I stared in shock at the sight before me. Ron, along with Fred and George whom were both sitting in the front seat, were in a flying car parked outside our window. George gave me a smile, while Fred winked at me in amusement. While Harry, just as confused as I was, tip toed over to the window, and stuck his head between the bars.

"Ron." Harry whispered in shock. "Ron, how did you —? What the —?" Harry mouth fell open the same as mine as he took in the whole scene before him, while I finally was able to speak again.

"How are you here?" I added, totally confused, yet relived.

"All right, Harry?" George asked.

"You too Sarah?" Fred added.

"What's been going on?" Ron asked. "Why haven't you been answering my letters? I've asked you to stay about twelve times." Ron then turned to me. "And Goldstein say's you haven't written him back either, he's been back from Norway for three week's, and then Dad came home and said you'd both gotten official warnings for using magic in front of Muggles —"

"It wasn't us — and how did he know?" Harry asked.

"He works for the Ministry," Ron replied. "You know we're not supposed to do spells outside school —"

"We didn't." I replied.

"Besides you're one to talk," Harry, added staring at the floating car.

"Oh, this doesn't count," Ron replied. "We're only borrowing this. It's Dad's, we didn't enchant it. But doing magic in front of those Muggles you live with —"

"We told you, we didn't — but it'll take too long to explain now — look, can you tell them at Hogwarts that the Dursleys have locked us up and won't let us come back, and obviously we can't magic ourselves out, because the Ministry'll think that's the second spell one of us has done in three days, so —"

"Stop gibbering," Ron interrupted "We've come to take you home with us." He then turned to me. "Both of you."

"But you can't magic me out either —" Harry replied.

"Yeah, and I doubt the Dursley's would let us go willingly." I added.

"We don't need to," Ron , nodding towards the front seat, a wicked grin on his face. "You forget who I've got with me."

"Tie that around the bars," Fred told us, throwing the end of a rope to Harry. I widened my eyes in shock.

"Oh. I hope they don't hear. "I said, looking back at the door in worry.

"If the Dursleys wake up, we're dead," Harry added as he tied the rope tightly around a bar and Fred revved up the car.

"Don't worry," Fred told us confidently, "and stand back."

Both me and Harry backed into the corner of the room. Both Hedwig and Uric were silent, as the car engine got louder and louder until finally, with a loud crunch, the bars disconnected, and Fred drove straight up.

We both made our way back to the window and looked up, the bars were hanging from the rope, and Ron was attempting to pull them up. I glanced at the doorway, terrified that the Dursley's might have heard something, but was relieved when I heard nothing.

Ron finally pulled the bars into the back seat and Fred slowly backed up towards our window.

"Get in," Ron told us.

"But all our Hogwarts stuff — our wands — my broomstick —" Harry replied, and I nodded.

"My books." I added, longing to read any of them again...even Transfiguration.

"Where is it?" Ron asked us.

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

"No problem," George replied from the front passenger seat. "Out of the way, Harry."

"You as well Sarah." Fred replied, we backed up and with amazing agility the twins climbed out of the car, and into our room. George silently approached the door, and pulled out a hairpin.

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

After a few seconds there was a clicking sound, and the door opened.

"So — we'll get your trunks — you two grab anything you need from your room and hand it out to Ron," George told us in a whisper, both of us nodded as the two started into the empty house.

"Watch out for the bottom stair — it creaks," Harry whispered, and the twin disappeared into the darkness.

Both me and Harry waisted no time in handing everything we had in our room, there wasn't much, to Ron. Then made our way down and helped them with our chests. We did mine first, and finally got it into the trunk of the car then went back and got Harry's. Uncle Vernon's cough made me jump and the other's freeze, but soon enough we had loaded almost got it into the car.

"A bit more," panted Fred, who was pulling from inside the car. "One good push —" With one last push, me, Fred, and George got the trunk into the back seat. Harry and George both put there hands on there knees, looked towards the floor, and took a couple deep breaths. While I handed Uric, whom had slept through everything, to Ron then slid into the back seat.

"You two ready?" Fred asked Harry and George from the front seat.

"Yeah." Harry replied, and George nodded.

"Okay, let's go," George whispered, as he climbed into the front seat next to Fred, while Harry tried to slip into the backseat next to me...

