'Ginny!' It was Ron.
She ignored the call of her brother, and rolled over in her bed, snuggling deep down into the covers, trying to block the light streaming in through her thin curtains. Her room faced the sunrise, and Ginny Weasley was definitely not a morning person.
'Ginny!' The call was frustrated this time, and was followed by heavy pounds on the door.
'Go 'way!' She shouted back. She knew it was the day back to school, but she just didn't want to go. Ginny knew that going back to school meant going back to the disgusted looks, snide remarks or looks of pity, which she hated the most. People looking at her with sympathy because she belonged to the poorest family in the wizarding world, because she received all of the hand-me-downs from her brothers, including clothes, books and pets. She hated that, but she knew the trouble and long hours her father had to work to support his massive family. With Percy sending part of his paycheck home, along with Bill and Charlie, it had been easier on her father, but it still wasn't enough. She would just have to make do.
'Ginny! Come on, it's school!' She again didn't answer, and she heard Ron sigh angrily and his footsteps stomped away and down the stairs. Ginny sighed and sat up, rubbing her eyes and pushing her hair away from her face, tucking it behind her ears. She had to get up now. Now that her brother had gone to get her mother. An angry Molly Weasley was not someone she would like to face this time in the morning.
Getting off the bed slowly, she grabbed her bathrobe, from where it rested on the back of her desk chair, and walked over to the door, which didn't take very long as her room was tiny. When she opened the door, she saw her flustered mother, still with her apron on and spatula in her hand. Ginny stepped back a bit, seeing the way her mother was holding and pointing the utensil.
'Oh! You're up!' She said, before tutting and turning away, muttering under her breath about how the eggs were probably burning and that Arthur wouldn't get his proper breakfast. Ginny rolled her eyes and crossed the landing to the bathroom, to take a shower, hoping that the ghost wouldn't bang the pipes and make the water stop running. The plumbing in the house wasn't exactly great as it was.
When she had finished, she stepped out of the bathroom, growling because she couldn't get the brush through her hair, and because all of the hot water had been used up already. She had had to endure a freezing cold five minutes, in which she had hurriedly washed herself. Ginny knew she could have gotten up earlier, and been one of the first in the shower, but that would have meant spending more time around the nauseating sights of her brother and his girlfriend making puppy eyes at each other, and calling each other 'Snookums' and 'Munchkin'.
Speaking of the adorable sweethearts, she thought sarcastically, as she watched Hermione pass her brother going down the stairs, heaving her heavy trunk. Ron smiled sickeningly sweetly at her and took it off her. She kissed his cheek and he blushed. Ginny rolled her eyes, and went into her bedroom, noting the fact that neither of them had noticed her, or acknowledged her. Love, as her mother had told her, did that to a person, but Ginny couldn't help thinking it wouldn't hurt for one of them to look up and say hi. They certainly hadn't done that this summer.
Slamming her door behind her, Ginny grabbed her underwear and put it on, scowling at the shabbiness of them. Next, she pulled on her favourite item of clothing in her whole wardrobe, which wasn't exactly something to be proud of. As she zipped them up, she looked down at her jeans. They were extremely baggy and were scruffy at the bottom but this added to the effect. They were probably once dark blue, but had faded in the wash. Her brother Bill had given them to her at the start of summer, and she had fallen in love with them. Ginny wore them whenever she could, ignoring her mothers annoyed requests that she get rid of them and wear something more suited to a girl. Ginny snorted at her mother's idea of 'something more suited to a girl'. She had stormed out of the second-hand clothing shop when her mother had held up a hideous yellow dress, with a bow at the back. She was sixteen for Merlin's sake! She was certainly not going to dress up like a six-year-old.
Shaking her head of those thoughts, she grabbed her old Weird Sisters top, and pulled it on over her untamed hair. The top was tight, because she had had it bought for her when she was eight by her aunt, but it covered her stomach. The top showed the three witches singing, but only the stars twinkled. When she had first received it, the women had danced, but it had been through the wash too many times, and the charms had stopped working. Ginny didn't mind though, the top had seemed too lively for her. The twinkling stars were enough.
