Flying Car
Harry stared at the car, parked in midair outside his window, with shock. "You- When did-"
"Hi, Harry." George grinned, "You alright? We haven't heard from you all summer."
"Yeah!" Ron said, "I asked you to come over like, twelve times. I even wrote Draco, but he said he hadn't heard from you either. Then Dad came home and said you'd gotten an official warning for using magic in front of Muggles-"
"It wasn't me!" Harry cut in quickly, "There was this house elf thing, and- How did he even know I'd gotten a warning?"
"He works for the Ministry." Fred answered, "What house elf?"
Sirius yipped softly. They could catch up later. Every minute they spent here talking was another minute they could get caught.
"Right." Ron smiled, "Catch up later."
The twins nodded. Fred tossed a bit of rope to Harry, "Tie that around the bars."
Harry did as he was told, whispering, "If this wakes up the Dursleys, I'm dead."
"Don't worry so much." Fred said, "Stand back."
Harry grabbed Sirius's collar and moved back next to Hedwig. Thankfully, the owl had been still and silent thus far. The car revved and, with a crunching noise, the bars were pulled clean off the window as Fred drove the car straight up in the air. Sirius flinched at the noise and listened for movement from the Dursleys while Harry ran back to the window. After a minute or so of nothing, he decided that they hadn't woken and joined Harry and his friends. Ron had just finished pulling the bars up and into the backseat. Fred carefully pulled the car as close to the window as possible.
"Get in." Ron looked pretty proud of himself.
"But all my Hogwarts stuff- my wand and books and things-"
"Where are they?"
"Locked in the cupboard under the stairs, and I can't get out of this room-"
"Not a problem," George said. "Move over."
Harry frowned, but moved back again as Fred and George slipped into the room. George pulled out a hairpin and picked the lock on the door. Harry and Sirius shared a look. After all, that had been Sirius's plan. He'd just been too out of practice to do it right.
"A lot of wizards think it's a waste of time, knowing this sort of Muggle trick," Fred told them, "but we feel they're skills worth learning even if they are a bit slow."
/They are fantastic Marauders./ Sirius thought, /I wonder where they get it from./
There was a small click and the door swung open.
"So, we'll get your trunk, you grab anything you'll need from here and hand it out to Ron, okay?" George whispered.
Harry nodded, "Be careful of the bottom stair, it creaks."
Sirius helped Harry get his things together and held perfectly still when Harry put his service dog jacket on. The twins came back with Harry's trunk as Harry handed the last of his things to Ron. Sirius growled softly, he could hear Vernon shifting around in his room. They needed to hurry. Thankfully, all that was left was the trunk- currently being pushed out the window by Harry and the twins- and Hedwig. Then Sirius and Harry could finally get in the car and out of this house!
"Almost there," Fred grunted, "Just a bit more."
With one final push, the trunk slid out the window and into the car.
"Okay," George panted, "Let's go."
"Shadow, in." Harry pointed at the car. Sirius leapt over and landed half on Ron. Hedwig screeched, no doubt thinking she was going to be left behind. Harry ran back for her as a different screech rang through the house.
"THAT RUDDY OWL!"
Harry passed Hedwig's cage out to Ron as Vernon crashed through the door. Sirius barked and grabbed the sleeve of Harry's shirt in his teeth, trying to tug him into the car faster. Vernon had frozen in the doorway for a second before he dove forward with an enraged scream and grabbed Harry's ankle. Ron, Fred, and George seized Harry's arms. Sirius let go of his sleeve and moved out of the way as the boys pulled.
"Petunia!" Vernon yelled, "He's getting away! HE'S GETTING AWAY!"
Sirius managed to get in a position to lean out of the car a bit. He snapped at Vernon's hand. The man instinctively flinched back, his grip on Harry's loosened and the Weasley boys yanked him into the car. Sirius moved again so Harry could slam the door shut.
"Step on it!" Ron shouted, and the car shot off and away from the house.
