Sorry this took so long. I finally finished moving into my condo but I had to wait a week to get Internet and then another week to finish this chapter! Whew!

Not sure when the next chapter will be up. Probably as late as January.

Happy Holidays!

Chapter 3

Jailbreak

Rin's eyes glittered in wonder as he stared out the window of the Ford Anglia flying through the night sky. This beat flying in an airplane by a longshot!

"How are you liking it, Rin?" asked Fred.

"THIS IS AMAZING!" Rin yelled as he stuck his head out the window.

"He's as fascinated with magic as Harry," said Ron.

"More like in awe," George added.

"We're almost there," Fred announced. Rin looked down and saw the many houses and streets of Surrey. It was hard to tell what was what in the darkness. The streetlights and lights coming from some of the buildings could only show him so much. He saw a handful of cars driving through the streets at such a late hour. He then retreated back into the flying car.

"So, how do we know which house is Harry's?" asked Rin.

"Harry told me that his house is on a street called Privet Drive," Ron recalled.

Fred chuckled. "Well, that narrows it down," he said sarcastically.

"We can't fly around looking for it!" exclaimed Rin. "We'll be here all night."

The Weasley twins looked at a number of houses and noticed something about them.

"Noticed something, Fred?" asked George.

"A lot of these houses look alike!" Fred realized.

Ron and Rin looked at the twins. "So?" they asked at the same time.

"How many wizards do you two know live in a Muggle house in Surrey?" asked Fred.

"I don't know! I don't even live in this country!" Rin exclaimed.

"Only one," George answered. "And he lives with Muggles who probably don't want him to go back to Hogwarts."

"So what's the Muggle way to keep someone from leaving a house?" Fred asked the twelve-year-olds.

Rin shrugged. "I don't know. Lock them up?" he guessed.

"Excellent answer, Rin!" George exclaimed.

"So how are going to find Harry's house?" asked Ron.

"Rin said that the only way to keep someone from leaving a house is to lock them inside," Fred explained.

"So, Harry's house is essentially a prison since he can't stand living there," George added.

Ron was beginning to lose his patience. "Will you just get to the point?"

"Harry's Muggle relatives will probably have bars on his windows or a high fence or something like that," said Fred.

"So in a town where the houses practically all look alike…" added George.

"One of those houses will stand out," they finished together.

Rin was starting to catch on. "So, all we have to do is look for a house that has heavy duty security or something like that…"

"Then we'll find Harry," the twins finished simultaneously.

Ron looked at his friend and his brothers in horror. Maybe his mother was on to something when she told the twins to keep Rin out of their shenanigans.

~0~0~0~

It took about an hour or so before they finally found Privet Drive. Aside from different flowers in the flower beds of the front yards and cars sitting in some driveways, almost every house looked exactly alike in the dark.

The quartet noticed that one house stood out from the others. While it looked like all the other houses, one of the windows had bars over it. If Rin's hunch was right, this had to be where Harry lived.

"Good call on the bars on the windows, Fred," said Ron.

The twins looked at the bars in shock.

"I didn't think they'd actually do it," Fred muttered.

They flew closer to the barred window. Rin looked in and saw a box room full of broken toys and useless junk. A small bed was in the corner of the room. And on that bed was a boy Ron and Rin's age. He was small and skinny for his age and wore hand-me-down clothes that were a few sizes too big for him. The lightning bolt-shaped scar on his forehead was a dead giveaway to who this boy was. Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived.

Rin brought his head back into the car. "This is the place, guys. Harry's asleep in there. Can you bring us closer, Fred?"

"No problem."

Fred managed to move the car closer to the window until it was practically parallel parked next to it.

Rin leaned out of the car's window and started tapping on Harry's bedroom window.

TAP TAP TAP

Harry shifted in his bed a little but didn't wake. Rin frowned and tried again.

TAP TAP TAP

Harry shifted in his bed again and even waved his hand around as if he were shooing someone away.

Rin frowned and tried again but did it in his own… annoying way.

~0~0~0~

TAPTAPTAPTAPTAPTAPTAPTAPTAPTAP

Harry cringed and rolled over to see what was causing that incessant tapping. He put his glasses on and came face-to-face with a pair of blue eyes staring back at him.

