Harry's eyes snapped open when a bright light started flashing outside. He rushed out of bed and moved towards the barred window. He peaked between the bars to see Diana opening the back door of a sky blue car… Right next to his window… up in the air.

"Diana! How did you-? What the-?" Harry stuttered as he stared at the turquoise car

"All right, Harry?" George asked from the front seat.

What's been going on?" Diana asked. "Why on earth do you have bars on your window?"

"It wasn't my fault," Harry told her.

"Ron's dad said you got a warning for using magic front of Muggles-"

"It wasn't me! Wait, how does he know?"

"Dad works for the Ministry," Ron added. "You know we're not supposed to do spells outside school-"

"I-" Harry stopped himself from repeating his answer again. "You know you're one to talk."

"Well, technically, we didn't enchant it," Diana explained in a tone Harry had gotten used to during school. "It was Mr Weasley who did it. Soooo-"

"But doing magic in front of those Muggles you live with-" Ron said.

"I told you, I didn't-" Harry felt his face starting to warm up from frustration.

"How about we talk about this later?" Fred butted in. "The longer we stay here, the more likely we get caught."

"But you can't magic me out either-" Harry said as Fred passed a rope to Diana. Who started tieing the rope around the bars. Getting it a quick test tug.

"Step back," Diana told Harry.

"If the Dursleys wake up, I'm dead," Harry told her.

"Well, I'm not leaving you with people who put bars on your window like you're some kind of cartoon criminal."

Harry moved back from the window as the car started to move away.

"Wait, couldn't you just unlock the front door?" Diana asked Fred.

"Too late. This is more fun." Fred said as he pressed his foot to the accelerator.

Diana and Ron's bodies both launched back as the car sped toward. The engine's sound grew louder and louder as it pulled the rope. Eventually, the bolts holding the bars in place started losen and broke away from the window frame. Diana and Ron began to start pulling the bars up to the car. So they didn't swing back into the house.

Meanwhile, Harry kept an ear out for the Dursleys. Anxiously hoping they wouldn't be alerted by the noise.

Once Ron and Diana got the bars into the backseat, they backed the car closer to the house. Motioning for Hary to get in.

"Wait, all my Hogwarts stuff, my wand, my broomstick-"

"Where is it?" George asked.

"Locked in the cupboard under the stairs, and I can't get out of this room-"

"No problem. Diana take the wheel," said George as he moved from the front seat. "Out of the way, Harry."

"Oh god," Diana panicked as she jumped to grab the wheel. "Wait, they also put a lock outside his door?"

Ron just shrugged in mutual confusion.

The twins climbed into Harry's room and walked over to the door. Harry watched in wonderment as George took an ordinary hairpin from his pocket and started to pick the lock.

"A lot of wizards think it's a waste of time, knowing this sort of Muggle trick," said Fred. "But we feel they're skills worth learning, even if they are a bit slow."

After a few seconds, there was a click, and the door opened. "So, we'll get your trunk. You grab anything you need from your room and hand it out to Diana and Ron," George explained as he and Fred walked down the stairs.

"Watch out for the bottom step. It creaks," Harry told them as they disappeared to the first floor.

Harry ran back to his room and grabbed anything that he might need. Then, passed them to Ron or Diana, who lifted them into the car. Once he was done, he headed down to help Fred and George. Then he heard a cough from Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia's room.

After a fair bit of pulling and pushing, they got the trunk back upstairs. As they were trying to push it into the car's boot, Harry heard another cough.

"A bit more," Fred huffed as he kept pushing the trunk in. "One good push-"

Harry was worried that they would miss the boot for a split second. Causing the truck to fall to the ground, but thankfully landed in the back safely.

"Okay, let's go," George whispered as he moved to take the wheel from Diana.

Harry grabbed Hedwig's cage and climbed onto the windowsill. Much to his display, the owl let out a sudden loud screech. Possibly due to excitement over the chance of finally leaving the cage.

Footsteps could be heard smashing down the hall. As well as Uncle Vernon screaming at the top of his lungs. "THAT RUDDY OWL!"

"Pass me the cage!" Diana told.

Harry did as he was told, then started getting the cramped vehicle himself. Unfortunately, he was a second too slow as Uncle Vernon stormed into the room and grabbed Harry by the ankle.

The other children all grabbed onto Harry. Trying to pull him into the car. Diana shouted at Uncle Vernon to let Harry go. All while calling him several words that would make Harry's aunt go red in the face.

