Author's Note: Sorry for the delay in posting, been very busy. Anyhow, hope you enjoy :)

Chapter 3: Surprise

"Jeeze, finally!" Ron and the rest of the Weasleys were standing in the middle of the kitchen, looking rather shaken, no doubt from all the yelling and screaming. "You weren't supposed to be here 'til five. Its barely even light out," said a confused, yet excited Harry.

"I said five, I didn't say p.m...We've been here since five o'clock this morning! We were wondering why you weren't down yet. I was going to go up to your room but mum wouldn't let me," Ron said with a hint of amusement in his voice.

After registering the words, Harry replied, "Oh, well you would have caught me opening birthday gifts. Well let me go and pa-"

"WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE?! I DEMAND TO KNOW AT ONCE! AND WHY ARE THEY IN MY KITCHEN AT -" Vernon Dursley checked his watch, "A QUARTER PAST SIX IN THE MORNING?!"

"They are my friends, the Weasley family. They have come to pick me up so I can go to their house for the rest of the holidays. I was going to tell you, but I thought they weren't coming until this evening," Harry calmly explained to his uncle. He, too, would have been angry if a big group of people that he didn't know were in his kitchen when he woke up.

"Well, lets go upstairs and pack!" Harry said, quickly turning and walking away from his disgruntled uncle. He led Ron up the stairs to his room, where Hedwig and the rest of his belongings lay. Ginny followed, not wanting to be in the same room as his aunt and uncle.

"They're mad! Your aunt screamed bloody murder when she saw us. It's not like she's never seen us before. Remember getting off the train in June?" Ginny giggled.

"Well lets get this all packed up here," Harry said, grudgingly. It was far too early for him to be picking up anything, he hadn't been planning on packing til much later.

"Why don't we just ask mum to get this all done? I don't want to be here too long, no offense, but your uncle's a bit scary..." replied Ron with a shudder. Harry nodded his agreement, so, they headed downstairs to ask for help packing.

When they arrived downstairs, it was dead silent. It was eerie, the Dursleys and the Weasleys were just staring at each other. It was weird, and the odd silence was too much for Harry.

"Hem hem," Harry made a little cough, in a poor imitation their old Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Umbridge, breaking the silence, "Mrs. Weasley? I could use some help packing... It would be a lot quicker if you just used a spell, then we could get going."

"Yes, of course, Harry, dear," she replied, "Now just show me where your things are and we can get this going."

"OH NO YOU DON'T! YOU WILL NOT USE THAT UN-NATURALNESS IN MY HOUSE!" thundered Uncle Vernon.

"Oh I will do whatever I please!" said Mrs. Weasley, not minding any manners, "Well lets go and get you packed, Harry." She didn't take her eyes off of the Dursley's until they rounded the corner of the hall.

"My room's just over here," Harry replied before stepping into his room. With a flick of her wand, everything flew into the trunk. In contrast from when Harry saw Tonks do this, everything was nice and neat.

"Thanks, Mrs. Weasley," Harry said, looking around the room to be sure everything was packed. He turned to see that Hedwig was already waiting in her cage. She seemed to know that they were leaving.

"Oh, I think Hedwig's cage needs a thorough cleaning cou-" Mrs. Weasley began before... CRASH!

"VERNON! GET THEM OUT OF MY HOUSE!" Aunt Petunia's shrill voice traveled up through the house.

"Or maybe we should just get going and we can clean it when we get home," Mrs. Weasley finished in a hurried tone that told them that she really didn't want to be there any more. "Locomotor Trunks!" hissed Mrs. Weasley, and the trunks sped downstairs in front of them.

When they reached the bottom of the stairs they immediately saw what had made such a loud noise. Fred and George were chuckling rather evil-like in the corner of the kitchen while Aunt Petunia was still screaming about how she wanted them out. Apparently, the twins had decided that it was too quiet and had Apparated right in front of Aunt Petunia, causing her to jump backwards, knocking over a very expensive vase that Uncle Vernon had gotten on a business trip to America.

"Well, we will be on our way then," said Mrs. Weasley, who was obviously trying to hide her satisfaction at the Dursley's discomfort. And with that Mr. Weasley, who hadn't spoken a word since they had arrived, took a very tattered looking hat from inside his cloak. He muttered, "Portus!" and the hat glowed blue for a moment, "Okay everyone, lets go." They all hurried over to Mr. Weasley and put a finger on the hat.

The Dursley's just stood there, with looks of confusion and horror on their faces just as Harry felt that familiar jerk somewhere around his navel. In a second they were gone, and the expressions on the Dursley's faces only deepened.

When they arrived at the Burrow, Harry found himself looking at the familiar kitchen, except something was so very unfamiliar about it. Just the air around the house was different. Like something had slightly changed rather than some other drastic difference. It felt nice to be some where that felt so much more like home, even though no space in the house was to be called his.


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