That day, Arthur was in his room reading.
By the window, he had recently added a small round table and three wicker chairs. He, Ranni, and Hermione would gather there every day to read together.
Truth be told, he preferred the garden bench outside, basking in the sun.
Unfortunately, that bench only had space for two people—and both girls insisted on sitting beside him.
Helpless, he had no choice but to move the reading spot indoors.
Just then, an owl flew in through the window, carrying a letter.
This surprised Arthur. Who on earth would be writing to him?
He didn't have many friends. Aside from Harry and Ron, there were only the Weasley twins.
But all of them already had the "iPads" he had given out—even the twins had gotten theirs over the holidays. Normally, they'd just use those to communicate.
It couldn't be Snape either. That man lived right next door. If he had something to say, he'd simply knock.
Hermione was just as curious. Her cousin was basically a shut-in who hardly ever socialized. Since buying Errol, their owl, he hadn't even sent more than a handful of letters—Errol had grown fat from lack of work.
But when they saw the old, battered owl struggling on the windowsill, both of them knew whose letter it was.
It was the Weasley family's owl, apparently bought by Ron's brother Charlie back when he was still at school.
Arthur opened the envelope. The contents were simple: Harry had gone missing, and Ron was frantic.
No surprise there. Arthur hadn't received any word from Harry the entire holiday. Just like in the original story, his aunt and uncle had likely locked him up.
As for letters? Those had surely been intercepted by the Malfoys' house-elf.
What intrigued him was why Ron had written to him in the first place. He had clearly explained the iPad's messaging functions when handing them out. Why not use that? Why send out their half-dead owl instead?
Was Ron really that dense? Possibly.
Hermione had also finished reading the letter and asked, puzzled:
"Harry's missing? But doesn't he have an iPad? Why hasn't he contacted us?"
"Who knows? Maybe his dreadful aunt took it away."
Arthur shrugged and tried summoning Harry's iPad.
The next instant, a dust-covered book appeared on the table.
Well, there it was. Definitely confiscated. And judging by the thick coat of dust, it had been tossed in some forgotten corner for over a month.
Arthur wrinkled his nose and cast a quick cleaning charm. No need to worry about the Ministry detecting underage magic—he had long since carved anti-trace wards into the house.
"So… what do we do? Shouldn't we help Harry?" Hermione asked anxiously.
"No need. Leave this one to the Weasley twins."
Pulling out his own iPad, Arthur sent them a quick message. He also reminded them to tell Ron that, yes, the thing had messaging functions.
Still, Errol hadn't flown all this way for nothing. Arthur used him to send back his newest invention for the twins: a charm pendant that blocked Trace magic. Within its range, the Ministry wouldn't be able to detect spells.
That should make for an entertaining encounter between the twins and Harry's relatives.
Once finished, Arthur reclined lazily back in his chair. Why get personally involved when he could stay home with his wife and cousin?
He'd invested in the twins precisely so he'd have people to run errands like this for him.
Meanwhile, the Weasley twins quickly received Arthur's message.
As soon as Errol returned with the Trace-blocking pendant, they set out.
Ron, of course, had insisted on coming along. So the twins waited until their parents weren't looking, then "borrowed" the family's flying car.
Under the cover of night, the three of them took off.
At that moment, Harry was stewing over how to contact the outside world.
Since the start of summer, his aunt had locked away all his school things—along with the iPad Arthur had given him. He couldn't even do his homework.
To make matters worse, earlier at dinner a house-elf named Dobby had appeared, claiming Harry was in terrible danger. He had cut off Harry's mail and even dropped a cake on one of Uncle Vernon's guests, making the Dursleys furious.
They had locked Harry in his room ever since.
That night, the doorbell rang. Curious who would visit the Dursleys so late, Harry pressed his ear to the door, straining to listen.
Meanwhile, Vernon Dursley opened the front door—and found three red-haired strangers standing on his doorstep.
Strange faces. Odd clothes. Clearly freaks here for Harry.
He immediately tried to slam the door, only to have it held open by Fred and George.
"Evening, sir! We're here for Harry."
"I know exactly what you freaks are after! But you can forget it—I'll never let him go back to that freak school of yours!" Vernon roared.
"Oh? Is that so?"
The twins exchanged a glance, then in perfect unison whipped out their wands, aiming them at him.
"Hah! Don't try to scare me. I know full well you brats aren't allowed to use magic outside school!" Vernon sneered.
Fred and George smirked, then cast in chorus:
"Densaugeo!"
"Levicorpus!"
Individually, both were harmless but humiliating spells.
Unfortunately for Vernon, being hoisted upside-down caused his magically-elongated front teeth to jab into his own gut, puncturing the flesh. Luckily his belly was so padded with fat that the wound wasn't deep.
With Vernon groaning and flailing mid-air, the twins and Ron strolled right into the house.
Petunia came rushing in, shrieking hysterically the moment she saw them.
The twins promptly hit her—and Dudley as well—with Silencing Charms, then followed up with Leg-Locker Jinxes when they tried to flee.
With a few lazy waves of their wands, they floated the gagged Dursleys into the living room and dumped them onto the couch.
They hadn't come just to fetch Harry.
This time, they were carrying out Arthur's orders: to settle, once and for all, how the Dursleys treated him.
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