(SKIPPING TO WHEN HARRY LEAVES DURSLEYS BECAUSE EVERYTHING ELSE HAS BEEN MOSTLY THE SAME)
HARRY WOKE FROM HIS DREAM, hardly daring to believe the Freya staring at him with her eyebrows raised in such a familiar expression was real, for he'd probably die if he woke up now and she wasn't. "Freya? Freya, how are you-"
His mouth dropped open as he took in the whole picture. There wasn't just Freya but a grinning Fred and George Weasley behind her, all of them inside a flying car.
"Ya doing all right, Harry?" Fred asked curiously from the driver's seat, "You look like Percy whenever we try to explain to him what fun is!"
"Don't be rude now, Fred." Freya chastised before she looked at Harry and frowned, "What happened with you, Harry? You haven't answered a single letter of mine and then Dad said that you got an official warning for using magic in front of muggles-"
"It wasn't me!" Harry said hastily, "And how did your dad know?"
"Ah, he works for the ministry, and I don't know how to take that 'it wasn't me' line because we use it all the time and it's always mostly a lie."
"Well even if it is a lie-which it isn't-you're one to talk!"
"What do you-" Realization dawned in her eyes and she smirked, patting the seat of their flying car. "Doesn't count, my dad magicked it. It's a hobby of his, messing around with muggle things. Now enough with the talking, so we can hurry up and bust you out."
Harry's eyes widened, "No! If you use magic then you guys will-"
"Who said anything about magic?" Freya's eyes sparkled as she nodded her head towards the back seat, "You forget who I have with me?"
"Tie this around the bars," George said happily as he threw the rope he had over to Harry.
Harry started, feeling both hopeful and incredibly nervous. "If the Dursleys wake up, I'm dead."
"I'll fight them off until you escape," Freya promised as he finished tying the rope. "I've been looking for a reason to hit'em anyway."
"Okay, stand back Harry!" Fred called as he revved the engine and began to drive.
Their plan succeeded and Harry's heart jumped at all the noise as the bars crashed into his Aunt Petunia's prized rose bushes down below. He looked over his shoulder anxiously, but Vernon Dursley did not come storming in.
With that reassurance, their escape continued as Fred and George hurriedly went to grab his stuff and Harry helped them push it through the window sill, everything going perfectly up until the moment she put one foot out the window to get in. As if pressing down on an alarm, Hedwig let out an ear-piercing screech followed almost immediately by a snort of a surprised pig. His uncle was awake.
"THAT RUDDY OWL!"
"I've forgotten Hedwig!"
The battle to bring the cage into the car, as well as Harry after, was a fierce tug-of-war battle between Vernon Dursley and Freya and George, Harry kicking his feet as desperately as he could. Finally, he'd slipped from his Uncle's clutches ("DRIVE!" The three screamed to Fred in unison who did) and as they did Harry turned back to see all three Dursleys half hanging out the window, staring at the car lividly.
"See you next summer!" Harry called.
The Weasleys roared in laughter and Harry sat down in the back seat next to Freya, grinning wildly.
"Hey, mind letting Hedwig out? She can fly behind us." Harry told Freya who nodded, turning to unlock her cage, grabbing the hairpin that George passed back to her to do so. "Hasn't been out in ages."
"That makes two of you," Freya grinned as she let Hedwig go, staring a bit awestruck as his owl flew out the window, her white feathers gleaming under the moonlight glow as she followed gracefully after them. Settling back down in her seat she turned to Harry, brows raised. "Now, come on, spill it. Why have you been ignoring my letters when you know how much I hate being ignored?"
As they rode through the sky the conversation varied as he told them about Dobby, his warning, and the pudding fiasco. Freya had great fun naming all the reasons that it had to be another one of Draco Malfoy's tricks, making sure to get Harry's promise to try to have Dobby admit it if he ever saw them again. Of course, he said yes, saying hastily he would have done it anyway.
It quieted down afterward and by the time Harry saw a bit of sun coming up the horizon, Fred told them they were home. Harry looked excitedly out the window at the Burrow for the first time.