Harry blinked several times before realizing at his school friend, Rin Okumura, was looking into his window. Not to mention, his other friend, Ron Weasley and his brothers, were also somehow outside his second story window, sitting in a floating car! The young wizard got out of bed and opened his window.

"Rin? Ron? Fred, George? What are you guys doing here?" asked Harry.

"All right, Harry?" George called out.

"What's been going on?" asked Ron.

"Everyone's been trying to reach you all summer. Why haven't you been answering their letters?" asked Rin.

"I've asked you to stay at our place about twelve times, and then Dad came home saying you used magic in front of a bunch of Muggles -"

"It wasn't me - and how did he know?" asked Harry.

"Dad works at the Ministry, remember?" asked Ron. "You do know that we're not allowed to do magic outside of school, right?"

"You should talk," said Harry, staring at the floating car.

"This is Dad's, we didn't enchant it, so it doesn't count. But doing magic in front of those Muggles you live with -"

"I told you, I didn't - but it'll take too long to explain now - look, can you tell everyone at Hogwarts that the Dursleys have locked me up and won't let me come back, and obviously I can't magic myself out, because the Ministry'll think that's the second spell I've done in three days, so -"

"Stop gibbering," said Ron.

"We're here to break you out," Rin said with determination.

"But you can't magic me out either -"

Rin gave Harry a sneaky smirk. "We never said we were going to use magic," he said slyly.

Ron also gave Harry a smirk. "You forget who we brought with us," he said.

Fred tossed Harry the end of a long rope. "Tie that around the bars," he told him.

"If the Dursleys wake up, I'm dead," Harry said as he tied the rope around the bars and Fred revved up the car.

"Don't worry," he assured, "and stand back."

Harry moved into the back of the room towards his owl, Hedwig, that was locked up in a bird cage. The car kept revving until the bars were pulled clean off the window. Harry ran back to the window and saw the bars dangling a few feet from the ground. Rin and Ron quickly pulled the rope and the bars into the backseat of the car. Fred backed the car as close to the window as possible.

"Get in," said Ron.

"But my Hogwarts stuff - my wand - my broomstick -"

"Where is it?" asked Rin.

"In the cupboard under the stairs, but it's locked up," answered Harry. "And I can't get out of this room."

"Leave it to us," said George. He and Fred climbed through the window (Ron took control of the wheel) and made their way to the bedroom door.

"Can you help us, Rin? You're strong, you can carry his trunk," said Fred. Rin climbed in as well and followed the twins into the house (after they picked the door lock). Through the minimal amount of light in the house, Rin could tell it was rather bland. Several pictures of a really fat boy hung from the walls.

The three sped down the stairs, picked the lock on the cupboard, and retrieved Harry's belongings. Thanks to Rin's abnormal strength, they managed to get it all in one trip. Meanwhile, Ron maneuvered the car so that the trunk was facing the window. As soon and Rin and the twins returned to the bedroom, they loaded Harry's belongings into the car. Harry and Rin were about to climb into the car when a screech was heard followed by someone yelling, "THAT RUDDY OWL!"

Harry's eyes widened. "I've forgotten Hedwig!" he exclaimed.

"You forgot your owl?!" Rin exclaimed. Harry dashed across the room, grabbed Hedwig's cage, and ran back to the window. He gave Rin the irritated owl when the door was busted open and Harry's uncle stood in the doorway.

Rin's eyes widened when he recognized the man. This was the same man he, Yukio, and Shiro encountered last summer when they were exploring London. Yukio accidentally bumped into the man who did not take kindly to the incident even though Yukio apologized. Angry that the man treated his brother so poorly, Rin retaliated by kicking the man in the shins.

"You!" Rin growled.

Vernon Dursley's eyes widened when he recognized the boy standing in his nephew's bedroom. "You!"

"Rin! Harry! Come on!" Ron called out (Fred took the wheel). As much as Rin wanted to give Vernon another kick in the shins, he complied and started climbing out the window. Harry quickly scrambled out as well.

Vernon let out a bellow like an angry bull and barreled towards the boys. He dove towards them and grabbed Harry's ankle. Rin, George, and Ron grabbed Harry's arms and started tugging him away from his angry uncle.

"Let go!" Harry yelled at Vernon.