Harry rolled down the window and turned back towards the dumbstruck Dursleys with a grin, "See you next summer!"
The other boys roared with laughter.
"Hey George, can you let Hedwig out? She hasn't had the chance to stretch her wings in ages."
George turned and a moment later Hedwig soared out the window and was gliding along next to them. Sirius sighed, maybe he needed a refresher course as well as more practice.
"So," Ron said impatiently, "what's the story? What happened to you this summer?"
Harry told them all about Dobby, the warning, and the pudding incident. Shocked silence filled the car by the time he was finished.
After a couple of minutes, George broke the silence. "Very dodgy."
"Definitely." Fred agreed, "He really wouldn't tell you who's supposed to be plotting all this stuff?"
Harry shook his head, "I'm not sure he could. Every time he came close to letting something slip, he'd start banging his head on the wall."
The twins shared a look.
"You don't think he was lying, do you?" Harry frowned.
Fred sighed, "House elves have some pretty powerful magic, but they can't use it without their master's permission. I reckon old Dobby was sent to keep you from going back to Hogwarts. Could be someone's idea of a joke or something."
"Zabini!" Ron hissed.
"Maybe." George agreed, "I don't know if they've got any house elves, though." He snorted, "If I didn't know any better, I'd think it was Draco."
"George!" Harry scowled, "Draco's our friend, he wouldn't do this. Right?"
"Right." George looked back at them, "But we have heard our dad talking about the Malfoys. Draco's dad was a big supporter of You-Know-Who."
"That-"
"I'm not saying Draco is!" he said quickly, "Just that his dad was. So, under other circumstances, I'd have suspected him."
"But you don't now, right?" Harry prompted.
"Of course not."
"Good."
"He might know who sent the 'message.'" Fred mused, "The Malfoys are an old wizarding family, and their rich. Draco's bound to have a suspect pool at least."
Sirius sighed. It was doubtful Draco would know who Dobby belonged to. Judging by the way he'd acted, he wasn't likely around guests much. Besides, most families didn't care what other people's house elves were /named/, all that mattered was how many other people /had/.
Ron nodded, "We can write him when we get home. He'll be so jealous since I got to you first. We were really worried about you. At first I thought it was just Errol's fault-"
"Who's Errol?"
"Family owl." Fred said.
"He's ancient." George added.
"He's gotten lost delivering letters before." Ron sighed, "So, I tried to borrow Percy's owl, Hermes, but he wouldn't let me! Kept saying he needed him. Like it would kill him if I borrowed his owl for a day to make sure one of my best friends was still alive!"
George turned to look at them, "I think old Percy's got a girlfriend. He's been sending an awful lot of letters and spent most of the summer holed up in his room. I mean, there's only so many times you can polish a prefect's badge."
Sirius snorted, Harry nudged him with his toes. A silent reminder to keep from doing anything suspicious. Just in case. Sirius thought it was sweet of Harry to worry about him being discovered. Unnecessary, but sweet.
"So, what does your dad do in the Ministry?"
"He works in the most boring department." Ron said, "The Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office."
"Ookay, and that does...?"
"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 old 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. The teapot went berserk and squirted boiling tea all over the place. One man had to go to the hospital with the sugar tongs clamped to his nose. Dad was working overtime for weeks cleaning up that mess."
Sirius snorted again and again, Harry gave him a gentle nudge.
"That doesn't sound too boring." Harry frowned, "Wait- this car..."
Fred laughed, "Yeah. Dad's crazy about Muggle stuff. He takes it apart, puts spells on it, and puts it back together. If he raided /our/ house, he'd have to put himself under arrest. It drives Mum mad."
"It's getting light." George noted, "Good thing it's only another ten minutes."
Fred brought the car lower. Sirius put his paws on Harry's lap so he could see out the window. A patchwork of fields and trees passed below them.
"We're a little way outside the village." George said, "Ottery St. Catchpole."
A minute later there was a slight bump and Fred yelled, "Touchdown!" He was grinning as he turned back to look at Harry, "Welcome to the Burrow."