BECOMING PRONGSLET ⟶ Harry Potter

Chapter Three

Milo didn't want to press Harry for matters so quickly after the narrow escape from Privet Drive, but he couldn't deny either that he wanted to know what the hell was going on with his little brother. The bars over his windows still made Milo cringe at the mere thought, the boy locked in his room with none of his belongings. Suppose there had been a fire of some sort, what would have happened to Harry? He honestly didn't think the Dursleys would go out of their way to save the boy. Milo shook his head, knowing it was best not to think of such things, it would only make things worse. Besides, Ron was asking all sorts of questions from where they were settled in the back seat with George. Milo and Fred remaining up front. 

Hedwig was let out from her cage, flying behind them, the first opportunity in weeks for her to stretch out her wings according to Harry.

"So—what's the story, Harry?" Ron asked him. "What's been happening?"

Harry looked forward, catching his brother's gaze before looking away with a guilty expression. To hear from Ron and Milo that they had sent numerous letters but received no response, he felt terrible. Even if it wasn't his fault. Harry began to tell them about Dobby, the house-elf that had shown up at the Dursleys' home and caused nothing but problems. He came with a warning, telling Harry that he could not return to Hogwarts but when Harry refused, the house-elf decided to take matters into his own hands. Harry had to relive through the violent pudding incident and the rage of the Dursleys locking him in his room. 

Now they were aware that he couldn't perform magic outside of school, leaving Harry without the little threatening power he had before. But everyone was still quite suspicious of the house-elf showing up out of nowhere, especially Milo, he had never had a bad experience with them. He thought of Bitsy and how she was always looking after him but never trying to get him into trouble. 

"Sounds fishy," Fred said from the front, shortly before George agreed with him.

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

"I don't think he could," Harry looked at Milo, who was staring out the back window as he leaned over his seat. " I told you, every time he got close to letting something slip, he started banging his head against the wall."

Fred glanced over the seat, him and George exchanging a silent look, which brought Harry to look away from his brother and over at the two.

"What, you think he was lying to me?"

"Well," Fred began, "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 coming back to Hogwarts. Someone's idea of a joke. Can you think of anyone at school with a grudge against you?"

Instantly, Harry brought up Draco Malfoy but in Milo's head, it seemed like an unlikely prank brought on by just the boy. Not to mention, in a household like the Malfoy home, a very old and rich family, the house-elf probably wouldn't be sent off to carry out a childish prank. But it did make some sense when the twins brought up the fact that Draco's father, Lucius had been a large supporter of Voldemort. The man worked in the Ministry along with Arthur and judging by the tone, there was nothing nice going on between the families. 

Throughout the car ride, they filled Harry on what he had been missing out and Harry learned more about the Weasley family, such as Arthur's job at the Ministry working in the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts and Percy's odd summer behavior. By the time they arrived in St. Ottery Catchpole and made their way past the nearby village to the Burrow, the sky was brightening with a warm pink color as morning broke. 

The sun was coming up as Fred landed the car outside the home a little ways from the door they were going to be sneaking through. 

"Touchdown!" Fred called out with a grin as the car came to a stop and they were able to climb out. Milo's legs had been cramped for the better half of the trip as he stood up outside of the car and nearly fell over. George who had climbed out on the same side grabbed the back of the boy's shirt and helped hold him up until Milo was steady.