Freya bit her lip nervously behind him as he looked where he was looking from over his shoulder. "Uh, it's not much, you know. It's kind of messy looking compared to your place now that I see it and-"
"It's wonderful," said Harry happily and she blushed slightly.
They soured down, Fred parking perfectly in a little garage next to the chicken coop, all of them making sure to quietly shut their doors as they got out.
"Okay, so we'll all make our way upstairs quietly. George and I have already set down a mattress of sorts for you to sleep on in our room Harry, so we don't have to worry about that," said Fred quietly and Harry's heart lifted that they'd planned for him to be here so thoroughly while he was in his room thinking nobody would ever come. "And then in the morning, we'll come down with Harry in tow and mum will be so happy he's here that she won't ever have to know about the car."
"Right," Freya said nodding determinedly, the way she answered her brother in an almost soldier-like making Harry think that she was used to being a part of her older brother's plans. "Let's go, since it's gonna be hard for me since I sleep at the way top but-"
Freya stopped, her eyes widening as she paled, and the three others wheeled around. Harry winced, scared to see what had frightened his best friend so incredibly much.
A woman that he could only assume was Mrs. Weasley was marching across the yard, scattering chickens in her determined stride towards them.
Bloody Hell. For a short, plump, and kind-faced woman, Harry thought staring wide-eyed as she came over, she somehow looks like a saber-tooth tiger.
"Ah," Fred said, his brows raising.
"Oh, dear," George said, clasping his hands behind his neck.
Mrs. Weasley stopped at a halt in front of them, putting her hands on her hips as she looked from one guilty face to another. "So."
"Mummy, before you start may I just say…" They all looked to Freya who put on a winning smile, "That you look beautiful in this morning light and I truly understand how I got blessed with these incredibly good looks."
Mrs. Weasley smiled at her pleasantly. "And may I just say how awful your rooms look first thing in the morning when you're supposed to be in them? But YOU'RE NOT?"
Her sons were both taller than she and Freya were almost at that point, but they all-Harry included-cowered at their mother's roar.
"BEDS EMPTY-NO NOTE-MY MOST TROUBLEMAKING SONS AND DAUGHTER OUT WHO KNOWS WHERE DOING WHO KNOWS WHAT-I NEVER HAD TO DEAL WITH THIS SORT OF THING WITH BILL OR CHARLIE OR PERCY-"
"Perfect Percy," Fred muttered under his breath.
"YOU COULD DO WITH TAKING A LEAF OUT OF PERCY'S BOOK!"
The yelling seemed to go on for hours and by the time she was done the sun had risen almost all the way up. Mrs. Weasley had yelled herself hoarse by the time she turned to Harry who startled when she did, backing away.
"I'm very pleased to see you, Harry, dear," she said, smiling at him kindly. "Come in and I'll make a good breakfast."
She turned to start walking back into the house and after shooting a nervous glance at Freya, who nodded encouragingly, he followed.
The kitchen was much too small for how big he knew Freya's family was, so it was cramped, but it was the first time Harry had seen a magical house, and looking around at the dishes washing themselves and the towels that wrung themselves dry it was still one of the best rooms he'd ever been in.
"But, Mum!" Harry looked away from the house's antics to tune into the conversation as Freya complained to Mrs. Weasley who bustled about making breakfast, "They were starving him! And there were bars on the window! He looked like an abused puppy!" Harry opened his mouth to argue that but Fred and George both clapped a hand over his mouth as Freya put a hand on his shoulder and gazed at her mother imploringly, who glanced over frowning thoughtfully. "And I know that you raised us to be good children who do not abandon a sad, scrawny, and incredibly famous puppy."
"Oh, hush Freya!" Mrs. Weasley scolded but the anger wasn't in her voice like before and her expression had softened as she glanced at Harry. "Ooo, Harry, you are much too thin."
They all watched as she went to the closet cupboard to grab more ingredients before Fred and George laughed and Freya patted Harry's shoulder, letting him go.
