THE WITCHING HOUR ➸ h. potter

20 - back again

The end of the summer vacation came too quickly for my liking. Sure, I was looking forward to getting back to Hogwarts, but the month at the Burrow had been one of the the happiest in my life. Possibly since this was the first time I had actually had friends.

On their last evening, Mrs. Weasley conjured up a sumptuous dinner that included all of my favorite things, ending with a mouthwatering treacle pudding. Fred and George rounded off the evening with a display of Filibuster fireworks - they filled the kitchen with red and blue stars that bounced from ceiling to wall for at least half an hour. Then it was time for a last mug of hot chocolate and bed.

It took a long while to get started next morning. We were up at dawn, but somehow I still seemed to have a great deal to do. Mrs. Weasley dashed about in a bad mood looking for spare socks and quills - people kept colliding on the stairs, half dressed with bits of toast in their hands and Mr. Weasley nearly broke his neck, tripping over a stray chicken as he crossed the yard carrying Ginny's trunk to the car.

I couldn't see how nine people, seven large trunks, two owls, a cat and a rat were going to fit into one small Ford Anglia. I had reckoned, of course, without the special features that Mr. Weasley had added.

"Not a word to Molly," he whispered to Harry and I as he opened the trunk and showed us how it had been magically expanded so that the luggage fitted easily.

When at last we were all in the car, Mrs. Weasley glanced into the back seat, where Harry, Ron, Fred, George, Percy and I were all sitting comfortably side by side, and said, "Muggles do know more than we give them credit for, don't they?"

She and Ginny got into the front seat, which had been stretched so that it resembled a park bench. "I mean, you'd never know it was this roomy from the outside, would you?"

Mr. Weasley started up the engine and we trundled out of the yard, Harry and I turning back for a last look at the house. I barely had time to wonder when we'd see it again when we were back George had forgotten his box of Filibuster fireworks.

Five minutes after that, we skidded to a halt in the yard so that Fred could run in for his broomstick. We had almost reached the highway when Ginny shrieked that she'd left her diary. By the time she had clambered back into the car, we were running very late, and tempers were running high.

Mr. Weasley glanced at his watch and then at his wife.

"Molly, dear—"

"No, Arthur—"

"No one would see—this little button here is an Invisibility Booster I installed—that'd get us up in the air—then we fly above the clouds. We'd be there in ten minutes and no one would be any the wiser—"

"I said no, Arthur, not in broad daylight—"

We reached King's Cross at a quarter to eleven. Mr. Weasley dashed across the road to get trolleys for our trunks and we all hurried into the station.

I had caught the Hogwarts Express the previous year. The tricky part was getting onto platform nine and three-quarters, which wasn't visible to the Muggle eye. What you had to do was walk through the solid barrier dividing platforms nine and ten. It didn't hurt, but it had to be done carefully so that none of the Muggles noticed you vanishing.

"Percy first," said Mrs. Weasley, looking nervously at the clock overhead, which showed we had only five minutes to disappear casually through the barrier.

Percy strode briskly forward and vanished. Mr. Weasley went next - Fred and George followed.

"I'll take Ginny and Natalia and you two come right after us," Mrs. Weasley told Harry and Ron, grabbing Ginny's and my hand and setting off. In the blink of an eye we were through.