SCREECH!

"THAT RUDDY OWL!"

"I've forgotten Hedwig!" Harry said, and sure enough in her cage was Hedwig.

"Harry. "I said, shaking my head as Harry raced across the room. The hallway light turned on as Harry handed Ron Hedwig's cage, and with a loud crash the door opened the Uncle Vernon stood in the doorway.

After a half second of standing still, Uncle Vernon realized what was happening and, with a loud roar, dove at Harry as he was trying to get into the back seat, and grabbed him by the ankle.

"Harry! "I said in horror as me, Fred, George, and Ron all grabbed Harry by the arms and pulled, trying to get him away from the furious looking Uncle Vernon.

"Petunia!" Uncle Vernon roared. "They're getting away! THEY'RE GETTING AWAY!"

With one last major pull, Harry slipped out of Uncle Vernon's grasp and into the back seat. As quickly as he could, Harry shut the door.

"Put your foot down, Fred!" Ron yelled, and the car shot upwards into the night sky.

My heart was racing as I took a few deep breaths. We had just broken out...we were free. Still, what would happen next summer? Would they even take us back? Did we have to? There were so many questions in my mind, as Harry rolled down the window and looked back and the baffled Dursley's.

"See you next summer!" Harry yelled, a massive smile on his face. The Weasley's burst into laughter, as I raised an eyebrow.

"Do you think they'll even let us back?" I asked, and Harry shrugged.

"Who cares."

"Let Hedwig out," he told Ron. "She can fly behind us. She hasn't had a chance to stretch her wings for ages."

"Same with Uric." I added. George handed the hairpin to Ron, and let Hedwig, the Uric out, who flew beside us.

"So — what's your story?" Ron asked us now that we were in the sky. "What's been happening?"

"I'll let him explain." I replied, nodding to Harry. Who just sighed and shook his head.

"Well the other night a house elf named Dobby..." Harry told the Weasley's everything. From the fact that there was a supposed plot against him, to the fact that the plotters weren't after me, and finally ending with the pudding disaster and being locked up...

We he'd had finally finished, everyone was quiet, clearly shocked with what had happened.

"Very fishy," Fred said, breaking the silence.

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

"I don't think he could," Harry replied. "I told you, every time he got close to letting something slip, he started banging his head against the wall...the only thing he did let slip as that the plotters are specifically after me, not her."

The twins looked at me through the driving mirror, and I shrugged.

"The only person I can think of is Quirrell, but the elf said it definitely wasn't him." I replied, then the twin looked at each other skeptically.

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

"Well," Fred began, "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 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? And only you?"

"Yes," Harry and Ron both replied at the same time.

"Draco Malfoy," Harry explained. "He hates me."

Draco Malfoy?" George replied, turning around to look at us. "Not Lucius Malfoy's son?"

"Must be, it's not a very common name, is it?" Harry replied

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

"And when You-Know-Who disappeared," Fred added, looking directly 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."

"He claimed to be under the imperius curse." I added, and the older boys turned to be in surprise.

"First off, how do you know that curse? Secondly, how do you know that was Lucius Malfoy's defense?" Fred asked me, and I shrugged.

"Anthony told me." I replied. Ron and Harry both looked at me confused.

"What's the imperius curse?" Ron asked.

"It's..."

"Don't." Fred interrupted me and caused the three of us to look towards the front seat, both Fred and George had serious expressions on there face.

"Why?" I asked, and the twins sighed.

"You shouldn't know about that curse, and neither should they." George explained.

"Yeah, you're too young, if Mum figured out that Ron knew, she'd have a conniption fit." Fred added, and I nodded.

"Okay. "I replied, both Ron and Harry looked disappointed and confused, until Harry turned back to the twins.

"In any case, I don't know whether the Malfoys own a house-elf…"

"Well, whoever owns him will be an old wizarding family, and they'll be rich," Fred explained.

"Yeah, Mum's always wishing we had a house-elf to do the ironing," George added. "But all we've got is a lousy old ghoul in the attic and gnomes all over the garden. House-elves come with big old manors and castles and places like that; you wouldn't catch one in our house…"

Everyone was silent for a moment, deep in thought. Was Dobby just a prank? Did Draco sent him? If it was Draco, why would he speak highly of me? Heck, was it even Draco at all...was Dobby being truthful...or was the elf lying?

