Chapter Three
Harry smirked behind his post underneath the stairs. Mrs. Brooke had come over with her daughter, Janice, to have tea with Aunt Petunia. Mrs Brooke was a thin, wiry woman with a Lucy hairdo wig. She always seemed to be dressed as if the Queen was about to drop in any moment, with her pearls and diamonds flashing at her neck and ears. If the mother was any bit annoying, it was nothing compared to the loathsomeness of her daughter. Built like her mother, long and thin, she had blond hair (real, unlike her mother) and green eyes. She looked as if she would fit into normal human society, but Harry knew better. Having lived at Privet Drive for eleven years, before Hogwarts, he knew the people in the neighbourhood for what they really were, not what they and everyone else pretended they were.
Janice Brooke was the same age as Dudley. If Dudley liked beating up kids, then Janice loved ordering him to do it. They were the perfect couple the whole neighbourhood was talking about. Frankly, Harry thought the pair looked more like a rhinoceros and an ostrich, respectively. However, at least Janice kept Dudley away from the house a lot, to Aunt Petunia's dismay, and gave Harry relief.
"Well, as I was saying, Petunia dear, it is completely horrid of that Sanders girl and that boy, what's his name, Scott, to be going on in the public so horridly, and their parents not doing a single thing about it. What has our society gotten to these days. It wouldn't be so bad if the Sanders and the Randalls supported their children in society and acted as if they had everything under control, from the prom to the wedding of those kids. My, am I glad my Janice has got your Dudley. He is such a fine boy, and I truthfully, I am extremely glad he comes from such a normal family." Harry smirked under the staircase as Mrs. Brooke went on talking, thinking "If she only knew."
"It would be splendid if we were to throw a party in honour of the kids, showing that we are so happy by their relationship."
Aunt Petunia bobbed her head up and down, saying "I completely agree, Nina. Why, Vernon was just saying the other day about how we must do something for the children. This would be splendid," and leaning closer to Mrs. Brooke, so all Harry could hear was a harsh whisper, said, "and it would wipe the smirk of Lisa's face. You know how she's been gloating over the party she threw two months ago." Both women sipped their tea and giggled, as if they were in cahoots in robbing a bank.
"Well, then its settled. The two of you are throwing the party," exclaimed Mrs. Brooke as Uncle Vernon looked up from his newspaper. "And soon, too. My Janice is going to go to Paris in a few days."
Harry noticed Uncle Vernon start sweating. Harry knew exactly what was going through Uncle Vernon's head. If the Dursley's threw the party while he was around, it would be difficult to hide Harry. However, Uncle Vernon had no other option, not if he wanted to keep a good reputation around Privet Drive. "Er, of course, Nina. We'll throw the party this Saturday." Harry found his opportunity. Getting up suddenly from underneath the stairs, he exclaimed "Uncle Vernon, I'll come to the party too. I'll help out, as usual," Harry grinned maliciously.
"Now, you listen to me boy. I'll not have you ruin Dudley's big day. This means a lot to him." Harry turned away from Uncle Vernon's bellowing face to look at Dudley. It definitely was a big day, and Dudley looked big too. Aunt Petunia had tried to fit Dudley into a suit she had bought for him two days ago, when he could fit in it perfectly. Now, the suit, which would be too large even for a fully-grown man, was tight across Dudley's stomach.
"Yes, Uncle Vernon. I promise I won't do anything." Harry sighed. He was telling the truth. He couldn't do anything at the party because of the strictness of underage magic.
Outside, the whole neighbourhood had congregated outside on the Dursley's front lawn. Harry sauntered outside, the glare of the sun hitting him across the face. From the corner of his eye, he could see Janice walking over to Dudley and putting her arm under his, a mass of flesh. Harry shuddered, the whole idea of Janice and Dudley disgusting him. Uncle Vernon was proudly boasting about his new car, the one he had gotten with his promotion. "Well, you know, Charlie, my boy, I'm so important to the company. I've brought in twenty percent of our clients. Just two weeks ago I got an offer from our rivalling company. They wanted to give me a higher post. Now, I'm too valuable for my company to lose, so when they heard about the offer, they instantly gave me a raise." Harry knew this to be not true. Uncle Vernon had practically asked everyone in the company to recommend him to the seniors. Finally, he got the promotion when he helped a son-in-law of one of the seniors with some trouble downtown.
