Planning the Rescue

"Oh, Eli!"

Molly Weasley was tidying things by the window when she spotted Eli arriving. She ran out in delight.

"Hello, Auntie!"

"Oh, come in quickly. Ron and the others can hardly wait. Come in!"

Molly Weasley was especially hospitable. No matter who came to visit her home, she was always delighted.

"Ron, come downstairs! Eli's here!"

Eli looked around the Weasley family home. Compared with Nicolas Flamel's house, this place was filled with far more magic.

The house was cramped, but Molly Weasley kept it neat and orderly, making it feel wonderfully warm.

A brush in the sink was washing dishes on its own, and a sweater on a chair was knitting itself. Though Eli had no idea why anyone was knitting sweaters in summer.

A clock hung on the wall, but it did not show the time. Each hand bore a Weasley portrait and pointed to their current status.

That alone showed how much Molly Weasley cared about her family.

"Eli! You finally made it!"

Ron rushed downstairs impatiently.

"Ron Weasley, you'd better have cleaned your room before coming down!"

Molly Weasley put her hands on her hips, frightening Ron stiff in an instant.

"Oh, Eli, sit down quickly. You must be tired after coming such a long way. Get some rest."

Molly Weasley always knew how to switch moods perfectly, leaving Eli both amused and helpless.

Still, he felt very comfortable here. He liked the warm atmosphere in the Weasley home.

In his eyes, though the Weasley family was somewhat poor, the younger Weasleys were fortunate to have such kind and warm parents.

"Mum, I've already cleaned it."

Ron looked utterly aggrieved.

Molly Weasley sighed. "Honestly, I don't know what to do with you. I'm going to tend the vegetable patch now. Take good care of Eli."

Ron looked as though he had been granted a pardon.

"Eli, you finally came! Ginny keeps going on about crisps. My head's about to explode!"

Ron darted onto the sofa opposite Eli and immediately curled up in it.

Eli pulled out a huge pile of every kind of snack from his expandable bag, and Ron's eyes nearly popped out.

"Wow."

Eli had modified the expandable bag with alchemy, greatly increasing the space inside. Though it could not compare to Newt Scamander's magical suitcase, it was now as large as a small room.

He could even live inside it.

He seemed to see a business opportunity—a chance to become a real estate tycoon in the Wizarding World.

"Merlin's beard!"

A cute voice came from the side. Ginny had heard the commotion and run downstairs.

"Ginny, come on. If you don't eat quickly, your silly brother will finish it all."

Eli smiled as he called Ginny over.

This was his future sister-in-law. Of course he had to spoil her.

As for Ron, who had already transformed into a bottomless pit, Eli smacked him on the head.

"Why aren't you saving some for your sister?"

Ron covered his head resentfully and said through a mouthful of food, "Dere's still loads here."

Eli rolled his eyes at him as Ginny happily plunged into the sea of snacks.

"Hey, Eli, how could you come without telling us?"

At the sound of that double act, who else could it be but the twins?

"We've developed lots of new things."

"Come and try them."

"We guarantee they'll knock your socks off."

Eli's interest was piqued by their little inventions too. "What are we waiting for? Take me to see them."

The three of them raced upstairs in a flash.

The Weasley home looked like a wooden little building forcibly cobbled together, crooked and lopsided, completely defying the laws of architecture.

You could feel it from the inside too.

When they arrived at the twins' room, the two of them dragged a large chest out from beneath the bed. It was filled with prank items of all shapes and sizes.

"There used to be more."

"But Percy Weasley snitched on us, and Mum threw them all out."

"He said we were too noisy for his studying. Who knows who he's writing letters to in there?"

Eli gave the two prank princes a thumbs-up.

There was already so much laid out before him. He could only imagine how much they had had before.

The two began introducing their inventions to Eli.

"These are firecrackers that can blast people into the air, but don't worry, they won't blow anyone to death."

"This is Vomiting Candy. It's still in development, though. We have no idea what will happen if anyone eats it right now."

Eli had to admit that these two had a uniquely obsessive love for pranks.

"George Weasley! Fred Weasley!"

The twins instantly acted like mice who had seen a cat, hurriedly shoving the chest back under the bed.

The owner of that voice was none other than Molly Weasley, standing in the doorway with her hands on her hips.

She pointed her wand, and the chest beneath the bed slid out by itself.

The twins immediately went pale.

"I truly never imagined you two would have the nerve to do this!"

"Oh, of course I'm not talking about you, Eli. Could you go downstairs and play for a while? I have something to say to these two little brats."

Before leaving, Eli glanced at the twins. It was not that he lacked loyalty, but the enemy was simply too powerful.

Eli went downstairs, and a storm immediately erupted upstairs.

Molly Weasley unleashed a torrent of scolding, and the twins did not dare make a sound.

They had once been kings, until Mum arrived.

--The fall of kings

The two brothers did not come downstairs again. They were probably mourning their precious treasures.

Having just had their stash confiscated, Eli could understand.

"Eli, did Harry write to you during the holiday?"

Eli shook his head. Although he had been staying with Nicolas Flamel, his parents would definitely have passed on any letters from friends.

"He didn't write to you either?"

"Not a single letter!"

"Did you write to him?"

"Of course, but there's been no reply at all. It's like he never received them!"

He never received them?!

Eli suddenly remembered that this might already be the beginning of the second part of the original story.

Harry might currently be getting pestered by an annoying house-elf.

Was it called Dobby?

That elf seemed to know something. To keep Harry from getting hurt, he wanted Harry not to return to school at all.

As for the letters, Harry might have been locked in his room by the Dursley family.

Knowing them, they definitely would not want Harry using an owl to contact his friends either.

Ah, poor brother...

Eli told Ron his guess.

Ron's expression immediately turned grave, then he seemed to make a decision that defied his ancestors...

"We should go rescue him!"

"Rescue who?"

"You were actually discussing a great rescue plan behind our backs!"

The twins started up their double act again. It seemed they had recovered from that devastating setback.

Ron retold the matter of Harry being locked up to the twins, embellishing it wildly and making every detail sound vivid.

Eli's mouth twitched as he listened from the side.

I don't remember saying anything about getting beaten up, did I? What's this about a whip? Candles...

What was all this supposed to be?

The twins were equally bewildered, but they knew their younger brother well.

"So Harry might be locked up?"

"We really should rescue him."

"We have a great idea!"

"What great idea?"

The twins gave sinister smiles. Eli thought, This is bad.