The flying Ford Anglia driven by Fred kept flying through the night. The three Weasleys and Harry stopped laughing ten minutes ago.
"Blimey, Harry! Hedwig ate my whole toast when she arrived!" Ron said.
"Heh, sorry about that,"
"Feed her better next time," George said, turning his head to the back seats while he kept sitting in the passenger's seat.
Twenty more minutes have passed, the conversation was quite innocent until Fred spoke again.
"Why was there a mattress in that old Cupboard?"
"There was a mattress?" Ron was immediately intrigued and very curious, so obviously he immediately turned to Harry for answers.
"Yea," George agreed, "seemed weird, like someone used to live there,"
Harry tried to avoid answering the question, so he just stared outside through the window.
"Was it like a spare mattress?" Ron asked.
"Seemed too old for it... it looked moldy too,"
"Why would your aunt and uncle keep a moldy mattress?"
"They've probably forgotten it was there," Harry shrugged, trying to act as if this topic wasn't making him uneasy.
"How, for Merlin's sake, would they forget it's there if they put your things in there?" George countered.
"..." Harry stayed quiet becuase he has no idea as to how to answer that.
"Wait," Ron suddenly spoke, "what's wrong with your eye?"
Harry just raised his eyebrows in confusion and surprise, "what are you talking about?" He asked.
"You look like you were punched!" Ron answered.
"Huh?" Then Harry looked at his reflection in the window next to him. Huh, he really has gotten a black eye, how did he not notice it before Ron pointed it out? The bruise doesn't look as bad is he expected, probably because it happened about eleven days ago; his eye isn't swollen, but the fading-into-normal yellowish-green colour of the bruise is pretty visible, but it seems to be healing just fine.
"What happened?" Ron repeated.
"Did you get into a fight with someone?" George asked, grinning.
"That's one way to put it..." Harry said after considering his answer.
"Did you win?" Fred's grin was practically visible, quickly glancing at Harry (the audible grin is also showing on his face) and then continued looking through the front window to see their surroundings outside the car.
"Depends on how you take it," Harry answered.
"What do you mean?"
"Who did you fight?" Ron's initial worry completely gone.
"Thinking about it, it wasn't really a fight, more like a random punch from uncle Vernon for being rude," Harry shrugged, thinking aloud, not really thinking it's that deep.
But the Weasleys (except for Fred, who's driving) looked at him in surprise.
"Your uncle did this to you?"
"Yea, but it's no big deal," Harry casually said, sounding like this happens all the time while he's at the Dursleys, and that he is so used to it that he thinks it's just really annoying.
Meanwhile the other Weasleys are absolutely speechless.
*************
When the twins, Ron and Harry arrived at Ottery st. Catchhole the sun was already beginning to rise.
"Let's just quickly get inside and when we'll go to breakfast and tell mom and dad: 'look who arrived last night!' And then we'll show Harry," George explained mere moments before landing on the ground, sounding like he was mostly telling this to Harry.
'Have they actually formed a plan for my rescue?' Harry asked himself in his thoughts.
When they've landed on the ground and got out of the car the Weasleys looked infront of them, looking scared.
"Oh no,"
When Harry looked where they were looking he saw a woman quickly approaching, once she was close enough Harry immediately realized that it's Mrs. Weasley.
"We're in so much trouble..."
Just like in the original, the rescue mission was a secret one. But as Harry had learned during the ride, the twins wanted to go a little ride, asking Ron if he wanted to tag along; Ron, who was reading Harry's letter, when they asked him, he forgot about his best friend's letter, and immediately agreed. But while they were thinking about where to go Ron remembered the letter and immediately suggested to pay Harry a visit and rescue him.
"Where have you been?!" Mrs. Weasley screeched angrily, the anger hiding the worry. "Beds empty! Car gone! You could've died! You could've been seen!"
Her stance, her voice, her facial expression is all anger with hidden worry (she almost looked like aunt Petunia that one time when Dudley 'accidentally' broke his classmate's arm).
"Get inside!" She ordered her kids, seeming like she hasn't noticed Harry yet.
And so the four Weasleys (and Harry) began walking towards the house.
The walk to the hoise was quiet.
When she finally noticed Harry, she asked him who he is, but before she finished the sentence she gasped. Harry immediately realized that she saw his scar he looked away immediately.
Mrs. Weasley seemed to understand that immediately to some extent, so she softened, "you must be Harry, right?" She asked.
Harry nodded.
"we were planning on coming over, since you weren't answering to Ron's nor Hermione's letters..."
So, from how Harry understands it, only he, Ron, Fred and George know about the letter he had sent to Ron.
"Do your aunt and uncle even know you're here?" She asked with worry.
"Yes," Harry answered simply.
"Well, that's good, atleast they were willing to let you go here."
The four boys infront of her went quiet, the twins and Ron trying their best not to look guilty, while Harry remained indifferent.
"They didn't allow him to come here, did they?" Mrs. Weasley asked firmly, already knowing the answer.
