MAGIC AND MYSTERY

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Part 5

The screen changed to their last evening of summer vacation. Molly conjured up a sumptuous dinner that included all of Harry's 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.

"Best month," Harry grinned at Molly and Arthur.

The screen changed to the next morning. They were up at dawn, but somehow they still seemed to have a great deal to do. Molly 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 Arthur nearly broke his neck, tripping over a stray chicken as he crossed the yard carrying Ginny's trunk to the car.

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

Molly and Amelia Bones sent terrifying glares at Arthur, and he ducked out of view.

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

"They do," Penelope agreed.

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?"

Arthur started up the engine and they trundled out of the yard, Harry turning back for a last look at the house. Then they returned. George had forgotten his box of Filibuster fireworks. Five minutes after that, they skidded to a halt in the yard so that Fred could run in for his broomstick. They had almost reached the highway when Ginny shrieked that she'd left her diary. By the time she had clambered back into the car, they were running very late, and tempers were running high. 

"Oh dear."

Arthur 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—"

"Arthur!" Amelia noted it down.

The screen changed to King's Cross Station. The clock overhead showed it to be quarter to eleven. Arthur dashed across the road to get trolleys for their trunks and they all hurried into the station. 

"Percy first," Molly said, looking nervously at the clock overhead, which showed they had only five minutes to disappear casually through the barrier. Percy strode briskly forward and vanished. Arthur went next; Fred and George followed.

"I'll take Ginny and you two come right after us," Molly told Harry and Ron, grabbing Ginny's hand and setting off. In the blink of an eye they were gone.

"Here we go," Ron winced.

"Let's go together, we've only got a minute," Ron said to Harry.

Harry made sure that Hedwig's cage was safely wedged on top of his trunk and wheeled his trolley around to face the barrier. Both of them bent low over the handles of their trolleys and walked purposefully toward the barrier, gathering speed. A few feet away from it, they broke into a run and—