Eldon jumped up to stand beside Harry as he pushed the window up and open so they could talk through the bars. "Ron, how did you - What the -?" Eldon was in a similar state of confusion but he didn't voice it the way Harry had.

It was then that Eldon realized the truth of what was happening outside his bedroom window. Ron was leaning out of the back window of an old turquoise car, which was parked in midair. Grinning at the Potter twins from the front seat were Fred and George, the red-haired Weasley twins, and Ron's elder brothers.

"All right, Harry, Eldon?" asked George.

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

"It wasn't me - and how did he know?"

"He works for the Ministry," said Ron, and Eldon faintly remembered him saying something about that during the previous school year, "You Know we're not supposed to do spells outside school -"

"W-What ab -"

"You should talk," said Harry, cutting Eldon off as both stared at the floating car.

"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 to long to explain now - look, can you tell them at Hogwarts that the Dursleys have looked me up and won't let me come back, and obviously i can't imagine myself out, because the Ministry'll think that's the second spell I've done in three days, so -"

"Stop gibbering," said Ron, and Eldon grinned at the red-haired boy, listening to Harry talk has definitely been getting irritating after being locked in a room with him for three days. "We've come to take you home with us."

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

Eldon looked dumbfounded at Harry, hadn't he been mad at Hermione for not thinking outside the box during their scuffle with the devil's snare?

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

"Tie that around the bars," said Fred, throwing the end of a rope to Eldon who had it snatched quickly from his hands by Harry.

"I-If the D-Dursleys w-wake up, w-we're d-dead," said Eldon as Harry tied the rope tightly around a bar and Fred revved up the car.

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

Eldon moved off to the side, in the shadows next to Hedwig, who seemed to have realized how important this 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 in the air. Eldon crept slowly to the window, not moving nearly as fast as Harry, listening anxiously for the sound of the Durslesy waking up. He let out a sigh of relief when he heard no sound from the Durlseys bedrooms.

Panting, Ron hoisted the bars up into the car. When the bars were safely in the back seat with Ron, Fred reversed as close as possible to the twins window.

"Get in," Ron said.

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

"Where is it?"

"L-locked in the cup-cupboard u-under the s-stairs," Eldon whispered.

"Yeah, and we can't get out of this room," Harry added.

"No problem," said George from the front passenger seat. "Out of the way, Harry, Eldon,"

Fred and George climbed catlike though the window into the twins room. You had to hand it to them, thought Eldon, 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 skills worth learning, even if they're a bit slow."

There was a small click and the door swung open.

"So - we'll get your trucks - you grab anything you need from your room and hand it out to Ron," Whispered George.

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

Eldon and Harry moved quickly around their room, collecting their things and passing them out of the window to Ron, then Harry went to help Fred and George heave the trunks up the stairs. From their room Eldon heard Uncle Vernon caught.

At last, the trunks were carried through the room to the open window. Fred climbed back into the car to pull with Ron, and Eldon, Harry, and George pushed from the other side. Inch by inch, the trunks slid through the window.

Uncle Vernon coughed again.

"A bit more," painted Fred, who was pulling from inside the car. "One good push -"

Eldon, Harry, and George pushed their shoulders against the trunk and it slid out of the window into the back seat of that car.

"Okay, let's go," George whispered, noting that both twin trunks were in the car.

Eldon climbed after George into the car and was helped into the passenger seat where was was squished against George, there was only just enough room in the back for Harry to squeeze in beside Ron, but as Harry was climbing onto the window sill there was a sudden loud screech from behind him, followed immediately by the thunder of Uncle Vernon's voice.

"THAT RUDDY OWL!"

"I've forgotten Hedwig!"

Eldon watched anxiously as Harry tore back across the room as the landing light clicked on - he snatched Hedwigs cage, dashed to the window, and passed his owl out to Ron. Harry was scrambling onto the chest of drawers just below the window when Uncle Vernon hammered on the unlocked door - and it crashed open.

For a second Uncle Vernon stood framed in the doorway then he let out below line an angry bull and dived at Harry, grabbing him by the ankle. The four boys in the car seized Harry's arms and pulled as hard as they could. Eldon felt his heart sink in fear that they wouldn't be able to get Harry out.

