Harry was sitting at his desk, looking at his photo album when he heard Hedwig whining, "I can't let you out, Hedwig! I'm not allowed to use magic outside of school. Besides, if Uncle Vernon..."
"Harry Potter!" Vernon called out from the first floor.
"Now you've done it," he told Hedwig. He left his room and went downstairs. He went into the kitchen and saw that his aunt was there.
"He's in there," she told him. "Vernon?"
Vernon was helping Dudley tie his tie and said, 'I'm warning you, if you can't control that bloody bird, it'll have to go."
"But she's bored. If I could only let her out for an hour or two…"
"So you can send secret messages to your freaky little friends? No, sir."
"But I haven't had any messages from any of my friends. Not one… all summer," he said.
Dudley turned to him and said, "Who would want to be friends with you?" he walked by Harry and 'accidentally' bumped his shoulder against Harry's
Vernon approached him and said, "I think you'd be a little more grateful. We've raised you since you were a baby, given you the food off our table, even let you have Dudley's second bedroom, purely out of the goodness of our hearts."
Petunia pushed Dudley's hand away from the cake, "Not now. It's for when the Masons arrive."
"Which should be any minute. Now, let's go over our schedule once again, shall we?" he said. He motioned for everyone to the living area, "Petunia, when the Masons arrive, you will be…?"
"In the lounge, waiting to welcome them graciously to our home," she said, waving her arms towards the living area and the couch.
"Good. And Dudley, you will be?"
"I'll be waiting to open the door," he said confidently.
"Excellent," he said and turned to Harry. Petunia and Dudley turned around facing Harry as well. "And you?"
"I'll be in my bedroom, making no noise and pretending I don't exist."
"Too right, you will. With any luck, this could be the day I make the biggest deal of my career and you will not mess it up." With that, Harry went upstairs to his bedroom and saw something or rather someone jumping on his bed.
Dobby saw that he was in the same room with him and said, "Harry Potter, such an honor it is."
Harry closed his bedroom door and asked, "Who are you?"
"Dobby, sir. Dobby the house-elf."
During dinner, there was too much commotion happening and it made Vernon upset that Harry couldn't keep his promise of being quiet. The next day, he went out and bought some things from the hardware store and nailed some bars against Harry's windows, "You're never going back to that school. You're never going to see those freaky friends of yours again. Never!" That night after everyone had went to bed, Harry distinctly had heard something from afar. Plus there was strange lighting that was happening and it made him wake up. He picked up his glasses and looked out the window and saw two lights getting closer to his window. He took a few steps back because he was afraid of what it was. The car window had pulled up close to the bedroom window and Harry saw three familiar faces.
"Hiya, Harry," Ron said.
"Ron. Fred. George. What are you all doing here?"
"Rescuing you, of course. Now, come on, get your trunk," Ron said. Harry packed his things into his trunk and was ready for whatever the Weasleys had planned. When Ron had seen that Harry was ready, he said, "Hold on." He looked like he was thinking hard about something. The next thing that happened was Ella had appeared into Harry's bedroom out of thin air.
"Miss Cullen," he said as he hugged her. Harry was beyond ecstatic that she was there. "Hello, Harry," she said, hugging him back. "This isn't the time or place to catch up. Let's get you out of here, okay?" Harry nodded. "You better stand back."
Ron put a hook on the bars and told Fred, "Let's go." Fred drove the car forward and pulled the bars off the window, which ended up waking Vernon and Petunia. Ella grabbed Harry's trunk and was waiting for Fred to back the car up, so that she could put it in the car. Harry grabbed Hedwig's cage and handed it to Ella. Fred moved the car, so that Ron could grab Hedwig's cage. They've heard Vernon trying to open the locks that he had installed on the door. They had managed to open the door in time to see that all of Harry's things were in the car and Ella was standing by.
"We'll meet you at the Burrow," Ella called out to the Weasleys.
"Potter! He's escaping!" Vernon shouted.
"Harry, grab my hand." No sooner did he touch her hand, they had disappeared into thin air. Vernon ended up flying out the window. Ella and Harry appeared at the Burrow before Fred, George and Ron did. They decided to walk around. "How are you, Harry?"
"I'm better now," he replied. He was quiet and wasn't sure how to ask Ella about something.
"What is it, Harry?"
"Right before you and the Weasleys came, there was a house elf that came to my house and withheld all the letters that were written to me. I was wondering if you tried to write me?"
"Yes, I did, Harry. I was wondering why you weren't responding, now I understand why, although I do not know why a house elf would intervene. Hopefully, we'll find out why he's doing it. In my letters, I was asking how things were with the Dursleys. Have they been treating you well?"