"Petunia!" roared Uncle Vernon. "He's getting away! HE'S GETTING AWAY!"

They all kept pulling on Harry. Eventually overpowering the older man and dragging Harry into the car.

"Go, GO!" Diana panicked.

Fred slammed his foot down, and the car zoomed off into the night.

Harry turned and looked back at the Dursley house. Petunia and Dudley were both standing at the window. Looking down at Vernon, who had fallen onto the bushes below after losing his grip on Harry.

Harry smiled to himself. He was free.

"Let Hedwig out," he told Diana, who still had Hedwig's cage on her lap. "She can fly behind us. She hasn't had a chance to stretch her wings for ages."

After a bit of fiddling, they managed to get the cage open. Letting Hedwig fly to her heart's content.

"So, what's the story, Harry?" said Ron impatiently.

Harry explained how the elf by the name of Dobby had broken into his room and started giving gave warnings about not returning to Hogwarts that year, and how he dumped a whole violet pudding on his uncles guest when Harry didn't take the warnings.

Everyone stared as Harry told his story. Not really sure what to make of it.

"Very fishy," said Fred when Harry finished.

"Definitely dodgy," George agreed. "So he wouldn't even tell you who's supposed to be plotting all this stuff?"

"I don't think he could," said Harry. "I told you, every time he got close to letting something slip, he started banging his head against the wall."

Diana hummed in thought as she tried to make sense of the situation.

"What, you think he was lying to me?" Harry asked.

"If it was a normal situation with muggles, I would say yes," Diana told him. "But it's far from that."

"What do you mean?" Harry said.

"Well," said Fred, "put it this way, Harry. House-elves have got powerful magic of their own, but they can't usually use it without their master's permission. I reckon old Dobby was sent to stop you coming back to Hogwarts. Someone's idea of a joke. Can you think of anyone at school with a grudge against you?"

"Malfoy." Diana and Harry both said instinctively.

"He hates me," Harry said bitterly.

"Draco Malfoy?" said George, turning around. "As in Lucius Malfoy's son?"

"That's the one," Diana confirmed.

"I've heard Dad talking about him," said George. "He was a big supporter of You-Know-Who."

"Of course he was!" Diana said in disgust. "Why am I not surprised?"

"And when You-Know-Who disappeared," said Fred, craning around to look at Harry. "Lucius Malfoy came back saying he'd never meant any of it. Load of dung. Dad reckons he was right in You- Know-Who's inner circle."

Harry remembered hearing rumours here and there last year. Like Diana said, why was he not surprised?

"I wouldn't be surprised if Malfoy did try to get you sent to prison. It sounds like a Malfoy thing to do." Diana said.

"Like father, like son." Fred and George said in unison.

"I don't know whether the Malfoys own a house-elf..." Harry said.

"Helpful tip," Diana explained to him. "If they believe in blood supremacy, they most likely have a house-elf."

"Plus, being an old family and being rich enough to afford them helps."

"You say as if they pay them," Diana muttered.

Harry thought for a second. Draco Malfoy always seemed like the type to come from an old wealthy family. To get everything he asked for. It didn't take much to imagine Malfoy doing that annoying walk around a vast manor house.

"I can't believe I took him seriously," Harry sighed.

"I'm still glad we came to get you," Diana patted Harry on the shoulder. "I wasn't worried when you weren't answering my letters. Thought maybe some of the owls like Errol were getting lost at first."

"Who's Errol?"

"Our owl," Ron told him. "He's ancient. It wouldn't be the first time he'd collapsed on a delivery."

"I tried to borrow Hermes, but that went as well as expected," Diana shrugged.

"Who?"

"The owl Mum and Dad bought Percy when he was made prefect," Fred said from the

front.

"But Percy wouldn't lend him to me," Diana sighed. "Said he needed him more."

"Percy's been acting very oddly this summer," George frowned. "And he has been sending a lot of letters and spending a load of time shut up in his room... I mean, there's only so many times you can polish a prefect badge... You're driving too far west, Fred," He added, pointing at a compass on the dashboard. Fred turned the steering wheel.

"So, does your dad know you've got the car?" Harry asked, already knowing the answer.

"Oh yeah, funny you mention that," Diana said as she stared daggers into the back of the twins' heads. The two of them just kept staring ahead.

"Errrr," Ron scratched the back of his head. "He's at work, so we figured it would be fine to borrow the car for the night."

"This wasn't your idea, was it, Diana," Harry asked in disbelief.