Someone laid a hand on Harry's shoulder and he yelped, causing everyone to look at him. Turning red, he turned around. It was Mrs. Figg, the Dursleys' neighbour, and a Squib. Harry was glad to see her here. As old as she was, and quite unique, she was nice and she was the only connection he had with the wizarding world.
"Mrs. Figg, boy, am I glad to see you here." He walked with her over to a bench, where they sat down talking about the latest news going on in their world. It seemed only minutes later that Uncle Vernon started barbequing, and Harry was surprised to see an hour and a half had passed by. He looked around at the mass of people; some were sitting on lawn chairs gossiping about the latest celebrity, while others were in a heated rant against the latest mayor (although secretly they had all voted for him because of his promise to lift the ban from a certain type of movies). Harry left Mrs. Figg, who was talking with her old neighbour, Mr. Grier, about the history of lawn gnomes, to get a bit to eat, since his stomach was rumbling.
He reached the table and was about to take a pastry, when a bony hand smacked his. It was Aunt Petunia. "I told you this morning, you were not to touch a single bit of this food. Your food is in the kitchen. This food is for our guests." And with her scrawny arm, pushed him towards the back door to the kitchen.
Uncle Vernon could be heard giving his speech. "Well, thank you all for coming to this barbeque. As you all know, this was thrown by my lovely wife," Aunt Petunia tried to act bashful, "and me, in honour of my son, Dudley, and his pretty girl, Janice." Everyone clapped and murmured how "absolutely enchanting" Janice looked in her dress, and well, how "er...strong" Dudley looked. Harry looked out the window at Janice pointing to a boy in round in glasses and whispering to Dudley. Seconds later, Dudley had dragged the poor boy behind a tree and started beating him up. Harry assumed Janice hadn't liked the color of the boy's shirt.
The noon sun was glaring its brightest, and Harry wished to be outside, under a tree, with the cool breeze. Instead he was sitting in the stuffy kitchen, eating the leftover spaghetti. He twirled around the morsel of limp, soggy spaghetti with his fork, wishing he was outside, enjoying the juicy burger. He forced the bite down, and suddenly, he heard a crash- followed by a series of bangs! and screeches. He jumped out of his chair and jolted outside. Everyone had stopped talking and were looking shocked at something in the Dursley's driveway. Harry pushed past people to take a better look. Behind the Dursley's old car, now crushed from the rear, stood another vehicle, an old Honda. Sitting inside were three orange-haired teenagers, with freckles decking their faces. "Hiya, Harry! Nice party," exclaimed one of them. Looking back at Harry, with mischievous grins from ear to ear, sat Bill, Fred and George Weasley.
Trying to avoid Uncle Vernon's eyes, Harry made his way over to the Weasleys. "What are you three doing here?" he whispered, leaning towards George. All three of them had gotten out of the car, and were making their way to the table piled with food with Harry, mouth open, following them.
"We came to get you out of here," George whispered back from the corner of his mouth as he looked over a small centerpiece at the table, wondering what angle it would be best to hit it. Loudly, he said, "Fine house, you've got over here. We folks, from St. Brutus' Secure Center for Incurably Criminal Boy, usually have never seen such houses." Harry recalled three years ago when Uncle Vernon had started a story about him attending a boy's juvenile hostel.
"Yeah, Harry, you never mentioned this is where you came from. All we knew about you was that you got busted for trying to rob a bakery." Fred said, winking at Harry just slightly so it barely perceptible. Harry tried hard to smother a laugh as he looked around at the bewildered looks on the guests' faces and Uncle Vernon's purple, Aunt Petunia's white and Dudley's red faces. It was just like the twins to make up a ridiculous story to humiliate the Dursleys. Uncle Vernon thundered over. Leaning close to Bill, whom he sensed was the oldest, he spoke.
