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30

"See you next summer!" Harry yelled.

I roared with laughter with my brother as Harry settled back in his seat; I saw him grinning from ear to ear. "Let Hedwig out," he told Ron. "She can fly behind us. She hasn't had a chance to stretch her wings for ages."

George reached back and handed the hairpin to Ron; a moment later, Hedwig soared joyfully out of the window to glide alongside us like a ghost. "So- what's the story, Harry?" said Ron impatiently. "What's been happening?"

Harry told us all about Dobby, the warning he'd given Harry and the fiasco of the violet pudding. There was a long, shocked silence when he had finished. "Very fishy," said Fred finally.

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

"I don't think he could," said Harry. "I told you, every time he got close to letting something slip, he started banging his head against the wall."

Fred, George and I shared a knowing glance. "What, you think he was lying to me?" said Harry.

"Well," I replied, keeping my eyes watching the sky in front of us. "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 from coming back to Hogwarts." Fred added. Someone's idea of a joke. Can you think of anyone at school with a grudge against you?"

"Yes," said Harry and Ron together, instantly.

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

"Draco Malfoy?" said George, turning around. "Not Lucius Malfoy's son?"

"Must be, it's not a very common name, is it?" said Harry. "Why?"

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

"And when You-Know-Who disappeared," said Fred, craning around to look at Harry, "Lucius Malfoy came back saying he'd never meant any of it. Load of dung- Dad and Roxanne reckon he was right in You-Know-Who's inner circle."

"I don't know whether the Malfoys own a house-elf." said Harry.

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

"Yeah, Mum's always wishing we had a house-elf to do the ironing," said George. "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."

"I'm glad we came to get you, anyway," said Ron. "We were getting really worried when you didn't answer any of my letters. I thought it was Errol's fault at first-"

"Who's Errol?"

I laughed. "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 —" Ron continued, only to be cut off by Harry.

"Who?"

"The owl Mum and Dad bought Percy when he was made prefect," said Fred.

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

"Percy's been acting odder than usual this summer," said George, 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, Roxie," he added, pointing at a compass on the dashboard. I twiddled the steering wheel.