"I'm glad we came to get you, anyway," Ron said, bringing me out of my thoughts. "I was getting really worried when you didn't answer any of my letters. And doubly so when you hadn't replied to Anthony. I thought it was Errol's fault at first —"

"Who's Errol?" Harry asked.

"Our owl. He's ancient. It wouldn't be the first time he'd collapsed on a delivery. So then I tried to borrow Hermes —"

"Who?" Harry again asked.

"The owl Mum and Dad bought Percy when he was made prefect," Fred explained from the front seat.

"But Percy wouldn't lend him to me," Ron continued. "Said he needed him."

"Percy's been acting very oddly this summer," George added, frowning. "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," Fred turned the wheel, and corrected our course.

"Maybe he's got a girlfriend." I said, and the entire car went silent, then the Weasley's burst into laughter.

"Ha Ha...and they say Ravenclaw's don't have humor." Fred said, trying to stop himself from shaking with laughter.

"I mean...Percy with a girl." George added, then he paused, clearly trying to imagine it. "Imagine if it's true...it would be even funnier."

"Why would anyone want to go out with Percy?" Ron asked, shaking his head.

"He's your brother..."I finally interjected, feeling bad for Percy and the Weasley's all took several deep breaths.

"Oh come on Sarah, you know what Percy's like...remember Christmas." Fred reminded me.

"Yeah, he didn't even want you to sit at our table." George added, and I had to admit...they had a point.

"Still, he's your brother, besides I'm sure there's at least one girl at Hogwarts who just as much a stickler for the rules as him." I replied, and George gave another small laugh.

"Just imagine Percy's, and this mystery girlfriends kids." He said. "Just imagine there childhoods..."

"Lucky for them, Uncle's Fred and George wouldn't let those kids down." Fred said, and the twins nodded.

I just sighed and shook my head. "It's just a theory." I said, and the twins smirked.

"Yeah, one with a lot of potential, when we get back we'll have to sneak a look at Percy's letters..."

"Don't do that, it will only make me feel worse. "I begged, and the twin both raised there eyebrows.

"What do you have do you have to feel bad about?" George asked.

"Giving you the idea that he had a girlfriend in the first place." I replied, and twins looked back and forth between one another, until finally both let out disappointed breaths.

"Fine, but once we get to Hogwarts, where keeping our eyes open." Fred said, and I nodded.

"Fair enough."

"So, does your dad know you've got the car?" Harry, whom had just watched the great Percy girlfriend debate with a smirk, asked changing the subject.

"Er, no," Ron admitted, "he had to work tonight. Hopefully we'll be able to get it back in the garage without Mum noticing we flew it."

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

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

"The what?" Harry asked, and I raised an eyebrow.

"It's all to do with bewitching things that are Muggle-made, you know, in case they end up back in a Muggle shop or house. Like, last year, some old witch died and her tea set was sold to an antiques shop. This Muggle woman bought it, took it home, and tried to serve her friends tea in it. It was a nightmare — Dad was working overtime for weeks." Ron explained.

"What happened?"

"The teapot went berserk and squirted boiling tea all over the place and one man ended up in the hospital with the sugar tongs clamped to his nose. Dad was going frantic — it's only him and an old warlock called Perkins in the office — and they had to do Memory Charms and all sorts of stuff to cover it up —"

"But your dad — this car —"

"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." Fred replied, having to hold back a laugh.

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

Sure enough, over the horizon the sky was beginning to turn pink, and I realized that I hadn't gotten any sleep tonight...and I yawned.

"Good, I hope you have room for us." I said, slightly worried, but Ron nodded.

"Of course we do, I'm sure Ginny would be thrilled to have a roommate, I'm more worried for you, she hardly shuts up." Ron told me, and I was reminded of the young girl I'd only seen a handful of times on the train platform.

Fred lowered the car, and I noticed hayed fields, with small clumps of trees.

"We're a little way outside the village," George explained. "Ottery St. Catchpole."

Fred kept lowering the car as the sun came up over the horizon until, with a slight thump, we hit the ground.

