The summer night air was warm, even the evening breeze carried no chill. The loud, rhythmic croaking of frogs broke the tranquility of St. Catchpole village as a turquoise Ford car quietly rolled out of the Burrow.
Not far from the house, the car rose into the air—completely defying reason—and disappeared into the vast night sky.
Mr. Weasley, still busy out on duty, had no idea that his beloved little car had been claimed by his children. Mrs. Weasley, already asleep, had no idea her kids were currently flying the magically modified car over England.
Ginny, too, had no idea that the next morning she would be surprised with a "gift" from her brothers.
The car had already left Ottery St. Mary.
Eda sat in the back seat, lowering the window slightly and stretching her hand out, as if to touch the stars. Beside her sat Ron, with George in the passenger seat, while Fred was at the wheel.
"Wait a second—did we take a wrong turn?" Ron, peering out the window from the back seat, asked. "Why can I see the sea?"
Fred and George in the front began fiddling with the dashboard, realizing they might indeed have gone the wrong way. "I swear I was flying east," Fred said.
Little Whinging, in Surrey, was indeed east of St. Catchpole, so Fred's general direction wasn't wrong—he just hadn't adjusted their course in time, which caused the drift.
"Eda?" George turned to her. "You've been to Privet Drive before—any ideas?"
That was the wrong person to ask. Asking a girl for directions (even if she was a witch) was unlikely to yield a precise answer—especially when they were flying in the sky with no landmarks to guide them, and figuring out east, south, west, or north was far from easy.
"I remember Surrey isn't far from London—why don't we just fly that way?" Eda suggested. She had always gone to Little Whinging by Apparition; this was her first time flying there.
Watching Fred fuss with the dashboard, Eda still felt that tossing a shoe to find their way would be more reliable.
After a small hiccup or two, the Ford finally reached Surrey, southwest of London. To make navigation easier, Fred had to keep the car flying low.
Passing over rows of buildings, they finally reached Privet Drive in Little Whinging, hovering outside a barred bedroom window.
Ron craned his neck to look inside, just in time to see Harry—who had been woken by the sound of the engine.
"Ron!" Harry whispered, tiptoeing to the window and pushing it open. "What are you… oh my.. this is…?"
The sight before him left Harry stunned all over again. Ron's arrival was pure magic! Harry spotted the twins grinning in the front seats, and beside Ron sat Eda.
"Good evening, Harry." Eda leaned to the side and waved. "Why is it that every time I see you in Little Whinging, you look so miserable?"
The first time they'd met, Harry had been drenched like a drowned rat. Tonight, he looked like an animal in a zoo—locked in a cage.
Harry's face turned red at her comment, and he scratched his head awkwardly.
Ron, unable to hold back, blurted, "Yeah! Why haven't you written me back? I invited you twelve times, and then Dad came home saying you used magic in front of Muggles and got a warning…"
"I didn't use magic outside school—it was a house‑elf!" Harry explained. "But the Ministry thinks it was me!"
"Hey! Hey! Hey! Gentlemen, you can discuss this on the way," Eda waved her hand, cutting off Harry and Ron's exchange. "I think we should get Harry out of here first."
Fred tossed Harry a length of rope and told him to tie it to the bars. Once Harry had finished, Fred said, "Stand back, Harry. You might as well grab your school things while you're at it."
"All my stuff is locked in the cupboard under the stairs," Harry said, stepping back into the shadows. "Without them, I can't leave."
From the passenger seat, George reached a hand toward Eda. Understanding immediately, Eda felt around in her hair and handed him a hairpin.
The twins were interested in everything except lessons. They couldn't quite come and go from any place with nothing but a packet of instant noodles yet, but with this hairpin they could at least solve Harry's current problem.
There was another way—Eda could have used magic—but there were some things she wasn't sure about, so she didn't step in.
She didn't know exactly how the Trace worked. The system shielded her from it, so even if she cast spells outside school the Ministry wouldn't detect her.
But she wasn't sure whether her magical fluctuations might trigger the Trace on Harry, or on the other three, making the Ministry think one of them had cast the spell.
Using magic outside school repeatedly in a short time was still breaking the rules. No matter how accommodating the Ministry might be, even if the person was Harry Potter, you couldn't just keep slapping them in the face like that.
Under Fred's control, the car shot straight up into the sky. With a loud clank‑clank, the bars confining Harry were ripped out entirely. Fred then brought the car back to hover outside the bedroom window, and he and George carefully climbed inside, unlocked the door, and headed downstairs.
Before long, Fred, George, and Harry—who had gone down to help—came back into the bedroom, panting as they lugged a large trunk between them. With some effort, they heaved it into the back seat of the car.
Just as Harry was about to climb inside, his uncle Vernon Dursley burst into the room.
The sight before him made the neckless man turn crimson with rage. Like a bull, he charged to the window, trying to stop Harry from escaping to freedom.
"Petunia!" Uncle Vernon bellowed. "He's getting away! He's getting away!"
In the back seat, George and Ron gripped Harry tightly, while Vernon clutched him just as hard. The three of them looked like they were playing tug‑of‑war. Vernon's bulk did him justice—George and Ron felt as though they were wrestling a bull.
Even with Harry struggling as hard as he could, he couldn't break free from his uncle's grip.
Now sitting in the front passenger seat, Eda looked at Vernon and said in a commanding tone, "Let go!"
The words had barely left her mouth when Vernon—who moments before had been holding on for dear life—let go as if compelled. Although he realized what he'd done almost immediately, it was already too late. With George and Ron's help, Harry scrambled into the back seat.
"Harry, say goodbye to your relatives," Eda said with a smile. "The next time you see them will be in June next year."
"Heh~"
The turquoise Ford shot toward the moon, soaring through the night sky on its way back to the Burrow.
In the car, Harry leaned back against his seat, grinning from ear to ear. The Weasley brothers were laughing heartily as well, while Eda simply gazed out the window, lost in thought as the night wind streamed past.
What she'd just said to Harry's uncle had been nothing more than an experiment—Eda was testing one of the ring's passives, something called Unswerving Resolve.
This passive allowed Eda to resist mental manipulation and offered some protection against the Imperius Curse. It also gave her the ability to influence others to a certain extent.
It was precisely because of this passive that her command had caused Vernon to blank out for a moment, loosening his grip on Harry.
In Eda's opinion, this ability was mainly a defensive safeguard—to keep her from being tricked or swayed by others—rather than something she could truly rely on as a trump card.
Anyone capable of putting Eda in real danger at this stage would be someone with strong willpower, the kind of person she couldn't easily influence. Which meant she couldn't take advantage of a moment of distraction to finish them off.
In the back seat, Harry recounted in full detail about Dobby, his warnings, the smashed violet pudding, and the letter from the Ministry of Magic.
When he finished, the car fell into silence. The whole thing was far too suspicious.
"Could it be someone playing a trick on you to keep you from going back to school?" Ron suggested. "Like Draco Malfoy, for example?"
Compared to Ron, the twins didn't treat this suspicious matter as a joke. Their experiences over the past three years had made them much more mature, and they believed that the house‑elf's warning was not without reason.
"Eda, what do you think about this?" Fred asked. When in doubt, it was always wise to consult someone smarter—gathering different viewpoints helped avoid careless mistakes.
"Whether it's a joke or just some unlucky kid's prank, it never hurts to be a bit more cautious," Eda said with a smile. "Looks like we can forget about having a peaceful new school year."
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