Always Together

19. The Whomping Willow

Fellow readers, I request your attention please. I have decided upon the cover of this story and am proud to announce that it will remain as it is. And I think second year will be a bit dull, but it'll only go till chapter 34! I'll post some spoilers on the next years, too, so you won't be so very bored. Well, I had 100% in Maths - yay me! Happy reading!

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Chapter 19 | the whomping willow

The end of the summer vacation came too quickly for Caitlyn's liking. She was looking forward to getting back to Hogwarts, but those vacations had been the happiest of her life. First, she had been adopted by the Malfoys - they were always extremely nice to her; second, she found her father's journal, where he was locked up in and she had talked to him and now waited to start a mission to release him; third, a month with the Weasleys - she loved the Weasleys; and they liked her very much also.

On their last evening, Mrs Weasley conjured up a sumptuous dinner that included all of Caitlyn's favorite things, ending with a mouthwatering treacle pudding. Fred and George rounded off the evening with a display of Filibuster fireworks; they fiIled 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. They were up at dawn, but somehow they 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.

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

When at last they were all in the car, Mrs Weasley glanced into the back seat, where Harry, Ron, Ciatlyn, 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?" 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 they trundled out of the yard, Caitlyn turning back for a last look at the house. She barely had time to wonder when she'd see it again when they went back - 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.

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 -"

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

"Percy first," said Mrs Weasley, 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. Mr Weasley went next; Fred and George followed.

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