P O R T K E Y S A N D U N E X P E C T E D G A M B L E S "Aurora had to bite back a severely offence comment."
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
AURORA FELT AS THOUGH she had only just gotten to sleep in Ginny's room when she was being shaken awake by Mrs. Weasley.
"Time to go, Aurora, dear," she whispered, moving away to wake Hermione and Ginny.
The three of them got ready quickly and quietly. Aurora grumbled a few times, hating that she was awoken earlier than usual.
The three of them headed downstairs into the kitchen. Mrs. Weasley was stirring the contents of a large pot on the stove, while Mr. Weasley was sitting at the table, checking a sheaf of large parchment tickets. They all said morning to them, and sat at the table, waiting for the boys to come out.
Aurora heard the footsteps of the boys coming down. When they came down, Mr. Weasley looked up at them and spread his arms so that they could see his clothes more clearly. He was wearing what appeared to be a golfing sweater and a very old pair of jeans, slightly too big for him and held up with a thick leather belt.
"What d'you think?" he asked anxiously. "We're supposed to go incognito — do I look like a Muggle, Harry?"
"Yeah," Harry said, smiling, "very good."
"Where're Bill and Charlie and Per-Per-Percy?" George said, failing to stifle a huge yawn.
"Well, they're Apparating, aren't they?" Mrs. Weasley said, heaving the large pot over to the table and starting to ladle porridge into bowls. "So they can have a bit of a lie-in."
Aurora knew that Apparating meant disappearing from one place and reappearing almost instantly in another, but had never known any Hogwarts student to do it, and understood that it was very difficult.
"So they're still in bed?" Fred said grumpily, pulling his bowl of porridge toward him. "Why can't we Apparate too?"
"Because you're not of age and you haven't passed your test," snapped Mrs. Weasley. "And where have those girls got to?"
Aurora noticed Ginny and Hermione gone. Aurora frowned. She could have sworn they were here before. Mrs. Wesley bustled out of the kitchen and they heard her climbing the stairs.
"You have to pass a test to Apparate?" Harry asked.
"Oh yes," Mr. Weasley said, tucking the tickets safely into the back pocket of his jeans. "The Department of Magical Transportation had to fine a couple of people the other day for Apparating without a license. It's not easy, Apparition, and when it's not done properly it can lead to nasty complications. This pair I'm talking about went and splinched themselves."
Everyone around the table except Harry winced.
"Er — splinched?" Harry said.
Aurora chuckled at Harry's lack of knowledge. "They leave half of themselves behind," Aurora explained to Harry who made an Ohhhh face.
