Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. If I did, I would be holidaying somewhere in the sub-tropics, rather than complaining about sadistic teachers who co-ordinate to make everything due on the same day.
Summary: See previous chapters

Chapter Fourteen

Roisin's portkey to the O'Conner Keep was due to leave at 5 a.m. on August 1st, bringing her to the Keep in time for the Lughnasadh festival. Leaving before anyone in the house was even stirring, Roisin had managed to escape wrath and general chaos for a few days.

Lughnasadh was the celebration of the beginning of the harvest. There were contests of strength and skill, horse riding, and invoking the blessings of the gods to ask for a good harvest.

The celebration was two-fold this year, as one of the older girls who had taken Roisin under her wing was to undergo the Handfasting, or 'Trial Marriage', ceremony to a young man by the name of Sean Muldoon. Another couple, Aislin and Bran, would complete their Handfasting and either leave the union, or become married on a permanent basis.

There had been a few teasing comments about how they could finally get rid of each other, but these were largely ignored. As Seamus had pointed out to Roisin (who had been too glad at escaping more Hogwarts-based questions to protest the change of topic) the couple was "so in love that it's just silly."

The Lughnasadh festival lasted from the 1st of August to the 2nd and two days after that, disaster struck. While the Clan frowned on relationships with non-magical persons, association was accepted. Unfortunately, some half-blood and the occasional muggle-born friends did not have access to an owl, and so sent messages to a drop-box in a nearby town. The town was visited every few days to collect any mail, and this time a letter for Roisin and Fionna spelled trouble.

Vernon and Petunia had used their status as her legal guardians to instantly send a message to the O'Conner Clan, forbidding Roisin to stay with her grandmother for the rest of the holidays and return home immediately, regardless of protests.

Inspired by the newfound knowledge that Hogwarts Students were not allowed to do magic during the holidays, Vernon and Petunia ignored the facts that Roisin's highest score had been in potions, a non-wand-waving subject, and that Fionna didn't need magic to be intimidating. They had calmed down after Roisin left a note pointing out that Mr Mason had signed his half of the contract, but they were still furious at Harry, who was - to put it politely - confined to his room for the forseeable future.

There were bars on the window of the study that had been converted into Harry's bedroom last year, and he was allowed out for toilet breaks three times a day. The rest of the time, he was on a steady diet of bread, water, and the occasional tin of soup, delivered by Roisin, who had actually gone up in her parents favour. Magical Roisin might be, but 'at least she hadn't gone around doing magic when she wasn't allowed to, drawing the attention of other freaks and ruining important deals in the process'. Apparently, they hoped that this attempt at acting normal would rub off on Harry if she was there.

This was better than what could have happened, and at least Harry wasn't back in the cupboard, but it still did not a happy arrangement make. Roisin believed her cousin's story about the maniac house-elf, but that didn't make it any more pleasant. The house-elf had better hope that she never got her hands on it.

Roisin was so telling her grandmother about this. Money and Power and Influence ruled the Wizarding World. The O'Conner Clan had plenty of the first two, and several of Roisin's friends had family wielding the third. Roisin was a Slytherin to the bone, even if she did have a streak of Hufflepuff loyalty. Slytherins didn't get mad, they got viciously even. At the very least, they could find out who the House Elf belonged to, and do something unplesant to them.

The worst part was that Hedwig was locked up, and Roisin wasn't about to court disaster by using an unlocking charm, which meant that there was no way to write to anyone else. Perhaps it would be a good idea to ask Fionna for her own owl for her birthday. There was a consolation, however. Roisin might not have been able to do magic, and Hedwig may have been locked up, but her friends would certainly get worried if she didn't reply for too long. Prolonged lack of contact might even be worth it to see her family's reaction to Fionna and Professor Snape showing up to find out what happened to her.

Then again, Harry was already in trouble, and it wasn't worth giving Professor Snape any more ammunition, or straining relations between Fionna and her son any more than they already were.