"Petunia!" roared Uncle Vernon. "They're getting away! THEY'RE GETTING AWAY!"

But the Weasleys gave a gigantic tug and Harry's leg slid out of Uncle Vernon's grasp - Harry was in the car - Ron slammed the door shut.

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

Eldon couldn't believe it - they were free. Eldon watched from the window as the shrinking rooftops of Privet Drive. Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia, and Dudley were all hanging, dumbstruck, out of the twins' once barred window.

"See you next summer!" Harry yelled from the window he had opened.

The Weasleys roared with laughter and Eldon settled back in his seat beside George, grinning lightly.

"Y-you should l-let Hed-Hedwig out, she c-can f-fly behind u-us," Eldon suggested.

"Yeah, she hasn't had a chance to spread her wings for ages," Harry agreed. 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?"

Harry told them all about Dobby, the warning he'd given Harry and the fiasco of the violet puding. There was a long, shocked silence when he finished with Eldon simply nodding his head to say that what Harry was saying was true.

"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."

Eldon saw Fred and George look at each other.

"What, you think he was 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 masters 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, and Eldon let out a sigh. He knew without a doubt who they were thinking.

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

"Draco Malfoy?" said George, turning around, careful to not squish Eldon against the door. "Not Lucius Malfoy's son?"

"Must be, it's not a very common name, is it?" said Harry. "Why?"

"Th-they're a p-pureblood f-family."

"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, cranning around to look at Harry, "Lucious Malfoy came back saying he's never met any of it. Load of dung - Dad reckons he was right in You-Know-Who's inner circle."

Eldon had heard that about the Malfoy family before, and he wasn't too surprised. Just about anyone who had been in Slytherin past or present had been accused of supporting the dark wizard that had killed his and Harry's parents. He was sure that some of their families had been but he knew that despite the things his fellow Slytheirns said very few would side with Voldemort. Eldon knew, however, that Harry had a very different view of Malfoy and the rest of the Slytherins.

"I don't know whether the Malfoys own a house-elf . . ." said Harry. "Do you know Eldon? You're in Slytherin so you must've heard something."

"O-Oh, um . . ."

Fred swooped in to save him, "Well, whoever owns him will be an old wizarding family, and they'll be rich."

"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 . . ."

Eldon figured that was decently accurate. Even in the Muggle world owning something that was 'lesser' than you was a sign of being rich, though Slavery wasn't anywhere near as popular as it had once been. The Malfoys certainly had money too, Draco Malfoy certainly had nothing against showing off his wealth just like the other Slytheirn Purebloods who wore expensive clothing and got exotic treats from their parents every week.

"I'm glad we came to get you, anyway, Harry," said Ron. "I was getting really worried when you didn't answer any of my letters. I thought it was Erol's fault at first -"

"Who's Erol?"

"Our owl. He's ancient. It wouldn't be the first time he's 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 driver's seat.

"But Percy wouldn't lend him to me," said Ron, "Said he needed him/"

"Percy's been acting very oddly this summer," said Geroge, siting in his seat beside Eldon and 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 perfect badge . . . you're driving too far west, Fred," he added, pointing at a compass on the dashboard. Fred twiddles with the steering wheel.

"So, does you dad know you're got the car?" said Harry, 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."

"W-What d-does your d-dad do?" Eldon asked, curious about getting the better of him.

"He works in the most boring department of the Ministry of Magic," said Ron. "The Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office."

"The what?" Harry frowned.

"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 overtime for weeks."

"W-What h-happened?" Eldon gulped, surely a teapot couldn't be that bad.

"The teapot went berserk and squirted boiling tea all over the place and one mab ended up in the hospital with the sugar tongs clapped to his nose. Dad was going frantic - it's only him and an old Warlock called Perkinds in the office - and they had to do Memory Charms and all sorts of stuff to cover it up -"

"But your dad - this car -" said Harry.

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 Me mad."

"That's the main road," said Gorge, peering down through the windshield pointing it out to Eldon. "We'll be there in ten minutes . . . just as well, it's getting light . . ."

A faint pinkish glow was visible along the horizon to the east.