"I'm not sleeping in the cupboard anymore, but I guess you could figure that out already, but they're more freaked out now that I know magic. They've tried to control my every move, so that I wouldn't use my magic, plus they wouldn't let Hedwig out to play every once in a while. I hope that Ron let her fly," Harry said.
"That's good. If he didn't, you could always let her out when the Weasleys arrive. Now tell me a bit more of what's had happened with the house-elf," she said.
"Well, he's been telling me that I shouldn't go back to Hogwarts this year. He said that something's bad is going to happen. He said that he kept my letters because he hoped that if I was upset enough, I wouldn't go to Hogwarts anymore. He actually came on the night that Uncle Vernon had his boss and wife come over for dinner. He made a pudding dessert that Aunt Petunia made fall onto Uncle Vernon's boss' wife, in hopes that Uncle Vernon would keep me from going to Hogwarts. As you saw that Uncle Vernon had put bars on the windows and several locks on the bedroom door," he said.
"So he wouldn't even tell you who's supposed to be plotting all this stuff?"
"I don't think he could," Harry said. "Every time he got close to letting something slip, he started banging his head against the wall. Do you think he was lying to me?"
"Well, put it this way – house-elves have got powerful magic of their own, but they can't usually use it without their master's permission. I reckon he was sent to stop you from coming back to Hogwarts. Someone's idea of a joke. Can you think of anyone at school with a grudge against you?" she asked.
"Yeah, Draco Malfoy. He hates me," he said.
"Lucius Malfoy's son?" she asked.
"Must be, it's not a very common name, is it? Why?"
"I suspect that Lucius is involved somehow. He's a big supporter of Voldemort and when he disappeared, Lucius came back saying he'd never meant any of it. Ron's father thinks Lucius was in Voldemort's inner circle."
"I don't know whether the Malfoys own a house-elf…" he trailed off.
"Neither do I. Enough about that," she said letting the subject drop. Harry nodded, not wanting to let it ruin his time with Ella. "Anyways, I really wish I could have seen you at least once during the summer but Victoria has proven difficult to find. There have been times where we did find her and we would talk to her but it wasn't working. She kept playing games with us but she's still out there somewhere hoping that we would find here," she told him, hoping to give him some news that wasn't about his awful summer with the Dursleys.
"You'll figure something out, right?" Harry asked.
"Yeah, nothing to dwell on," she said. "Now, tell me more about this house elf that came to visit you."
"He said something about how I shouldn't go to Hogwarts. He actually made this pudding that my aunt Petunia made fall onto uncle Vernon's boss' wife. He made it look like I did it so that they would try to keep me at home and not go to Hogwarts. Obviously you saw the bars on my window. He kept all of the letters that were written to me. I tried to get information from him but he wouldn't tell me."
"So he wouldn't even tell who's supposed to be plotting all this stuff?" Ella asked.
Harry shook his head, "I don't think he could. Every time he got close to letting something slip, he started banging his head against the wall." He looked up at Ella's face and saw that she was deep in thought. "Do you think he's lying to me?"
"Harry, listen, house-elves have powerful magic of their own, but they can't use it without their master's permission. I believe that Dobby was sent to stop you from coming to Hogwarts. Someone's idea of a joke. Can you think of anyone at school with a grudge against you?"
Harry nodded and said, "Draco Malfoy."
"Draco Malfoy? Lucius Malfoy's son?"
"Must be, it's not a common name, is it? Why?"
"Lucius Malfoy is a big supporter of Voldemort… and when he disappeared, Lucius came back saying he'd never meant any of it. Mr. Weasley believes that Lucius was in Voldemort's inner circle and I agree with him." Harry had heard these rumors about Malfoy's family before, and they didn't surprise him at all. Malfoy made Dudley Dursley look like a kind, thoughtful, and sensitive boy. "Well, whoever owns hum will be an old wizarding family and they'll be rich." Harry was silent. Judging by the fact that Draco Malfoy usually had the best of everything, his family was rolling in wizard gold; he could see Malfoy strutting around a large manor house. Sending the family servant to stop Harry from going back to Hogwarts also sounded exactly like the sort of thing Malfoy would do. Had Harry been stupid to take Dobby seriously? "By the way, Harry, happy birthday."
"Thank you," he said, smiling.
"I do have something for you," she said smiling. "Hold on." She looked out to the forest near the Burrow, closed her eyes and focused. A moment later, she opened her eyes and smiled. "My family is here to give your birthday gifts." In a distance, Harry could see seven figures walking towards them. As Harry and Ella were waiting for them, they heard a car rumbling towards the driveway. For the first time, he felt that he was finally home. It was something that he hadn't felt for as long as he could remember. Before he knew what happened, all of the Cullen clan was standing around Harry with what looked like wrapped presents. He smiled because this was the first birthday except for last year where he got presents on his birthday. The Weasley boys had come up towards them and everyone acknowledged their presence.