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

Rin pulled his foot back, took aim, and slammed it into Vernon's purple face. The impact was enough for Vernon to let go of Harry's ankle, lose balance, fall out the window, and into the rose bushes below, just as a long-faced woman and the fattest boy Rin had ever seen stumble into the room. They cried out and ran to the window. Vernon stood up, covered in scratches and thorns, and started yelling out at the young wizards while trying to stem his now bloody nose.

"Put your foot on it, Fred!" Ron yelled. Fred stomped on the gas pedal and the flying car took off into the night.

Harry rolled down the window and called out, "See you next summer!" The Weasleys and Rin roared with laughter. Harry was smiling as if Christmas came early. He was finally free.

"Let Hedwig out," Harry told Ron. "She hasn't been out for ages - she can fly behind us."

George managed to pick the lock on Hedwig's cage and the owl burst out the cage and flew out the window. She gracefully flew behind the flying car as the group got caught up with each other.

"So," Rin said after the laughter died down, "what's going on, Harry? Why did your aunt and uncle lock you up in your room?"

Harry then told them what had been happening since the summer started. Things seemed fine at first (as fine as living with the Dursleys could be), but for some reason Harry hadn't been receiving any mail from any of his friends. This was due to a house elf named Dobby intercepting his mail. Dobby appeared to Harry, warning him that he shouldn't return to Hogwarts. When Harry refused to heed Dobby's warning, the house elf took matters into his own hands and levitated a velvet pudding onto a houseguest's head. That was how Harry received a warning from the Ministry of Magic.

When he finished, Fred and George looked at each other with dark expressions. Rin looked just as troubled. He had met several house elves at Hogwarts in the kitchens last year and none of them acted like that. In fact, they were all about maintaining order throughout the school. The last thing they wanted was to cause trouble (that was courtesy of Peeves the poltergeist).

"That doesn't make sense," Rin said as soon as Harry was finished. "I've met the house elves at school and they never act like that. In fact, they only talk to you if you enter the kitchens."

"Did Dobby tell you who was even plotting all this stuff?" asked George.

Harry shook his head no. "I don't think he could. Every time he was close to letting something slip, he'd start banging his head against the wall," he explained. Rin looked at the twins who were looking at each other. Harry hesitated. "What, did you think he was lying to me?"

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

"Draco Malfoy," the three twelve-year-olds answered.

"He hates me," said Harry.

"The feeling's mutual," Rin added. He chuckled to himself at the memories of the two times he broke Malfoy's nose last year.

"Draco Malfoy?" George repeated. "Not Lucius Malfoy's son?"

"Must be, it's not a very common name, is it?" said Harry. "Why?"

Rin snickered. "His name is just as funny as his son's!"

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

Rin rolled his eyes. He didn't understand why the entire wizarding community was so scared to say Voldemort's name (no matter how stupid it was).

"And when You-Know-Who disappeared," Fred added, turning his head to face Harry, "Lucius Malfoy came back saying that he'd never meant any of it. Load of dung - Dad reckons he was in You-Know-Who's inner circle."

"And the Ministry of Magic just took him at his word?" asked Rin.

"That's right," said George. "Said he was being controlled by You-Know-Who and that his actions were not his own."

Rin grimaced. "You're right, that is a load of bullshit. I wouldn't buy that excuse for a single yen."

"Yen?"

"Japanese Muggle money."

~0~0~0~

"Touchdown!" Fred cried as the car landed with a bump in front of the Burrow. The sun had already risen at this point but it was still pretty early. Harry got out of the car and stared in awe at the house.

"It's not much," Ron said, looking a little embarrassed.

"I think it's brilliant," said Harry who was still staring at the house with sparkles in his green eyes.

Rin helped Fred and George unload Harry's things from the car. They were just discussing how they were going to explain Harry's unexpected arrival when two angry adults came out of the house. One was a very angry looking Mrs. Weasley while the other was a livid Shiro Fujimoto.

For years I always wondered how the Weasleys found Harry when they were breaking him out of his relatives' house. The only explanation I could come up with was that Harry told them in-between chapters in the first book (or off-screen in the movies). So, I had to get creative as to how they found him.

I'm surprised that no one realized that the man Rin, Yukio, and Shiro met in London in the first story was Vernon Dursley. I kind of want Rin and Vernon's meetings to become a running gag throughout the stories. What do you think?

As a Christmas present, please leave a review (or whatever winter holiday you celebrate)!