A/N – I don't normally like begging for reviews but as my last chapter got no reviews, please, please review. Thanks.

Harry and Ron met up again at King's Cross Station and, as usual, although they had gotten up early to get ready were running late for the train. Mrs Weasley was looking more harassed than ever as she tried to organise all her children and Harry to disappear through the barrier between platforms nine and ten without any Muggles noticing and still get on the train in time. "Percy first," she said, looking nervously at the clock overhead, which showed they only had five minutes to get through the barrier and get on the train.

Percy, with a superior look, strode forward and vanished. Mr Weasley went next and Fred and George went after him. They didn't even bothering to do the usual charade of pretending to talk whilst leaning against the wall so they could casually lean through, as they were so short of time.

"I'll take Ginny and you two come right after us," Mrs Weasley told Harry and Ron, grabbing Ginny's hand and setting off, pulling a nervous looking Ginny after her. Harry would have felt sorry for Ginny – he had been extremely nervous the first time he had gone through the barrier, but they were running out of time and he only wished that Mrs Weasley and Ginny would hurry up.

Dobby, who was hiding in a corner and nursing his freshly ironed fingers, couldn't believe his luck. He'd had no idea how he was going to stop Harry Potter getting through the gateway, but as he was the last to go through, along with his red headed friend, it was going to be easier than he had thought possible. Dobby tried to ignore his guilt that went with creatively interpreting his masters' orders. He felt a great deal more guilt at the pain he was going to cause his beloved Harry Potter. "Dobby's got to do it. Dobby's got to do it." He muttered desperately to himself. "Dobby is not a bad house-elf, Dobby does what is right. Harry Potter lied to Dobby when Harry Potter said he promised he would not go back, so Dobby has to. Dobby has to. Sorry Harry Potter." Dobby clicked his fingers and the barrier shut.

"Let's go together, we've only got a minute," Ron said to Harry and Harry nodded. He made sure Hedwig's cage was safely wedged on top of his trunk and wheeled his trolley around to face the barrier. Both walked towards the barrier, gathering speed as they went, eventually breaking into a run until they were almost at the barrier and they squeezed their eyes shut, preparing for –

CRASH.

For some reason the gateway had closed itself. They leant against the barrier, pushing as hard as they could without being noticed but it seemed that the barrier was as solid as it looked. They couldn't get through. "What do we do?" asked Ron. "What if Mum and Dad can't get back through to us? Are we trapped?" Harry was thinking quickly.

"Wait here." He told Ron. "I may have an idea, watch my trolley will you?" and with that he rushed out of sight to where a large black dog was waiting. The dog stood up and whined softly, realising something was wrong. Harry knelt down and leant close to it. "Sirius," he whispered, "we can't get through. The barrier's gone solid. What do we do?" Sirius cocked his head, thinking, and then he let out a yip and pointed towards Hedwig with his nose. "Of course," Harry murmured. "Thanks Pads." Sirius looked at him dolefully. "I'll be fine. Dumbledore'll sort it out and I can stay at the Burrow for a bit if I have to." Sirius continued to look at him and Harry sighed. "You know why I can't go back home with you now. I'll write as soon as we get to Hogwarts, I promise." Sirius nudged him affectionately and Harry scratched Sirius behind the ears.

Harry ran back to Ron, glad that Ron hadn't seen him talk to a dog. "W - we send Hedwig with a - a letter," he panted. As out of sight as they could get from the Muggles surrounding them they wrote a hasty letter.

Dear Professor Dumbledore,

For some reason we can't get through the gateway to platform nine and three quarters. We're stuck at King's Cross Station. Please help.

Harry Potter and Ron Weasley

They let Hedwig out of her cage as discreetly as they could and, as if she sensed it was an emergency, flew as fast as she could. "Well where do we go now? I suppose we could – wait - the car," said Ron, "we could fly the car to school. It would get us there much faster than Hedwig could fly." Harry briefly entertained the idea, but shook his head sadly.

"We've already sent the letter. They'd probably expel us, because it's unnecessary. Reasonable Whatsit For Underage Wizardry or something. Since its not a real emergency, 'cos we've sent Hedwig with the letter." Ron hung his head,

"Yeah. Would've been fun though." Harry nodded, wishing he'd thought of the car before they'd sent Hedwig.

"We'll have to wait in it though," he said, "we can't just wait in the station."

They waited in the car, daring each other to eat the toffees in the glove compartment before Mrs Weasley inevitably returned to find them gone. Harry was just about to take one when she appeared, marching towards them. It was remarkable, Harry thought, how, even though she was a small, plump, kind faced woman, people dived out of her way as she steamrolled towards them, Mr Weasley following in her wake. "You two," she hissed, jabbing her finger at them when she close enough not to be heard, "why aren't you on the train, I've been out of mind with worry. Poor Ginny was almost in tears by the time I managed to get her on the train-"

"But Mum-"

"And here I find lazing around in the car-"

"Mrs Weasley-" Harry tried. It was a bad idea. Mrs Weasley glanced down at Harry's hand. Harry's hand that was holding a toffee.