"Ron, did you let Hedwig out?" Harry asked. Ella grinned widely because she knew that he was concerned about her.
"Well, I admit I forgot at first but she kept hooting; I couldn't figure out why until George unlocked the cage and let her out. She was smiling… that is if owls could smile, but we could tell that she was having fun once she spread her wings," Ron said proudly.
"We did tell her to meet you at the Burrow. So she knows where to go," George said. For that, Harry was glad because Hedwig hadn't had any fun when they stayed with the Dursleys.
"Why don't you boys go in? We'll come around at a certain time to celebrate your birthday." Everyone agreed to the plan.
The Weasley boys and Harry went inside the burrow, "Do you think mom will be mad if we took one?" Ron asked.
"I doubt it," Fred said. Each one took a biscuit. Harry was looking around and taking everything in. He couldn't help but smile at his surroundings. He felt like this was a real home.
"It's not much, but its home," Ron said.
"I think it's brilliant," Harry said in awe.
Molly jumped out of her hiding place and immediately said, "Where have you been? Harry, how wonderful to see you, dear. Beds empty. No note. Car gone. You could have died. You could have been seen. Of course, I don't blame you, Harry, dear."
The twins and Ron hid the biscuits behind their backs. Once she had finished her ranting, Ron had said, "They were starving him, Mum! There were bars on his window!"
"You'd best hope I don't put bars on your window, Ronald Weasley!" she said pointing her finger at him. She went up to Harry and put her arm around him and said, "Come on, Harry, time for a spot of breakfast." She led them to the dining room table and she immediately started cooking the rest of the food. She piled food on Harry's plate, "Here we are, Harry. Now, tuck in. That's it. There we go."
A red headed girl about the age of 11 had come running down the stairs and went up to Molly, "Mummy, have you seen my jumper?"
"Yes, dear, it was on the cat," she answered her only daughter.
She froze and her eyes became wide as she saw Harry sitting at the table next to Ron. He saw her and said, "Hello." She didn't say anything and ran up the stairs. "What did I do?" he asked Ron.
"Ginny. She's been talking about you all summer. A bit annoying, really"
Arthur had come in at that moment and greeted his family, "Morning Weasleys."
"Morning, dad," the rest of the family replied back.
"What a night. Nine raids. Nine!" Arthur said.
Harry looked over at Ron and asked, "Raids?"
"Dad works in the Ministry of Magic, in the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office. Dad loves Muggles, he thinks they're fascinating," he answered.
Arthur sat down at the head of the table and saw a new face and said, "Well, now. And who are you?"
"Sorry, sir. I'm Harry, sir. Harry Potter."
"Good lord. Are you really? Well, Ron has told us all about you, of course. When did he get here?"
Molly turned away from her cooking and replied, "This morning. Your sons flew that enchanted car of yours to Surrey and back last night."
"Did you really? How did it go?" Molly immediately struck Arthur's arm, "I mean, that was very wrong indeed, boys. Very wrong of you." The boys, including Harry were stifling their laughter at the behavior. Arthur had begun digging into his food and turned to Harry. "Now Harry, you must know all about Muggles. Tell me, what exactly is the function of a rubber duck?"
They all heard an owl hoot, everyone turned to the kitchen window, "Well, that'll be Errol with the post." Errol flew down to the window and hit the glass and fell. "Fetch it, will you, Percy, please?"
Percy went up to the window and called him, "Errol." The owl immediately flew up to the open window and gave Percy the letter.
Ron leaned towards Harry and said, "He's always doing that."
Percy opened the letter and said, "Look, it's our Hogwarts letters. They've sent us Harry's as well."
"Dumbledore must know you're here. Doesn't miss a trick, that man." Arthur said.
"Actually it was me that told him," a voice called out. At the kitchen door was Ella and her family behind her.
"Oh, of course. He must have known that something was happening to Harry," Molly said. Ella nodded and smiled.
Everyone was looking at their letters and George said, "This lot won't come cheap."
Molly looked over at Harry's shoulder and saw the supplies that they needed for school and said, "There's only one place we're going to get all of this. Diagon Alley."
"Well, I was wondering, before you all dress up and go to Diagon Alley, that my family and I could give Harry his birthday gifts, especially since it's his special day," Ella asked politely.