Roisin had never been a heavy sleeper, and summer homework had kept her up late. She had barely started to close her eyes when she spotted something outside the window and bolted upright with a gasp.

A Ford Angelica was driving past her second-storey window, driven by three freckled red-heads who could only be those bloody Weasleys! That was confirmed when Ron peered through the mostly-shut curtains, whispering loudly back to his brothers. "No, this one is just O'Conner. Try the next window."

Bugger that for a Game of Soldiers! Roisin threw on her dressing gown and slippers, thankful that her bedroom was nearest to the converted study. At the very least, they needed to make sure that the Weasleys didn't wake anyone else up! Roisin's mother might have been a big gossip, but she was far from the only one on the street; just imagine if someone woke up and saw the flying car!

Slipping down the hall, she knocked on Harry's door as loudly as she dared, pressing her ear to the door as she heard the creak of a window being opened and Harry's voice, which was at least quiet. "Ron, what are you doing here?"

Roisin pressed her ear closer in order to hear the other boy's reply. "Rescuing you, of course. Why haven't you been answering my letters? I've asked you to stay about twelve times, and then Dad comes home and says that you received a warning about use of Underage Magic. What happened? You know we're not supposed to do magic outside of school."

Roisin fought the urge to huff. The idiots had somehow enchanted a car to fly, or at least had someone else enchant it for them, and had driven it into a Muggle neighborhood! Now they were going on about underage magic?

Harry seemed to be thinking along the same lines as Roisin, and she could imagine him staring pointedly at the car. "Bit rich coming from you."

Roisin closed her eyes and took a deep breath, unsure if she wanted this to be a hallucination. Escape was a wonderful concept, certainly for Harry, but escape via flying car? Just the noise was enough to start to wake her parents up any minute now, and what if they were still flying by the time the sun came up or the early-risers were up and driving to work?

Harry and Ron were still quietly discussing use of Underage Magic and whether or not the car counted. Finally, they got around to the actual point of how Harry was going to get out without using magic. Ron Weasly's answering grin worried her. "Don't worry; you forget who I've got with me."

Well, yes, the Weasley Twins could get in or out of nearly anywhere, but they were not always subtle. The advantages were obvious: If anyone could get them out safely, and without using magic, the self-proclaimed (even if the title was well deserved) Pranksters Extraordinaire could.

On the other hand, they were driving a flying car, and nearly every member of Hogwarts who had a working brain also had a healthy wariness for anything those two were involved in, no matter how safe it seemed.

There was the sound of a car going into sudden and fast reverse, and a clang that suggested that it had ripped the bars right out of the wall. Down the hall, Roisin heard her father give a sigh, but thankfully made no other indication that he had heard anything.

There was the sound of scratching at the lock, and Roisin stepped away just as it opened, revealing a Weasley Twin crouched down at doorknob height, a piece of wire in his hand. For a moment, all four boys froze, then relaxed when they realized that it was only her. The twin at the door stood up slowly. "Mind if I go get Harry's trunk? Only, we don't want to stick around."

Roisin stepped aside and went to fetch her own trunk. After Roisin had been introduced to Blaise's mother at the Station, after a issue with the Floo had caused any number of late parental pick-ups, the few adults present had put feather-light and shrinking charms on the trunk of various students, and started organizing those who were meant to be traveling by Floo into groups to go to the Leaky Cauldron, which was not far away, and Floo from there. Luckily, both charms activated with a tap of the wand, so it could not even really be considered underage magic. Roisin had then hidden the trunk in her closet as soon as she got home, for the sake of peace and discretion, while her family was busy trying to get Harry's trunk away from him.

Roisin got back to Harry's room just as the Weasley twin did, he and Ron wrestling Harry's trunk into the car. From her parent's room, Roisin heard her father cough.

Knowing that they were pressed for time, Roisin picked up her own trunk just as Hedwig let out a loud screech.

This was followed immediately by a shout of "THAT RUDDY OWL!"

Realizing that he had nearly forgotten Hedwig, Harry clambered back inside to fetch his owl, and Roisin took the opportunity to push her trunk into the back seat. There was no way she was staying here to deal with the fall-out.