"WHAT THE DEVIL ARE YOU DOING HERE? HOW DARE YOU SHOW UP ON MY LAWN AND WRECK MY CAR?" He spluttered, but keeping his voice to a bare minimum. Coming up, and putting his arm on his brother's shoulder, Fred started poking Uncle Vernon in the ribs and said "Well, Mr. Dursley, how dare you feed Harry rotten apples and dry sandwiches? How dare you keep him locked in the house? And how DARE YOU give birth to such a monstrosity?" he said, jerking his head towards Dudley, who was now trembling with fear and clutching Janice's blouse. Getting the hint, George started talking too.
"Mr. Dursley, you know very well that my father and Mr. Mad-Eye Moody," Uncle Vernon cleared his ears-he surely couldn't have heard "Mad-Eye Moody"- , "told you at the beginning of the summer. If Harry wasn't treated well, they would send someone along. And so, here we are. We're here to take Harry with us to our house, the Burrow. And now, if you don't mind, we're here to enjoy a party," and unflustered, George walked away from Uncle Vernon and went to take a slice of pie. Bill, Fred and Harry followed. Uncle Vernon just stood standing there. Within a few moments, he addressed the crowd.
"Well, it seems", he said in an unmistakably squeaky voice, "it seems like my nephew's friends have decided to stay for the party."
"Yeah, it seems we have," Fred said, his mouth full of a chicken pastry, "so, please go about as usual. Don't mind us," and he turned around to take the can of soda Harry was offering him. Harry tried not to laugh as he saw the guests try to go about as usual, avoiding making eye contact with the Weasleys and Harry. Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia just stood there.
"Thank god you came. I was getting stifled in that house. But I haven't packed at all," as Harry talked, a little girl came up. It was Susie Carmichael from across the street. Harry was quite fond of the five-year old. She was the only one in the neighbourhood who didn't treat him like slime. She pulled on Fred's shirt and said, "My mommy says you are bad people. Why are you bad?" Fred looked in her shiny black eyes, and with all the seriousness he could muster, said "We're bad people because we steal cars and mug people." A shriek was heard as Susie's mom ran up, clutched her daughter, and ran away, terrified.
"Wow, nice kid. How did she manage being born in this neighbourhood?" Bill commented. "Oh, and Harry, as for your stuff, it's packed and should be coming down the stairs about now." Sure enough, as Harry strained, he could hear a slight thump coming from inside the house.
"Psst, George. Now!" whispered Fred. A second later, a bench Dudley's friends were sitting on collapsed. Harry didn't see it, but he knew George's wand was right behind his back. As they turned around to leave, Janice ambled over. Harry couldn't help notice the way she was looking at Bill, taking in his dragon fang earring, his long hair, and dragonhide jacket. Harry nudged Fred, who in turn nudged George. They all looked in amusement as Janice started talking to Bill.
"Hmm, I like your earring. It's really cool. Dudley isn't willing to get any piercings. He's too scared. But I can see you're not at all afraid," she slowly laid an arm on Bill's. Harry bit his lower lip to keep from bursting out laughing. He could see Dudley turning red. "So, are you busy this summer?" She looked earnestly at Bill.
"Er, you see actually, there's this rule my mom has: never bring in stray animals from the streets." At this George burst out laughing at Janice's humiliation, and accidentally knocked the centerpiece down from the table. Uncle Vernon came stomping up and clutched at George's throat. Instantaneously, Fred and Bill grabbed at their wands, and careful not to make the wand visible, Bill muttered something under his breath and Uncle Vernon's hands, and the rest of his body flew off from George and landed smack! in the middle of lawn table. Everyone drew away from the food table where the Weasleys were standing.
"We should really get out of here," Harry muttered to Bill from the corner of his mouth. He saw Bill nod. Bill grabbed at George's hand and began dragging him, and Harry dragged Fred. Uncle Vernon, who saw that the Weasleys were leaving, tried to save face and started shaking his arm and yelling.
