Okay, next chapter. After this, I can't say how often I'll update. It depends on how often my muses track me down and boot me in the rear.

The Curtain Rises

Harry got up and stretched. Now he was tired. He'd managed to nod off around 5 am, but he was still sleepy. He got dressed, stopping only briefly to glance around for Hedwig. She still wasn't back. He'd sent her to Sirius three days ago. He'd told her that he'd probably already be at Ron's when she got back, so he wasn't worried.

He trudged downstairs. He probably wouldn't have bothered, except for the fact that if he didn't turn up (ostensibly to eat breakfast), the Dursleys would get suspicious.

Breakfast, and all his meals for that matter (he almost never left his room for any other reason), was becoming decidedly strained. The Dursleys had known that Harry would be invited from the very start of summer holidays, and they had known that, because Harry would tell Sirius if they didn't let him go, they could hardly refuse.

The last time the Weasleys had come to pick him up for the summer, they had tried to arrive by Floo powder, and had had to blow away half of an entire wall of the Dursleys living room. Things had only gotten worse when Fred and George accidentally-on-purpose dropped some trick sweets that they had been working on. The sweets had caused Dudley's tongue to grow to be three feet long, and Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia had gone slightly mad. When Harry had left through the fire, Uncle Vernon had been chucking china knickknacks at Mr. Weasley, and Aunt Petunia had been lying on top of Dudley, apparently trying to wrench his tongue out of his head. When Hagrid had come to fetch him for school, he had given Dudley a curly pig's tail, and Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon had had to pay to have it removed.

When he entered the kitchen, Dudley looked up nervously, before returning to the serious business of demolishing his grapefruit. Even though he hated that sort of food, it was food, and he was hungry. Uncle Vernon did not glance up from the Daily Mail before his nose. Aunt Petunia did look up, and a sour look filled her eyes as she returned to cutting up grapefruit. Harry hadn't expected any other reaction, and he would have been very suspicious if he had gotten one. He ate the tiny grapefruit quarter Aunt Petunia placed in front of him and returned upstairs in about five minutes.

He began to pack his trunk, double-checking to make sure that he wouldn't forget anything. Robes, spellbooks, wand, cauldron, quills, parchment. Then he began to load in some rather unusual things. A Firebolt, an Invisibility Cloak, an old-looking bit of parchment that was really an enchanted map of Hogwarts.

He filled every inch of his trunk, and then put Hedwig's cage on top. He was ready.

ยงยงยง

At 5:00, he went downstairs. He'd decided to risk being a moment late, remembering the tension last year. Surprisingly, he heard a car pull up and stop before the Dursleys. A car. Maybe they'd decided to borrow a car from the Ministry of Magic again, but he'd gotten into a bit of trouble last year with them. Several Weasleys piled out of the car and onto the Dursleys pavement. All of them wore Muggle clothing, and they all had flaming red hair. Harry's best friend, Ron, ran up the walk, but was mystified by the doorbell. Harry pulled open the door and greeted him with a "Hi."

Mr. Weasley was keeping a sharp eye on his twin sons, so Harry assumed that he didn't want a repeat of last year's fiasco. Fred and George went upstairs, got Harry's trunk, and loaded it in the car.

Harry said goodbye to the Dursleys, and Mr. Weasley thanked them for letting Harry come stay with them for the rest of the holidays.

Then they all piled back into the car, and drove away. Harry was puzzled. Whenever he'd left the Dursleys before, there'd always been some mishap. Last year, it had been the Ten-Tongue Toffee, the year before he'd lost his temper and inflated Aunt Marge to the size of a balloon. He'd only escaped severe punishment because Sirius had escaped, and everyone thought that he was after Harry. Three years ago, the Dursleys had imprisoned Harry in his room, and Fred, George, and Ron had rescued him in a flying car and the dead of night. He'd been expecting a Canary Cream at least. He looked around, and saw that Fred, George, and Ron were all just as puzzled as he himself was.

Fred placed a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry. We were trying to smuggle out some new joke stuff, but Mum caught us. We're very sorry to have disappointed you."

Harry laughed. "You didn't disappoint me. Any more tricks like that, and life might have gotten very hard for me next summer."

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