Olivia was sitting on the swing at the park when she saw Pierre and Lucas, Dudley's friends picking on a kid younger than her. Pierre had him backed up to the playground's climbing wall. She watched as Lucas sauntered over and started to punch the kid. Seething with rage, she stood up and ran over to the boys. "Leave him alone!" She shouted at them.

They turned towards her. She realized that she had gotten in too close to them, but she decided to go in even closer. "Why don't you pick on someone your own size." She yelled at the boys and Pierre let go of the little boy and pushed him away.

Lucas scoffed. "Our size? But why do that when we have you here." Olivia started to back away, but Pierre reached out to grab her. He caught her by her arm and twisted her arm around that he was holding her to prevent her from escaping.

"What are you gonna do Olivia? Cry?" Pierre taunted holding her in place, as Lucas pulled his arm back and landed several heavy punches to her stomach. When Pierre gave her a chance to move her arms just enough, she shoved her elbow back, into Pierre's ribs, and he let go of her. That made Lucas gets angry, so he started to throw punches everywhere, he landed a couple, but so did she.

Lucas went home with a bloody nose, and Pierre went home with a black eye, and more bruises. Olivia had bruised knuckles, bruises to her stomach and side, and bruises on her arms where Pierre had grabbed her.

Now when she got home Aunt Petunia was standing there with her hands on her hips. Pierre's mother had called and told Aunt Petunia the boys' stupid one-sided angelic story, and Olivia was sent down to her room to spend the rest of the summer there. Unfortunately, this meant that she could no longer bring any food to Harry at night, and she would soon be getting the same amount of food that Harry was getting, meaning pretty much none.

As night approached, a single piece of toast was pushed underneath the door onto the first step. It was dirty and disgusting, but Olivia devoured it in three bites. Returning to the couch, she lay down trying not to think about her rumbling tummy, or how delicious a single bite of bacon would taste right now, or even an apple would be amazing. She pushed the thought of food from her mind and rolled over to sleep.

Olivia woke up to someone shaking her shoulder. She slowly opened her eyes and froze as she saw two identical redhead boys next to her. "Quick get up, we're busting you and Harry out and taking you to our home. Quickly pack a bag for the rest of the year." Olivia looked at them, sure that she was dreaming, but she nodded and started to pack her few possessions. She grabbed clothes and her drawing utensils.

The boys walked up the stairs in front of her and stop at Harry's old cupboard. "Go on to Harry's room, we'll be right behind you." Olivia walked up the stairs, skipping the squeaky step, and jumped into Harry's room. She looked around his room, and saw Harry climbing out the window into a FLYING CAR! Next to him was another red headed boy.

"Come on Liv, hop in." Harry says grinning ear to ear.

Olivia grinned back. "Cool!" Just as she sat down, the twins put Harry's trunk next to her and then hop in the car.

"Ready?" One asks. Olivia starts to nod, but then they all hear Hedwig's sharp screech.

"THAT RUDDY OWL!" They heard the thunder of Uncle Vernon's voice.

"I've forgotten Hedwig!" Harry jumps out of the car and grabs her cage. He hands her up to Olivia and starts to climb in when Harry's door opens. Harry scrambles to get in fast, but Uncle Vernon dived and seized his ankle. The redheads all grab Harry by his arms and pull as hard as they could.

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

They give one last tug and Harry's leg slid out of Uncle Vernon's grasp. Harry was in the car and he slammed shut the car door.

"Put your foot down Fred!" the non-identical redhead boy yells to one identical redheaded boy in the front seat. The car shot forward towards the moon, and Olivia stared back at the Dursleys hanging out of the window looking dumbstruck.

Olivia opens her window and as she feels the wind whipping her hair all around her face, she calls back to the Dursleys, "See you next summer!" Olivia calls back and the boys all laugh.

"Don't miss us too much!" Harry yells back, and the laughter grows louder.

"Who are you?" Olivia asks the redheads once the laughter had subsided and they look at her.

"I'm Fred, he's George, and this is our baby brother, Ron." The red head driving says and the one not driving ruffles the younger one's, Ron's, hair. Ron jerks away from his brother and scowls.

"Oh, nice to meet you... I'm Olivia."

The boys nod. "Yeah, we know."

Harry points at Hedwig. "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 where are we going?" Olivia asks, curious like always.

"Our house, the Burrow. What's been happening Harry?" Ron asked after answering her question. Harry tells about Dobby the house-elf, the fiasco of the dinner party, and how awful the Dursleys have been. Olivia adds in some stuff, but Harry covers most of it. There was a long, shocked silence when he had finished.

"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." Olivia noticed Fred and George glance at each other. "What you think he was lying to me?" said Harry.

"Well," Fred started, "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," said Harry and Ron together, instantly.

"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 is. Load of dung- Dad reckons he was right in You-Know-Who's inner circle."

"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..."

"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?"

"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'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?" asked Olivia, 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."

"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."

"The what?" Harry asked.

