Entanglement

The Weasleys

"Ron!" breathed Elena, creeping to the window and pushing it up so they could talk through the bars. "Ron, how did you— What the—?"

Elena had never felt so overjoyed to see Ron.

Harry's mouth fell open. Ron was leaning out of the back window of an old turquoise car, parked in midair. Grinning at Elena and Harry from the front seats were Fred and George, Ron's elder twin brothers.

"All right, Elena?" asked George.
"What's been going on?" said Ron. "Why haven't you two been answering my letters? I've asked you to stay about twelve times, and then Dad came home and said Harry had got an official warning for using magic in front of Muggles—"
"It wasn't me— and how did he know?"
"He works for the Ministry," said Ron. "You know we're not supposed to do spells outside school—"
"You should talk," said Elena, staring at the floating car.

"Oh, this doesn't count," said Ron. "We're only borrowing this. It's Dad's, we didn't enchant it. But Harry doing magic in front of those Muggles you live with—"
"I told you, I didn't— but it'll take too long to explain now— look, can you tell them at Hogwarts that the Dursleys have locked me up and won't let me come back, and obviously I can't magic myself out, because the Ministry'll think that's the second spell I've done in three days, so—"
"Stop gibbering," said Ron. "We've come to take you two home with us."
"But you can't magic me out either—"
"We don't need to," said Ron, jerking his head toward the front seat and
grinning. "You forget who I've got with me."
"Tie that around the bars," said Fred, throwing the end of a rope to Harry.
"If the Dursleys wake up, I'm dead," said Harry as he tied the rope tightly around a bar and Fred revved up the car.
"Don't worry," said Fred, "and stand back."
Harry moved back into the shadows next to Hedwig, kept still and silent. The car revved louder and louder and suddenly, with a crunching noise, the bars were pulled clean out of the window as Fred drove straight up in the air. Harry ran back to the window to see the bars dangling a few feet above the ground.

Panting, Ron hoisted them up into the car. When the bars were safely in the back seat with Ron, Fred reversed as close as possible to Harry's window.

"Get in," Ron said.
"But our Hogwarts stuff— our wands— my broomstick—" Elena began.
"Where is it?"
"Locked in the cupboard under the stairs, and I can't get out of this room—"
"No problem," said George from the front passenger seat. "Out of the way, Elena."
Fred and George climbed catlike through the window into Elena and Harry's room. You had to hand it to them, thought Elena, as George took a hairpin from his pocket and started to pick the lock.
"A lot of wizards think it's a waste of time, knowing this sort of Muggle trick," said Fred, "but we feel they're skills worth learning, even if they are a bit slow."
There was a small click and the door swung open.

"So— we'll get your trunks— you two grab anything you need from your room and hand it out to Ron," whispered George, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear, which made Elena's face grow hot.
"Watch out for the bottom stair— it creaks," Elena whispered back as the twins disappeared onto the dark landing.

Elena and Harry dashed around their room, collecting things and passing them out of the window to Ron. Then Harry went to help Fred and George heave his trunk up the stairs.

At last, panting, they reached the landing, then carried the trunks through Elena and Harry's room to the open window. Fred climbed back into the car to pull with Ron, and Harry and George pushed from the bedroom side. Inch by inch, the trunk slid through the window.

Uncle Vernon coughed again.
"A bit more," panted Fred, who was pulling from inside the car. "One good push—"
Harry and George threw their shoulders against the second trunk and it slid out of the window into the back seat of the car.
"Okay, let's go," George whispered.