The Rescue of Harry Potter

"Harry's in trouble with the ministry."

It was the day after Marigold's birthday and Mr. Weasley had just returned home from yet another early morning raid. Marigold was helping Mrs. Weasley in the kitchen, so only the two of them heard the news.

"What kind of trouble?" Mrs. Weasley asked, looking up from the eggs and hurrying over to her husband.

Marigold quickly took over the stove top, but still paid attention to the conversation the two of them were having.

"Apparently he used magic last night," Mr. Weasley answered, taking a seat at the breakfast table.

"What on earth for?" Mrs. Weasley gasped.

"Haven't the foggiest," Mr. Weasley said, taking off his hat and running his hand through his thinning hair.

Marigold flipped a couple pieces of bacon, doing her best to just blend in with the rest of the kitchen and hopefully hear more information before Mrs. Weasley realized she was still there and ushered her out of the room. She just knew that Mrs. Weasley would think this news would worry Marigold too much, and even though she was worried, she wanted to hear more.

"Arthur, what kind of spell did he use?" Mrs. Weasley asked, wringing her dish towel in her hands. "Was it accidental or did he use his wand?"

"Well seeing as the Improper Use of Magic Office sent him a letter, my guess is that it must have been intentional," he answered. "According to Rosie, the IUMO secretary I passed on my way out of the office, Mafalda Hopkirk sent the letter herself."

"Please tell me it was only a warning, Arthur!"

Marigold stopped breathing and listened, flipping the sausage patties as quietly as she could.

"It's just a warning, but if he does it again they might seek expulsion," he said miserably.

That was Marigolf's cue. She quietly removed all the food and put them in their designated plates and bowls, then turned off the stove and snuck out of the kitchen.

Harry wouldn't use magic on purpose without a reason, she knew he wouldn't. Something must have happened. Maybe the Dursley's are treating him so badly that this was a cry for help? Maybe he tried to protect himself and had to use magic to do so… maybe Voldemort had tried to attack him, Dumbledore had said he wasn't gone for good!

There could be a million reasons why Harry had used underage magic without being allowed to do so. She couldn't exactly write him a letter asking why either because letters had been a dead end all summer.

No, it was time to put her plan into action. She was going to bring it up soon enough anyway, what's a few days early? She just hoped they would help.

It was George who opened the door, looking quite disheveled. His hair was sticking up all over the place and he looked like he had just rolled out of bed.

"Good morn—"

"Harry's in trouble," Marigold loudly whispered, cutting him off.

"What do you mean, trouble?" Fred called from inside the room.

Marigold looked up and down the hall with a frown and, getting the message, George moved aside and Marigold walked into the room. Fred tossed George his pajama shirt and he pulled it over his head as he walked over to his bed and sat down.

"Alright, so what's going on?" Fred asked, looking at her expectantly.

"I need to give you a little backstory first," she said, beginning to pace across the floor. She kicked a blue wrapper out of her way and took a deep breath. "Alright, so Neville and I haven't heard from Harry since we left at Kings Cross," she said.

"But you've been sending all those letters!" Fred said, frowning in confusion.

"Neville and I have sent countless letters, and at first we thought maybe his aunt and uncle were keeping them from him, but now I'm not so sure."

"What makes you say that," George asked.

"Well, Harry voluntarily used underage magic last night."

"He what?" they gasped.

"I know," she said, wringing her hands. "I've been worried for weeks, and now I hear he's used underage magic and is in trouble with the Ministry…"

George was suddenly standing on her right and Fred on her left. They put their hands on her shoulders and she looked up at them. "What's the plan?"

Marigold breathed a sigh of relief. "Okay, so I have it already figured out. I was going to let you in on it this Saturday if neither of us had heard from him, but things have changed.

"If I can get us to Harry's house, can you help me get him out of it without getting caught?"

"Of course we can sneak him out, Marigold," George said.

"Sneaky is kind of what we do," Fred agreed.

