The big moment finally came as Brooklyn packed what he had and made his way downstairs at 4:00, where he spotted Tom the Bartender cleaning, to his surprise.
"Why are you awake this early?" Brooklyn questioned. Tom gave him his usuals toothless grin.
"Gotta keep busy, my friend. But what had you up this early?"
Brooklyn's wings flapped nervously. "Er, just meeting some friends?"
Tom continued to look at him, and he gave in.
"Fine, I'm going to get my brother from those so called relatives of his. He hasn't been answering my letters and I asked for help."
Tom smiled. "It's always nice to see brothers being loyal to each other, even if they aren't the same species."
Brooklyn smiled back at him. He always held respect for Tom, who hadn't been scared of him when they first met. The gargoyle gave a wave as he left, greeting Ron at the doorway.
"Hey! You ready for this?" Ron greeted in an excited voice. Brooklyn nodded, excitement bubbling in his chest as he followed Ron, carrying his things and giving Erroll back to him as well.
The two of them entered a dark alleyway where Fred and George stood, next to an old fashioned Ford Angela? Hey, even gargoyles like Brooklyn could research vehicles, too!
He folded his arms. "Uh, was this your transportation? How long did it take for you to drive here? Is this even your car?"
Fred simply laughed. "This is dad's. He works for the Ministry of Magic for the department of Muggle Artifacts Office, and he loves to tinker with this kind of stuff. We're only borrowing it."
"Mum got pretty angry when he was caught messing with the car to make it fly. We believe he might have been successful." George added.
Brooklyn had a strange expression on his face, feeling quite weirded out about this being a flying car. Will he even fit in there?
Ron stood near him. "Don't worry, they have flown it quite a lot."
They all piled in. Brooklyn struggled, but they managed to secure him in the backseat with George while Ron and Fred were in the front.
Fred started it up. Brooklyn gulped. "You sure you can really fly this thing?" He asked, feeling even more nervous.
"Like Ron said, done this quite a bit, with not too many casualties!"
Oh, Jalapeña! Brooklyn thought, shutting his eyes and gripping his seat as the car moved, taking off into air. He had ridden motorcycles, helicopters, but this, this was taking flying vehicles too far for him!
He gritted his teeth as the car shook in the air, until Fred turned to see him all tensed up.
"Hey! Lighten up back there! We're experts, don't worry! We just never used this car to rescue anybody before!"
Brooklyn rolled his eyes. "Thank you, I feel so much better now," he grumbled sarcastically, his face turning green at the view from above. He rarely flew this high into the clouds.
Another few minutes of flying, they approached the lesser houses.
"We should be getting close! See if you recognize anything, Brooklyn!" Fred called. Brooklyn nodded as he poked his head out the window, the wind whipping his hair back as he scanned for any sightings of Privet Drive.
At last, he spotted the cursed village, with their houses all looking the same as usual. He pointed. "Take us left, Fred! I found it!"
Nodding, Fred turned the steering wheel towards the house.
As they got closer, Brooklyn's eyes narrowed as he immediately recognized Number 4, and directed George towards it.
His rage inflated when Brooklyn spotted his brother behind bars? He growled in fury. What has that moron of a family done now?
For Harry was indeed behind bars, and was lying on the bed, looking half starved. The gargoyle's eyes flashed white with utter rage. If they had tried to starve his brother, oh, they will definitely pay!
Harry's eyes opened to the sound of the car engine, and his mouth fell open at seeing Ron through his window, grinning, along with his brother and the twins?
"Guys?" He gasped in disbelief. Brooklyn gave him a smile and a wave.
"Hey!" He called.
"But, what are you all doing here?" Harry asked, flabbergasted.
Ron rolled his eyes. "Well, we're rescuing you, of course!"
George hooked a rope to the bars. "Stand back," Brooklyn warned as Harry stood against the closet. Fred pushed the engine and tugged, the bars coming loose.
Uncle Vernon gave a sleepy grunt from the next room. Brooklyn sighed as he was relieved that they didn't wake up from it, though he wondered how they could sleep through noise like that.
With the bars safe in the back with Ron, Brooklyn, Fred and George climbed in catlike through the window, leaving Ron to the wheel.
"What do you need to take with you?" Fred asked.
"My school supplies, and I can't get out of this room!" Harry said. Brooklyn had to know, his anger towards the Dursleys coming back.
"What did you 'do' to make them lock you up like this?" He demanded. The twins nodded. "Yeah, Dad got the word that you got a warning about using illegal magic!"
Harry looked pretty indignant. "It wasn't me! It was a house elf!"
Brooklyn blinked a few times. It seemed every day when he thought he had seen everything in this strange world there was always something new to learn! "House what?" He asked in confusion.
"I'll tell you later," Harry muttered to his brother as Fred and George approached the door, pulling out a hairpin.
"Um, guys, why use a hairpin when I can use my magic?" Brooklyn asked, pulling out his wand. Harry nodded. "Yeah, he's not underage!"
The twins looked back at him. "Sometimes, you've got to think outside the magic box, Brook! What if you didn't have a wand? A lot of wizards think it is a waste of time learning this kind of Muggle trick, but we feel they have skills worth learning, even if they are a bit slow."
Brooklyn simply shook his head. Even though it could have been as simple as using Alohomora, he had to give credit to the twins for having other options to use.
The lock clicked and the door swung open.
"We'll grab your trunk, and Brooklyn will help you get whatever you will need from your room," George whispered.
"Just watch out for the bottom stair, it creaks!" Harry whispered back.
The twins nodded as they headed down the dark landing, with Brooklyn praying silently that they wouldn't drop anything to wake the family up.