"For the record, I was kidnapped," Diana told her friend. "I was just sleeping away when these two decided to bring me along for the ride."

Harry couldn't help but laugh at how dramatic Diana was being. He didn't realise how much he had missed hanging out with kids who weren't Dudley.

"What does your dad do at the Ministry of Magic anyway, Ron?"

"He works in the most boring department," said Ron. "The Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office."

"The what?"

Ron explained how his father's department dealt in all things bewitched that are Muggle-made. How sometimes an enchanted item can end up in the hands of muggles and how Mr Weasley helped deal with it.

"But your dad and this car?"

Fred laughed. "Yeah, Dad's crazy about everything to do with Muggles; our shed's full of Muggle stuff. He takes it apart, puts spells on it, and puts it back together again. If he raided our house, he'd have to put himself under arrest. It drives Mum mad."

"I don't think it's as boring as you make it out to be," Diana said to Ron.

"You aren't around to hear him talk about it,"

"What does your dad do again, Diana?" Harry asked. Changing the subject so Diana and Ron wouldn't start arguing.

"He's a lawyer," Diana said with a yawn. The fact that she had only gotten an hour of sleep was getting to her. "Mostly works with divorces."

"That's the main road," said George, peering down through the windshield. "We'll be there in ten minutes. Just as well, it's getting light."

"That's great…" Diana as she started leaning on Harry's shoulder.

"You gotta stay awake until we get back in the house, Di," Fred tapped her head to keep her awake.

"Then you can sleep until your heart's content," George added.

Diana murmured something that sounded like 'screw you', but Harry wasn't quite sure.

They pulled into the drive just as the sky was turning pink.

"Touchdown!" Fred cheered as they hit the ground with a slight bump.

Diana lifted her head from Harry's shoulder with a start.

"I'm up! I'm alive!" She said as if she just got caught sleeping in class.

Harry got out of the car and took a look around. The house was an old-looking cottage that looked like it had several extensions added to it over the years. It was leaning on an angel that had Harry worried that it might topple over at some point.

A couple of brown chicken was peaking around near the house, and a bunch of shoes had been left on the porch.

A crooked sign with the words The Burrow on it was nailed into the ground.

"It's not much," Ron shrugged.

"It's amazing!" Harry told him.

"Now, we'll go upstairs really quietly," Fred explained to the group. "And wait for Mum to call us for breakfast Then, Ron, you come bounding downstairs going, 'Mum, look who turned up in the night!' and she'll be all pleased to see Harry and no one need ever know we flew the car."

"Right. Come on, Harry, I sleep at the, at the top-" Ron stopped when he saw someone making her way towards them.

The other four turned around to see Mrs Weasley marching across the yard with an angry look on her face.

"Ah," Fred said.

"Oh, dear," George added.

The plump woman stopped in front of them. The bright yellow dress and the flowered apron with a wand sticking out of the pocket were doing an excellent job of contrasting her anger.

"So," she said.

"Morning, Mum," George said. Trying to sound calm but failing.

"Have you any idea how worried I've been?" Mrs Weasley stared her children straight in the eyes.

"Sorry, Mum, but see, we had to-"

Beds empty! No note! Car gone! Could have crashed! Out of my mind with worry. Did you care? Never, as long as I've lived. You wait until your father gets home, we never had trouble like this from Bill or Charlie or Percy-"

"Perfect Percy," Fred muttered.

"YOU COULD DO WITH TAKING A LEAF OUT OF PERCY'S BOOK!" yelled Mrs Weasley, prodding a finger in Fred's chest. "You could have died, you could have been seen, you could have lost your father his job-"

"Please, Mrs Weasley! It's my fault!" Diana stepped forward. "I guilted the boys into taking me to Harry's."

A look over total heartbreak washed over Mrs Weasley's face. She expressed her disappointment in Diana and told her she would be writing to her father about this. Diana nodded in a mix of acceptance and shame.

Mrs Weasley then turned to Harry. Who flinched back for a moment.

"I'm very pleased to see you, Harry, dear," she said. "Come in and have some breakfast."

She turned and started making her way back to the house. Harry stood there in confusion for a moment before looking at Diana.

"Congrats, you're the new favourite," she joked as she walked him to the house.

The kitchen was a relatively small space. Especially with six people packed into it. Harry continued to look around in curiosity. Realising that he had never been in a wizard house before.

He looked at the old grandfather clock across the room. It looked like one of the hands was missing and the numbers as well. Where the numbers would normally be were instructions or jobs like Time to make tea, Time to feed the chickens, and You're late.

