"BOY! COME HERE!" yelled Uncle Vernon.
Harry Potter put down his book, Flying with the Cannons, which he was reading for the thirteenth time, and headed downstairs, wondering what he could have done to make his uncle so furious this early in the morning.
His uncle was in the lounge-room, holding the phone as far away from his as possible, as though afraid that it might explode.
"It's that red-haired family," said Uncle Vernon. "They want to speak with you."
His face was no longer it's usual purple, but a deep scarlet. He handed the phone to Harry, but didn't leave the room, obviously wanting to hear every word of the conversation.
"Hello" said Harry, holding the receiver a little way away from his ear in case Ron started shouting like he had a few years ago. The Weasley family, while being the kindest family Harry knew, weren't very well associated with using muggle equipment.
"Harry, is that you?" said Ron, his voice normal.
"Yep. How are things down at the burrow? Asked Harry holding the receiver closer.
"Fine. Percy's apologised to Dad and moved back in." About a year ago Mr Weasley and Ron's older brother Percy had a fight resulting in him leaving. "Mum got all teary-eyed when they made up"
"That's great. How are Fred and Georges shop going?"
"Fabulous! They bought us all presents. I got a dragon-skin jacket with a picture of the Cannons on the back." The Chudley Cannons were the Quidditch team Ron supported.
"Wow. They must be selling out like mad!"
"Yeah, all thanks to you mate."
Harry had forced the twins to take his 1000 galleons triwizard winning a couple of years ago, making it possible to run the joke shop they always wanted.
"Anyway, I called to see if you could come over. According to Mum, Dumbledore says it's ok.
"Yeah, I would love to. I'll just ask."
Harry covered the mouthpiece so that wouldn't hear the comments that Uncle Vernon was likely to say, none of them nice.
"What do they want?" Snapped Uncle Vernon.
"They were wondering if I would be able to go over to their house."
Even though Uncle Vernon seemed to be having trouble deciding Harry knew that he wouldn't dare say no. Not after the threat Moody gave him at Kings Cross station.
"Well, fine. But you tell them they have to keep you for the rest of the holidays. And the have to pick you up without destroying the lounge."
Harry went back to speaking to Ron.
"How long would I be staying?"
"All holidays, of course."
"And would it be possible for you to pick me up?"
"Dad's already hired ministry cars."
Harry turned back to his uncle.
"I can stay all holidays and they are picking me up in cars."
Uncle Vernon's eyebrows rose.
"Their lot can drive can they?"
"Well considering they have cars I think it would be obvious." Snapped Harry. He hated the way the Dursleys always criticised the Weasleys.
"Yep that's fine," said Harry turning his back to Uncle Vernon. "So when will you be picking me up?"
"As soon as we finish talking."
"Oh! Um, how long should that take?"
"Three hours."
"OK, I'll see you then."
"Yep. Bye."
Harry put down the phone and turned to see his uncle still waiting.
"Well?"
"They will be here in three hours."
"WHAT!"
"They should be here-"
"I HEARD WHAT YOU SAID BOY!" Yelled Uncle Vernon. "WHAT DO THEY MEAN BY IT!"
Aunt Petunia came running into the room, obviously to see what all the yelling was about.
"What is it Vernon?"
"THE RED-HEAD FAMILY ARE GOING TO BE HERE IN THREE HOURS!"
The next 2 hours were a rush of cleaning and tidying up. Harry spent most of it in his room. It took his most of the morning just to find all of his possesions; it seemed like most of them had crept into the most unlikely places; he found one of his Hogwarts robes inside a spare pillow on the top shelf of his cupboard. Once he finished packing his trunk, he sat down on his bed and patted his owl Hedwig. He stayed that way until it was about 5 minutes to when the Weasleys were supposed to arrive. He headed to the kitchen, where the Dursleys were behaving unusually. Aunt petunia was sitting down at the kitchen table twiddling her thumbs and craning her neck every so often to see down the street, while Uncle Vernon walked around the kitchen, jumping at the slightest noise and constantly running into things as though he were blind. Dudley was nowhere to be seen, but Harry had a pretty good idea where his cousin would be. He was probably hiding in his room, making sure his mouth was closed tight and his buttocks, out of sight. After Dudley's last two experiences Harry couldn't blame his cousin for being scared.
Harry decided to go into the lounge room to wait. He had barely sat down, though, when he saw a couple of cars driving down the street. Although they were at the opposite end of the street, Harry could make out what looked like a bush of red hair inside the car. Harry immediately jumped up and ran to the door where he almost collided with Uncle Vernon who was blocking the front door.