"Yeah, leave. I can see you're scared. Go away from here and don't come back. This is where good, honourable people live. Not scumbags like you." Harry felt Bill stiffen, but he kept on walking. Fred turned and was about to say something when Bill clamped his hand over Fred's mouth. The Weasleys followed the boys and the guests followed them. Uncle Vernon was still yelling when Fred freed himself and from Harry and walked up to Uncle Vernon, who had stopped talking and was turning white.
"Yeah, we're leaving. Thanks for being so hospitable," he said, smiling sweetly. As he turned to leave, his hand slightly touched Dudley's soda can. While Fred had been talking to the crowd, Bill, George and Harry had put his trunk and Hedwig's cage in the car. Uncle Vernon's car. His new car. As Fred walked away, Dudley started convulsing and twitching. He started twisting his head and soon he was on all fours. Mrs. Dursley shrieked as Dudley started squealing like a pig. Uncle Vernon's face held a weird expression, somewhere in the middle of pain and anger. As he thundered towards the boys, all of them got into his new car except Fred. Before getting inside himself, he said, "Oh and since you're such a gracious host, we know you won't mind us borrowing this car. You can keep ours if you like." And he got inside as Bill started the ignition. They backed out of the driveway and onto the street, howling with laughter as Uncle Vernon ran after them, with Aunt Petunia trying to pull Dudley off from Janice's skirt. As they drove off, their laughter could be heard by all the people living there.
After they had driven for a mile and their laughter subsided, Harry, amidst tears, managed to ask Fred what he had done to George. "Oh, its this new powder we've invented. Mix it in any drink, and the drinker starts behaving like an animal for an hour. The animal depends on the drinker. If the person is like a dog, they start behaving like one. Or, if they are a pig, lo and behold, they start acting like a pig. Looks like our Dudley here is very much fond of mud and grub." And snorting with laughter, he imitated Dudley rolling on the Dursley's lawn. Everyone laughed as they remembered the incident on their way to the Burrow.
Harry smirked behind his post underneath the stairs. Mrs. Brooke had come over with her daughter, Janice, to have tea with Aunt Petunia. Mrs Brooke was a thin, wiry woman with a Lucy hairdo wig. She always seemed to be dressed as if the Queen was about to drop in any moment, with her pearls and diamonds flashing at her neck and ears. If the mother was any bit annoying, it was nothing compared to the loathsomeness of her daughter. Built like her mother, long and thin, she had blond hair (real, unlike her mother) and green eyes. She looked as if she would fit into normal human society, but Harry knew better. Having lived at Privet Drive for eleven years, before Hogwarts, he knew the people in the neighbourhood for what they really were, not what they and everyone else pretended they were.
Janice Brooke was the same age as Dudley. If Dudley liked beating up kids, then Janice loved ordering him to do it. They were the perfect couple the whole neighbourhood was talking about. Frankly, Harry thought the pair looked more like a rhinoceros and an ostrich, respectively. However, at least Janice kept Dudley away from the house a lot, to Aunt Petunia's dismay, and gave Harry relief.
"Well, as I was saying, Petunia dear, it is completely horrid of that Sanders girl and that boy, what's his name, Scott, to be going on in the public so horridly, and their parents not doing a single thing about it. What has our society gotten to these days. It wouldn't be so bad if the Sanders and the Randalls supported their children in society and acted as if they had everything under control, from the prom to the wedding of those kids. My, am I glad my Janice has got your Dudley. He is such a fine boy, and I truthfully, I am extremely glad he comes from such a normal family." Harry smirked under the staircase as Mrs. Brooke went on talking, thinking "If she only knew."
"It would be splendid if we were to throw a party in honour of the kids, showing that we are so happy by their relationship."
Aunt Petunia bobbed her head up and down, saying "I completely agree, Nina. Why, Vernon was just saying the other day about how we must do something for the children. This would be splendid," and leaning closer to Mrs. Brooke, so all Harry could hear was a harsh whisper, said, "and it would wipe the smirk of Lisa's face. You know how she's been gloating over the party she threw two months ago." Both women sipped their tea and giggled, as if they were in cahoots in robbing a bank.
