Thump. Thump.

Thump. Thump. THump.

THUMP.

Harry crashed to the floor.

"W-what's that?" Cassiopeia yawned, bleary eyed from her cocoon of blankets.

Groaning, Harry got to his feet, rolling his eyes at the Cassiopeia shaped lump on the bed before cautiously making his way to the window.

Cassiopeia yelped, shimming her way to Harry when he paused to look at her. Grasping a hold on his forearm the younger girl stared at Harry wide eyed. "You're not going to look, are you?"

"Of course I am," Harry told her before continuing to the window. Still having a hold on him, Cassiopeia walked half a step behind him.

"What if it's a killer?" She whispered, mindful to keep her voice low.

THUMP.

They jumped, startled, before Cassiopeia tightened her hold, fingers slightly biting into Harry's skin.

"HARRY!" A voice shouted, shocking them again. "Are you there?!"

A large grin grew on Harry's face, as he raced to the window not paying mind to Cassiopeia's yelp.

"Ron!" Curtains pulled back, Harry watched in barely concealed awe as his best friend appeared.

In a floating car.

Wicked.

Sighing in relief, the blue eyed redhead boy waved at Harry.

"Ron, how did you - What the -," Harry's mouth fell open as the full impact of what he was seeing hit him. Ron was leaning out of the back window of an old turquoise car, which was parked in midair. Grinning at Harry from the front seats were Fred and George, Ron's elder twin brothers and fellow pranksters Harry had befriended last year.

Harry pushed the window up to make communicating easier, wincing slightly at the screech it made. Pausing, he breathed a sound of relief when he didn't hear any noise from the other bedrooms.

"What's been going on," said Ron. "Why haven't you been answering my letters. I've asked about twelve times if you wanted to stay over and then Dad came home last week and said you'd 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 Harry, staring at the floating car.

"Oh, this doesn't count," said Ron with a shrug of his shoulders. "We're only borrowing this. It's Dad's, we didn't enchant it. But 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 Dursley's have locked me up and won't let me come back, and obviously I can't magic myself out, because the Ministry -"

"Stop gibbering," Ron said with a hint of fond exasperation. "We've come to take you home with us."

"But you can't magic me out either -"

"We don't need too," Ron jerked his head towards the front seat, grinning. "You forget who I've got with me."

"Tie that around the bars," Fred instructed, glancing over the bars with an expression Harry couldn't exactly make out. His own pair of blue eyes, not dissimilar to his brothers, were stormy and his expression seemed more subdued. He threw the end of a rope to Harry, patiently walking him through each step to tie a sturdy knot. "Stand back," he cautioned, revving the car up.

Harry moved back into the room, before glancing around curiously. He would have thought Cassiopeia would have jumped at the opportunity to meet Ron the moment he uttered his name.

Silence.

"Ahahahahah!"

Harry couldn't help the laugh that escaped him. Because there, on the floor near the side of his bed, was a tangled, wiggling heap of blankets with a tuft of raven hair sticking out near the top and an arm pulling at the comforter on one end.

"It's not funny Hadrian!" Cassiopeia's voice sounded out muffled, but still clear. She was having a bit of trouble.

"Do I even want to know how this happened?" Harry asked amused, kneeling to help untangle the girl.

"I fell," was the put-out answer he received, making him chuckle again.

A crunching noise was then heard, drawing their attention back to the window. The bars were pulled clean out as Fred drove straight up in the air. Harry and Cassiopeia ran back to the window to see the bars dangling a few feet above the ground. Panting, Ron hoisted them up into the car .

Harry listened anxiously, but there was no sound from the Dursley's bedroom.

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, glancing curiously at Cassiopeia who shyly waved at him before hiding behind Harry.

"But all my Hogwarts stuff - I've gotten my wand and some of my textbooks but the rest -" Harry panicked slightly.

"Where is it?"

"Locked in the cupboard under the stairs, and I can't get out of this room-"

"No problem," George said from the passenger seat. "Out of the way Harry."

Fred and George climbed catlike through the window into Harry's room. The two ran an appraising eye over the boy their little brother had worried about all Summer. It had only been because they had found Ron, one night too many, tossing and turning in bed with worry that they had decided to do something as drastic as this. They couldn't see anything physically wrong, but that didn't mean there wasn't an issue.

The twins exchanged questioning looks at the little ravenette next to their star seeker but decided they'd have time later for questions. Right now, they are in a time crunch.

Kneeling by the door, George took an ordinary hairpin from his pocket and started to pick the lock. Harry only hoped that would be enough with the numerous locks placed on his door that Vernon had no doubt closed after Harry had returned to the house.

Eyes lighting up, Cassiopeia clammered cautiously behind the twins, interested in observing their work. That's a bad mix, Harry thought, already imagining the damage that could be caused if the Weasley twins and Cassiopeia teamed up.