"Touchdown!" Fred said as we landed in a yard with a slightly run down garage, and for the I laid eyes on the Weasley's home, and was frozen in awe.

It looked to have started off as a singular, stone, room. Then room after room had been added on in random directions, until the structure was now several stories high. It was also tilting, and I guess that the only reason the structure was standing was because of magic. Several chimneys sprouted out from a red roof, and a lopsided sign near the entrance read THE BURROW.

Around the front door lay a collection of rubber boots, and a rusty cauldron, while several chickens roamed the yard.

"It's not much," said Ron, who for some reason seemed embarrassed.

"It's wonderful," Harry said, a grin forming.

"Brilliant." I added, and I guessed both of us were comparing it to Privet Drive.

"Let's get out." George said in a whisper, and we all poured out of the car, and I stretched my legs, and Fred turned to us with a serious expression.

"Now, we'll go upstairs really quietly," Fred began, "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 you two and no one need ever know we flew the car."

"Right," said Ron. "Come on, we'll drop Sarah off in Ginny's room, she'll be thrilled. Harry, I sleep at the — at the top —"

Ron suddenly froze, and was staring at the front door, we all turned to see a very furious looking Mrs. Weasley was marching over to us, shooing chickens out of the way.

"Ah, " said Fred.

"Oh, dear," added George.

Mrs. Weasley stopped in front of us. She had her hands on her hips, glaring at each of her boys, whom each tried not to look guilty. It was funny how someone wearing a flowered apron could look so dangerous.

"So," she said, crossing her arms, as me and Harry shared nervous glances.

"Morning, Mum," George replied, clearly trying to sound confident, trying being the key word.

"Have you any idea how worried I've been?" Mrs. Weasley asked barely above a whisper, yet it was still terrifying.

Ron cleared his throat. "Sorry, Mum, but see, we had to —" Ron was interrupted by the pure rage of Mrs. Weasley, and despite the fact that all three boys were taller than her, they still cowered.

"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!" Mrs. Weasley roared, sticking a finger in Fred's chest. "You could have died, you could have been seen, you could have lost your father his job —"

Mrs. Weasley's rant continued for what seemed like an eternity. Me and Harry kept sharing quick, yet nervous glances, would she be mad at us? Would she send us back to the Dursley's? Finally she turned to us, Harry backed away, and I slightly jumped.

"I'm very pleased to see you the two of you," She told us. "Come in and have some breakfast." She offered, then turned and strode back inside. Both me and Harry gave Ron a nervous glance, he nodded, and we followed.

We entered the house and arrived in the kitchen, which was small and cramped. A wooden table which looked to have been recently scrubbed sat in the middle of the room, surrounded by chairs. Both me and Harry where on the edge of our seat, looking around, this was the first wizarding home we'd been in.

There was a clock on the wall opposite us, but in only had one hand. Instead of numbers, the edge of the clock was filled with tasks, such as Time to make tea, Time to feed the chickens, and You're late. The mantle grabbed my attention, as it was filled with books three layers deep. However they weren't textbooks, but cooking books. With titles like Charm Your Own Cheese, Enchantment in Baking, and One Minute Feasts — It's Magic. I was surprised that a radio was playing, and had just announced "Witching Hour, with the popular singing sorceress, Celestina Warbeck."

It was just the type of odd charm I'd come the love of the Wizarding World.

Mrs. Weasley was moving around the kitchen making breakfast, every now and then she would throw her sons a dirty look, and every know and then she would mumble things like "don't know what you were thinking of," or "never would have believed it."

Both me and Harry looked at each other, feeling guilty, but Mrs. Weasley must have noticed because she soon turned to us with a warm expression.

"I don't blame you, dears," she assured us, tipping eight or nine sausages onto Harry's plate before turning to me. "Arthur and I have been worried about the both of you, too." She explained, filling my plate with a similar number of sausages. "Just last night we were saying we'd come and get you two ourselves if one of you hadn't written back to Ron by Friday. But really," She then started piling some eggs on Harry's plate. "flying an illegal car halfway across the country — anyone could have seen you —" She finished piling my plate then turned to the sink, with a flick of her wand the dishes in the sink began to clean themselves.

"It was cloudy, Mum!" Fred said.