Next to the clock was a mantelpiece with a bunch of books piled upon it. With names like Charm Your Own Cheese, Enchantment in Baking, and One Minute Feasts: It's Magic!

Mrs Weasley rushed around the room. Serving breakfast while giving the boys dirty looks. Every so often, she would mutter something under her breath.

"I don't blame you, dear," she assured Harry. Pouring some sausages onto his place. "Arthur and I have been worried about you, too. Just last night, we were saying we'd come and get you ourselves if you hadn't written back to Ron by Friday."

Mrs Weasley moved to put some sausages on Diana's plate.

"None for me, thanks." Diana polity declined.

"Right, sorry, dear. I forgot," Mrs Weasley nodded as she gave her some other food.

"But really, flying an illegal car halfway across the country! Anyone could have seen you-"

"It was cloudy, Mum!" Fred said as his mother flicked her wand to get the dishes to wash themselves.

"You keep your mouth closed while you're eating!" She told him.

"They were starving him, Mum!" said George.

"And you!" said Mrs Weasley, but it was with a slightly softened expression that she started cutting Harry bread and buttering it for him.

Everyone was distracted from the older woman's rant when a more petite red-headed girl came down the stairs. Harry reconciled as Ginny from Diagon Ally last year. He tried giving her a wave, but she squealed the moment she saw him and ran back upstairs.

"Your sister?" Harry asked Ron. Trying to hide his disappointment over Ginny avoiding him.

She's been talking about you all summer." Ron replied.

"Yeah, she's been talking Diana's poor ears off asking about you," Fred smiled but stopped when his mother gave him another look.

Everyone kept quiet until all the plates were clean.

"Blimey, I'm tired," yawned Fred and stretched his arms. "I think I'll go to bed and-"

"You will not," snapped Mrs Weasley. "It's your own fault you've been up all night. You're going to de-gnome the garden for me; they're getting completely out of hand again."

The boys all whined at their mother.

"You can go up to bed, dear," she added to Harry. "You didn't ask them to fly that wretched car."

But Harry, who felt wide awake, said quickly, "I'll help Ron. I've never seen a de-gnoming."

"That's very sweet of you, dear, but it's dull work," said Mrs Weasley. "Now, let's see what Lockhart's got to say on the subject."

It was Diana's turn to groan when hearing that. Though she did it quietly as to not offend Mrs Weasley.

"Mum, we know how to de-gnome a garden," George said as Harry looked at the cover of the book. Gilderoy Lockhart's Guide to Household Pests was written in fancy gold letters. Under it was a picture of a man with a bright smile and bouncy blonde hair.

"Oh, he is marvellous," she said. "He knows his household pests, all right, it's a wonderful book."

"Mum fancies him," Fred whispered to Harry.

"Don't be so ridiculous, Fred," Mrs Weasley said as she tried to hide the pink on her cheeks. "All right, if you think you know better than Lockhart, you can go and get on with it, and woe betide you if there's a single gnome in that garden when I come out to inspect it."

Diana and the Weasley boys all made their way out of the house. With Harry following closing behind. The grumpiness on the older kids' faces clearly contrasting Harry's curiosity.

Once they got out into the garden, Harry immediately noted that the Dursleys' would have hated it. There was a bunch of wild trees growing near the walls. There were weeds and grass that needed pulling. Plants that Harry had never seen were spilling from every flower bed.

"Muggles have garden gnomes, too, you know," Harry told Ron they crossed the lawn.

"Yeah, I've seen those things they think are gnomes," said Ron, bent double with his head in a peony bush, "like fat little Santa Clauses with fishing rods."

"I love that description." Diana joked.

They stopped at the sound of scuffling coming from nearby. Ron ran over to the peony bush where the noise was coming from. He grabbed at it and pushed out a tiny leathery-looking guy.

"This is a gnome," He frowned.

"Gerroff me! Gerroff me!" squealed the gnome.

"This is what you have to do," he said. He raised the gnome above his head and started to swing it in great circles like a lasso. Seeing the shocked look on Harry's face, Ron added, "It doesn't hurt them. You've just got to make them really dizzy so they can't find their way back to the gnome holes."

Ron let it go. Causing the gnome to go flying over the fence.

"Pitiful," said Fred. "I bet I can get mine beyond that stump."

After that, they got to the other gnomes. Harry felt sorry for the gnomes and just tried to drop them over the fence. Only to learn that was a mistake when one of them dung his teeth into his finger. He ended up swinging his arm around to try and get the little guy off.