"But how do you plan on getting all three of us there and all four of us back without anyone realizing what's going on?" George asked.

"Easy, I've made enough Muggle Money mowing lawns this summer to get all of us there and back. It's just a train ride and a bus ride, and if we say we're students they'll give us a discount… why are you making that face George?"

"Marigold, Harry lives like, three hours away," George sighed.

"Trains and busses run at night," she said, "trust me, I checked. If we leave at just the right time and if we get Harry without any hiccups, then we can be there and back before anyone notices we're gone!"

"Marigold, the two of us will absolutely help you rescue Harry," Fred said, looking up at George who nodded. "But that has to be the worst plan ever. So much could go wrong."

"Fred's right," George said, putting a hand on her shoulder again. "Our pranks might look like chaos, but we plan for everything."

"It's why we rarely get caught," Fred added with a wink.

"Well, what do you suppose we do?" she asked, taking a seat on Fred's workbench and already feeling defeated.

Fred and George looked at each other and had one of the silent eye conversations Marigold was still trying to figure out how to understand. The two of them did a lot of shrugging and putting their fingers up in the air. By the time they turned back to her with grins on their faces, Marigold had long since given up trying to follow along.

"We're going to take the car," George said with a wide grin on his face.

"The car?" Marigold repeated dubiously.

George side eyed Fred with an even too their grin, then turned back to Marigold. "Do you remember the blue car we all took to the station last year?" he asked.

"Yes, but how is stealing your dad's car and driving there any better than taking the train? What if we get pulled over? None of us can drive!"

"Neither of us said anything about driving," Fred said, his smile quickly matching his brothers.

"But—"

"The car can fly," George said.

"The car can fly?" Marigold took a moment to compose herself. A flying car was a better plan… "But we can't steal your dad's car," she protested, groaning. "What if a Muggle sees us? What if a wizard sees us and your dad gets fired? What if—"

"Marigold," Fred said in a calming voice. "Relax, the car can turn invisible."

"And we can go at night, like you planned on doing anyway," George added. "Mum and dad won't even notice because they'll be asleep!"

Marigold thought for a moment. She was not thrilled at the idea of stealing the family car and illegally flying it across the country, but she was willing to do anything to get Harry back where she knew he was safe. Both Fred and George were wiggling their bushy eyebrows at her and she gave in.

"It's still, like, three hours, though," she said.

"Yeah," Fred said, waving it off, "but with no traffic, stops, or detours, we can probably cut the time down by quite a lot."

Marigold pursed her lips thinking. "You do have a point… alright, we go with the car stealing plan!"

"That's our girl," George said, clapping her on the back.

"We have quite a bit to plan," Fred said, going over to his desk and sliding everything off onto the floor with his arm.

He grabbed a large roll of parchment, and Marigold and George went over and watched as he scribbled on the page: The Daring Rescue of Harry Potter.

"How many days?" Marigold asked. "I need to tell Neville what's going on."

"Do you think that's a good-" Marigold glared so hard at Fred that he shrugged and went back to the parchment. "We'll go Monday night," he said. "Three whole days and two nights to plan will be more than enough, don't you think George?"

"Monday night, Marigold," George agreed. "Just don't send too many details through the mail," he said as she grabbed a small piece of parchment and started hashing out her letter.

"Don't worry," she said, dipping her quill into some ink. "I'll only tell him what he needs to know.

Dear Neville,

I'm going to rescue Harry. I won't be alone, the twins will be going with me, so don't worry. If everything goes to plan, we will have Harry back safe and sound long before the birthday party next weekend.

I'll fill you in then.

Wish us luck,

Marigold

The three of them planned their rescue meticulously. Since Marigold had already been spending so much time with the twins, it didn't seem suspicious for the three of them to be up in their room for long periods of time. Just to keep appearances, and make certain nobody started questioning things, they made sure to blow things up every once in a while.