"Fred and George Weasley," Fred introduced softly, pointing to his brother and himself when he saw Cassiopeia approach. She was a timid thing, looking at George pick the lock curiously but keeping more than a foot away from them.

"Cassiopeia," she murmured softly, retreating into her shell. "Cassiopeia Doe".

"A lot of wizards think it's a waste of time, knowing this sort of Muggle trick," Fred told Harry, who had come up to them as well. Upon his arrival Cassiopeia had turned to him, asking something with her facial expressions. Whatever it was, the answer at Harry's nod must've been a good thing because the younger girl took a step closer to George to watch him pick the bottom locks. "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.

"We'll get your trunk, you grab anything you need from your room and hand it out to Ron," whispered George.

"Watch out for the bottom stair - it creaks," Harry whispered back as the twins disappeared onto the dark landing.

Harry and Cassiopeia dashed around his room, collecting his things and passing them out of the window to Ron.When everything was packed, Harry motioned to Cassiopeia.

"Get into the car with Ron," Harry told her softly, quickly adding when he saw her eyes widen in panic, "I'm going to help the twins with my trunk. It'll be easier if you're already in the car. He's safe, I promise."

Whatever protest Cassiopeia had died on her tongue as Harry raised a stern eyebrow, expression set and pointing to the car.

"Okay, but I get Hedwig," Cassiopeia stated before turning on her heel to Hedwig's cage on the desk.

Huffing, Harry turned to Ron who had watched the interaction from the window. "That's Cassiopeia, she's my little sister. She'll be a first year," Harry explained, choosing which facts he wanted to give Ron carefully. As much as he cared about his best mate, Cassiopeia was his and he didn't want her hurt because Ron had the emotional range of a teaspoon.

Passing Ron her satchel, Harry helped lift Cassiopeia up and over the window, trying to not feel too badly when he felt the full-body flinch Cassiopeia made when she saw how far up they were.

"It gets better once you're in the car Cassiopeia, can I call you Cassiopeia?" Ron started when he took notice of her eyes darting to the ground and back as he reached a hand out to pull her into the car. "You feel as if you're on the road and there's nothing scary there, is it?" He continued to coax her, speaking softly.

Harry watched Ron with a slightly open mouth, jaw slack and his brows furrowed. But then he remembered Ron had a little sister too, Ginny.

Making sure Cassiopeia was firmly in the car and petting Hedwig, Harry turned back to the landing to help Fred and George heave his trunk up the stairs.

Harry heard Vernon cough.

At last, panting, they reached the landing, then carried the trunk through Harry's room to the open window. Fred climbed into the car to pull with Ron and Cassiopeia, not minding the extra addition to their rescue mission. Harry and George pushed from the bedroom side. Inch by inch, the trunk slid through the window.

Vernon coughed again.

"A bit more," panted Fred.

"One good push," Harry and George threw their shoulders against the trunk and it slid out of the window into the back seat of the car.

"Okay, let's go," George whispered.

But as Harry climbed onto the windowsill there came a sudden crash as his door crashed against the wall. They hadn't put the locks back on. Fuck , Harry thought. The one night he wished Vernon wouldn't get out of bed.

For a split second, Vernon stood framed in the doorway; then he let out a bellow like an angry bull and dived at Harry, grabbing him by the ankle.

Ron, Fred, George, and Cassiopeia seized Harry's arms and pulled as hard as they could.

"Petunia," Vernon roared. "He's getting away! HE'S GETTING AWAY!"

But with a gigantic tug Harry's leg slid out of Vernon;s grasp - Harry was in the car - he'd slammed the door shut. "Put your foot down, Fred!" yelled Ron, and the car shot suddenly toward the moon.

Harry couldn't believe it - he was free , he and Cassiopeia. He rolled down the window, the night air whipping his hair, and looked back at the shrinking rooftops of Privet Drive. Vernon, Petunia, and Dudley were all hanging, dumbstruck, out of Harry's window.

"See you next Summer!" Harry yelled.

The Weasley's roared with laughter and Harry settled back in his seat, grinning from ear to ear.

A quick glance at Cassiopeia, to check her over, found that she was not dealing well in the floating car. Grabbing her arm gently, he shook her out of her stupor, and then tugged her onto his lap.

"You can let Hedwig out," Ron suggested, seeing the poor ruffled owl clutched in Cassiopeia's grasp. "She can fly behind us. She hasn't had a chance to stretch her wings I imagine." A moment later, Hedwig soared joyfully out of the window to glide alongside them like a ghost.

"So - what's the story, Harry," said Ron impatiently. "What's been happening?"

Harry told them all about Dobby, the warning he'd given Harry and the fiasco of the violet pudding. And then he began to tell them about Cassiopeia -"She's the one you mentioned on the train to school, right," Ron nodded as if affirming his own question. "The girl you met on a field trip." - of her receiving her Hogwarts letter and their own speculations on Dobby's warning.