"Well, then its settled. The two of you are throwing the party," exclaimed Mrs. Brooke as Uncle Vernon looked up from his newspaper. "And soon, too. My Janice is going to go to Paris in a few days."
Harry noticed Uncle Vernon start sweating. Harry knew exactly what was going through Uncle Vernon's head. If the Dursley's threw the party while he was around, it would be difficult to hide Harry. However, Uncle Vernon had no other option, not if he wanted to keep a good reputation around Privet Drive. "Er, of course, Nina. We'll throw the party this Saturday." Harry found his opportunity. Getting up suddenly from underneath the stairs, he exclaimed "Uncle Vernon, I'll come to the party too. I'll help out, as usual," Harry grinned maliciously.
"Now, you listen to me boy. I'll not have you ruin Dudley's big day. This means a lot to him." Harry turned away from Uncle Vernon's bellowing face to look at Dudley. It definitely was a big day, and Dudley looked big too. Aunt Petunia had tried to fit Dudley into a suit she had bought for him two days ago, when he could fit in it perfectly. Now, the suit, which would be too large even for a fully-grown man, was tight across Dudley's stomach.
"Yes, Uncle Vernon. I promise I won't do anything." Harry sighed. He was telling the truth. He couldn't do anything at the party because of the strictness of underage magic.
Outside, the whole neighbourhood had congregated outside on the Dursley's front lawn. Harry sauntered outside, the glare of the sun hitting him across the face. From the corner of his eye, he could see Janice walking over to Dudley and putting her arm under his, a mass of flesh. Harry shuddered, the whole idea of Janice and Dudley disgusting him. Uncle Vernon was proudly boasting about his new car, the one he had gotten with his promotion. "Well, you know, Charlie, my boy, I'm so important to the company. I've brought in twenty percent of our clients. Just two weeks ago I got an offer from our rivalling company. They wanted to give me a higher post. Now, I'm too valuable for my company to lose, so when they heard about the offer, they instantly gave me a raise." Harry knew this to be not true. Uncle Vernon had practically asked everyone in the company to recommend him to the seniors. Finally, he got the promotion when he helped a son-in-law of one of the seniors with some trouble downtown.
Someone laid a hand on Harry's shoulder and he yelped, causing everyone to look at him. Turning red, he turned around. It was Mrs. Figg, the Dursleys' neighbour, and a Squib. Harry was glad to see her here. As old as she was, and quite unique, she was nice and she was the only connection he had with the wizarding world.
"Mrs. Figg, boy, am I glad to see you here." He walked with her over to a bench, where they sat down talking about the latest news going on in their world. It seemed only minutes later that Uncle Vernon started barbequing, and Harry was surprised to see an hour and a half had passed by. He looked around at the mass of people; some were sitting on lawn chairs gossiping about the latest celebrity, while others were in a heated rant against the latest mayor (although secretly they had all voted for him because of his promise to lift the ban from a certain type of movies). Harry left Mrs. Figg, who was talking with her old neighbour, Mr. Grier, about the history of lawn gnomes, to get a bit to eat, since his stomach was rumbling.
He reached the table and was about to take a pastry, when a bony hand smacked his. It was Aunt Petunia. "I told you this morning, you were not to touch a single bit of this food. Your food is in the kitchen. This food is for our guests." And with her scrawny arm, pushed him towards the back door to the kitchen.
Uncle Vernon could be heard giving his speech. "Well, thank you all for coming to this barbeque. As you all know, this was thrown by my lovely wife," Aunt Petunia tried to act bashful, "and me, in honour of my son, Dudley, and his pretty girl, Janice." Everyone clapped and murmured how "absolutely enchanting" Janice looked in her dress, and well, how "er...strong" Dudley looked. Harry looked out the window at Janice pointing to a boy in round in glasses and whispering to Dudley. Seconds later, Dudley had dragged the poor boy behind a tree and started beating him up. Harry assumed Janice hadn't liked the color of the boy's shirt.