They spent all of Saturday and Sunday meticulously plotting their route. They had to make sure that at no point they left any room for error. They were going to be operating a stolen, illegal, car with no drivers licenses, after all. They couldn't be seen.

The three of them had been way off on their initial time estimate. All three of them had been under the impression that they had to follow the already laid out roads, just up in the sky. When they realized they could just ignore all that and fly over houses and fields, they were able to come up with a route that would get them to Harry's house in about an hour!

Sunday night, George snuck down to the garage where the car was stored and checked to see if it had gas. That's where they got their first real hiccough in the plan. The tank was empty. So, Sunday morning, Marigold ventured into the little Muggle town and filled up a little red plastic gas can. The Muggle running the station had asked her what the gas was for, and she had told him her lawn mower was out. He left her alone after that.

With the route figured out and the tank full, all they had to do was worry about every perceivable problem and try not to get cold feet. It was hard though, so much could go wrong, and the stakes were really high.

The plan was to wait until midnight, when they knew everyone, even Percy, was asleep and then meet at the garage. They got their first bit of luck for the night when Mr. Weasley was called into work after dinner.

Marigold went to bed after saying goodnight to Mrs. Weasley and heard Fred and George follow several minutes later. As pleasantly as she could, she said goodnight to them, and turned into her room. Her hands were shaking with how nervous she was.

With Mr. Weasley being on a late night raid, there was one less adult to worry about; but so many things could still go wrong before they were even in the air!

Marigold watched the hours tick by on her wall clock. She knew she should probably be trying to get at least some sleep, but she was so anxious that it would be impossible to sit still let alone close her eyes.

Finally, the clock on her desk read ten to midnight. It was finally time to go. As quietly as she could, Marigold got out of bed, placed her premade note Mrs. Weasley on her pillow, and quietly made her way downstairs.

Mrs. Weasley,

If everything works out in our favor, you will never have to read this. But, if by some miracle you find out we're gone and do read this, then don't worry. We're safe, I promise. Fred, George, and I are going to rescue Harry Potter.

He hasn't been writing back all summer, and his close call with the Ministry of Magic was too much for me to take. I had to do something.

Please don't be mad at the twins, it was all my idea.

I really hope you never read this…

With love,

Marigold.

George was waiting for her by the garage, covered in dust and sweat. The car was already gone. He and Fred had pushed it to the end of the driveway and then some, just to make sure that when they started it up, it wouldn't be heard. Marigold was secretly glad that they had done it without her, even though the plan had been for her to help.

Marigold and George walked in silence to the car. Fred was already sitting in the driver's seat. George went to sit up front and Marigold climbed in the back next to the snacks and maps.

There was a moment's pause as the three of them looked at each other, wondering if anyone was going to back out. When no one did, Fred started the car and they were off. Fred drove a little ways down the road, flipped a switch, and suddenly they were soaring to the sky.

They emerged above the clouds and Marigold was awestruck at the sight surrounding her. The stars were glittering back at her, spread across the sky as far as the eye could see. The moon was a beautiful waxing crescent low on the western sky. The pillowy clouds below them seemed to go on forever.

"It's beautiful," George whispered from the front seat.

"Very…" Marigold agreed.

"Okay, now, I agree it's beautiful, but I kinda need to know where I'm going," Fred said, gesturing to the map next to Marigold.

"Right!"

For the next few minutes, Marigold directed Fred on where to go. They had planned their rout so meticulously that, unless something went very wrong, they wouldn't have to dip below the clouds and risk being seen.

It was about fifteen minutes later that they were sure they were on the right track and Marigold put down the map. The sky really was beautiful. The car was a little chilly, but it wasn't too bad. The whole world was tinted blue and Marigold could almost feel how early in the morning it was.

"So, Marigold," George said, turning around in his seat and looking back at her.

"What's up?" she asked.

"Fred and I have been wondering all summer about what you, Harry, and Neville did to win back all those points."