"Very fishy," said Fred, his expression dark as he took in Harry's encounter.

"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, absentmindedly running his fingers through Cassiopeia's hair as she lay against him, her head tucked under his chin. "I told you, everytime he got close to letting something slip, he started banging his head against the wall." He saw Fred and George look at each other.

"What, you think he was lying to me?" questioned Harry.

"Well," began Fred, "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?"

Harry hesitated. He had spent quite a few days when he was locked up after his discussion with Cassiopeia reviewing all of his interactions since he'd been in the Wizarding World. Was there someone with a grudge against him? Possibly. But did he truly think they'd go so far to stunt his education? Harry was undecided about that one.

Harry did have a rival at school, but that was all it was.

Although, when he thought back, maybe it was a rival of his own making. Cassiopeia was a chatterbox most times, when she was comfortable, and she had had many questions about Wizarding Culture. Questions he hadn't had answers too. He hadn't even thought of their being an entirely different set of social customs in the Wizarding World, having thought it to be an extension of the Muggle one. But Cassiopeia had made a point, if the society had its own school and Ministry, what was stopping it from having its own culture as well.

Perhaps Malfoy was an ass when he first met him, but there was also the possibility that Harry had insulted him in some way when he had rejected his handshake. In his memories, Harry saw what he hadn't noticed before. The pure shock in Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle's eyes when he had rejected him. Maybe there was more to it than Harry had thought.

He hadn't meant it as an insult. Malfoy had insulted Ron, Harry's first wizarding friend who had talked to him about everything but his status as the Boy-Who-Lived. He had just wanted to defend his friend..

In unison, Harry and Ron spoke, Harry's voice not as convinced, "Draco Malfoy."

"I don't know whether the Malfoy's own a house-elf," Harry added, when Ron gave him a confused look.

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

It seems as though the Weasley's knew Harry didn't feel comfortable with the topic anymore and respected that, something he was grateful for.

"Who's Errol?" Cassiopeia interrupted, her voice heavy with sleep.

"Blimey, Ron exclaimed. "I thought you were asleep!"

"Errol is our owl, quite old but still functional," George chuckled, turning his head back to stare into the back seat. "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?" asked Harry, guessing the answer.

"Er, no," Ron blushed, smiling sheepishly at the two, "he had to work tonight. Hopefully we'll be able to get it back in the garage without mum noticing we flew it."

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

"Ministry?!" Cassiopeia perked up, sitting upright in Harry's lap and giving Ron her full attention. "He works there?"

Harry rolled his eyes before thumping Cassiopeia lightly on the back of the head garnering a wounded expression. "No, we are not adding Mr. Weasley to your collection of people," he told her firmly. ,

"But-"

"No."

"He could be-"

"Not happening."

"What if-"

No. No bribes. No Ministry workers on payroll."

"Fine," Cassiopeia sulked, crossing her arms and leaning back against Harry's chest. "Killjoy."

Fred, George, and Ron exchanged amused glances while listening to the conversation. Sure, they were a bit confused, but it was no doubt any less entertaining.

Neither of them had seen this other side to Harry, him as an exasperated older brother. Now he knew how they felt sometimes with his own antics.

"He works in the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office," Ron told Harry when he saw his conversation with Cassiopeia end.

"The what?" Harry and Cassiopeia chorused, bewildered. That was a thing?

"It's all to do with bewitching things that are Muggle-made, you know, in case they end up back in a Muggle shop or 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?" Harry questioned, shifting slightly as Cassiopeia burrowed her head into his neck. He wrapped his arms around her waist, running a hand up and down her side.

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

"But if the department does so much tracking and fixing magical mishaps in the muggle world, shouldn't it be bigger?" Cassiopeia questioned, glancing at Ron from her position in Harry's lap. "Two people can't be enough to regulate the entire British population."

Ron shrugged to Cassiopeia's dismay. He didn't know the answer to that, it was just the way things were.

"But your dad - this car-"Harry further questioned. How was the person responsible for cleaning up magical misuse enchanting his own objects. . .?

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

"That's the main road," said George, peering down through the windshield. "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 Harry saw a dark patchwork of fields and clumps of trees. Cassiopeia tightened her hold on Harry, not that he minded, shutting her eyes and hiding her face in his neck at the feel of the car dipping.

Lower and lower went the flying car. With each dip Cassiopeia's hold grew tighter until Harry was sure he'd have permanent imprints of Cassiopeia's nails in his sides. He attempted to comfort her, running a hand through her hair and whispering sweet nothings. Ron also, surprisingly, noticed the younger girls discomfort and was trying to distract her by telling her about Wizarding Chess. Which Harry appreciated. Really.