Courage

-28-

Book: Courage
Chapter 28
Word Count: 5907

Tom the innkeeper woke Layla the next morning with his usual toothless grin and a cup of tea. Layla got dressed and was trying to persuade a disgruntled Apollo to get back into his cage, as Peaches and Willow were sound asleep in their cages.

Layla headed down to breakfast, where Mr Weasley was reading the front page of the Daily Prophet with a furrowed brow and Mrs Weasley was telling Hermione and Ginny about a love potion she'd made as a young girl. All three of them were rather giggly.

It was chaos leaving; they were heaving all their trunks down the Leaky Cauldron's narrow staircase and piling them up near the door, with Apollo, Hedwig (Harry's snowy owl) and Hermes (Percy's screech owl) perched on top in their cages. After leaving some treats in Peaches' and Willow's cages, Layla placed the cat cages beside the trunks. A small wickerwork basket stood beside the heap of trunks, too, spitting loudly.

"It's all right, Crookshanks," Hermione cooed through the wickerwork. "I'll let you out on the train."

"You won't," snapped Ron. "What about poor Scabbers, eh?"

"If you let me take Peaches out of her cage whenever I want, and now you don't mind me taking Willow out, then stop being so hard on Hermione's cat," chuckled Layla with a roll of her eyes.

"Well both of your cats don't try and attack Scabbers," said Ron, pointing at his chest, where a large lump indicated that Scabbers was curled up in his pocket.

Mr Weasley, who had been outside waiting for the Ministry cars, stuck his head inside.

"They're here," he said.

They all marched across the short stretch of pavement toward the three old-fashioned dark green cars, each of which was driven by a furtive-looking wizard wearing a suit of emerald velvet.

Layla got into the back of the first car and was shortly joined by Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

The journey to King's Cross was very uneventful, and Layla was just excited to get on the train to find her dad. She still couldn't believe that he was going to be her Defense Against the Dark Arts professor.

They reached King's Cross with twenty minutes to spare; the Ministry drivers found them trolleys, unloaded their trunks, touched their hats in salute to Mr Weasley, and drove away, somehow managing to jump to the head of an unmoving line at the traffic lights.

"Right then," Mr Weasley said, glancing around them. "Let's do this in pairs, as there are so many of us. I'll go through first with Harry."

Once Mr Weasley and Harry had gone through, Mrs Weasley and Percy followed, then Fred and George, and then Ron and Hermione. Layla turned to Ginny.

"Come on. I love running through it," said Layla with a smile. Together, she and Ginny began running through the barrier. Fred and George were already clambering onto the train, and Percy was climbing on, as well. Mr and Mrs Weasley had waited to say goodbye to them, and Harry, Ron, and Hermione had waited for Layla.

Harry, Layla, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny all climbed onto the train and leaned out of the window to wave at Mr and Mrs Weasley until the train turned a corner and blocked them from view.

"I need to talk to you in private," Harry muttered to Ron, Layla, and Hermione as the train picked up speed.

"Go away, Ginny," said Ron.

"Oh, that's nice," said Ginny huffily.

"Shut up, Ron," scolded Layla, slapping Ron's arm before turning to shoot a sympathetic look in Ginny's direction. "Sorry, Gin. I'll come find you when we get there and you can join our carriage."