"Oh, of course," Molly replied. "Let's have everyone eat their breakfast first before doing anything." Ella agreed and stayed outside with her family while everyone finished eating. Harry enjoyed eating with the Weasleys and listening to them chatter about nonsensical things. He wanted to eat fast so that he could spend time with the Cullens but he wanted to stay and spend time with the Weasleys as well. He wasn't sure what to do but his stomach was growling at him because he was eating too much.
He managed to take his last bite and stood up from where he was sitting, "Mrs. Weasley, thank you so much for the wonderful breakfast. I've never had eaten that much in one sitting, well, not since Hogwarts," he said, laughing somewhat.
"I'm glad that you're getting food. Isn't your family feeding you?" she asked.
"Not really. They believe that I do not deserve enough to have a lot of food or clothes or anything. My cousin gets the best of everything," he explained.
"Oh! Well, you're welcome here anytime for anything, do you hear?" she asked, being motherly towards him. Harry nodded. "I'm sure that Ella agrees with me when I say that you do deserve to have the best things in life."
Harry smiled at what she said. "I'm going to be meeting the Cullens outside. I've been wanting to spend time with them since I've been rescued." The Weasleys smiled as they watched him go outside to meet the Cullens. He walked out the kitchen door and saw the Cullens standing around not far from the Burrow chatting away and laughing. He approached them, quietly, not wanting to bother them.
Ella heard him walking up to them softly. "You can join us at anytime, Harry. You don't have to be quiet about it." Harry smiled and hugged her as tight as he could. She hugged him but not too tightly. "Ready for your presents?" Harry nodded vigorously and everyone laughed. Ella took her wand out and magically made a table and a chair appear.
Emmett and Rosalie were first. "We hope that you'll like this," Rosalie said as she handed him a light blue wrapped gift to him.
He took it and opened it and saw that there were a couple of books that was about owls and how to take care of them. He knew that it would be helpful for him to take care of Hedwig better. "Thank you. I've been meaning to get books about owls for some time. I never managed to obtain one, let alone two."
"You're welcome, kid," Emmett replied.
"Ours next," Alice said as she gave him a box that was from her and Jasper. He took it and opened it and saw that it was several designer clothes that were in his size. His jaw went slack as he felt the clothes. Alice beamed as she saw his reaction. She knew that he would like them.
"Uh--- thank you?" the comment sounded like a question which made everyone laugh.
"You're welcome," Alice said, smiling broadly. "I would have gotten you more clothes, but Carlisle and Esme wouldn't let me spend a lot of money on you." Alice pouted.
"You wanted to spend more money on me?" he asked and Alice nodded. "Why?"
"I think Molly has already told you this just before you came outside. You deserve the best things in life. This is part of it. I mean the Dursleys aren't giving you much, but it's an opportunity for us to give you things that they give to Dudley," Ella explained. Everyone nodded.
"Well, I think it's a bit much but thank you. It feels nice to be spoiled for once," he replied and closed the box.
"This is from both Carlisle and I, Harry," Esme said as she gave him an envelope. He took it willingly and opened it. It was 4 open-ended tickets for him to go anywhere he wanted to go.
"What is this for?" he asked innocently.
Everyone laughed, Carlisle spoke up, "We realized that you've never really had the opportunity to have a real vacation. I thought it would be nice if you took two of your friends and an adult companion on a vacation anywhere in the world."
Harry was truly shocked. He genuinely didn't know what to say especially since no one spent a large amount of money on him, "Thank you."
"You're welcome, dear," Esme said.
Harry put the tickets back into the envelope and tucked it safely in between the books. Ella looked over at Edward and smiled. "Harry, I do hope that you will like this gift," Ella said as Edward handed him sky blue wrapped parcel. On top of the box there was a card.
He opened the card and read it out loud, "Dear Harry, Happy Birthday! This is something that we believe that every twelve year old boy should get. Love Ella and Edward." He looked over to Ella and eyed her suspiciously in which it made her laugh. He unwrapped the parcel and removed the lid that was sitting on top of the box. In it was rows and rows of baseball cards. He gently took one out and it was a Babe Ruth card. On the back of it was his stats and what he was known for. He couldn't believe his eyes and what he was seeing. This was something that he's always wanted but never managed to get it. Now he has it, he didn't know what to think. He put the card back and dropped everything he had, he wrapped his arms around Ella's waist and hugged her tightly. She smiled at what he was doing.
She gently whispered in his ear, "You're welcome, Harry. Happy, Happy Birthday." She wrapped her arms around him and hugged him. She had a feeling that he wasn't going to let her go anytime soon. The Weasleys had come out when Harry hugged Ella. Carlisle had told them what was going on and showed them the baseball cards. They had never seen them before and didn't realize that it was worth something in the Muggle world. Of course, Arthur was full of questions, which the Cullens patiently answered them.