"You keep your mouth closed while you're eating!" Mrs. Weasley snapped at him.

"They were starving them, Mum!" George added.

"And you!" Mrs. Weasley once again snapped, she then turned and started cutting and buttering our bread, and I noticed she had an even softer expression.

The sound of footsteps interrupted the banter as a small, redheaded girl in a nightdress entered the kitchen, when she saw me, and especially Harry, her eyes went wide, she gave a small squeal and ran from the kitchen. Harry, and me both looked at Ron.

"Ginny," Ron explained in a low voice "My sister. She's been talking about you all summer." He said looking straight at Harry.

"Yeah, she'll be wanting your autograph, Harry," Fred said, grinning at Harry, but when he met his mothers eyes, he looked down at his plate.

"Is she going to Hogwarts this year?" I asked, trying to make conversation.

"Yes, she's very excited. Though I can't believe the day is almost here when all my children will either be at school, or our already grown." Mrs. Weasley said in a nostalgic voice, I nodded then turned back to my food.

The rest of breakfast passed quietly and quickly, until finally all our plates were empty.

"Blimey, I'm tired," Fred said, yawning and putting down his silverware. "I think I'll go to bed and —"

"You will not," Mrs. Weasley snapped. "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 —"

"Oh, Mum —" Fred said with a defeated expression.

"And you two," she said, turning to glare at Ron and Fred. "You can go up to bed, dears," she told us. "You didn't ask them to fly that wretched car —"

"I'll help Ron. I've never seen a de-gnoming —" Harry said eagerly, seemingly not tired at all.

"I'll help to." I offered, and even though I was beyond exhausted, I knew It wouldn't be fair to go to sleep...I mean they had saved us.

"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 —"

As Mrs. Weasley began to pull a thick book down from the shelf, and George groaned.

"Mum, we know how to de-gnome a garden —"

While George rolled his eyes behind his mothers back, me and Harry both looked at the cover of Mrs. Weasley's book. Written in large golden letter was Gilderoy Lockhart's Guide to Household Pests. I looked down at the cover...and froze. Below the titles was a moving photograph of a gorgeous man. He had bright, blues eyes, and wavy golden blonde hair. The man kept winking at us...and I felt my cheeks going red.

"Oh, he is marvelous," Mrs. Weasley said as she beamed at the cover. "He knows his household pests, all right, it's a wonderful book…"

"Mum fancies him," George said is a loud whisper.

...How could you not.

"Don't be so ridiculous, Fred," Mrs. Weasley replied, and I noticed her cheeks were also pink. "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."

"Actually Mrs. Weasley." I said as she began to walk away. "I think I'll use the book." I said, and the women beamed at me.

"Of course dear, very smart of you. "She said as she handed me the book, and I once again laid eyes of Lockhart.

"Thank You Mrs. Weasley." I said smiling, I looked up to see Harry, and the Weasley's looking at me annoyed. "What?" I asked.

"Nothing." Said Harry shaking his head, he then turned to the others." Lead on."

The Weasley's led us out to there garden, yawning and grumbling the whole way. When we arrived I looked around and noticed how large it was, there were plenty of weeds, and the grass needed to be cut. All around the walls of the garden were gnarled trees, plants I didn't recognize were everywhere, and a large, green pond filled with frogs.

"Muggles have garden gnomes, too, you know," Harry told Ron as we made our way across the lawn.

"Yeah, I've seen those things they think are gnomes," Ron replied, bent down double into a , peony bush "like fat little Santa Clauses with fishing rods…"

There was a violent scuffling sound, the bush shuddered, then Ron straightened up. "This is a gnome," he said grimly.

"Gerroff me! Gerroff me!" the gnome squealed, as me and Harry shared a look.

It didn't look anything like Santa. The creature was small, and looked to be made of leather. It's head looked exactly like a potato, and had a high pitched voice.

Ron held the creature at arms length as it tried to kick him with it's feet. He grabbed the gnome by it's ankle, and held it upside down.

"This is what you have to do," he explained, raising the gnome above his head as the creature wailed ("Gerroff me!") the started to swing it around, both me and Harry looked at Ron in shock. "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 continued, and again me and Harry shared a glance.