"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. 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."

"What happened?" Olivia inquired.

"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 — and they had to do Memory Charms and all sorts of stuff to cover it up —"

"But your dad — this car —" Harry looked so confused.

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 our house, he'd have to put himself under arrest. It drives Mum mad."

Olivia studies the twins. She was looking for a way to tell the two of them apart. She realized that Fred has a slimmer head and George had a slightly straighter nose and bigger ears.

Then, "that's the main road," said George, peering down through the windshield. "We'll be there in ten minutes... Just as well, it's getting light . . ." A beautiful faint pinkish glow was visible along the horizon to the east. Fred brought the car lower, and Olivia saw a dark patchwork of fields and clumps of trees. "We're a little way outside the village," said George. "Ottery St. Catchpole."

Lower and lower went the flying car. 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 Olivia looked at their house, the first wizard house she'd ever seen.

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, 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.

"It's not much," said Ron.

"It's wonderful," said Olivia and Harry at the same time. Liv loved it; she knew if the Dursleys saw this house they would be extremely upset. Just thinking about how she wouldn't be seeing the Dursleys until next summer made her giddy with joy.

They all 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 Liv and no one need ever know we flew the car."

"Right," said Ron. "Come on, Harry, Liv, I sleep at the -"

Ron had gone a nasty greenish color, his eyes fixed on the house. The four wheeled around.

A short, plump, woman, who looked very much like a saber-toothed tiger, was marching across the yard towards us, scattering chickens as she walked.

"Ah, "said Fred.

"Oh, dear," said George.

She 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 stick, (or a wand, Olivia corrected herself) sticking out of the pocket.

"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 the woman in a deadly whisper.

"Sorry, Mum, but see, we had to -" All three of her 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 or Charlie or Percy -" So there must be 6 boys Olivia thought to herself.

"Perfect Percy," muttered Fred.

"YOU COULD DO WITH TAKING A LEAF OUT OF PERCY'S BOOK!" She yelled, 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, and had shouted herself almost hoarse before she turned to Harry and Olivia, who backed away.

"I'm very pleased to see you, Harry, and you must be Olivia..." she said. "Come in both of you and have some breakfast."

She turned and walked back into the house and Olivia, who glanced at the three boys around her and then Harry, followed her.

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

The clock on the wall opposite her 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 mantelpiece, books with titles like Charm Your Own Cheese, Enchantment in Baking, and One Minute Feasts - It's Magic! And the old radio next to the sink had just announced that coming up was "Witching Hour, with the popular singing sorceress, Celestina Warbeck."

The lady was clattering around, cooking breakfast, throwing dirty looks at her sons as she threw sausages into the frying pan. Every now and then she muttered things like "don't know what you were thinking of," and "never would have believed it."

Olivia whispered to Harry, "who is she?" Because Harry seemed to know her. "She's Mrs. Weasley." He whispered back and she nodded.

"I don't blame either of you," she assured Harry and Olivia, tipping eight or nine sausages onto Harry's plate and doing the same on her 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 to each of their plates) "flying an illegal car halfway across the country - anyone could have seen you -" she directed this back at the boys.

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 them, Mum!" said George.

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

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," said Ron in an undertone to them. "My sister. She's been talking about you all summer." So, there's a girl too? Are there anymore?

"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. Nothing more was said until all five 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 I'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 George.

"You two can go up to bed," she added to Olivia and Harry. "You didn't ask them to fly that wretched car -"

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

Olivia nodded. "Me neither, I'll do that too."

"That's very sweet of you, 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 mantelpiece. George groaned.

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

Olivia looked at the cover of Mrs. Weasley's book. Written across it, in fancy gold letters, were the words Gilderoy Lockhart's Guide to Household Pests. There was a big photograph on the front of a very good-looking wizard with wavy blond hair and bright blue eyes. But the photograph was moving; the wizard, Olivia supposed it was Gilderoy Lockhart, kept winking cheekily up at them all. Mrs. Weasley beamed down at him.

"Who is that?" Olivia asked, her curiosity getting the better of her.

"Oh, he is a marvelous man," she said. "He knows his household pests, alright, it's a wonderful book..."

"Mum fancies him," said Fred, in a very audible whisper. "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 Weasleys slouched outside with Harry and Liv behind them. The garden was large, there were plenty of weeds, and the grass needed cutting but there were gnarled trees all around the walls, plants Olivia had never seen spilling from every flower bed, and a big green pond full of frogs.

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

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

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

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

It was certainly nothing like Santa Claus. It was small and leathery looking, with a large, knobby, bald head exactly like a potato. 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 great circles like a lasso. Seeing the shocked look on Olivia's face, Ron added, "It doesn't hurt them - you've just got to make them really dizzy so they can't find their way back to the gnome holes."

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. "I bet I can get mine beyond that stump." The five then proceeded to have a gnome throwing competition.

After all the gnomes had been thrown out of the garden, George had been declared the ultimate gnome wrangler.