"Oh," Marigold said, feeling her heart beginning to beat really fast. "I'm sure you heard all the rumors about it."

George looked over at Fred who nodded but didn't take his eyes off the sky. "We wanted to hear it from you," George said, looking back at her.

Marigold looked down at the map in her lap. She supposed talking about it might be a good idea. She had been trying to ignore it for so long, to just move passed it… but she probably should talk about it.

She had considered sending a letter to Charlie, but found out pretty quickly that trying to get everything down on paper wasn't going to work. Ginny and Ron had been trying to get her to tell them all the dirty details all summer, but for some reason Marigold didn't think they actually cared. Neville obviously didn't want to talk about it, so that left Fred and George… She supposed the two of them would actually understand… maybe… Oh well, what harm could it do?

"I'll tell you, but it's a long story."

"We have a long time before we get to Harry's aunt and uncle's house," Fred said.

Marigold took a deep breath. "It all started when Draco Malfoy challenged Harry to a duel, like an idiot…"

As Marigold recounted the events of her first year, the twins did their best not to interrupt. However, there were some points in the story where they just couldn't help themselves.

"You can do magic without talking?" Fred interrupted, when Marigold got to the part with the troll in the bathroom.

"What did you see in the mirror?" George butted in several minutes later.

"Wait, that's why you guys lost all those points, helping Hagrid? Sorry again for giving you the cold shoulder, Marigold," Fred apologized when Marigold reached the part about Norbert (who she later found out was actually Norberta).

"You fought a full grown mountain troll? On your own?" There was shock and awe in George's voice.

When Marigold finally finished telling them about her entire first year, having spared no detail, the car was dead quiet. Marigold was waiting with baited breath for either one of them to say something, anything at all. She wasn't sure if she felt better, if it was the uneasy silence or if it might just be too soon to heal.

"I had no idea that that was what it was like…" Fred whispered, not looking away from the sky that stretched out in front of him. "The rumors made it seem like the three of you had an easy time of it."

Marigold didn't say anything in response. She just continued looking at the same sky.

"No wonder you never want to play chess with Ron," George said.

The three of them let those words sink in for about a second before they burst out laughing.

Marigold felt better.

The rest of the car flight was easy. They only had to duck beneath the clouds once to get their bearings. The second, and last time they ducked below the clouds was when they were in Harry's neighborhood trying to figure out just which house was his, then which window he was in.

They were quickly able to identify which window was Harry's, seeing as it had bars over it. Marigold was filled with an intense rage as they peered the headlights into his room.

When the lights hit Harry, the three of them watched as he mumbled himself awake. When he realized what he was looking at, he rushed to the window and opened it. Marigold rolled down her car window.

"Marigold? What the-how did-"

"All right, Harry?" Fred asked.

"Why haven't you been answering my letters?" Marigold demanded. "There I was, going out of my mind with worry, when Mr. Weasley told us you had gotten in trouble with the Ministry. And here you have bars on your windows! Bars!" she hissed.

"It wasn't me- how did he know?"

"He works for the Ministry," George said, an air of amusement at Marigold's outburst.

"-and you know we're not supposed to use magic outside of school!" Marigold continued.

"You should talk," Harry said, motioning to the floating car.

"This doesn't count," Fred laughed. "We didn't enchant it. But Marigold's right, doing magic in front of those Muggles you live with-"

"It wasn't me! Look, I can't explain now, it would take too long, could you just tell them at Hogwarts that the Dursleys have locked me up and I can't use magic to get myself out…"

"Oh my god, Harry. Do you really think we came all this way just to chit-chat?" Marigold asked, rolling her eyes. "We're here to rescue you!"

"But you can't use magic to get me out either!"

"No need," Fred grinned. "Catch!"

Fred tossed Harry a rope, which Harry proceeded to tie around the bars.

"If the Dursleys wake up, they'll kill me."

"Just stand back," George said.