Fred brought the car lower, and Eldon saw a dark patchwork of fields and clips of trees.

"We're a little way outside the village," said George. "Ottery St. Catchpole"

Lower and lower went the car. The Edge of a brilliant red dun 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 garade in a small yard, and Eldon looked out for the first time at the Weasly's house.

It looked as though it had once been a large stone pipe, 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, Eldon reminded himself, it probably was). Four or five chimneys were parched 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 or 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 Harry and Eldon had to agree with him. The Weasleys home had a certain friendliness that Privet Drive lacked. The five of them 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 showed up at night!' and she'll be all pleased to see Harry and Eldon and no one need ever know we flew the car."

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

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

"Oh, dear," said George.

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 stuck out of her 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 Mrs. Weasley in a deadly whisper.

"Sorry, Mum, but see, we had to -"

All three or Mrs. Weasleys 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 loved - you wait until your father gets home, we never had trouble like this from Bill or Charlie or Percy -"

"Perfect Percy," muttered Fred.

"YOU COULD DO WITH TAKING A LEAF OUT OF PERCY'S BOOK!" 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 Eldon couldn't help but notice that her yelling seemed more out of concern rather than anger like the Dursleys' yelling always was. Mrs. Weasley had shouted herself hoarse before she turned on the Potter twins. Eldon flinched back.

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

She turned and walked back into the house and Eldon nervously followed after her, Harry trailing after him a few moments later.

The kitchen was small and rather cramped. There was a scrubbed wooden table and chairs in the middle, and Harry sat down on the edge of his seat, looking around. He had never been in a wizard house before and he couldn't help but look around at everything.

The clock on the wall opposite him had only one hand and no numbers at all. Written around the edge are 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 Backing, and One Minute Feasts - It's Magic! And unless Eldon'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 was clattering around, cooking breakfast a little haphazardly, throwing dirty looks at her sons as she threw sausages into the frying pan. Every now and then she mutters things like "don't know what you were thinking of," and "never would have believed it."

"I don't blame you, dear," she assured Eldon and Harry, tipping eight or nine sausage onto each of their plates. Eldon knew he wouldn't eat that much but he couldn't force himself to say anything. "Aurthor 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 their plates," 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-them, Mum!" said George.

"And you!" said Mrs. Weasley, but it was with a slightly softened expression that she started cutting the Potter twins bread and buttering it from them.

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

"Ginny," Eldon overheard Ron telling Harry in an undertone, "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 mothers eye and bent his face over his plate without another word. Nothing more was said until all five plates were clean. Eldon had luckily been able to get rid of all of his food by passing most of it to Fred or George when their Mum wasn't looking.

"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 can go up to bed, dears," she added to Eldon and Harry. "You didn't ask them to fly the wretched car -"

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

Eldon was surprised that Harry wanted to do chores here too, after all the work Aunt Petunia made them do when they were home. Even if he was curious as to whether a de-gnoming was Eldon wasn't about to offer himself up to help out. He was perfectly happy to go up and steal someone's bed for the day.

"That's very sweet of you, dear, but it's dull work," said Mrs. Weasley. "Now, let's see what Lockhearts 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 -"

As Mrs. Weasly opened her book Eldon read the covor, it was covered in fancy gold letters spelling out Gilderoy Lockhart's Guide to Household Pests. There was a big photograph on the front of a very good-looking wizard with wavy blonde hair and bright blue eyes. As always in the wizarding world, the photograph was moving; the wizards, who Eldon assumed was Gilferoy Lockhart, kept winking cheekily up at them all. Mrs. Weasly beamed down at him.

"Oh, she is marvelous," she said. "He knows his household pests, all right, 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 Weaslys boys slouched outside with Harry trailing behind them. Instead of joining them Eldon stayed behind in the kitchen with Mrs. Weasley, it would be better if he spent some time with the woman who was kind enough to allow him and Harry under her roof without any question.

"U-um, thank y-you. It's v-very n-nice of y-you to let u-us stay."

Mrs. Weasley hummed a gentle tune, "It's really no worry dear." She smiled at him as she poured herself some tea with a flick of her wand. "It's simply delightful to meet you, Ron just hasn't shut up about Harry and you."