"EATING. MY. TOFFEES!" She yelled, her face a vicious snarl and Harry doubted there was anyone in the station that hadn't heard her.

"Mrs Weasley," he pleaded and at last Mrs Weasley's face seemed to soften and she seemed less like a sabre-toothed tiger. "Mrs Weasley, the barrier wouldn't let us through, we don't know why. We've sent Hedwig to Hogwarts with a letter and we decided to wait in the car because we didn't know what else to do. And I'm very sorry for thinking about eating your toffee, but I haven't actually eaten any yet. I'll put this one back if you like." Mrs Weasley was beginning to look more like the Mrs Weasley Harry knew.

"Of course you can have a toffee Harry dear. It's just we were so worried. We'll go back to the Burrow, don't worry; they'll still know where to find us. Dumbledore doesn't miss a trick." Mr Weasley drove them to the Burrow and Harry decided it was best if he ate his toffee and didn't speak.

Luckily, they only had to wait in the Burrow until the next morning. Professor Dumbledore himself arrived looking cheerful and slightly bemused. He assured Mrs Weasley that they would be all right and would not be in trouble and regretfully declined her offer of tea and cake, telling her that he really needed to get Harry and Ron to Hogwarts, and get back himself. Then he held out his arm for Harry and Ron to grasp and Apparated them both to his office. "Sir," said Harry, once he had stopped feeling like he was going to be sick, "thanks for coming to get us. Do you know why the barrier wouldn't let us through?"

"It appeared the gateway had been tampered with, though who tampered with it we do not know," he smiled. "Rest assured, we will be investigating further. Now, your timetables," he handed them each their timetables, "I suggest you go to your common room for the moment, you cannot get to morning lessons in time, although I expect you to be in lessons after break."

"So," Harry was saying once they got to the common room, "Dobby the house-elf shows up in my room warning me not to come back to Hogwarts and the gateway won't let me through. Someone clearly doesn't want me here."

"Three guesses who," said Ron, but Harry looked doubtful,

"I know Malfoy could've easily sent Dobby and it would be the sort of thing he'd find funny, but it would take powerful magic to tamper with the barrier. I don't think Malfoy could've done that."

"Malfoy's father then?" Ron suggested,

"Doesn't seem his style somehow," said Harry, "Malfoy's father seems too … slippery. The barrier, it's too obvious. Malfoy's father seems the type to quietly interfere without you even realising he was doing it until you suddenly found that, for some reason, you couldn't go to Hogwarts." Ron nodded,

"You're probably right. It's still odd though."

At that point Hermione burst into the common room "There you are! Where have you been? Why weren't you at the feast or in lessons? I've heard the strangest rumours," she looked at them. "Well, obviously you haven't been eaten by the giant squid or been kidnapped by Professor Lockheart or run away to Antarctica, so you better tell me what really happened."

"The barrier wouldn't let us through for some reason, Professor Dumbledore said it had been tampered with, so then we sent Hedwig with a letter to Dumbledore and he came to fetch us. We're just trying to figure it out but we're getting nowhere." Said Ron.

"But where it really starts," said Harry, "is when this house-elf called Dobby appeared in my room and warned me not to go back to Hogwarts because terrible things are supposedly going to happen."

"We think," said Ron again, "that it was probably Malfoy who sent Dobby, as a joke, but we don't know about the barrier." Hermione sighed,

"Great," she muttered. "Another mystery, just what I need," she looked at them severely, in a way that was remarkably reminiscent of Professor McGonagall, "I bet you're both loving this aren't you?" Harry and Ron both grinned and Harry raised an eyebrow,

"You love it too," he said knowingly.

"Oh OK," she admitted, "but all we know is that it was probably Malfoy who sent Dobby, but after the train thing it might not have been, since it seems likely that same person who sent Dobby stopped you getting through the barrier. We don't have the slightest clue who stopped you getting through the barrier. We know nothing else, so if you don't mind, I have some work to do."

"Work?" said Ron. "Work? How can she have work already? Mad she is."

"We already knew that Ron." They carried on discussing all that had happened even though, as Hermione had pointed out, they knew nothing.

Dear Canis and Moony,

Told you I'd write as soon as I got to Hogwarts. Professor Dumbledore came to the Burrow and picked us up so everything was fine. The really important thing is we now have a new mystery – somebody obviously doesn't want me at Hogwarts so who and why?

Any thoughts?

Oh, and did you know the Weasley's have a flying car that Mr Weasley charmed? It's a shame because we could have flown it to school, but we probably would have got expelled so it's probably good that we didn't.

Harry

Dear Harry,

No idea. There's nothing to do but wait for these 'terrible things' to start happening. Anyway, things are slightly mad as Canis' mother's room 'somehow' got trashed and Kreacher is throwing a fit. Hope things are calmer down your end.

Moony

Dear Harry,

Good to hear things are fine for you. Good luck with the new mystery, just do me a favour and wreck Slytherin common room will you?

Shame about the car.

Canis