Marigold watched as Harry disappeared into the back of the room. She held her breath as the car revved louder and louder. With a large crunching noise, the bars were off the window. Marigold and Fred lowered the bars quietly to the ground before dropping the rope.

"Get in!" Marigold insisted.

"But my things! My trunk! My wand!"

"Where are they?" she asked.

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

"No problem," George said, crawling catlike through the window and into Harry's room.

"A lot of wizards think it's a waste of time, knowing how to pick locks like Muggles, but we feel they're skills worth learning, even if they are a bit slow. I'll get your stuff. You hand anything you need from your room and pass it to Marigold."

Marigold watched as George disappeared downstairs. When he was out of sight, the three of them got to work loading up the car with everything Harry could grab. George took a couple trips grabbing things from downstairs, but was quiet enough that the Dursleys weren't disturbed.

Finally, everything was in the car.

Harry was just climbing out the window when they heard a loud screech, followed by a howl from Mr. Dursley.

"THAT RUDDY OWL!"

"I've forgotten Hedwig!" Harry said, panicking.

"How do you forget your owl?" Marigold yelled.

Harry tore across the bedroom as the landing light clicked on. He snatched up Hedwig's cage, dashed to the window, and passed it to Marigold, who was nearly knocked back with the sheer force that Harry had passed it with. Harry was scrambling to the window when Mr. Dursley hammered on the unlocked door, causing it to crash open.

Marigold and the twins didn't wait for the situation to sink in for Mr. Dursley. They quickly grabbed Harry by the arms and yanked him into the car.

"Get us out of here!" Marigold screamed, and Fred stepped on it.

As the three of them hurdled toward the moon, Marigold watched as Harry's hair whipped about and a grin broke out on his face.

"See you next summer!" Harry yelled back to a red faced Mr. Dursley.

The four of them erupted into a fit of laughter as they disappeared into the night sky.

"Let Hedwig out," Harry said. "She can fly behind us. She hasn't had the chance to stretch her wings for ages."

Marigold passed the cage to George and, seconds later, Hedwig was soaring beside them, looking more like a ghost than an owl.

"So, what's the story, Harry?" Marigold asked, dying to hear the answer. "Why haven't you been answering my letters? Why did you use magic?"

"Well, I spent a month thinking you and Neville had forgotten about me," Harry started. "I hadn't gotten a single letter, and Uncle Vernon wouldn't let me let Hedwig out of her cage, so I couldn't write to you to ask what was going on. It wasn't until my birthday that I found out what was going on.

"Uncle Vernon was hosting a dinner party that night for someone he wanted to sell drills to, you know, boring Muggle stuff," Harry said, rolling his eyes. "A little while before they arrived, I was sent off to my room to pretend I didn't exist, like always, but when I opened my door, a small creature was jumping on my bed."

"What was jumping on your bed?" Fred asked.

"A house-elf named Dobby," Harry answered.

Fred and George whistled.

"Um, what's a house-elf?" Marigold asked.

"Not sure exactly," Harry said, "but it was the size of a toddler and had ears the size of my hands and eyes the size of golf balls. Even stranger, he was wearing a dirty old pillowcase instead of regular clothes."

"Hose-elves work for really wealthy wizarding families," Fred said. "They do all the chores and tend to the house. They're basically servants."

"Well, whatever they do," Harry said, "this one was intercepting my mail. He wanted me to think you and Neville didn't want to be friends anymore so I wouldn't want to go back to Hogwarts."

"Why would a random house-elf not want you to go back to Hogwarts?" Marigold asked. "That doesn't make any sense."

"Well, according to him, Hogwarts isn't safe," Harry said with a frown. "He said that it would be better if I didn't go back this year. I obviously told him he was crazy, and that of course I was going back to Hogwarts. He was not pleased. He ran downstairs where the dinner party was in full swing, and used a hovering charm to drop Aunt Petunia's pudding all over the wife of Uncle Vernon's coworker before disappearing.