Turning to her bedside table, she took a small, brown book and tucked it into the pocket in the lid of her trunk. She had bought the book at Flourish and Blotts with the money she had saved over the years. It was expensive, but Ginny thought it was worth it. She had read through it many times and there seemed to be new spells every time. It was like a different book every time she started it again.
Because she had packed the night before, all Ginny had to do was flip the lid and lock her trunk. That and lug it downstairs. The tatty, black- leathered trunk was extremely heavy, and Ginny spent a long time pushing it out the door and across the landing towards the top of the stairs. Stopping to take a breather, she perched on the edge of the trunk.
'Ginny! We've got to go now!' Her brother called from the kitchen. She growled, and her stomach growled back. She remembered the reason she had gone to her bedroom the night before in a huff, halfway through dinner. Hermione had mentioned Harry, and Ron had teased her about her childhood crush. She had told them that she didn't like him that way anymore, but they had gone on about it. Ron had laughed at her, and Hermione had given her a look of sympathy, and patted her hand, telling her that Harry would notice her eventually. Ginny had snatched her hand away, and glared at the couple. Exclaiming 'I don't like Harry!', she had stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind her, and making sure her footsteps on the stairs shook the house.
'Ginny, dear, we'll be late for the train!' Her father called up the stairs gently. Ginny turned and saw the tall, red-haired man climbing the steps, smiling at her. She smiled back. Her father always treated her kindly, no matter what her mood.
'Want some help with that?' He pointed towards her trunk, and she got up, nodding.
'Yes, please, Dad.' He smiled at her, before taking out his wand and easily levitating it down the stairway.
'You coming?' Her father stopped, and looked at her.
'I've just got to get Pig and a couple of other things, I'll be down in a second.' He nodded and smiled again, then turned and ascended the stairs. Ginny ducked inside her bedroom and grabbed the tiny cage, which held the tiny owl. It had formerly been Ron's, but he had said it was annoying, with its high-pitched twittering and hyperactive nature, and that she might as well have it because she hadn't got an owl. Ginny had frowned at her brother, because it meant one more thing that she had received second-hand, but had taken the owl. She thought the restless little owl was cute.
Collecting her long, black jumper and her wand, along with the cage, she took one last look at her room, which she wouldn't see for another year. Ginny was certain she wouldn't want to come home for Christmas, so she would spend all her time at school. She took in the cream walls, where the paint was peeling in corners, and her bed, which was tucked in under the window. The bed was really small, and she had to bend, when she lay on it, so that her feet didn't hang over the end. The bookshelves, crammed with her brother's old school books, comics and magazines. She hadn't wanted them but she had had them dumped onto her bed, time and time again, when her mother had insisted the boys clean up their rooms. Ginny had been shy before, and so had not said anything and made space for the unwanted books. Now she wished she had given them straight back, because her room was cramped with all of the junk they had passed onto her.
Ginny swung round and out of the room, closing the door behind her. She tied her jumper round her waist, held her wand in one hand and the cage in the other, and ran down the stairs, keeping the hand with the cage in it steady, so as not to alarm Pig.
'Alright Gin?' The twins turned from where they were bent over papers at the kitchen table, and grinned at her. Fred stood up and walked over to her, with his arms spread wide, while George swept up all the papers and shoved them into a folder. They had done that a lot this summer, sneaking around the house with objects that had Obscurity Charms on them, shutting up their quiet conversations if someone came near them or simply putting up Muffling Charms, so the person hearing wouldn't quite be able to make out the discussion. They were definitely talking about their joke shop, but they just didn't want anyone to know about their new inventions, in case someone else got wind of the formulas. Ginny just let them get on with it, while Ron bugged them every chance her got, and her mother warned them not to do anything stupid. Her father just stayed quiet, but looked on with amusement.
'Fine.' She put Pig's cage down on the floor, and received the hug off her brother. George's hug was next. When she pulled back, they were both grinning. Her eyes narrowed suspiciously.
'What did you do? Come on, whatever it is take it off, now,' she said forcefully.
'We don't know what you're talking.'
'Now.'
They both sighed and shook their heads.
'You're too good, Gin. You know, we have never got you once this summer,' George said disappointedly. She smiled.
