A/N: Much thanks to Winged Artemis for being such a fabulous beta!

“But Harry! It was talking to me!�

Groggily rubbing his eyes, Harry propped himself up in his bed at the Burrow. A thick blanket of black night air covered the room, but through the muggy darkness, Harry could make out two glowing orbs, alarmingly wide, and a little too close to his face. Ron had rushed into Harry’s room, slammed the door, and sat down on the edge of Harry's bed, shaking him from precious slumber. But it was dark, and time for sleep...

“Harry! Don’t go back to sleep!�

“Er, what is it, Ron?� Harry’s voice came out frog-like and slow.

“A man in a box, that’s what!� Ron’s two glowing orbs were twitching about frantically, making Harry dizzy.

“Just tell me what happened, okay?� Harry asked, reclining back onto the cool down pillow.

“Well,� Ron began, looking nervously around the room, “I was asleep, right? And all of a sudden, I heard something, like a creature crawling around on my floor. Only it had to have been huge, because it was making so much noise. Then, this weird, eerie glow starts up where all the noise had been coming from, and I hear a human voice! For a while, I can’t move – I mean, I could, but... I just didn’t really feel like it, see? And then, I pulled the covers from over my head – it’s damn cold in here, isn’t it? – and sort of sat up, so I could see over the edge of the bed. And there he was, Harry! A man in a box, and he was talking to me! So, what do think it was, Harry?� Ron paused for a moment, waiting for a response. “ Harry?!�

But Harry had closed his eyes again, and had effortlessly fallen back into the dreams from which he had been shaken.

“Harry!� Ron shrieked. “Wake up!�

“What is it?!� Harry exclaimed, nearly knocking Ron off the bed in his alarm. “What happened?� Harry looked nearly as frightened as Ron.

“I just told you!� Ron shouted. “The man in the box, Harry! Why was there a man in a box?�

“I don’t know!� Harry answered, caught up in the panic. “And he couldn’t get out?�

“No, he was stuck! Why else would he have been in the box?!�

“Well, let’s get him out!� Harry cried heroically. “Come on! Where is he?� Harry leapt out of the bed, altogether forgetting his glasses, and started stumbling a little haphazardly about the room.

Ron, picking himself off the floor, answered, “I don’t know! The box isn’t there anymore!� He grasped for the bedsheets to pull himself up, but as the night-blanket had not been lifted, he couldn’t exactly tell which way the bed had gone.

“Where do you think they took him?� Harry asked, his eyes full of malice. “They couldn’t have gone too far.� He had begun groping about the room for his glasses, a fruitless effort made worse by Ron's presence in the floor where Harry's feet should have gone.

Ron grunted in pain, recoiling from Harry's foot. “I don’t know, Harry,� he answered from the floor. “It looked like Dark Magic to me. There’s no telling what we’re up against!�

“Then we’ll need to wake Hermione,� Harry replied, now on the floor with Ron in a desperate search for his glasses. “She always knows what to do... Oi, my glasses!� And putting his spectacles back on his face, Harry looked up to face the opening doorway. “Oh, hi, Hermione!�

The door had flung open, and a bushy mane appeared in the soft candlelight. Ron looked around, a little confused by his surroundings, and sat on the bed. “What are you two doing?� she whispered maliciously. “And why were you shrieking like that?� She looked at Ron, a little disgustedly.

“Listen, Hermione, we don’t have time to talk,� Harry whispered with an almost drunken assurance, stumbling awkwardly to his feet. “There’s a man in a box around here, and we need to get him out. But first of all, we need to find where they’ve taken him.�

“What are you talking about?� Hermione asked. “Who took him? And who took who?�

“The man in the box!� Ron shrieked again, almost as if he had forgotten momentarily why he had been panicking. “We need to get him out!�

“Harry, what's he talking about?� Hermione asked, now rather confused, herself.

“All he told me was that there's a man in a box...� Harry said, shrugging his shoulders, “and something glowing...�

“It was a glowing box with a man inside on my bedroom floor!� Ron cried. “I heard a load of noises on the floor, like something crawling, and then the damned box started glowing, you know, and the man inside started talking to me! Only he couldn't hear me, and I think he was stuck. Harry and I are going to look for him, but we don't know where the box is, or who took it, or... what? Why are you laughing?�

Hermione’s giggling had betrayed her amusement. “Oh, honestly, you two. You don’t mean a television, do you?�

“What?� Harry asked. “No, it’s a box... and there’s a man inside... right Ron?� All of a sudden, Harry looked a little skeptical himself. Hermione’s candle was disintegrating the night blanket, and along with it, the confusion that the darkness so often brings.

“A... television, did you say?� Ron asked, looking at Hermione with the confusion that does not disintegrate so easily. “Er, what’s that?�

“You know, the sort of things that Muggles use? To watch images, Ron, not real people. Honestly, don’t you pay any attention to your dad’s work?� she scolded.

“I... don’t know,� Ron lamely confessed. “It, er, might have been.�

“But why would it be in Ron’s room?� Harry asked. “Who–?�

“Oh, I'll get those two...� Ron threatened, charging past Hermione and taking her candle. No sooner than had he opened the door, though, did he spot the smiling culprits, the object of question in hand.

“Well, hullo, Ronnie-kins! Enjoy the nightly news?� Fred asked, ever so politely.

As Ron scowled, George added, “Because we can turn it back on if you want to continue your ‘rescue mission’.�

Ron rushed towards the two, without any clear intent besides causing pain, but the mischievous twins Apparated before Ron reached them. He succeeded, however, in causing a great deal of pain in his own right arm, running awkwardly into a closed door.

“‘The man in the box,’ though, honestly,� Hermione chuckled to herself as she blew out the candle, and the night-blanket descended once more into the Burrow.