Ron eventually let go and the gnome went flying, all the way into the field over the hedge.

"Reckon that went about twenty feet." Ron said with a satisfied look on his face.

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

Both me and Harry started to throw gnomes as well, though it was hard to do when holding the book...and I couldn't let it get dirty, so I did one gnome at a time, both me and Harry tried to be merciful, however that ended when one of the Gnomes bit Harry's finger hard, finally he shook it off.

"Wow, Harry — that must've been fifty feet…" Fred said, impressed with the throw, me and the boys started to throw gnomes through the air...well mainly the boys I was to busy staring at Lockhart to do to much...much to Harry's annoyance.

"Come on Sarah, you said you would help." Harry told me, and I frowned.

"But...if I grab to many I'll have to drop the book, and Lockhart would be covered in dirt." I replied, looking fondly at the picture. Harry sighed, while I heard Fred laugh.

"Don't sweat it Harry, every girl in our year's had a crush on Lockhart at one point or another." He explained, and I turned to him, my cheeks burning.

"I don't have a crush on him...I'm just impressed by his knowledge of household pets." I replied, and this time George grinned.

"Really, then why haven't you even opened the book...so far you've just stared at the cover." George said, and I...tried to come up with something, as the twins laughed, and George seized five or six of them at once.

"See, they're not too bright," George explained. "The moment they know the de-gnoming's going on they storm up to have a look. You'd think they'd have learned by now just to stay put."

After a few more hours of degnoming, the gnomes in the field started to walk away in a straggling line, their little shoulders hunched over, seemingly defeated.

"They'll be back," Ron explained as we watched the gnomes disappear into the hedge on the other side of the field. "They love it here… Dad's too soft with them; he thinks they're funny…"

Before either me or Harry could respond, we heard the front door slam shut, and the Weasley's looked excited.

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

Me and Harry followed the Weasley's back into the house. When we entered the kitchen I quietly put the book back and joined the others in sitting around Mr. Weasley. He was slumped in a chair, his glasses off and eyes closed. He was thin, and was losing his hair. But what hair he did have was bright red just like the rest of the Weasley's. He had on long, dusty green robes.

"What a night," he mumbled tiredly, grabbing the teapot as everyone sat around him. "Nine raids. Nine! And old Mundungus Fletcher tried to put a hex on me when I had my back turned…"

Mr. Weasley took a long drink of his tea, then sighed.

"Find anything, Dad?" Fred asked eagerly.

"All I got were a few shrinking door keys and a biting kettle," Mr. Weasley said through a yawn. "There was some pretty nasty stuff that wasn't my department, though. Mortlake was taken away for questioning about some extremely odd ferrets, but that's the Committee on Experimental Charms, thank goodness…"

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

"Just Muggle-baiting," Mr. Weasley replied sighing. "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?" Mrs. Weasley's voice roared through the room, and Mr. Weasley finally opened his eyes, and turned to his wife with a guilty expression.

"C-cars, Molly, dear?" Mr. Weasley stuttered out.

"Yes, Arthur, cars," Mrs. Weasley replied, her eyes flashing in fury. "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 blinked.

"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 and Sarah arrived this morning in the car you weren't intending to fly!"

"Harry? Sarah?" Mr. Weasley replied with a blank expression. "Harry and Sarah who?"

Mr. Weasley looked around the table, and when he saw us, he jumped up excitedly

"Good lord, the Potters? Very pleased to meet you both, Ron's told us so much about —"

"Your sons flew that car to Harry and Sarah's house and back last night!" Mrs. Weasley shouted furiously. "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 stopped when he noticed the fury in Mrs. Weasley's eyes, "that — that was very wrong, boys — very wrong indeed…"

"Let's leave them to it," Ron told us as Mrs. Weasley looked even more furious "Come on, I'll show you my bedroom."

We followed Ron out of the kitchen, down a narrow passageway that led to an uneven staircase, which worked it's way up the house. On the third floor, a door stood open, and we saw Ginny sitting on her bed, when she noticed us she slammed the door shut instantly.

"Ginny," Ron said sighing. "You don't know how weird it is for her to be this shy. She never shuts up normally —by the way, that where you're staying." Ron said, nodding to me.

"Shouldn't we...tell her." I said, nodding to the door.