The twin in the driver's seat frowned at her. "We came to pick up Harry, and I don't know if there's enough room for you and another trunk! Get off!"

Roisin ignored him, measuring the distance from the car to the window. It wasn't too much higher, placing the top of the closed door at about the same height as one of the smaller horses that she had ridden while visiting Ireland during the previous holidays. She swung herself into the car, ignoring the glaring twin. "You're Gryffindors, you'll survive. You have nothing I want aside from a lift away from here, since there is no way I'm sticking around to try and explain this. Say you abducted me because you were worried that I'd raise the alarm."

Any further argument was cut off as Vernon battered down the door and lunged for Harry, who was half-way back out the window. Vernon grabbed Harry by the ankle. Roisin let out a yelp as Ron Weasly landed on her leg as he and the Twins grabbed Harry's arms, starting a human tug-of-war.

Roisin moved as far away as the limited confines of the car would allow, trying to remain un-noticed as Vernon yelled for her mother. "Petunia, he's getting away! HE'S GETTING AWAY!"

This brought Petunia and Dudley running just as the Weaslys gave a giant heave and dragged Harry into the car, leaving the rest of the Dursley family hanging out of the window.

Finally getting out of there, the rescuers and escapees settled back for the drive, letting Hedwig out to float on silent wings behind them. Roisin closed her eyes and leaned back, listening with one ear as Harry explained the events that had gotten them into the mess in the first place.

She started paying more attention when one of the Weasley Twins (Roisin had given up trying to keep them separate long ago) asked if it was some kind of prank, but who would want to do something that might get Harry expelled.

Ron and Harry exchanged a look, coming up with an immediate answer. "Draco Malfoy. He hates me."

The other Weasley Twin turned around sharply. "Draco Malfoy? Not Lucius Malfoy's son?"

Roisin rolled her eyes. With as blood-fanatic as that line traditionally was, there weren't a whole lot of them, and even if there were, Draco was hardly a commonly used name. Also, regardless of his father's alleged actions (since she had no hard facts on the matter, Roisin wasn't really interested in arguing about it), Draco just wasn't Death Eater Material.

As speculation turned to whether or not the Malfoys even owned a house-elf, Roisin decided it was time to interject. "The Malfoy family is old and rich enough to have dozens of house-elves, but I doubt they sent the wretched thing to you. Draco may be far more impulsive than a Slytherin should, but he would insist on getting you in trouble personally. Draco is my friend and Housemate, but he isn't nearly subtle enough to pull something like this off."

The other occupants of the car looked frankly disbelieving, but as the topic had reached a proverbial dead-end, the conversation turned to what the Weaslys had been up to and what had prompted them to come and check on Harry. It turned out that Mr. Weasley, their father, was obsessed with Muggles and had enchanted the car to fly.

"So does your Dad know that you have the car?" Harry finally asked. Roisin rolled her eyes, wasn't the answer that he certainly didn't kind of obvious? No parent was going to let a pair of fourteen-year olds drive a flying car without supervision, especially in the middle of the night.

The conversation turned to Mr. Weasley and his job at the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office at the Ministry of Magic. Roisin closed her eyes again and tried to get some amount of sleep.

She was woken again when one of the Twins pointed out the main road. "We should be there in about ten minutes. Just as well, it's starting to get light."

There was a faint pinkish glow on the horizon, and Roisin could see a dark patchwork of fields and trees as the driving Twin started to bring the car lower.

They landed with a small bump next to a tumbledown garage in a small yard in front of the Weasley house. Roisin had to give the dwelling credit; it was a far cry from the Dursley residence.

The house looked like it had once been a large stone pigsty, with rooms added on at random intervals until it was several stories high. It had four or five crooked chimneys, and if not for the existence of magic, Roisin was sure it would have collapsed long ago. A lopsided sign proclaimed it 'The Burrow', a jumble of Wellington boots surrounded the front door, and several fat chickens pecked their way across the yard.