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

Mr. Weasley blinked. "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. Weasley. "Just so you could carry on tinkering with all that Muggle rubbish in your shed! And for your information, Harry and Olivia arrived this morning in the car you weren't intending to fly!"

"Olivia?" 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 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 — very wrong indeed…"

"Let's leave them to it," Ron muttered to Harry and Olivia as Mrs. Weasley swelled like a bullfrog. "Come on, I'll show you my bedroom, and umm, Olivia, I'll take you to Ginny's room which is where you'll probably stay." 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, she heard a door close with a snap.

"Ginny," said Ron. "You don't know how weird it is for her to be this shy. She never shuts up normally. We'll come back later, but let's keep going up to my room."

They climbed two more flights until they reached a door with peeling paint and a small plaque on it, saying Ronald's room.

Harry stepped in, his head was almost touching the sloping ceiling, Olivia blinked when she stepped in. It was like walking into a furnace: Nearly everything in Ron's room seemed to be a violent shade of orange: the bedspread, the walls, even the ceiling.

Then Olivia realized that he had covered nearly every inch of the wallpaper with posters of the same seven witches and wizards, all wearing bright orange robes, carrying broomsticks, and waving energetically. And they all were moving!

"Your Quidditch team?" asked Harry.

Olivia stared open mouthed. "Is this the sport you play?" Harry nodded at her.

"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."

Ron's books were stacked untidily in a corner, next to a pile of comics that all seemed to feature The Adventures of Martin Miggs, the Mad Muggle. Ron's magic wand was lying on top of a fish tank full of frog spawn on the windowsill, next to a big fat gray rat, who was snoozing in a patch of sun.

Olivia stared at one of the posters. She watched the attractive wizard do spins and backflips for her.

Suddenly she heard Ron say something. "It's a bit small," said he said quickly. "Not like that room you had with the Muggles. And I'm right underneath the ghoul in the attic; he's always banging on the pipes and groaning…"

But Harry, grinning widely, said, "This is the best house I've ever been in." And Ron's ears went pink.

Olivia left Ron's room soon after, and wound up running into, literally running into, Ron's sister Ginny.

"Oh, geez, I'm sorry." Olivia said helping her up. She laughed.

"You're good. I'm Ginny."

Olivia smiled. "I'm Olivia. Are you already at Hogwarts too?"

She shook her head. "No, I'm starting this year."

Olivia smiled. "Me too."

Ginny grinned back. "Hey, come to my room. You can sleep in my room. Mum was going to make me share with you anyways, I'll bet."

Olivia followed her to her room. She had never been inside another girl's room before, she didn't really have many friends in school because of Dudley, and the friends that she did have, she had never hung out with them outside of school because of Aunt Petunia would not allow it. Ginny's room was small, but bright, and she saw that like Ron's, it was covered in posters. she had a few posters of the same quidditch team as Ron, but she also had bands, and cute guys smiling everywhere.

"Ooh, I could get used to seeing these lovely faces every day." Olivia said giggling.

Ginny nodded. "They really make you never want to leave." She turned back to face Ginny, who had sat on her bed.

"Come sit..." Ginny patted the bed. Olivia went and sat down.

"So, Ginny, why did you slam the door when we came up the stairs?" Ginny didn't answer for a bit.

"Well, I-I got nervous. Harry Potter is in OUR houses... It's so cool. He's like actually the most famous wizard in the world. I think it's amazing."

Olivia smiled a little. "Trust me, living with him is not all it's cracked up to be."

Ginny laughs. "Yeah, I guess you would feel differently about him since you grew up with him, but for me, he's like a celebrity."

Olivia remembered last year when they went to Diagon Alley and all the people goggled at Harry like he was a creature in the zoo. It was weird then, but does that mean at school Harry is popular? Does that mean that she too will be popular? Or will she be overlooked like she was last year?

Olivia decided to ask something that she was slightly unsure about. "Ginny, how many siblings do you have?" Olivia asked.

"I am the seventh, the only girl, there is Bill, Charlie, Percy, Fred and George, and Ron. Percy, Fred, George, and Ron are the ones still at Hogwarts." Ginny told Olivia.

"Harry's told me so much about Hogwarts, I am so excited to go. I've never seen much magic before, so this is all going to be so new to me. I do hope I do ok." Olivia told Ginny.

"Don't worry, you'll do great I've lived in a wizarding house my whole life and I don't know much more than you do probably." Ginny told her.

"So, what are you most looking forward to?" Olivia asks Ginny. "I think actually learning the magic part I guess or flying. What about you?" Ginny inquires.

"Probably meeting new people and maybe even having friends who actually hang out and do stuff."

"What do you mean?" Ginny asks and Olivia tells her about how no one would really be friends with her because of Dudley. Ginny promised her that they would be best friends and then Olivia would never be alone again. Soon two start to play revolution. It's basically like go fish and war. It's very interesting Olivia thought, if your card was captured the other card would shred your card.