I do not own Harry Potter. This is my own idea for book five. All rights are reserved to JK Rowling

Special thanks goes out to dkscully and Hilde Schbeiker for reviewing and encouraging me to continue the story.

Chapter 4: Road Trip

At eight o'clock in the morning a fifteen-year-old boy with messy black hair, emerald green eyes and a scar on his forehead made his way down the stairs of the Dursley home on Privet Drive. He had been wide-awake for the last 2 hours, patiently waiting for the rest of the house to wake up. About fifteen minutes prior he had heard his Uncle's snores desist and the loud thuds of his foot steps on the stairs. Finally he was able to get a quick bite to eat before the trip to the Weasleys would begin. Ron Weasley, his best friend, had invited him to stay at his house for the remainder of the summer and just two days before he got permission to go from his headmaster, Dumbledore.

When he walked into the kitchen he saw his Uncle Vernon sitting in his usual spot at the table with a bowl of fruit in front of him. Uncle Vernon's usual angry face when he was in the presence of his nephew was even sourer due to the fact that being a large man a bowl of fruit barely quenched his hunger. Aunt Petunia, a tall, thin woman with blonde hair was at the sink cleaning up the mess her son Dudley had made the previous night when he snuck downstairs for a 'snack'. This was the second year they were eating like birds because, according to the nurse at Dudley's school, he needed to lose weight, a lot of weight. Since Dudley was a very formidable young boy, Aunt Petunia made sure that everyone of them would be following the diet as well. Which was all well and good for Dudley and Uncle Vernon who could both afford to lose 'a few' pounds but for Harry and Aunt Petunia who were already nearly skin and bones this was not as healthy as it would seem.

"Harry," Uncle Vernon grunted, "make sure you are ready to leave in a half an hour, you get me, boy!"

"Yes, Uncle Vernon," Harry responded politely. Aunt Petunia had placed a small bowl of fruit on the table for Harry. He noticed Dudley was eyeing it, mouth open, his tongue licking his thick lips greedily, so Harry ate the fruit quickly before Dudley got any bright ideas or simply decked him to get at the food. It had been known to Harry's relations that he could not perform magic outside of school since he had received a letter of reprimand the summer prior to his second year when Dobby the house elf had floated then dropped Aunt Petunia's pudding on the kitchen floor.

When breakfast had finished, Harry was back up in his room in no time double-checking his things to be sure nothing would be left behind. "Ok, I have my wand, my robes, my books, parchment, ink, all packed in my trunk," Harry muttered to himself. He turned to face the snowy white owl perched in its cage on the dresser by the door. When he motioned to the owl, it swooped over and landed softly on his shoulder and nipped his ear gently. "Hedwig, I don't want to put you through the trip with Uncle Vernon," Harry sighed. "I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy, well, maybe Malfoy. At least one of them wouldn't make it to the Burrow alive," he smiled furiously as he said that. The thought of Malfoy hexing his Uncle and getting expelled from school for underage magic or his Uncle throwing Malfoy out of the moving car were such exhilarating ideas. "So," he continued, "I want you to go on ahead to the Burrow and I'll meet you there in a few hours." Hedwig gave Harry one last nip on the ear before flying gracefully out of the open window and disappearing beyond the houses.

Harry pulled down the chart that hung on his wall with the days left until his return to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and dragged his trunk from the room to the car outside. His Uncle was waiting in the car already and offered him no assistance with loading the heavy trunk into the back of the car.

The trip took four hours to complete. The entire time the two sat in an eerie silence with Harry staring out of the window at the passing scenery, he had no desire to look at the driver next to him. Uncle Vernon never turned his gaze away from the road ahead and gripped the steering wheel so tight the knuckles of his fingers were white. Uncle Vernon stopped suddenly at the base of a long driveway that disappeared into a group of trees. "Get out!" he murmured.

"What?" Harry asked confused.

"I will not take you up to the house, this is as far as I go."

It was well known to Harry that Uncle Vernon could not stand people with 'gifts,' like the ones he had, and that arguing with him at this point would get him nowhere. Harry reluctantly got out of the car and lifted his heavy trunk out as well. He watched his uncle speed off and slowly turned to walk up the driveway to the Burrow. "I wonder how long their driveway is," he thought. This was the first time he had ever arrived at the Burrow in this fashion. The first time was the summer after his first year at Hogwarts, that year he also arrived by car but it was no ordinary car, it was Mr. Weasley's flying Ford Anglia. Ron with the help of his twin brothers, Fred and George, had rescued him from his cell of a room driving the old car. The last time he was at the Burrow, the previous summer in fact, he got there via the fireplace using floo powder. That had definitely caused problems with his Aunt and Uncle when Fred 'dropped' one of his and George's inventions, the ton-tongue toffee, knowing full well that Dudley would not be able to resist. Dudley's tongue was at least two feet long when Harry had disappeared in the fireplace. That is the reason the Dursley's decided driving him there allowed for the least amount of contact with Harry's kind and was therefore the best idea for them.

He knew only too well that he could not use a spell to help him with his load and instead he had to drag the trunk behind him the entire way. It took him twenty minutes to get from the base of the driveway to the front door of Ron's home and by that time he was panting and sweating profusely. After knocking softly, Mrs. Weasley arrived at the door and snatched him into a tight, rib-breaking, hug. "Oh Harry, it is so good to see you!" The whole house heard the cries of Mrs. Weasley and within seconds there was the sound of many feet making their way down the stairs to greet him.

"I can't wait to see Ron and Hermione," Harry thought to himself, still in the embrace of the woman that was the closest thing to a mother he had known since he was one year old. He smirked, "I wish that they finally got their feelings for each other out in the open. It would certainly make my life a whole lot easier"