'Well, at least we got Ron about a million times,' Fred added on a happier note. All three redheads grinned at the memory of a blue-haired Ron, or a leopard-tailed Ron, or a purple-with-yellow-stripy-faced Ron. It was true; Ron was the most gullible person in the world.
George bent round Ginny and removed, from her hair, a small plastic Muggle toy, which Ginny recognised as something her father had brought back from a day at work, and had suspiciously disappeared shortly after. The day at work had been particularly eventful for her father, as the toy in question had been charmed to grow every time someone screamed near it. Being planted in an old lady's bathroom, it had grown quite big and had managed to get out of the house and crawl down the street, which led through the middle of a small Muggle village in Wales. Her father and another man in his department, Perkins, had spent hours locating people who had been told through gossip over the telephone, and then memory charming them. All in all, it had been rather stressful and it was better that the troublesome object had been confiscated.
And then the twins had managed to snatch it.
'Mum will kill you if she finds out you were the ones that took that,' Ginny said, indicating the small spider that rested in the palm of George's hand. George grinned and after tucking the toy in his pocket, wrapped an arm around his sister's shoulders.
'She won't know if you don't tell,' he said, winking.
'And you wouldn't tell on your dear brothers, would you Gin?'
'The same brothers who have provided countless forms of entertainment.'
'.And joyous occasions your whole life.'
'Would you, Gin?' George finished. Ginny looked at the two insanely grinning, redheaded twins that stood before her and shook her head smiling. She loved it when they did they that. Every other person she knew hated when they shared sentences, but it had made her smile many times in the past.
'Ginny!' She frowned at her mother's call from the garden, and bent to pick up Pig's cage. The ball of fluff hooted excitedly and flapped its wings a few times.
'See you next year, I suppose,' Ginny said, shrugging her shoulders and backing towards the kitchen door.
'You might see us sooner than you expect,' Fred said mysteriously. Ginny raised an eyebrow.
'Ginny! Now!' Her mother now sounded angry, and she rushed out the house, shouting 'Bye' to the twins. As she rounded the corner to the road, her eyes laid upon the Muggle taxi that was parked up. Her father and the taxi driver were heaving Ginny's trunk into the back and Molly was lecturing Ron about being Prefect. As she neared the group, she caught the end of their conversation.
'.don't know who the Head Boy is!' Ron said angrily. Ginny frowned. Ron had not made Head Boy and neither had Harry. Her mother had been disappointed; Percy and Bill had been and she said it often enough.
'You should have! Percy and Bill were.' Ron interrupted.
'But Charlie, Fred and George weren't!' Molly spluttered for a few seconds, before opening her mouth to speak, but she was again interrupted. This time by an explosion from the house. Ginny turned around and saw pink smoke drifting out of a second floor window. The twins' faces appeared, covered in soot, and once again grinning insanely.
'Nothing to worry about!' Fred called.
'Just a minor hitch!' George said, before disappearing inside the house. Ginny smiled and turned to her mother, who was red faced and looked ready to explode.
'BOYS!' She shouted, before stomping towards the house, and slamming the kitchen door behind her.
'Well, at least she's off my back for a while,' Ron said as he bent and climbed into the back of the taxi, sitting next to Hermione. The taxi driver was stood next to the driver's door, frozen, staring at the pink smoke in amazement or horror; Ginny couldn't tell which.
'Dear oh dear,' Ginny heard her father mutter tiredly. 'Pass me that and you can get in,' he said to Ginny, holding his hand out. She passed him Pig's cage and got into the taxi, taking a seat opposite her brother. Her father bent to perch Pig's cage on the seat next to Ginny and sighed.
'I don't suppose I'll be able to tear your mother away, and I've got to go into work,' he said apologetically. 'Do you think you'll be able to manage getting there on your own?'
'Yes, of course, Dad,' Ron said. 'And I can look after Ginny.' Ginny frowned but kept quiet.
'Good. Well, I'll see you next year then. Your mother would say come home for Christmas, but I can tell you wouldn't want to. Owl your mother from time to time, you know how worried she gets.' Ginny leaned over to give her father a peck on the cheek, while Ron nodded his head and Hermione waved.