It would have given Petunia Dursley a heart attack.

They all got out of the car as the Weasley Twins outlined their plan. "Now we'll all go upstairs really quietly, and then wait until Mum calls us down for breakfast. Then Ron, you'll come bounding downstairs, going 'Hey, Mum, look who turned up during the night!' She'll be so pleased to see Harry and no one need ever know that we flew the car."

Roisin couldn't believe her ears as the Weasley Twins looked pleased with themselves. That was it? Sneak in, pretend Harry had shown up during the night, and hope their mother didn't ask too many questions?

They were talking about a parent, and parents almost always knew if a child had been doing something they shouldn't. Ottery St. Catchpole was nowhere near Little Whinging, how were Harry and Roisin supposed to have made their way here? Why were they here without an invitation or Mr. and Mrs. Weasly's prior knowledge? Roisin had no association with the Weasleys, so why would she be there instead of with family or other school friends?

Things were going to go to Hell in a hand basket, and Roisin was going to be the unfortunate bystander caught in the backlash.

The Weaslys apparently also had a sudden realization that this wouldn't work, as Ron had just turned an interesting shade of green at the sight of Mrs. Weasley approaching, looking remarkably like a saber-toothed tiger.

Roisin tried to make herself as un-noticeable as possible as Mrs. Weasley reached them, looking from one guilty face to the next. She shook her head as one of the Weasley Twins (Fred, she thought?) tried to calm his mother down in what he obviously hoped was a jaunty, winning voice. It wasn't going to work.

Roisin recognized the soft, dangerous tone in Mrs. Weasley's voice. It was one that Professor Snape used when highly upset about something. "Do you have any idea how worried I've been?"

Roisin winced. Oh, boy, this was not going to be pretty. "Sorry, Mum, but see, we had to-."

The Weasley boys cowered as Mrs. Weasley's wrath washed 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…"

The other twin chose that moment to mutter "Perfect Percy."

Roisin winced again. Their mother was in the middle of a rant already, was the idiot trying to make things worse? She was proven right when Mrs. Weasley's voice rose another few octaves. "YOU COULD DO WITH TAKING A LEAF OUT OF PERCY'S BOOK! You could have died! You could have been seen! You could have lost your father his job…"

Parental scoldings always seem to go on longer than they actually do, but even staying out of the line of fire, Roisin thought that it certainly went on a long time. Mrs. Weasley had shouted herself hoarse before she turned to Harry and Roisin. Harry backed away. Roisin looked for the fastest exit.

"Of course I'm very pleased to see you, Harry dear, come inside and have some breakfast. Oh, and who might you be?"

Obviously, Roisin hadn't been mentioned in whatever the Weasleys had told their mother, but there was no reason for her to have been. "Roisin O'Conner, ma'am. Harry's my cousin."

Thankfully, Mrs. Weasley smiled. "My boys never mentioned you, but come and join us anyway."

Perhaps the Weasley Matriarch was more tolerant of House differences than her sons? Roisin certainly hoped so as she followed Mrs. Weasley toward the house and into a small and rather cramped kitchen. Roisin joined Harry at a scrubbed table and looked around. She had seen magical cookbooks, the WWN and things like the clock at the O'Conner Keep (a location clock was invaluable in keeping track of active young family members, Nessa had told her) and smirked at Harry's obvious fascination.

Mrs. Weasley bustled around making breakfast, still muttering about how she couldn't believe her sons had done such a thing, and assuring Harry that of course she didn't blame him.

"It was cloudy, Mum," Probably-Fred Weasley insisted, his mouth full.

"Keep your mouth closed while you are eating!" Mrs. Weasley snapped.

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

"And you!"

Luckily, there was a diversion in the form of a small, red-haired girl in a long nightdress who appeared in the doorway, squealed, and ran out again. Roisin blinked, echoing Harry's quizzical look at the Weasley boys. Ron explained in an undertone, "Ginny. Our sister. She's been talking about you all summer."

