I will always find you

GOF 5

There was a definite end-of-the-holidays gloom in the air when they awoke the next morning. Heavy rain was still splattering against the window as Ella got dressed into some jeans and a hoody, she would change into her school robes on the Hogwarts Express. Ella heard Mrs Weasley as she shouted up the stairs to her husband.

"Arthur!" she called up the staircase. "Arthur! Urgent message from the Ministry!" Mr Weasley appeared at Ginny's bedroom door a few minutes later.

"I've got to head to work girls so have a good school year" He smiled as he quickly hugged his daughter as the girls all said goodbye to him. Bill and Charlie decided to come and see everyone off at King's Cross station, but Percy, apologizing most profusely, said that he really needed to get to work.

"I just can't justify taking more time off at the moment," he told them. "Mr. Crouch is really starting to rely on me."

"Yeah, you know what, Percy?" George said seriously. "I reckon he'll know your name soon." Mrs. Weasley had braved the telephone in the village post office to order three ordinary Muggle taxis to take them into London. 

"Arthur tried to borrow Ministry cars for us," Mrs. Weasley whispered as they stood in the rain-washed yard, watching the taxi drivers heaving seven heavy Hogwarts trunks into their cars. "But there weren't any to spare. Oh dear, they don't look happy, do they?" Ella didn't like to tell Mrs. Weasley that Muggle taxi drivers rarely transported overexcited owls, and Pigwidgeon was making an earsplitting racket. Nor did it help that a number of Filibuster's Fabulous No-Heat, Wet-Start Fireworks went off unexpectedly when Fred's trunk sprang open, causing the driver carrying it to yell with fright and pain as Crookshanks clawed his way up the man's leg. The journey was uncomfortable, owing to the fact that they were jammed in the back of the taxis with their trunks. Crookshanks took quite a while to recover from the fireworks, and by the time they entered London, Ella, Harry, Ron, and Hermione were all severely scratched. They were very relieved to get out at King's Cross, even though the rain was coming down harder than ever, and they got soaked carrying their trunks across the busy road and into the station. Getting onto platform nine and three-quarters was a simple matter of walking straight through the apparently solid barrier dividing platforms nine and ten. The only tricky part was doing this in an unobtrusive way, so as to avoid attracting Muggle attention. They did it in groups today; Harry and Ron who were the most conspicuous, since they were accompanied by Pigwidgeon went first; they leaned casually against the barrier, chatting unconcernedly, and slid sideways through it followed closely by Ella and Hermione and as they did so, platform nine and three-quarters materialized in front of them. The Hogwarts Express, a gleaming scarlet steam engine, was already there, clouds of steam billowing from it, through which the many Hogwarts students and parents on the platform appeared like dark ghosts. Pigwidgeon became noisier than ever in response to the hooting of many owls through the mist. Ella, Harry, Ron and Hermione set off to find seats, and were soon stowing their luggage in a compartment halfway along the train. They then hopped back down onto the platform to say good-bye to Mrs. Weasley, Bill, and Charlie.

"I might be seeing you all sooner than you think" Charlie said, grinning, as he hugged Ginny good-bye.

"Why?" Fred said keenly.

"You'll see," Charlie said. "Just don't tell Percy I mentioned it, it's 'classified information, until such time as the Ministry sees fit to release it,' after all."

"Yeah, I sort of wish I were back at Hogwarts this year," Bill said, hands in his pockets, looking almost wistfully at the train.

"Why?" George said impatiently.

"You're going to have an interesting year," Bill said, his eyes twinkling. "I might even get time off to come and watch a bit of it."

"A bit of what?" Ron said. But at that moment, the whistle blew, and Mrs. Weasley chivvied them toward the train doors.