"Would you please get out of the way?" Said Harry as politely as he could manage.
"If you think that I'm having those freaks in my house, you've got another thing coming."
Besides this being extremely rude, Harry knew he could never get his trunk down by himself, and the chances of the Dursleys helping were about minus ten to a million.
Choosing his words carefully Harry said. "But what about the neighbours?"
"What are you talking about?"
"Imagine what they're going to say when they see them waiting at your doorstep."
He had done it. He had said the magic words. Now he watched the purple recede blotchily from Uncle Vernon's face, making it look like badly mixed blackcurrant ice cream. The thought of the neighbours discovering that the Dursleys were related, however distantly, to wizards was obviously unbearable.
"Well fine they can come inside, but only till you get your things."
A second later the doorbell rang. Uncle Vernon jumped away from the door as though it had bitten him.
"Hurry up and answer it boy!" Uncle Vernon growled.
Harry opened the door and for a millisecond saw what looked like not only the whole Weasley family, but half a dozen of the Order. His vision became completely obscured by a large quantity of very bushy hair.
"Hermione, let the boy breathe!" said Ron, obviously trying not to laugh.
Hermione let go of Harry and he looked around. All of the Weasleys were there except for Charlie, along with Tonks, Moody and Shacklebolt. Realising he was blocking the doorway, he stepped back to let them in.
Once they had all moved into the lounge room, there was an awkward silence. Uncle Vernon looked like he had just swallowed half a dozen lemons.
"This is such a beautiful house you have here," said Mrs Weasley, in an attempt to start a conversation.
"Harry, shall we go get your stuff?" said the twins.
"Sure."
"Could you come too?" said George.
"Um, ok." It was a complete mystery to Harry why they needed him as they had managed by themselves two years ago.
When they got to Harry's bedroom the twins turned to look at Harry.
"Harry mate, we know it is your birthday tomorrow," said George " So we thought we would give you your present now, seeing as we have work tomorrow."
Fred reached in his robe and pulled out a large roughly wrapped present. It was so big; Harry wondered how it could have fitted into Fred's pocket without bulging.
"Happy Birthday." said the twins.
Harry unwrapped his present to find two Hogwarts robes.
"Before you say anything, let us explain," said Fred, noticing the look of confusion on Harry's face. "These are our latest and greatest invention. The Pocket-less Robe. And the Invisibility Robe. In the Pocket-less robe you can store anything you want in the pockets and only you will be able to find what you put in."
"Fred and I are wearing ours at the moment," said George. "Check our pockets."
Feeling a bit silly, Harry walked over to the twins a put his hand into Fred's robe pockets, and turned them inside out. Nothing. It was the same for George's pockets.
"Now it's our turn," said Fred.
Both of the twins put their hands into their pockets and the hands came out clutching a series of lollies.
"Voila!" said the twins, looking very pleased with them-selves.
"And if you don't wish to reveal the contents of the pocket, nothing will come out," said George. "So you'll never have to worry about teachers asking you to empty out your pockets."
"This is incredible," said Harry, staring at the robes. "So what about the Invisible Robe?"
"It will make you invisible for half an hour," said Fred
"How can I make myself invisible?"
"Like this," said the twins in unison. They lifted their hands up and pressed their shop crest (a W made of wands, each wand producing different coloured sparks) and disappeared. A few seconds later they both reappeared, touching their crest, grinning from ear to ear.
"And there you have it. Two robes, full of brilliance." Said George. "Brought to you by the one and only, Weasley's Wizard Wheezers. Happy Birthday."
"Oh and by the way, there is a little surprise for you in your pockets." Added Fred.
Harry unfolded his robe, and placed his hand in the first pocket. It grasped onto some thing. Harry pulled his hand out, and laughed as a packet of Ton tongue Toffees. The twin's smiles widened.
"We thought you'd like that." They said in unison.
"The other pockets got a surprise as well." Said George.
Harry placed his hand in the other pocket, and pulled out an assortment of different, magical lollies, with everything from Fizzing Wizzbees to Skiving Snackboxes. Harry's eyes bulged at the sight. There must have been at least fifty different lollies.
"I can't believe this. It's way too much. You guys shouldn't have given me all this."
"If it weren't for you, mate, we wouldn't have had the resources to create all this. Just think of it, as a reward for helping the poor people who can no benefit from our products."
Harry looked at them grinning more than he had in over a month.