-Chapter Two - Back to the Burrow

Harry woke up in another hot sweat. His scar was tingling lightly but Harry was used to his scar doing this by now. Everynight Harry seemed to have the same horrible dream of seeing his parents being tortured, Voldemort returning and seeing Sirius dying. In his dream Harry always tried to get to Sirius before he died but Voldemorts Death Eaters always grabbed him, held him back and just laughed in his face. Whenever Harry awoke he could still hear their laughter ringing in his ears. Harry looked at his alarm clock. He had three hours before Ron's family came to rescue him from the Dursleys. He walked slowly and silently out of his bedroom making sure not to wake anyone else up. As he walked past Dudley's room he could hear loud grunting snores. 'How does he not wake himself up?' Harry said to himself laughing quietly. Within an hour and a half Harry had, eaten, washed, cleaned his teeth, gotten dressed, tried to brush his hair down flat, packed all his stuff into his cases, rebrushed his hair and put all his stuff down by the front door ready to leave. By 10:15 all the Dursley's had drisen from their slumber. This was greeted by: 'Where the Hell do you think you're going?' by Uncle Vernon 'Oh yeah, very sorry, slipped my mind I dare say. Im going to go stay with a friend of mine for the rest of the summer and I wont be back until next year. Hope that's okay?' 'Okay? Okay? The sooner you get away from here the bloody better I say!' replied Uncle Vernon 'VERNON,' said Aunt Pertunia quite shocked. 'What dear. Wern't you, me and Dudley saying just yesterday that we couldn't wait to get this filthy little blighter out of our hair?' 'I...errr...don't remember anything along..err. those lines Vernon. Are you sure?' Harry new she was trying to cover up for herself but he didn't care. He too couldn't wait to leave.

At five minutes to eleven Harry tried for his third and final time to get his hair to lay down flat but he was fighting a losing battle. 'Stupid hair' he moaned to himself. Harry heard a very loud car roll up outside and within seconds there was heavy knocking on the door.Harry dropped the brush and darted for the front door. Ron was early. He couldn't believe it. Harry did not mind at the slightest. The quicker he got away from the Dursley's the better. He pulled open his door to a familiar face. It wasn't Ron. It was one he'd been thinking about over the whole summer.

'Oh Harry, its so great to see you again' said Hermione throwing her arms around him.

'Errmm, you too,' replied Harry quite shocked but also quite delighted.

Harry looked out onto the front garden and saw Mr.Weasleys car parked in the middle of the lawn. Harry saw Ron in the front passenger seat waving enthusiastically at Harry.

'I cant wait to hear all about your summer,' said Hermione excitedly.

Ten minutes later all of Harry's stuff had been packed into the trunk of the car and they were off on their way back to the Burrow.

The hours flew by as everyone was filling each other in about their summer holidays so far. Harry told them all about not receiving any letters from anyone keeping him updated with the wizarding world and how he spent most of his time in his room or outside away from the Dursley's.

'I would have kept you updated Harry, but I've spent most of my time on holiday and revising for the new school year, with all the NEWTs approaching and everything, I have to work extremely hard,' said Hermione. 'These grades wil decide our futures.'

'Yeah and I've explained my reasons,' said Ron. 'Anyway, forget about all this, you've got presents to look forward to when we get back home. Hermione brought hers with her when we picked her up last night.'

This seemed to cheer Harry up. They were engaged in conversation for the rest of the journey home.

After three hours on the road, they finally pulled up outside the Burrow.

'Don't worry about your bags Harry. Metzie will get them later,' said Mr Weasley as they all bundled out of the car.

'Err.. Who's Metzie?' questioned Harry

'Oh yeah, I havn't told you yet. Metzies our house elf,' explained Ron

'Oh, you should see her Harry. She's so sweet,' said Hermione smiling.

Harry laughed remembering Hermiones obsession with House elves and their rights.

'Whats funny?' asked Hermione with a puzzled look on her face.

'Oh, its nothing, don't worry. Come on lets get inside,' replied Harry.

As they made there way inside a small house elf came tearing out of the house, muttering excitedly to itself.

'Bags, bags, work, quickly, bags!'

She had a small purple bow on her head and was dressed in a bright yellow shirt and pink shorts. She was also wearing a pair of odd socks. This reminded Harry of Dobby.

'See what I mean!' Said Hermione chuckling.

They walked inside, Metzie was following from behind, carrying all of Harry's luggage. For a small elf, she can carry quite alot at one time Harry thought to himself as she muscled herself past everyone. 'Harry Dear, so good to have you here with us again,' said Mrs Weasley in a joyous tone as they all bundled there way into the kitchen. 'Your just in time for some lunch, if you would like some that is dear?' asked Mrs Weasley 'No thankyou. Maybe later,' replied Harry. 'Yeah and anyway, me and Hermione are going to take Harry upstairs and give him his birthday presents,' said Ron. 'Oh yeah, the presents. I forgot about them,' Harry lied. He'd been wondering what they were from the moment Ron mentioned them in the car. 'Come on Harry,' beckoned Hermione as she and Ron exited the kitchen. 'Great seeing you again' Harry said. 'Oh, yes, okey Harry,' said Mrs Weasley as she started to serve up some dinner for Mr Weasley Harry jogged out of the kitchen and started to make his way up stairs behind Ron and Hermione. On his way up he caught a glimpse of Metzie running around wearing a blue and white stripped apron and waving around a feather duster saying 'Clean, clean, quickly, clean!' Harry chuckled all the way up the stairs. He entered Rons room and saw two neatly wrapped presents laying on Rons bed. 'Happy belated Birthday Harry,' said Ron and Hermione in unison.

