The Sun, Moon & Stars

65. The Portkey

In what felt like just seconds after they had drifted to sleep, the bright light overhead been turned on, harshly blinding them, as Molly Weasley's much-too-cheery voice for five in the morning rang in their ears.

"Time to get up ladies! A very busy day today, and you must be on schedule." She said happily, flicking her wand and successfully stripping them of all blankets.

"Up and at em, girls. Arthur is insistent on you leaving at six sharp. You have one hour, breakfast is already ready." She instructed, before leaving the room as she sang some random tune in a chipper voice, tapping her toes blissfully.

Hermione had rolled over, hair frizzier than ever and bags under her eyes, emerging from the dozy and sleepy state they were all still in. "Alright, we should get up."

"I beg to differ." Ophelia mumbled into her pillow.

Still, they didn't want to be late. So fifteen minutes later, and after quite a bit of nagging to get Ginny to get up, the three girls were dressed and presentable as they hauled their duffle bags and wands downstairs.

The kitchen was buzzing with energy, despite it being an ungodly hour in the morning, as the sea of red-heads swarmed to get a taste of their mother's cooking like hungry vultures seeking prey.

The dining table was set with a crimson coloured table cloth, and many platters of delicious smelling food were sprawled on it. Bacon, eggs, french toast, jams, hash browns; anything you could consider 'breakfast food' was prepared before them.

Everybody was doing something, whether helpful or not. Percy was sitting at the head of the table, newspaper in one hand and a fork currently stabbing a hash brown in the other as he hastily ignored the commotion. Fred, on the other hand, was trying to bug Percy; attempting to steal his newspaper, or even his food, as Percy did his best to ignore it. George was eating eggs and bacon by himself, Charlie and Bill were assisting in wrapping sandwiches for the trip, Arthur was checking the clock on the wall every three seconds and Ron was groggily running a hand through his messy red hair as he sipped slowly on some orange juice. Ginny had skipped to the sink to get a drink of water, Hermione was in conversation with a hardly awake Harry, and Molly was hurriedly trying to get everything in order even though she wouldn't be attending the trip herself. It was busy, to say the least.

"Ophelia, dear, take a seat and help yourself to some breakfast. You need to eat up." Mrs Weasley ushered, gesturing to the dining table.

Ophelia silently heeded the request, slipping into the chair across from George and Ginny, and next to Ron, as she grabbed a couple pieces of toast from a large platter and grabbed a knife to butter them.

"Morning, Lupin."

"Morning." She mumbled in response to George's raspy comment.

"Orange juice?"

"Sure, thanks." She nodded as he began to pour her a glass, handing it to her a moment later. She smiled in gratitude as she took a sip.

"And I made sure we had raspberry jam before you came." George fumbled, sliding her over a jar of the magenta-coloured jam.

"Thanks!" She beamed, as she began to spread it on her toast.

"Oblivious." Ginny muttered at the exchange, shaking her head as she stabbed her fork into a sausage, but the two were too caught up in their conversation to have noticed the younger girls remark.

"Alright troops, ten minutes until we leave!" Mr Weasley announced, immensely proud of himself, as he glanced at the clock once more.

The household went into a frenzy at that point. Percy was still in his pyjamas, Fred and George had barley started packing despite Molly's nagging, and Ron seemed to be half-asleep at the table — but by some stroke of luck, in ten minutes time everybody that was set to go on the trip was out the door with their belongings in hand and tired expressions painting their faces as Molly kissed them each goodbye.