'Thank you, Mr. Weasley for letting me stay, and thank Mrs. Weasley too,' Hermione said, and Ginny's father shook his head.
'No need, it's been a pleasure to let you stay.' Ginny rolled her eyes.
'Bye Dad,' she said, hoping to hurry it along. Her father nodded and stood up, tapping on the roof of the taxi to get the driver's attention. He passed a few Muggle notes over to the driver and said, 'To King's Cross Station, please.' The taxi driver muttered something, collected the notes without even looking at them and stuffed them in his pocket. As Ginny's father stepped away from the vehicle, the driver got into the front and started the engine hurriedly. The taxi pulled away from the kerb quite quickly and sped off, giving Ginny only a few seconds to get a last look at her lopsided home. Her mother was hurrying out of the kitchen to join her husband, and they both stood there waving, as the taxi rounded the corner.
She ignored the call of her brother, and rolled over in her bed, snuggling deep down into the covers, trying to block the light streaming in through her thin curtains. Her room faced the sunrise, and Ginny Weasley was definitely not a morning person.
'Ginny!' The call was frustrated this time, and was followed by heavy pounds on the door.
'Go 'way!' She shouted back. She knew it was the day back to school, but she just didn't want to go. Ginny knew that going back to school meant going back to the disgusted looks, snide remarks or looks of pity, which she hated the most. People looking at her with sympathy because she belonged to the poorest family in the wizarding world, because she received all of the hand-me-downs from her brothers, including clothes, books and pets. She hated that, but she knew the trouble and long hours her father had to work to support his massive family. With Percy sending part of his paycheck home, along with Bill and Charlie, it had been easier on her father, but it still wasn't enough. She would just have to make do.
'Ginny! Come on, it's school!' She again didn't answer, and she heard Ron sigh angrily and his footsteps stomped away and down the stairs. Ginny sighed and sat up, rubbing her eyes and pushing her hair away from her face, tucking it behind her ears. She had to get up now. Now that her brother had gone to get her mother. An angry Molly Weasley was not someone she would like to face this time in the morning.
Getting off the bed slowly, she grabbed her bathrobe, from where it rested on the back of her desk chair, and walked over to the door, which didn't take very long as her room was tiny. When she opened the door, she saw her flustered mother, still with her apron on and spatula in her hand. Ginny stepped back a bit, seeing the way her mother was holding and pointing the utensil.
'Oh! You're up!' She said, before tutting and turning away, muttering under her breath about how the eggs were probably burning and that Arthur wouldn't get his proper breakfast. Ginny rolled her eyes and crossed the landing to the bathroom, to take a shower, hoping that the ghost wouldn't bang the pipes and make the water stop running. The plumbing in the house wasn't exactly great as it was.
When she had finished, she stepped out of the bathroom, growling because she couldn't get the brush through her hair, and because all of the hot water had been used up already. She had had to endure a freezing cold five minutes, in which she had hurriedly washed herself. Ginny knew she could have gotten up earlier, and been one of the first in the shower, but that would have meant spending more time around the nauseating sights of her brother and his girlfriend making puppy eyes at each other, and calling each other 'Snookums' and 'Munchkin'.
Speaking of the adorable sweethearts, she thought sarcastically, as she watched Hermione pass her brother going down the stairs, heaving her heavy trunk. Ron smiled sickeningly sweetly at her and took it off her. She kissed his cheek and he blushed. Ginny rolled her eyes, and went into her bedroom, noting the fact that neither of them had noticed her, or acknowledged her. Love, as her mother had told her, did that to a person, but Ginny couldn't help thinking it wouldn't hurt for one of them to look up and say hi. They certainly hadn't done that this summer.
Slamming her door behind her, Ginny grabbed her underwear and put it on, scowling at the shabbiness of them. Next, she pulled on her favourite item of clothing in her whole wardrobe, which wasn't exactly something to be proud of. As she zipped them up, she looked down at her jeans. They were extremely baggy and were scruffy at the bottom but this added to the effect. They were probably once dark blue, but had faded in the wash. Her brother Bill had given them to her at the start of summer, and she had fallen in love with them. Ginny wore them whenever she could, ignoring her mothers annoyed requests that she get rid of them and wear something more suited to a girl. Ginny snorted at her mother's idea of 'something more suited to a girl'. She had stormed out of the second-hand clothing shop when her mother had held up a hideous yellow dress, with a bow at the back. She was sixteen for Merlin's sake! She was certainly not going to dress up like a six-year-old.
