The end of summer vacation comes too quickly for Harry's liking. He is looking forward to getting back to Hogwarts, but his month at the Burrow has been the happiest of his life. It is difficult not to feel jealous of Ron when he thinks of the Dursleys and the sort of welcome he can expect next time he turns up on Privet Drive.
On their last evening, Mrs. Weasley conjures up a sumptuous dinner that includes all of Harry's favorite things, ending with a mouthwatering treacle pudding. Fred, George, and Polaris round off the evening with a display of Filibuster fireworks; they fill the kitchen with red and blue stars that bounce from the ceiling to the wall for at least half an hour. Then it is time for a last mug of hot chocolate and bed.
It takes a long while to get started the next morning. They are up at dawn, but somehow they still seem to have a great deal to do. Mrs. Weasley dashes about in a bad mood looking for spare socks and quills; people keep colliding on the stairs, half-dressed with bits of toast in their hands; and Mr. Weasley nearly breaks his neck, tripping over a stray chicken as he crosses the yard carrying Ginny's trunk to the car.
Harry can't see how eight people, six large trunks, two owls, and a rat are going to fit into one small Ford Anglia. He has reckoned, of course, without the special features that Mr. Weasley has added.
"Not a word to Molly," he whispers to Harry as he opens the trunk and shows him how it has been magically expanded so that the luggage fits easily.
When at last they are all in the car, Mrs. Weasley glances into the back seat, where Harry, Ron, Polaris, Fred, George, and Percy are all sitting comfortably side by side, and says, "Muggles do know more than we give them credit for, don't they?" She and Ginny get into the front seat, which has been stretched so that it resembles a park bench. "I mean, you'd never know it was this roomy from the outside, would you?"
Mr. Weasley starts up the engine and trundles out of the yard, Harry turning back for one last look at the house. He barely has time to wonder when he'd see it again when they are back - George has forgotten his box of Filibuster fireworks. Five minutes after that, they skid to a halt in the yard so that Fred can run in for his broomstick. They almost reach the highway when Ginny shrieks that she left her diary. By the time she clambers back into the car, they are running very late, and tempers are running high.
Mr. Weasley glances 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's 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 -"
They reach King's Cross at a quarter to eleven. Mr. Weasley dashes across the road to get trolleys for their trunks and they all hurry into the station.
Harry caught the Hogwarts Express the previous year. The tricky part is getting onto platform nine and three-quarters, which isn't visible to the Muggle eye. What you have to do is walk through the solid barrier dividing platforms nine and ten. It doesn't hurt, but it has to be done carefully so that none of the Muggles notice you vanishing.
"Percy first," says Mrs. Weasley, looking nervously at the clock overhead, which shows they have only five minutes to disappear casually through the barrier.
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The Mysterious Heir
Fanfiction2 Years before Harry Potter is born, Voldemort conceives a son to take his place if he died before he reached immortality. After he is born, Voldemort enchants him to be more powerful than himself. This is the story of Polaris Cygnus Lestrange, The...