"Uncle Vernon was more pissed than ever and after putting bars over my windows, said I would never be going back to Hogwarts. It didn't help that I got a letter from the Ministry and they found out I was lying when I threatened to curse them if they treated me badly."

"Very fishy," Fred said.

"Definitely dodgy," George agreed.

"Did he say why Hogwarts wasn't safe?" Marigold asked. "Did he say if it had anything to do with Voldemort?"

Fred swerved so much that everyone in the car was jolted around.

"What the hell, Marigold?" he yelled, "don't say that name!"

"Sorry," Marigold said, picking the map up off the floor of the car.

"He wouldn't tell me anything," Harry said, sounding annoyed. "Every time he got close to letting something slip, he would start banging his head against the wall.

Fred and George exchanged glances.

"Do you think he was lying to me?" Harry asked.

"Well," Fred paused, "house-elves have got powerful magic of their own, but they can't usually use it without their master's permission. I reckon ol' Dobby was sent to keep you from coming back to Hogwarts. Someone's idea of a joke. Can you think of anyone at school with a grudge against you?"

"Yes," Marigold and Harry said in unison.

"Draco Malfoy," Harry explained.

"Ah, yeah, that would make sense…" Fred said nodding.

"I heard dad talking about Lucious Malfoy once. You know, Draco's dad…" George said, turning around in his seat again. "Apparently he was a big supporter of You-Know-Who. But when You-Know-Who disappeared, he turned around and said that he'd never meant any of it."

"Dad says that's bull, though," Fred added. "He thinks Lucious Malfoy was right in You-Know-Who's inner circle."

Marigold wasn't at all surprised.

"I don't know whether the Malfoys own a house elf," Harry sighed.

"Well, I'm glad we came to get you," Marigold said. "I've been frantic all summer. Neville isn't any better off either, you know. We thought the Dursleys were keeping your mail from you. We never would have thought a house-elf was keeping your mail."

They spent the next few minutes making sure they were still on track. Luckily, Fred's jolt hadn't taken them off course at all, and they were due to arrive in about fifteen minutes.

"So," Harry said once they were sure that they were on track. "Does Mr. Weasley know you have the car?"

"Uh, no," Fred answered, tapping on the wheel absentmindedly. "He had to work tonight. We have everything figured out so that we should be back way before anyone wakes up, let alone notices our absence."
"What does he do for the Ministry, anyway?"

"He works in the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office," Marigold answered.

"The what?"

"It's all to do with bewitching things that are Muggle-made," George said. "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 old 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 asked eagerly.

"The teapot went berserk and squirted boiling tea all over the place. 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 named Perkins in the office, and they had to do Memory Charms and all sorts of stuff to cover it up—"

"But your dad… this car…"

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."

They had ducked down below the clouds again. The main road was beneath them.

"We'll be there in a few minutes," Fred said, lowering the car to the ground. "Good thing, too, my eyes are tired,"

They drove slowly down the road. The car was invisible, but it was so early in the morning that they weren't particularly worried about coming across another car.

"We're a little way outside the village Ottery St. Catchpole," Marigold explained. "You didn't get my letters, but I got a job mowing lawns for the Muggles that live there."

Fred turned off the engine the moment the house came into view. Everyone jumped out and pushed it to the garage, passing the lopsided sign reading The Burrow and weaving through a mess of chickens.

Harry wasn't really pushing, but Marigold couldn't blame him; he kept looking at the Burrow with awe.

"It's wonderful," he whispered, causing Fred and George to blush a little.

"Now, we'll go upstairs really quietly," Marigold explained, brushing the dirt off her hands and onto her jeans. "You will be staying in Fred and George's room. There's a blanket and stuff already set out. We'll sneak in and go to bed. Later this morning, I'll go down and help Mrs. Weasley with breakfast, like usual. You'll come down with Fred and George and they'll tell her you unexpectedly turned up over night! She'll be happy to see you, and she won't know about our little adventure tonight."