"Wow, Harry! That must've been fifty feet!" Fred exclaimed. Watching the gnome fly through the air.

They continued working through the morning. At some point, Diana ended up making herself dizzy by spinning like she was in a hammer throw competition. Lucky caught by George before she fell over.

An hour later, the gnomes had started to give up. Walking away from the garden in disappointment.

They'll be back," Ron said as one of them shot him a dirty look. "They love it here. Dad's too soft with them; he thinks they're funny."

Everyone turned to the house when they heard the front door shut.

"He's back!" George said. "Dad's home!"

The lot of them ran back inside to find Mr Weasley slumped in a kitchen chair with his glasses off.

"What a night," He mumbled as he reached for a nearby teapot. "Nine raids. Nine! And old Mundungus Fletcher tried to put a hex on me when I had my back turned."

"Find anything, Dad?" Fred asked eagerly.

"All I got were a few shrinking door keys and a biting kettle," Yawned Mr Weasley. "There was some pretty nasty stuff that wasn't my department, though. Mortlake was taken away for questioning about some extremely odd ferrets."

"I hope those ferrets are okay," Diana said.

"I wouldn't know, Diana. that's the Committee of Experimental Charms job to deal with, thank goodness."

"Why would anyone bother making door keys shrink?" George said.

"Just Muggle-baiting," sighed Mr Weasley. "Sell them a key that keeps shrinking to nothing so they can never find it when they need it. Of course, it's very hard to convict anyone because no Muggle would admit their key keeps shrinking. They'll insist they just keep losing it. Bless them, they'll go to any lengths to ignore magic, even if it's staring them in the face, but the things our lot have taken to enchanting, you wouldn't believe-"

"LIKE CARS, FOR INSTANCE?" Everyone jumped back, seeing Mrs Weasley pointing a long poker at her husband.

"C-cars, Molly, dear?" Mr Weasley smiled nervously.

"Yes, Arthur, cars," Mrs Weasley said, narrowing her eyes at him. "Imagine a wizard buying a rusty old car and telling his wife all he wanted to do with it was take it apart to see how it worked, while really he was enchanting it to make it fly."

Mr Weasley coughed nervously. "Well, dear, I think you'll find that he would be quite within the law to do that, even if, er, he maybe would have done better to, um, tell his wife the truth. There's a loophole in the law, you'll find. As long as he wasn't intending to fly the car, the fact that the car could fly wouldn't-"

"Arthur Weasley, you made sure there was a loophole when you wrote that law!" Mrs Weasley shouted. "Just so you could carry on tinkering with all that Muggle rubbish in your shed! And for your information, Harry arrived this morning in the car you weren't intending to fly!"

"Harry?" Mr Weasley blinked in confusion. "Harry who?"

He looked around to see Harry and yelped in surprise. "Good lord, is it Harry Potter? Very pleased to meet you-"

"Your sons flew that car to Harry's house and back last night!" Mrs Weasley shouted again. "What have you got to say about that, eh?"

"Did you really?" Mr Weasley asked eagerly. "Did it go all right? I, I mean," He faltered as sparks flew from Mrs Weasley's eyes, "that, that was very wrong, boys. Very wrong indeed."

While Mrs Weasley continued to lecture her husband, Diana led Harry upstairs to Ron's room.

"Like we agreed before, you'll be staying in Ron's room-"

"Do you stay in Fred and George's room?" Harry asked.

"Ginny's room," Diana answered as she turned her head around a bit. "But maybe she would like us to trade, eh Gin?"

Ginny, who realised she had been caught eavesdropping, quickly slammed the door to her bedroom in embarrassment.

Diana opened Ron's room door but didn't follow Harry in. When Harry turned back, Diana shook her head.

"Ron would have a fit if he found him in his room,"

Harry looked around the small room to find all of the walls were covered in a violent shade of orange. Realising that all the room surfaces had been decked out with posters of the same seven witches and wizards wearing Quidditch uniforms.

"Ron's Quidditch team?" Harry asked.

"The Chudley Cannons," Diana nodded. "Last in the league, but don't say that to Ron."

Harry smiled at Diana's tone. He couldn't tell Diana had really made herself at home with the Weasleys'. Silently hoping he could someday do the same.

"So, what do you think?" Diana asked as she leaned on the doorframe.

"I think it's wicked," Harry told her. Causing her to give a toothy grin in agreement.