear, then they were gone into the main part of the house.
Harry dashed around grabbing items he'd need for the Burrow as well as his return to Hogwarts and passing them out to Ron, who in turn handed them to Arielle so she could stow them properly and leave enough room for three people in the backseat. Once that was done, he left to help the twins with his trunk.
Finally, the boys reached the landing, hauling the trunk and out of breath. They carried the trunk to the window; Fred climbed out first so he could help Ron pull, pushing Arielle out of the way. She glared at the back of his head as he directed the trunk through the window.
"A bit more… One good push—" Fred panted, trying his hardest to pull the trunk into the car.
She heard the sound of shoulders hitting the trunk before Arielle was joined by a trunk in the backseat of the Ford. Once it was situated, George climbed through the window and whispered, "Okay, let's go."
Harry had gotten as far as the windowsill when his owl, not one to be left behind, screeched to draw his attention. Unfortunately, it drew the attention of Harry and Arielle's recently sleeping uncle as well.
"THAT RUDDY OWL!" Arielle could hear him from the car, he shouted so loud.
"I've forgotten Hedwig!" Harry jumped back down and tore across the room to Hedwig's cage. He had gotten her to the window, handed her to Ron—who, again, passed her off to Arielle, who glared at him—and climbed back up on the chest of drawers when his uncle hammered on the door and it flew open.
Vernon Dursley stood in the doorway for half a second before roaring like a wounded or angry wild animal and launching himself at Harry, grabbing him by the ankle.
Fred, George, Ron, and Arielle all reached out and, seizing Harry's arms, pulled as hard as they could to free him.
"Petunia! He's getting away! HE'S GETTING AWAY!"
The car's passengers all gave one enormous tug and Harry's ankle slid out of his uncle's grasp. He was in the car and slamming the door shut.
"Put your foot down, Fred!" Ron shouted, and the car jolted forward.
Harry opened the window and looked back at the Dursleys hanging from his window. "See you next summer!" he yelled. Everyone roared with laughter as Harry sat back, grinning widely. "Let Hedwig out. She can fly behind us. She hasn't had a chance to stretch her wings for ages."
George handed the hairpin to Arielle, who masterfully picked the lock, and, a moment later, the snowy owl was accompanying the Ford Anglia in the sky.
Ron, never being one for patience, immediately asked, "So—what's the story, Harry? What's been happening?"
Harry explained his entire situation, from Dobby to the violet pudding that had gotten him his official warning. The group discussed who could have been behind it, but they didn't think they'd ever really know.
"I'm glad we came to get you, anyway," Ron said after a while. "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?"
"He's the Weasley family owl. He's ancient; it's a little sad," Arielle said.
"Yeah, 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," Fred explained from the front.
"But Percy wouldn't lend him to me. Said he needed him."
"Percy's been acting very odd this summer," said a frowning George. "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, and Fred changed course.
"Percy doesn't really need a reason to act oddly, though," Arielle stated, earning grins from the twins in the front.
"So, does your dad know you've got the car?" Harry asked, probably for the sake of conversation as the answer was obvious.
For the rest of the trip, the Weasleys and Arielle explained about Mr. Weasley's job and why his "tinkering" drove Mrs. Weasley up the wall. Pretty soon, the car was back at the main road.
"We'll be there in ten minutes…. Just as well, it's getting light…." George said. The car flew lower and lower, and soon the ground was made of little patches again.
"Touchdown!" Fred cheered as the car landed with a slight bump in the Burrow's front yard. Arielle, grinning, applauded as if he were an airplane pilot after a long flight. She opened the door the moment the car stopped and got out, stretching her legs after the long flight.
The boys were going over plans to get back in the house and explain Harry's appearance at the Burrow when Arielle noticed Mrs. Weasley march out of the house directly towards where the Ford Anglia was parked. Ron seemed to have noticed, too, because he had turned an interesting and rather unpleasant shade of green. Arielle considered hiding, but, deciding it would do her no good, she just steeled herself for the rage of the usually kind-faced woman walking from the place she'd come to call "home."
A/N: Like it? Love it? Hate it? Don't care? Let me know. I've been dreaming up this huge series for years now, but now I've found somewhere to put it (which means I have a reason to actually write it =) )! This is just basically to show that even with another major person involved, I'm not changing major plot bunnies. Nearly all dialogue belongs solely to JKR, I just borrowed it.
I'm not sure when I'll update. Before anyone hunts me down, it's because I'm having surgery in two days (a.k.a. getting my wisdom teeth out; on my main characters birthday, I almost laughed in the dentist's office 'cause of that) and I don't know how long the antibiotics and stuff are going to mess with me because I've never had anesthesia before.
Sorry if that's a lame excuse. Reviews might motivate me *hint, hint*, but I still have three summer projects left and I go back in two weeks (eek!).