"Right, but I don't think that's going to work out so well…"

"Why not?" Marigold asked.

Fred and George suddenly looked very sick. Knowing the reason, Marigold slowly turned around. Sure enough, Mrs. Weasley was marching across the yard. Marigold had never seen Mrs. Weasley look so furious and was suddenly worried that her welcome in the Burrow could be coming to an end.

Mrs. Weasley came to a halt in front of them, her hands on her hips, staring from one guilty face to the next. She was wearing a paisley night robe with her wand sticking out of the pocket.

"So," she said.

"'Morning, Mum," George said cheerily.

"Have you any idea how worried I've been?" she said in a deadly whisper.

"I'm so sorry, but we had to-" Marigold tried.

All four of them cowered as her rage broke over them.

"How dare you?" she shrieked. "I go down to the kitchen to get a glass of water and I see your hands on the clock not where they are supposed to be! I was worried sick! Your beds were empty, your note was vague, the car was gone! You could have DIED! You could have CRASHED! I've been out of my mind with worry, but did you care? Never as long as I've lived- you just wait until your father gets home. We never would have had trouble like this from Bill, or Charlie, or Percy-"

"Perfect Percy," Fred muttered.

"YOU COULD DO WITH TAKING A LEAF OUT OF PERCY'S BOOK!" Mrs. Weasley yelled, prodding a finger in Fred's chest. "You could have been seen, you could have lost your father his job-"

Mrs. Weasley turned on Marigold next, causing her to flinch, expecting a blow. Noticing Marigold's violent reaction, Mrs. Weasley took a deep breath and calmed herself.

"Marigold Rosenberg-"

"I am so very sorry, Mrs. Weasley," she said, her voice shaking. "We planned out everything! We-"

"I'm very disappointed."

Marigold hung her head as Mrs. Weasley turned to Harry who backed away.

"I'm very pleased to see you, Harry, dear," she said. "Come on in and have a snack. Then off to bed, the lot of you."

As Harry stared at everything in the house, Mrs. Weasley bustled about in the kitchen making a quick batch of toast for a snack. Every once in a while she would throw dirty looks at the twins and Marigold, muttering all the while.

"Of course I don't blame you, dear," she assured Harry as she loaded his plate. "Arthur and I have been worried about you, too. Just last night we were saying we'd come and get you ourselves if you hadn't written back to Marigold by Friday."

Marigold was surprised. They had known?

"Of course we knew," Mrs. Weasley said, noticing the look on Marigold's face. "I hand you your mail every morning. Did you really think I hadn't noticed that you were only getting half the number of letters you sent out? But honestly, flying an illegal car halfway across the country…"

"It was cloudy, Mum!" Fred insisted.

"You keep your mouth closed while you're eating!" Mrs. Weasley snapped.

After their snack, Marigold and the boys were sent off to bed. Instead of the floor and blankets they had set up, Mrs. Weasley put Harry in Charlie's old room, which he was thankful for.

Marigold was happy to crawl in bed. As soon as her head hit the pillow, she was fast asleep. She had a dream about a crashing car and a crying Mrs. Weasley, but when she woke up, she didn't remember a thing.

Marigold woke up and helped with breakfast like usual. When Ginny came down and saw Harry at the breakfast table, she ran upstairs again. Marigold made a feeble excuse for her, all the while knowing the real reason she had ran away.

Breakfast was eventful for about two minutes. Ron wanted to know how Harry had shown up, and Fred and George immediately started rambling out the story. But with one hard glare from their mother, the story came to an abrupt end.

After breakfast, Harry went out to de-gnome the garden with Fred, George, and Ron. Marigold helped clear dishes instead. She had de-gnomed the garden before and had been bitten. She wasn't excited to do that again.

Just as Marigold had finished wiping down the table, Mr. Weasley walked in the door. Without a word he collapsed into one of the kitchen chairs. He had just taken off his glasses and closed his eyes when the boys rushed in.

