meant to be (2)

3

"See you next summer!" Harry yelled out of the window. The Weasleys, Mason and Harry roared with laughter, while I was observing Harry.

He looked different. Over the summer he grew taller, his hair somehow was even messier than before and it looked as though he spent most of his time outside as he had a deep tan.

"Careful or you'll fall in love with me." Harry said grinning from ear to ear as he noticed that I was eyeing him up and down intensely.

"Watch it, Potter." I said rolling my eyes. "Let Hedwig out. She can fly behind us."

George handed the hairpin to Harry and a moment later, Hedwig had 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 Mason 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!"

Mason and I looked at each other and the twins did the same.

"What, you think he was lying to me?" asked Harry with a tone of annoyance in his voice.

"Well," I started. "house elves have powerful magic of their own, but they can't usually use it without their master's permission."

"I reckon old Doby was sent to stop you coming to Hogwarts." Mason continued "Someone's idea of a joke. Can you think of anyone at school with a grudge against you?"

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

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

"Draco Malfoy?" asked George, turning round. "Not Lucius Malfoy's son?"

"Must be, I don't think there are lots of idiots whose last names are Malfoy." I joked. "Why?"

"We've heard Dad talking about him" answered 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 hed never meant any of it. Load of dung - Dad reckons he was right in You-Know-Who's inner circle."

We had heard these rumours about Malfoy's family before, and they didn't surprise us at all.

"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." said Mason.

"Yeah, Mum's always wishing we had a house-elf to do the ironing." said Ceorge. "But all we've got is a lousy old ghoul in the attic and gnomes all over the garden - you wouldn't catch one in our house ..."

I was silent. Judging by the fact that Draco Malfoy usually had the best of everything, his family was rolling in wizard gold; I could just see Malfoy strutting around a large manor house. Sending the family servant to stop Harry going back to Hogwarts also sounded exactly like the sort of thing Malfoy would do.

"I'm glad we came to get you, anyway." said Ron. "Ju-" (I stomped Ron on the foot to shut him up) "We've been getting really worried when you didn't answer any of our letters. I thought it was Errol's fault at first-"

"I'm glad I'm here as well" Harry said, swinging his arm around my shoulder. He received a cold glare from Mason. "Who's Errol?"

"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 asked again.

"The owl Mum and Dad bought Percy when he was made a prefect." said Fred from the front.

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

"I haven't seen him since we've got to your house" I thought out aloud.

"Now that you say it" Mason agreed. "I haven't seen him either."

"Percy's been acting very oddly this summer." George frowned. "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" he added, pointing at a compass on the dashboard. Fred twiddled the steering wheel.

"So, does your dad know you've got the car?" said Harry, still having his arm around my shoulder.

"Er, no" said Ron "He had to work tonight. Hopefully we'll be able to get it back without mum noticing we flew it."

"What does your dad do at the Ministry of Magic anyway?" Harry asked.

"He works in the most boring department." Ron answered. "The Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office!"

"The what?"

"It's all to do with bewitching things that are Muggle-made, you know, in case they end up back in a Mugsle shop ot 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!"

"What happened?" I asked curiously, straightening up and looking at Ron, as I haven't heard that story before.

"The teapot went berserk and squirted boiling tea all over the place and one man ended up in 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 to cover it up..."

"But your dad... this car..." Harry mutterd.

Fred laughed. "Yeah, Dad's mad 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 straight under arrest. It drives Mum mad"

"That's the main road." said George, peering down through the windscreen. "We'll be there in ten minutes... just as well, it's getting light.." A faint pinkish glow was visible along the horizon to the east.

Fred brought the car lower and I saw a dark patchwork of fields and clumps of trees.

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

Lower and lower went the flying car. The edge of a brilliant red sun was now gleaming through the trees.

"If you get scared, you can hold my hand." Harry whispered, smirking.

"I won't, Potter." I glared at him.

"Touchdown!" said Fred as, with a slight bump, they hit the ground. We had landed next to a tumbledown garage in a small yard and I looked out at Ron's house.

It looked as though it had once been a large stone pigsty, but extra rooms had been added here and there until it was several storeys high and so crooked it looked as though it was held up by magic. Four or five chimneys were perched on top of the red of. A lop-sided sign stuck in the ground near the entrance 'The Burrow'. Round the front door lay a jumble of wellington boots and a very rusty cauldron. Several fat brown chickens were pecking their way around the yard.

"It's not much" said Ron and I couldn't help but overhear that he seemed kind of embarrassed.

"It's brilliant." Harry breathed with his mouth open.