"Fickle Freya here is the best when it comes to making Mum's anger die away, perks of her being the youngest and only girl," George explained as the twins drew their hands away from Harry's mouth.
"What can I say?" Freya grinned as she went to the stove to bring over the bacon that their mother had done already, "I'm the cute and loveable one in the family."
They sat down talking and laughing after that as Harry enjoyed one of the best meals he ever had; crispy bacon, cheesy scrambled eggs, and caramel-flavored milk he'd found refreshing.
"Blimey, I'm tired," said Fred setting his fork down, stretching as he let out a long and loud yawn. "I think I'm going to crawl upstairs and sleep for a year."
"Ha, you won't even get to sleep for an hour, at least not until the proper bedtime." Mrs. Weasley said raising an eyebrow, "It's not my fault you all went on a little adventure in the night when your father and I had plans to go get Harry ourselves already. I want you all to de-gnome the garden."
After some complaining, a bit more complaining after Mrs. Weasley had mentioned asking some guy named Lockhart for de-gnoming advice, and some persistent insistence to Mrs. Weasley that he wasn't tired and wanted to help the others-the four of them set off into the garden.
The de-gnoming was actually fun work with the four of them, despite being bitten by one he'd tried to handle kindly. Freya added to the game halfway as whenever they caught one, to the boy's amusement, she'd thrust her hand back and throw shouting things such as, "I throw THIS ONE thinking that it's SNAPE! I throw THIS ONE thinking that it's MALFOY! I throw THIS ONE thinking it's WILLIAM when we first met because BLIMEY wasn't he an absolute prat!?"
By the time they were done Harry's bitten hand hurt far less than his stomach as he was rolling on the floor by then, gasping past his laughter as Fred and George who had gotten into their little sister's games had both picked up Freya screaming determinedly in unison, "We throw THIS ONE thinking of our annoying FICKLE!"
The two complained once again, in unison, as Freya struggled out of their clutches hitting them both on the head, laughing despite herself too.
Just then, the door slammed closed.
"He's back!" George said brightly as they all looked towards the house, "Dad's home!"
They hurried through the garden and back into the house.
His three children greeted their dad enthusiastically as Harry was introduced and he smiled at the slightly odd, but in a good way, man as he talked to them about his raids. When Mrs. Weasley started in on her husband about the flying car, however, Freya hurriedly grabbed Harry's wrist as she pulled him along, "Time to go, Harry."
They slipped out of the kitchen, waving goodbye to Fred and George who went to double- check the garden, before going down a narrow passageway to an uneven staircase. The staircase wound its way, zigzagging up the house, adding to the odd but interesting decor of The Burrow. It took five flights of stairs until they reached the door with peeling paint and a small plaque on it, saying FREYA'S ROOM.
Harry stepped in, his head almost touching the sloping ceiling, and blinked as his brows raised. Her room was a mess, not because it was cluttered, but because everything was just put so randomly in what he could only describe as Freya fashion. Her bedsheets were a violent shade of orange while on top of it, lined up somehow sweetly on her pillows, were stuffed animals of animals that were magical for Harry had never seen them before. On her wall, there were pictures of a quidditch team, The Chudley Cannons, posted all around while at the same time there were moving pictures of family and friends everywhere-Harry grinned when he saw a picture of him and Will next to each other on the wall and there were pictures of different sorts of magical creatures everywhere.
"Who's this?" Harry asked curiously gesturing at a man with ruly blonde hair and a kind smile, his picture was around some parts of her wall always a new animal with him.
"Oh that's Newt Scamander, he made Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and he was brilliant," Freya said a bit breathlessly before she paused, looking around her room and frowning as she went to Scabbers cage, busying herself with changing the water as she half said, and half mumbled. "Uh, the room. It's a bit small, not like you'd have at the Dursleys. And I'm right underneath this awful troll who's always banging on the pipes, and you have to remember to not get up too quickly when you wake up in the morning but-"
"Hey, Freya," she turned around to face him with a surprised and hesitant look. He grinned from ear to ear, "This is the best house I've ever been in."
She blinked, her ears turning pink, even as she smiled.