"No..." the three Weasleys answered.
"You three are in so much trouble."
"But mom-!" Ron tried but went quiet as the door has opened once again.
In came mr. Weasley, "morning kids,"
"Morning, dad," the three Weasleys answered.
Then mr. Weasley walked over to his wife, "morning, honey," and then he kissed her on the cheek.
"Morning, Arthur," she answered, trying to suppress a blush.
Then mr. Weasley sat down in a chair. The he took off his glasses for a little and pinched the bridge of his nose, "what a night," and he put his glasses back on, "six trips. Six! And just as I turned my back to Mundungus Fletcher tried to provoke a hag against." Mr Weasley began eating breakfast.
Mundungus Fletcher, the well known theif and fraud; Harry has had a lot of experiences with him, both the good and the bad ones.
"And did you find something, dad?" Fred asked.
"Only one shrinking keys and a teapot that bites." Mr. Weasley yawned. "We've also found a bunch of interesting stuff, unfortunately those don't fall under our department,"
"What kind of benefit do shrinking keys have?" George asked, completely confused.
"To trick muggles," mr. Weasley began to explain, "someone will sell those kinds of keys to an oblivious muggle, the keys will keep shrinking until when they want to unlock their doors they can't find them..." then he sighed again, "it's hard to prove someone's done it - I've never seen a muggle to actually confessed to shrinking keys, they'll just say they've lost them. They're capable of anything, but they won't confess for the world that magic exists, and they can stand eight infront of it...You wouldn't even be able to believe me what they'll be able to bewitch..."
"LIKE CARS, RIGHT?"
"Did you say cars, Molly?"
"Yes, Arthur, cars," Mrs. Weasley started, with angry sparks in her eyes. "Imagine a wizard, who's bought an old, rusty car and he tells his wife that he'll just take it apart to figure out how it works, but he'll unknowingly bewitch it so it could fly."
Mr. Weasley blinked in surprise, genuinely looking like he has no idea why she's brought that up, then it suddenly clicked for him.
"So, my dear, do you think it is completely okay even if - hm - if that wizard told his wife the truth... but you know that, that law is imperfect... that if you're not taking it apart with the intention that you'll fly in it then the fact itself, the car can fly... Arthur Weasley, you knew that, that law is imperfect even when you wrote it!" Mrs. Weasley screamed at him, sounding just like aunt Petunia when Harry accidentally burned the eggs that one time, "you can't even imagine what you would do if you couldn't do anything with muggle stuff all the time! Oh, and, just about ten minutes ago Harry arrived in the said car, that wasn't even supposed to fly, here!"
"Harry?" Mr. Weasley didn't understand, "what Harry?"
Then he looked around and jumped when he saw Harry.
"Oh my god! But it's Harry Potter! I'm glad to meet you, Ron's told us a lot about you...!"
"Today your sons flew inside your car through half the country to Harry's home!" Mrs. Weasley said, practically fuming, "I'm curious what you'll say now."
"Really?" Mr. Weasley cheered up, "and did it work?" Then when he saw the furious look on his wife's face he immediately changed his words, "well... hmm... that wasn't the right thing from you to do... really not..."
"Let them to argue it with eachother," Ron whispered to Harry, none of the boys wanting to be in the room with furious Mrs. Weasley, "come on, I'll show you my room."
And, so the three ginger haired boys and one black haired boy left the kitchen, just as they've heard Mrs. Weasley angrily almost yelled, obviously trying to control her volume, "oh, and they've apparently taken Harry here despite his aunt and uncle's disapproval!"
At that the boys began to walk up the stairs as quickly as possible, as soon as they've gotten onto the third floor, mr. And mrs. Weasley's argument is practically inaudible anymore.
When they were on the third floor, Harry suddenly noticed someone staring through the gap in the door before they were abruptly slammed shut.
"Ginny," Ron explained.
Harry suddenly understood and nodded.
Ron also seemed to understand that Harry understood.
"I don't know what's gotten into her. She's really shy now. Other times she doesn't even shut herself out..."
Then they climbed even higher and stopped infront of the door to Ron's room, conveniently with a label saying: 'RONALD'S ROOM'.
Ron opened the door for him and then the two boys walked inside. The room was small enough to make their heads almost touch the ceiling, but it's much bigger then the Cupboard he used to live in, and much more lived in too. Ron's whole room is plastered with posters of Chudley Cannons (Ron's favorite Quidditch team), making his room be almost whole orange.
"It's tight in here," Ron started, already blushing in slight embarrassment, "it can't be compared to your room at the muggles. I live in the attic, right under the ghoul."
"Don't be embarrassed, it's much better then at the Dursleys!" Harry immediately tried to stop Ron from feeling embarrassed, "plus, whenever I was here I always stayed with you in your room." Harry casually added.
"Really?"
"Yea,"
"But it's a mess here,"
"I've seen worse," Harry shrugged, sounding as if the 'worse mess in a room' he's talking about was in his previous life in his room at the Dursleys (it indeed is).