Fred snickered. "Yeah, she'll be wanting your autograph." He caught his mother's eye and bent back over his plate. Silence reigned until all of the plates were empty, which took surprisingly little time. Or perhaps not so surprisingly, as the other table occupants were all growing boys.

Fred set down his knife and fork with a yawn. "Blimey, I'm tired. I think I'll go to bed and-."

"You will not!" Mrs. Weasley snapped. "It's your own fault that you've been up all night. You're going to de-gnome the garden for me, they're getting completely out of hand."

Roisin raised an eyebrow as the Weasley boys moaned; surely they hadn't expected to get off that easily? Still, the boys obviously knew better than to complain as they headed out the door to start de-gnoming. Harry was about to follow when Roisin touched his arm, "Harry, you know how you said Hedwig needed exercise…"

Harry grinned. "Yes, you can borrow Hedwig. You know that was nowhere near subtle, right?"

Roisin tossed her hair and smirked, fetching parchment and quill from her trunk, resting with Harry's just inside the door. "Subtlety is wasted on Gryffindors. I need to tell Nana what happened and where we are now. Then I need to send a letter to Desdemona and the others, they'll be freaking out by now."

Harry suddenly looked like he was re-considering letting her use Hedwig. "You're going to send Hedwig to Malfoy?"

Roisin rolled her eyes. The entire school knew about the rivalry between Harry and Draco, she wasn't fool enough to send Harry's owl to Draco, if only because he'd probably ignore it on principle. "No, I'm going to send all of the letters to Desdemona, with a note asking her to distribute them. I'm not sure that Blaise is back from Italy yet, anyway, and I won't send Hedwig that far."

Harry shrugged. "Fine, then. Join us outside when you're done?"

Roisin nodded distractedly, and then started on her letters. The first one was to Fionna.

Dear Nana,

You are probably worried about my lack of communication by now. My parents were more than a little upset about the House-Elf Incident, and confined Harry to hi room, locking Hedwig in her cage. I suppose I really should stop relying on being able to borrow Hedwig or a School Owl all the time.

The Weasley twins broke us out last night, and we are currently at their home, The Burrow, near Ottery St. Catchpole. I have also written my friends with an explanation, but as yet have no current plans for the rest of the summer. I hope to be able to return to the O'Conner Keep, if that is agreeable.

Yours Faithfully

Roisin O'Conner.

The next letter was to Desdemona. Roisin had started to run low on parchment, and decided to send a general letter, trusting her friend to pass it on.

To Desdemona,

First of all, I am so sorry I haven't written until now. There was an incident with some insane house-elf that had Harry being blamed for underage magic and me being dragged back from the Keep for confinement and no method of communication, since Harry's Owl wasn't allowed out, and I'm pretty sure none of you have a telephone.

I am free now, thankfully, as the Weasleys came to rescue Harry and I joined them before they could protest. I am currently at the Weasley house and have already written Grandmother to get me out of here. The abundance of Gryffindors is killing me.

I am running low on parchment, so could you pass the message onto the others? Is Blaise back from Italy yet? When are you going to Diagon Alley for supplies? Perhaps we could make it a group outing.

I have to go now; paranoia over the Weasley twins in close proximity is setting in. I know that sounds rude, but you've met those two. Hopefully I will see you soon.

Yours in Friendship,

Roisin O'Conner.

Folding both letters, Roisin closed them with the personalized seal that Fionna had given her over Lughnasadh. A carved relief of a single rose, surrounded by Latinized Furthrak Runes from the Viking invasion: her name on the top half, and the clan motto 'Constant and True' on the lower half.

Giving the letters to Hedwig, Roisin watched the owl's flight for a few moments, and then headed outside, just in time to duck a badly-aimed gnome.

Straightening up and glaring at her sheepish-looking cousin, Roisin sighed. She really hoped that Hedwig would return soon.

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A/N: Here we have chapter two. Chapter three is in the works and should be up soon.
Unless my two reviewers have read the last chapter an average of thirty times each, I just wanted to remind everyone of the drill: be nice and leave a review.

Nathalia.