The noon sun was glaring its brightest, and Harry wished to be outside, under a tree, with the cool breeze. Instead he was sitting in the stuffy kitchen, eating the leftover spaghetti. He twirled around the morsel of limp, soggy spaghetti with his fork, wishing he was outside, enjoying the juicy burger. He forced the bite down, and suddenly, he heard a crash- followed by a series of bangs! and screeches. He jumped out of his chair and jolted outside. Everyone had stopped talking and were looking shocked at something in the Dursley's driveway. Harry pushed past people to take a better look. Behind the Dursley's old car, now crushed from the rear, stood another vehicle, an old Honda. Sitting inside were three orange-haired teenagers, with freckles decking their faces. "Hiya, Harry! Nice party," exclaimed one of them. Looking back at Harry, with mischievous grins from ear to ear, sat Bill, Fred and George Weasley.
Trying to avoid Uncle Vernon's eyes, Harry made his way over to the Weasleys. "What are you three doing here?" he whispered, leaning towards George. All three of them had gotten out of the car, and were making their way to the table piled with food with Harry, mouth open, following them.
"We came to get you out of here," George whispered back from the corner of his mouth as he looked over a small centerpiece at the table, wondering what angle it would be best to hit it. Loudly, he said, "Fine house, you've got over here. We folks, from St. Brutus' Secure Center for Incurably Criminal Boy, usually have never seen such houses." Harry recalled three years ago when Uncle Vernon had started a story about him attending a boy's juvenile hostel.
"Yeah, Harry, you never mentioned this is where you came from. All we knew about you was that you got busted for trying to rob a bakery." Fred said, winking at Harry just slightly so it barely perceptible. Harry tried hard to smother a laugh as he looked around at the bewildered looks on the guests' faces and Uncle Vernon's purple, Aunt Petunia's white and Dudley's red faces. It was just like the twins to make up a ridiculous story to humiliate the Dursleys. Uncle Vernon thundered over. Leaning close to Bill, whom he sensed was the oldest, he spoke.
"WHAT THE DEVIL ARE YOU DOING HERE? HOW DARE YOU SHOW UP ON MY LAWN AND WRECK MY CAR?" He spluttered, but keeping his voice to a bare minimum. Coming up, and putting his arm on his brother's shoulder, Fred started poking Uncle Vernon in the ribs and said "Well, Mr. Dursley, how dare you feed Harry rotten apples and dry sandwiches? How dare you keep him locked in the house? And how DARE YOU give birth to such a monstrosity?" he said, jerking his head towards Dudley, who was now trembling with fear and clutching Janice's blouse. Getting the hint, George started talking too.
"Mr. Dursley, you know very well that my father and Mr. Mad-Eye Moody," Uncle Vernon cleared his ears-he surely couldn't have heard "Mad-Eye Moody"- , "told you at the beginning of the summer. If Harry wasn't treated well, they would send someone along. And so, here we are. We're here to take Harry with us to our house, the Burrow. And now, if you don't mind, we're here to enjoy a party," and unflustered, George walked away from Uncle Vernon and went to take a slice of pie. Bill, Fred and Harry followed. Uncle Vernon just stood standing there. Within a few moments, he addressed the crowd.
"Well, it seems", he said in an unmistakably squeaky voice, "it seems like my nephew's friends have decided to stay for the party."
"Yeah, it seems we have," Fred said, his mouth full of a chicken pastry, "so, please go about as usual. Don't mind us," and he turned around to take the can of soda Harry was offering him. Harry tried not to laugh as he saw the guests try to go about as usual, avoiding making eye contact with the Weasleys and Harry. Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia just stood there.
"Thank god you came. I was getting stifled in that house. But I haven't packed at all," as Harry talked, a little girl came up. It was Susie Carmichael from across the street. Harry was quite fond of the five-year old. She was the only one in the neighbourhood who didn't treat him like slime. She pulled on Fred's shirt and said, "My mommy says you are bad people. Why are you bad?" Fred looked in her shiny black eyes, and with all the seriousness he could muster, said "We're bad people because we steal cars and mug people." A shriek was heard as Susie's mom ran up, clutched her daughter, and ran away, terrified.