He helped Harry grab stuff in his room and pass it out to Ron.
At last, the Twins returned with Harry's trunk and all four of them struggled to put it in the back trunk of the car. Brooklyn panted when they finally got it in.
"Let's get out of here!" Brooklyn hissed, as he and the others started to get in the car. But that's when things went wrong as Hedwig suddenly screeched, and Wyvern also screeched at that moment, making humans and gargoyle freeze in their tracks, eyes wide with horror.
"THAT RUDDY OWL!" Uncle Vernon bellowed, and Brooklyn's blood turned cold, knowing they were in trouble now!
"I've forgotten Hedwig!" Harry gasped, about to climb back in, but Brooklyn halted him. "No, I'll get her!"
He climbed back in and grabbed her cage, handing it to Harry. As he was trying to get into the car again, the door opened, and the lights turned on, revealing Uncle Vernon and the other two gasping in disbelief as they spotted Brooklyn, who froze again mid climb.
Crud! Brooklyn thought. It was only a matter of time for the Dursleys to see him for real, and they reacted pretty much how he expected them to.
"Dad! It's a monster!" Screamed Dudley, making Brooklyn flinch at the name as Harry struggled to pull him in. Uncle Vernon bellowed like an angry walrus as he charged. Vernon himself had read that ridiculous letter from the old coot and didn't believe those gargoyles were real, but it would appear to be true, and here it was, stealing his abnormal nephew.
"PETUNIA! HE'S GETTING AWAY! THE MONSTER'S STEALING HIM!" He screamed.
As Harry managed to get his brother inside, Vernon had grabbed his leg, trying to pull him back in. Brooklyn growled in rage. He didn't care now that the Dursleys had spotted him, he was not going to endure family abuse!
He put his head out the door, eyes flashing intensely, putting on his scariest face as Brooklyn held onto his brother.
"Let him GO!" He roared, startling Vernon into losing his grip, and falling out the window. Fred stepped on the gas and they were off!
They drove off into the night, the Weasleys laughing their heads off and Harry hugging Brooklyn tightly.
"That... was... EPIC! I told you we'd make it!" Cried George, fist pumping. But Brooklyn narrowed his eyes, knowing now his secret was out with the Dursleys, and that he could never set foot in that house again for a while.
"If it weren't for the fact that they saw me!" He growled. Fred kept smiling. "Ah, don't be such a worrywort! We'll be home soon!"
Harry rolled his eyes, then turned to Brooklyn who still looked a little worried about being seen by his relatives.
"Hey, it will be okay, Brook. I'm sure the police won't believe that I had been 'kidnapped' by a gargoyle in a flying car."
"Yeah, maybe," Brooklyn replied back, know knowing how ridiculous that sounded from Harry's perspective. He just hoped that security wouldn't believe them!
"And, sorry about my cousin calling you a monster," Harry also said. Brooklyn shrugged. "No biggie," he mumbled dryly, looking out the window. He was just glad they got Harry out of there. That was all that mattered.
Harry frowned at how Brooklyn answered. Even after one year being accepted by the humans of Hogwarts, he still couldn't stand up for himself too well in front of other humans who didn't treat him respectfully at first sight. It was wrong in all the wrong ways, and he wished he could help his brother.
...
A half hour of flying and catching up later along with learning of the house elf Dobby that had warned Harry of a mysterious danger to happen at Hogwarts ("Did he say what danger it was?" Brooklyn had asked. Harry shrugged, shaking his head. "He was weird. Whenever he came close to revealing anything, he would hit himself!" Brooklyn thought that was strange. Why?) Fred turned back to them.
"Harry and Brooklyn, welcome to the Burrow!"
Brooklyn looked out the window, where he spotted the most interesting building. Where it had used to be a large stone pigpen. Despite being lopsided looking, the gargoyle could tell they used magic to keep the house from falling apart. A sign next to it read The Burrow. He smiled at the sight of the overgrown garden, and the fat brown chickens pecking around the place.
"Well, it's not much—." Ron said, looking embarrassed. But Harry was grinning as much as Brooklyn was.
"Now this is a wizard house!" Brooklyn complimented.
"It's amazing!" Harry exclaimed. Ron turned red all the way to his hair.
They landed the car, a bumpy landing, but a landing nonetheless.
"Come on! We'll sneak you two upstairs. "I sleep on the—the top—," Ron began to say, and then Brooklyn saw his face turning a pale green.
Fred winced. "Ah!"
"Oh dear!" George mumbled. Brooklyn was confused, but then he saw why: Mrs. Weasley was marching right toward them, looking quite furious.
"Er, Brook, why don't you stay in here until Mum cools off?" Fred suggested as they got out. He was happy to do so as he waited there, flinching from the way Mrs. Weasley was yelling at them.
I hope she still likes me! He prayed silently.
A couple minutes later, she suddenly spotted Harry and gave him a hug, her mood changed.
"Mum, we actually have one more guest," Ron said. Mrs. Weasley placed her hands on her hips. "And who is this special new guest?" She asked in a stern tone.
Fred gave Brooklyn the signal. He gulped, and stepped out of the car, putting on a nervous smile as he stood in front of them.
Her eyes brightened immediately as she saw him. "Oh, so lovely to see you, Brooklyn!"
He was surprised, but happy. "I was involved with the car, though," he persisted.
She shook her head. "Oh, nonsense. You weren't there with them when they first stole it. My door is always open to you and Harry! Please come in! You must be hungry!"
Brooklyn's stomach growled at that moment, and he blushed embarrassedly as he and Harry followed her in, grinning back at the Weasley boys as they looked shocked, mouths open, but their eyes looked happy for them.
