CHAPTER 2

~Return To The Burrow~

Harry woke up to the sound of Aunt Petunia's shrill voice shouting through his bedroom door.  "Get up, Harry!  The bacon's getting cold and I want you to wash your uncle's car before he leaves!"

Harry got up and stretched.  He was used to being spoken to like this.  And so, he walked down to the breakfast table and started to wolf down his bacon.  Uncle Vernon was sitting across from him, his fat, neckless face hidden behind the morning newspaper.  As though he had seen Harry look at him, he put the paper down and stared at Harry.  Then his gaze fell on Harry's jet black hair.

"Look at your filthy hair!  We ought to shave that off soon!  It's growing like a jungle!  You should have more sense and comb that…that dirty thing every morning!" he spatted, his thick moustache quivering.

Harry looked at the Dudley's fat face from across the table. Dudley had looked up eagerly at once when he heard Uncle Vernon yelling at Harry. It was his favourite way of entertainment.

"Oh, well, if you shave it off, I'll just have to tell my godfather then won't I? You know my godfather?  The escaped murderer from the wizard prison?  No, I don't think he'll like the idea of me shaving my hair off…" He glanced at Uncle Vernon's face, which had gone stiff.  Harry knew he had hit a nerve.  Every time the Dursleys threatened him, they would stop instantly whenever Sirius was mentioned. They have always been afraid that he would come bursting into the Dursley's home and turn them all into warty frogs.

After breakfast, Harry did all of the chores Aunt Petunia ordered him to do. Just as he was washing Uncle Vernon's car the phone rang.  Harry's mind came back to Ron's letter in a flash.  He sprinted at top speed inside the house but he was too late.  Uncle Vernon had gotten there first.

"Hello, Vernon Dursley speaking," Uncle Vernon answered.

"Hello, may I please speak to Harry Potter?" asked the person on the other end of the line quite politely.

"Who's this?" Uncle Vernon roared into the phone,  holding it at arms length like he did before except this time, Harry noticed, the person he was speaking to wasn't shouting.

"It's a friend of Harry's," said the voice. Uncle Vernon threw the receiver at Harry, while at the same time throwing him a look of great dislike. Harry put the phone to his ears.

"Hello?" he said in a trembling voice.

"No need to sound so scared Harry, it's only me!" said a voice that sounded a lot like his friend's, Hermione Granger.

"Hermione!" Harry gasped.

"Harry!" Hermione said sarcastically, giggling.

"I thought it was Ron who was going to call me," Harry said looking at Uncle Vernon's suspicious eyes.  Harry decided to drop his voice.

"Yeah, well, I'm at his place right now…I got here last night!  Listen Harry, will we be able to pick you up in a few hours?  Just get ready when we hang up and we'll be there to pick you up so you can come over.  It's-"

"Um…I don't know, I'll have to check with my Uncle first…"

"Don't worry about it! Think the Weasleys won't pick you up just because Muggles said no?"

Harry beamed at the phone.

"So, be ready at about twelve o'clock and we'll be there…travelling by Floo Powder mind."  Hermione continued.

Harry groaned.  His least favourite way to travel was by Floo Powder. It was where you had to throw a pinch of powder into the fire and step in it…then you were carried wherever you wanted to go in a swirl of soot and dust.  But Harry suddenly thought of the Weasleys and he smiled again.

"Sure Hermione, I'll be ready by twelve o'clock, on the dot."

"Brilliant!" was Hermione's reply.

They hung up after that and Harry dashed up the stairs and into his bedroom.  He grabbed everything under the loose floorboard and stuffed them into his trunk.  He placed Hedwig's cage next to his large trunk.  Then he seized his Firebolt and ran down the stairs and into the neat and tidy lounge to wait.

"What was that about?" Uncle Vernon asked in an angry tone.

"Oh, my friends are going to pick me up so I could go over to their place," Harry replied, matter-of-factly.

"What?" Uncle Vernon raged. "Without your aunt and uncle's permission? How dare you think that--that you can do whatever you want in this house?"

"Well, I don't think it would have made any difference if you didn't let me go anyway," Harry said coldly. "My friends would have still picked me up or I would have told Sirius about it."

That shut Uncle Vernon up.  He waddled out of the lounge muttering darkly to himself.

And so at twelve o'clock the Dursley's chimney spat out a disgruntled looking Mr Weasley. He landed on the lounge floor with a thump and got up dusting soot and dust off his pants.  He looked around and saw Harry who had gotten up from the sofa.

"Ah, Harry! Ready to go I see?" he asked, smiling.

"Yes, Mr Weasley.  I'll just go up to my room to grab my trunk."

"No, no. Let Fred and George do that for you, I'm sure they wouldn't mind, would you boys?" He looked behind him and Harry imitated him.  He saw Fred and George, the Weasley twins, sitting on the floor, their red heads grey with soot.

"Hey Harry! How are you doing? No we don't mind at all, do we Fred? We're a bit keen to see our new friend," George said with a wink.  Harry knew exactly what he was talking about.  Only last year, the Weasleys picked up Harry for the Quidditch World Cup and during their little visit, Fred had "accidentally" given Dudley Ton Tongue Toffee which made Dudley's tongue grow fifty times larger than it's normal size.  The memory still bought snorts of laughter to the twins.

Once Harry's things were downstairs and ready, Mr Weasley took out a drawstring bag out of his pocket. He drew out a pinch of very fine, glittering powder, threw it into the roaring fire in the Dursley's fireplace and at once, the fire, once being red and orange, became a brilliant shade of emerald green.

"You first, Harry."

Harry stepped into the fire and felt the green flames licking his body, harmless. He opened his mouth, and while swallowing a lot of ash, he yelled, "The Burrow!". Spinning very fast, he tucked his elbows tightly to his side and carefully opened his eyes so that he could see where he was going. He felt the spinning slow down and to his relief, he threw out his arms and landed on the Weasely's crowded lounge room.

 It was great feeling, to be back with a family who actually liked Harry.  As usual, he was sleeping in Ron's room, which was still covered with posters of Ron's favourite Quidditch team, the Chudley Canons.  All of them were waving and smiling frantically at him as though they were old friends who haven't seen each other in a long time.

Harry, Ron, Fred and George practised Quidditch in the wide and private clearing behind the Weasley's house. Like the previous year, Harry's Firebolt was the easily the best broom and instead of using real Quidditch balls, they used apples.

Time flew and after what seemed like only fifteen minutes to Harry, they were having their dinner out in the garden (with gnomes running around everywhere).  Dinner was cooked by plump Mrs Weasley and like always, it was superb. Everyone at the table were chatting happily, laughing and rubbing their full stomachs. Hermione's cat, was still chasing the gnomes happily, darting here and there, trying to grab at least one gnome dancing out of its reach. Everyone felt very satisfied and full by the time they were finished.

After dinner, Ron, Harry and Hermione went up to Ron's room to send Sirius a letter informing him about Harry's sudden leave of the Dursley's house:

Sirius-

                  Right now I'm at Ron's place…I'll be here for the rest of the holidays until we get back on the train to Hogwarts.  Won't say no more here…take care and say hello to Buckbeak for me.

                                                                                                            -Harry

Harry folded his letter and said "Done!".  Instantly, Hedwig came and sat on his shoulder with her leg stuck out.  Once he tied the letter to Hedwig's leg, she soared out the window and into the starry night.