"Wow, nice kid. How did she manage being born in this neighbourhood?" Bill commented. "Oh, and Harry, as for your stuff, it's packed and should be coming down the stairs about now." Sure enough, as Harry strained, he could hear a slight thump coming from inside the house.
"Psst, George. Now!" whispered Fred. A second later, a bench Dudley's friends were sitting on collapsed. Harry didn't see it, but he knew George's wand was right behind his back. As they turned around to leave, Janice ambled over. Harry couldn't help notice the way she was looking at Bill, taking in his dragon fang earring, his long hair, and dragonhide jacket. Harry nudged Fred, who in turn nudged George. They all looked in amusement as Janice started talking to Bill.
"Hmm, I like your earring. It's really cool. Dudley isn't willing to get any piercings. He's too scared. But I can see you're not at all afraid," she slowly laid an arm on Bill's. Harry bit his lower lip to keep from bursting out laughing. He could see Dudley turning red. "So, are you busy this summer?" She looked earnestly at Bill.
"Er, you see actually, there's this rule my mom has: never bring in stray animals from the streets." At this George burst out laughing at Janice's humiliation, and accidentally knocked the centerpiece down from the table. Uncle Vernon came stomping up and clutched at George's throat. Instantaneously, Fred and Bill grabbed at their wands, and careful not to make the wand visible, Bill muttered something under his breath and Uncle Vernon's hands, and the rest of his body flew off from George and landed smack! in the middle of lawn table. Everyone drew away from the food table where the Weasleys were standing.
"We should really get out of here," Harry muttered to Bill from the corner of his mouth. He saw Bill nod. Bill grabbed at George's hand and began dragging him, and Harry dragged Fred. Uncle Vernon, who saw that the Weasleys were leaving, tried to save face and started shaking his arm and yelling.
"Yeah, leave. I can see you're scared. Go away from here and don't come back. This is where good, honourable people live. Not scumbags like you." Harry felt Bill stiffen, but he kept on walking. Fred turned and was about to say something when Bill clamped his hand over Fred's mouth. The Weasleys followed the boys and the guests followed them. Uncle Vernon was still yelling when Fred freed himself and from Harry and walked up to Uncle Vernon, who had stopped talking and was turning white.
"Yeah, we're leaving. Thanks for being so hospitable," he said, smiling sweetly. As he turned to leave, his hand slightly touched Dudley's soda can. While Fred had been talking to the crowd, Bill, George and Harry had put his trunk and Hedwig's cage in the car. Uncle Vernon's car. His new car. As Fred walked away, Dudley started convulsing and twitching. He started twisting his head and soon he was on all fours. Mrs. Dursley shrieked as Dudley started squealing like a pig. Uncle Vernon's face held a weird expression, somewhere in the middle of pain and anger. As he thundered towards the boys, all of them got into his new car except Fred. Before getting inside himself, he said, "Oh and since you're such a gracious host, we know you won't mind us borrowing this car. You can keep ours if you like." And he got inside as Bill started the ignition. They backed out of the driveway and onto the street, howling with laughter as Uncle Vernon ran after them, with Aunt Petunia trying to pull Dudley off from Janice's skirt. As they drove off, their laughter could be heard by all the people living there.
After they had driven for a mile and their laughter subsided, Harry, amidst tears, managed to ask Fred what he had done to George. "Oh, its this new powder we've invented. Mix it in any drink, and the drinker starts behaving like an animal for an hour. The animal depends on the drinker. If the person is like a dog, they start behaving like one. Or, if they are a pig, lo and behold, they start acting like a pig. Looks like our Dudley here is very much fond of mud and grub." And snorting with laughter, he imitated Dudley rolling on the Dursley's lawn. Everyone laughed as they remembered the incident on their way to the Burrow.