Marigold passed Mr. Weasley the teapot he was blindly groping for as the boys took their seats at the table again. Marigold took her seat next to Harry.

"What a night," he mumbled, rubbing his temples. "Nine raids. Nine! And old Mundungus Fletcher tried to put a hex on me when my back was turned."

He took a sip from his tea and sighed.

"Find anything, Dad?" Ron asked eagerly.

"All I got were a few shrinking door keys and a biting kettle. There was some pretty nasty stuff that wasn't in my department, though. Mortlake was taken away for questioning about some extremely odd ferrets, but that's the Committee on Experimental Charms, thank goodness…"

"Why would anyone bother making door keys shrink?" George asked.

"Just Muggle-baiting," Mr. Weasley sighed. "Sell them a key that keeps shrinking to nothing so they can never find it when they need it… Of course, it's very hard to convict anyone because no Muggle would admit their key keeps shrinking—they'll insist they just keep losing it. Bless them, they'll go to any lengths to ignore magic, even if it's staring them in the face. But the things our lot have taken to enchanting, you wouldn't believe…"

"LIKE CARS FOR INSTANCE?"

Mrs. Weasley had appeared, holding a long poker like a sword. Mr. Weasley's eyes jerked open. He stared guiltily at his wife.

"C-cars, Molly, dear?"

"Yes, Arthur, cars," Mrs. Weasley said, her eyes flashing. "Imagine a wizard buying a rusty old car and telling his wife all he wanted to do with it was take it apart to see how it worked, while really he was enchanting it to make it fly."

Mr. Weasley blinked.

"Well, dear, I think you'll find that he would be quite within the law to do that… There's a loophole in the law, you'll find… As long as he wasn't intending to fly the car, the fact that the car could fly wouldn't—"

"Arthur Weasley, you made sure that there was a loophole when you wrote that law!" Mrs. Weasley shouted. "Just so you could carry on tinkering with all that Muggle rubbish in your shed! And for your information, Harry arrived this morning in that car you weren't intending to fly!"

"Harry?" Mr. Weasley said blankly. "Harry who?"

He looked around, saw Harry, and jumped.

"Good lord, is it Harry Potter? Very pleased to meet you, Marigold's—"

"These three flew that car to Harry's house and back last night!" Mrs. Weasley shouted, pointing to Marigold and the twins with the poker. "What have you got to say about that, eh?"

"Did you really?" Mr. Weasley asked eagerly. "Did it go all right? I- I mean," he faltered as sparks flew from Mrs. Weasley's eyes, "that- that was very wrong…"

"Let's go," Marigold muttered to Harry, as Mrs. Weasley turned red in the face.

Marigold and Harry escaped the kitchen just in time. Marigold led the way to her room.

When they got there Marigold shut the door, which put a buffer between them and the loud voice of Mrs. Weasley. Marigold flopped down on her bed while Harry sat at her desk.

"I haven't gotten the chance to say it, with all the commotion, but, happy birthday, Harry," Marigold said after a few moments.

"You too, Marigold. I'm sorry, but I didn't get you anything," he said, looking at his hands.

"Oh, don't worry about that. I haven't gotten you anything either. We haven't been to Diagon Alley yet, so I haven't been able to get anything for you or Neville. Speaking of Neville, we're going to his house this Saturday to celebrate."

Harry looked up, excitement in his eyes.

"Really? Like a party?"

"I mean, it's just going to be the three of us and his Gran, but yeah. He told me that he was going to plan everything out himself, so that should be something."

"Definitely something," Harry agreed with a smile.

Marigold and Harry spent the rest of the day catching up. Marigold figured it would be best not to mention the letter she got from her father for her birthday, deciding she would bring that up at a better time.

They only stopped talking when Mrs. Weasley called them down for dinner, at which, Mrs. Weasley, not so subtly, gave Harry extra helpings.