"Probably." Ron admitted, then knocked on the door. "Ginny, you don't have to open the door, but Sarah is staying in your room tonight." Ron said, there was a little squeak that confirmed that she heard, and Ron shrugged. "Like I said, she usually never shuts up."

We climbed up two more flight's of stairs until we reached a door with a small plaque that read RONALD'S ROOM.

When we entered Ron's room we both had to bend down not to hit the ceiling. I had to blink a couple of times as I took in the room, it was entirely orange. The wall was covered in posters of the same seven people, all wearing orange robes, all carrying broomsticks, and all waving at us energetically

"Your Quidditch team?" Harry guessed, and Ron nodded.

"The Chudley Cannons," Ron said, pointing at his orange bedspread, which was emblazoned with two giant black C's and a speeding cannonball. "Ninth in the league."

The rest of the room was what I expected. Ron's schoolbooks were in the corner without a hint of organization. Next to which sat a bunch of comics that all featured The Adventures of Martin Miggs, the Mad Muggle. Ron's wand was atop a fish tank filled with frog spawn by the windowsill, and Scabbers was sleeping in a ray of sunlight.

Harry stepped over a pack of self shuffling cards, while I quickly went over and organized the boys school books. Harry looked out the window, taking in the view, then turned to Ron, who was looking at the two of us nervously.

"It's a bit small," Ron said quickly. "Not like that room you had with the Muggles. And I'm right underneath the ghoul in the attic; he's always banging on the pipes and groaning…"

"This is the best house I've ever been in." Harry said with a massive grin, Ron ear's went pink as he turned to me and I nodded.

"It is wonderful." I agreed. "Still, you should take better care of your books."

Ron's ear's went even pinker.

The rest of the days passed in a blur. I finally got around to writing letters to both Anthony, and Lisa, explaining everything that had happened since I had last seen them, they were both just as lost as to who Dobby belonged to, and what kind of plot was happening against Harry, but we all agreed to meet when we went to Diagon Alley.

Finally I made my way to Ginny's room, all my stuff in hand, I hadn't seen the door since she had slammed the door in our faces...I approached the door and softly knocked.

"Who is it?" She asked quickly and nervously.

"Me." I replied softly. "Where supposed to share your room..."I added, and the door quickly opened, the girl scanned for signs of anyone else, then motioned for me to come inside. I stepped inside and she slammed the door, and took a couple of breaths.

"I'm sorry if I startled you." I said, and the girl waved it off.

"It's nothing." She replied, then laid back down on her bed. I noticed that another mattress had already been made...and a small table added near it. I placed all my things on the table, and Ginny looked at all of it curiously. "Those your school books?" She asked, and I nodded.

"Yeah, though most our from last year, still I enjoy reading." I replied.

"I heard, you're in Ravenclaw right?" She asked, and I nodded.

"Yeah, that' why the inside of my school robes our blue, and my tie is blue and bronze, as is my scarf." I replied, going through my trunk and showing her, the girl was memorized and smiled eagerly.

"Amazing. I can't wait to get to Hogwarts. All my brothers have gone, and I'll finally be getting a wand...I hope we can afford it...still it's quite exciting. If I may ask what is Ravenclaw like? Everyone I've ever known has been in Gryffindor, and all I know is that you lot our the smart ones? What's your common room like? Who are your friends? Is it hard being separated from Harry?"

I stared wide eyed at the girl, just a little while ago she could hardly get a word out, and now she was asking me question after question, and I didn't know where to begin...

Ginny seemed to realize I was overwhelmed and stopped, her cheeks turned bright red, and she rubbed the back of her neck. "Sorry...it's just...you're the first person I've ever been able to ask any of this stuff..."

"It's okay...just, take it a little slower." I said, and she nodded.

"Okay...so what's it like in Ravenclaw?" She asked, and I smiled.

"Well...like I've shown you we wear blue. We have our own library in our common room, my year mates are..."

For the next couple hours I answered the girl questions. From Quidditch games, to Dumbledore, to everything I could tell her about Ravenclaw, she wanted to know everything. Finally she was satisfied and she let me lay down to sleep. As I drifted off, I wondered if this was the same girl from earlier when she had slammed the door in our face.