• MAGIC •

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chapter seven; magic

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ROBYN FELT A huge drop in her mood when she woke up the next morning. It was the morning they were due back to Hogwarts and although she loved the old castle with all her heart, there was a definite end-of-holidays gloom in the air.

She grumbled sourly to herself as the morning sunlight streamed through Ginny's bedroom window, pulling the blankets tighter around her body.

"Robyn, you're going to have to get up sometime before the end of the year," said Ginny from her dresser, where she was brushing her hair.

"Ugh," Robyn groaned, before heaving out a great sigh and pulling back the blankets. She pulled herself out of bed and trudged to the bathroom to tackle her bird's nest hair and the cavernous dark circles under her eyes. Heavy rain was still splattering against the window as she threw on a sweater, black jeans and trainers - they would change into their school robes later, on the Hogwarts Express.

Half an hour later Robyn dragged herself down the stairs into the kitchen with Ginny, Hermione, Bill and Charlie. Yawning loudly, she sat down in her seat next to George.

"Good morning to you, too," he said as she blinked sleepily. She nodded in reply, reaching for a piece of toast.

"Did someone say Mad-Eye?" Bill asked. "What's he been up to now?"

"He says someone tried to break into his house last night," said Mrs. Weasley.

"Mad-Eye?" said George thoughtfully, spreading marmalade on his toast, "Isn't he that nutter -"

"Your father thinks very highly of Mad-Eye Moody," said Mrs. Weasley sternly.

"Yeah, well, Dad collects plugs, doesn't he?" said Fred quietly as Mrs. Weasley left the room. "Birds of a feather... "

"Moody was a great wizard in his time," said Bill, as Robyn spread honey on her toast quietly, feeling very out of the loop.

"He's an old friend of Dumbledore's, isn't he?" said Charlie.

"Dumbledore's not what you'd call normal, though, is he?" said Fred. "I mean, I know he's a genius and everything... "

"Who is Mad-Eye?" asked Harry, to Robyn's relief.

"He's retired, used to work at the Ministry," said Charlie. "I met him once when Dad took me into work with him. He was an Auror - one of the best... A Dark wizard catcher," he added, seeing Harry's blank look. "Half the cells in Azkaban are full because of him. He made himself loads of enemies, though... The families of people he caught, mainly... And I heard he's been getting really paranoid in his old age. Doesn't trust anyone anymore. Sees Dark wizards everywhere. "

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?" said George seriously, to the great amusement of Robyn and the others. "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, a decision which Robyn thought was very brave, seeing as the Weasleys tended to be rather oblivious to the ways Muggles usually worked.

"Arthur tried to borrow Ministry cars for us," Mrs Weasley muttered to them as they stood in the damp garden, watching the unfortunate taxi drivers heave seven heavy Hogwarts trunks into their cars, "but there weren't any to spare. Oh dear, they don't look happy, do they?"

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