'Cheers guys,' said Harry grinning from ear to ear. 'So, what have you got me? 'Open them and find out!' said Ron. Harry grabbed the present that was closest to him. It was wrapped in blue wrapping paper with pictures of snitches dotted all over it. That ones from me and Ginny,' said Ron excitedly. Harry quickly ripped off all the wrapping paper and took a good look at the name on the book. 'VIRTUAL QUIDDITCH 2003' 'You see, its a miniature version of a quidditch pitch,' Ron interupted. 'You get seven players with it and you can assign them their positions. And the best thing is they actually play quidditch!' 'Bloody amazing,' said Harry looking at Ron. 'Cheers mate' 'I've got one as well so i'll give you a game later against my team if you want?' 'Yeah, that'll be well good' said Harry 'Open my present now Harry,' said Hermione excitedly. Harry carefully placed his virtual quiddich game on the end of the bed and grabbed Hermiones gift. It was wrapped with pink paper with little hearts on it. 'If the present is anywhere near as good as this wrapping paper then i'll be happy,' harry said, laughing to Hermione. Harry tore of all the paper and looked at his present. 'I know its not much,' said Hermione 'but its.......' 'Brilliant' interupted Harry. Harry was holding a brand new silver Pensieve and the 'Easy guide to Occlumency' 'I'd like to see Voldemort fight his way into my thoughts now,' laughed Harry holding his brand new possesions. Although they were happy for Harry and everything, Ron and Hermione couldnt help but flinch at the sound of 'you know whos' name. They continued to share stories for over an hour about the summer and Hermione's holiday to Spain before they all started to get hungry. 'Has you mum still got any of that food left?' asked Hermione rubbing her stomach. 'I should think so. She cooks enough to feed a whole tribe of house elves for a year. The words had hardly left Rons lips when Metzie went running past the door screaming 'Must Clean, Must Clean, Good Job, Cleaning, Yes, Clean!'

'She's absolutley mad that one,' said Ron through the laughter of Harry and Hermione. The rest of the day was spent eating, playing Harry's new quidditch game, and having fun with Fred and Georges new sweets! They were all taking it in turns to try out their new inventions. Harry was the unlucky one of the bunch. What looked like an innocent stick of liquorice actually made his head balloon up to four times its original size. He was left floating in the air with his head dragging across the cieling for twenty minutes before the effect wore off. 'Good job I didn't try that one outside,' joked Harry when his feet finally touched back down on the ground. 'Who knows where I'd be now!' After more food at dinner time Ron, Harry, and Hermione thought it would be good fun to have a little quidditch tournament. Harry let Hermione use his peices whenever she played Ron, and Ron let her use his peices whenever she played Harry. Hermione was surprisingly good. She managed to beat Ron two times out of three and Harry once. 'You're not to bad Hermione, you know that, You should try out for the real quidditch team this year at Hogwarts,' said Harry. 'Oh come on Harry. I've got my NEWTS to worry about. When am I going to find time to do quidditch when I've got more important things occupying my time.' exclaimed Hermione 'Like what?' questioned Ron 'Homework, revision, keeping out of trouble, setting a good impression for the new first years. Not forgetting S.P.E.W.' Ron couldnt help it. He just burst out laughing. 'Not spew again Hermione, surely not!' 'It's not 'spew' Ron. It's S.P.E.W,' said Hermione spelling out the letters. 'And yes i'll be continuing to help poor house elves who have been born into slavery without having any choices of their own. Is that okay with you Ron?' asked Hermione fiercly. 'Errr... yeah...why not,' came the reply.

It was getting late and everyone was getting more and more tired by the minute. They all said goodnight to Mr and Mrs Weasley and proceeded up the stairs to bed. 'Oh yeah, you'll be sleeping in my room tonight Harry. Dad asked Mitzie to put another bed in my room. She seemed very excited about doing this for some weird reason,' explained Ron looking puzzled. 'Well I'll be staying in Ginny's room so i'll be seeing you guys tomorrow,' said Hermione. She leant forward and gave Harry and Ron a kiss on the cheek before she carried on to Ginny's room and closed the door behind her. 'Well that was unexpected,' said Ron blushing. Harry didnt say anything, he just opened the door to Ron's room and jumped on his bed. They both got changed into their pyjamas and slid under their covers. 'It's great having you here, you know that Harry,' said Ron 'Cheers Ron,' he replied. 'It feels great to be here.' Ron turnt out the lights and they were left in total darkness. Harry just laid awake, staring at the cieling until his eyes started to close. He didn't fight it. Within seconds Harry had nodded off to sleep.