Eldon blinked in surprise, he didn't think Ron would have mentioned anything about him, he wasn't exactly his friend. The only reason he ever really talked with Ron or Hermione was because they were friends with Harry. "O-oh, u-um."

She didn't seem to mind his nervousness about speaking to her and carried on without pause. "Those boys really don't know what's good for them. You and Harry seem like such good well behaved boys, i almost can't believe you boys would put up with my foolish children. Oh - Arthur is on his way home."

How could she know that? Mrs. Weasley suddenly hurried out of the room, seeming to have just remembered something important.

The front door slammed and Eldon nearly jumped from his seat.

The man that must be Mr. Weasly made his way to the table and slumped into a chair, quickly taking off his glasses and closing his eyes. He was a thin man, google bald, but the little hair he had was as red as any of his children. He was wearing long green robes, which were dusty and travel-worn.

Harry and the Weasley boys hurried into the kitchen.

"What a night," he mumbled, groping for the teapot as they all sat down around him. "Nine raids. Nine! An old Mundungus Fletcher tried to put a heat on me when I had my back turned . . ."

Mr. Weasly took a long gulp of tea and sighed.

"Find anything, Dad?" said Fred eagerly.

"All I got were a few shirking door keys and a biting kettle." yawned Mr. Weasel. "There was some pretty nasty stuff that wasn't my department, though. Mortlake was taken away for questions 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. Weasly. "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 ever admit their keys keep 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. Weasly had returned, holding a long poker like a sword. Mr. Weasly's eyes jerked open. He stared guiltily at his wife.

"C-cars, Molly, dear?"

"Yes, Arthur, cars," said Mrs. Weasly, 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. Weasly blinked.

"Well, dear, O think that 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 Weasly, you made sure there was a loophole when you wrote that law!" shouted Mrs. Weasly. "Just so you could carry on tinkering with all that Muggle rubbish in your shed! And for your information, Harry and Eldon arrived this morning in the car you weren't intending to fly!"

"Harry?" said Mr. Weasly blankly. "Harry who?"

"He looked around, eyes skipping right over Eldon, saw Harry, and jumped.

"Good lord, is it Harry Potter? Very pleased to meet you, Ron's told us so much about -"

Eldon was disappointed that he's once again been ignored in favor of Harry.

"Your sons flew that car to their house and back last night!" shouted Mrs. Weasly. "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. Weasly's eyes, "that - that was very wrong, boys - very wrong indeed . . ."

"Let's leave them to it," Ron muttered to Harry as Mrs. Weasley swelled like a bullfrog. "Come on, I'll show you my bedroom." He motioned for Eldon to follow him as well, and Eldon was grateful for the excuse to get away from the arguing couple.

They slipped out of the kitchen and down a narrow passageway to an uneven staircase, which wound its way, zigzagging up though the house. On the third landing, a door stood ajar. Eldon just caught sight of a pair of brown eyes staring out at Harry before it closed 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 -"

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

Eldon stepped in behind Harry, he was short enough that the sloping ceiling caused him no problem despite Harry almost needing to duck. It was almost like stepping inside a furnace: nearly everything in Ron's room seemed to be a violent shade of orange: the bedspread, the walls, even the ceiling. Then Harry realized that Ron had covered nearly every inch of the shabby wallpaper with posters of the same seven witches and wizards, all wearing bright orange robes, carrying broomsticks, and waving energetically.

"You're a Quidditch team?" said Harry.

"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." Eldon didn't see how anyone could be such a huge fan of a quidditch team but he knew better than to say anything about it. He wanted to get along with Ron, not start up a disagreement with him.

Ron's school spellbooks 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 his fat grey rat, Scabbers, who was snoozing in a patch of sun.

Eldon watched, being careful to not touch anything, as Harry stepped over a pack of Self-Shuffling playing cards on the floor and looked out the tiny window. Eldon assumed that it would be a good view from this high up.

"It's a bit small," said Ron 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 . . ."

Harry, grinning widely, said, "This is the best house I've ever been in."

Ron's ears went pink, and Eldon smiled lightly. This was indeed the best house they'd ever been too.