Shaking her head of those thoughts, she grabbed her old Weird Sisters top, and pulled it on over her untamed hair. The top was tight, because she had had it bought for her when she was eight by her aunt, but it covered her stomach. The top showed the three witches singing, but only the stars twinkled. When she had first received it, the women had danced, but it had been through the wash too many times, and the charms had stopped working. Ginny didn't mind though, the top had seemed too lively for her. The twinkling stars were enough.
Turning to her bedside table, she took a small, brown book and tucked it into the pocket in the lid of her trunk. She had bought the book at Flourish and Blotts with the money she had saved over the years. It was expensive, but Ginny thought it was worth it. She had read through it many times and there seemed to be new spells every time. It was like a different book every time she started it again.
Because she had packed the night before, all Ginny had to do was flip the lid and lock her trunk. That and lug it downstairs. The tatty, black- leathered trunk was extremely heavy, and Ginny spent a long time pushing it out the door and across the landing towards the top of the stairs. Stopping to take a breather, she perched on the edge of the trunk.
'Ginny! We've got to go now!' Her brother called from the kitchen. She growled, and her stomach growled back. She remembered the reason she had gone to her bedroom the night before in a huff, halfway through dinner. Hermione had mentioned Harry, and Ron had teased her about her childhood crush. She had told them that she didn't like him that way anymore, but they had gone on about it. Ron had laughed at her, and Hermione had given her a look of sympathy, and patted her hand, telling her that Harry would notice her eventually. Ginny had snatched her hand away, and glared at the couple. Exclaiming 'I don't like Harry!', she had stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind her, and making sure her footsteps on the stairs shook the house.
'Ginny, dear, we'll be late for the train!' Her father called up the stairs gently. Ginny turned and saw the tall, red-haired man climbing the steps, smiling at her. She smiled back. Her father always treated her kindly, no matter what her mood.
'Want some help with that?' He pointed towards her trunk, and she got up, nodding.
'Yes, please, Dad.' He smiled at her, before taking out his wand and easily levitating it down the stairway.
'You coming?' Her father stopped, and looked at her.
'I've just got to get Pig and a couple of other things, I'll be down in a second.' He nodded and smiled again, then turned and ascended the stairs. Ginny ducked inside her bedroom and grabbed the tiny cage, which held the tiny owl. It had formerly been Ron's, but he had said it was annoying, with its high-pitched twittering and hyperactive nature, and that she might as well have it because she hadn't got an owl. Ginny had frowned at her brother, because it meant one more thing that she had received second-hand, but had taken the owl. She thought the restless little owl was cute.
Collecting her long, black jumper and her wand, along with the cage, she took one last look at her room, which she wouldn't see for another year. Ginny was certain she wouldn't want to come home for Christmas, so she would spend all her time at school. She took in the cream walls, where the paint was peeling in corners, and her bed, which was tucked in under the window. The bed was really small, and she had to bend, when she lay on it, so that her feet didn't hang over the end. The bookshelves, crammed with her brother's old school books, comics and magazines. She hadn't wanted them but she had had them dumped onto her bed, time and time again, when her mother had insisted the boys clean up their rooms. Ginny had been shy before, and so had not said anything and made space for the unwanted books. Now she wished she had given them straight back, because her room was cramped with all of the junk they had passed onto her.
Ginny swung round and out of the room, closing the door behind her. She tied her jumper round her waist, held her wand in one hand and the cage in the other, and ran down the stairs, keeping the hand with the cage in it steady, so as not to alarm Pig.
'Alright Gin?' The twins turned from where they were bent over papers at the kitchen table, and grinned at her. Fred stood up and walked over to her, with his arms spread wide, while George swept up all the papers and shoved them into a folder. They had done that a lot this summer, sneaking around the house with objects that had Obscurity Charms on them, shutting up their quiet conversations if someone came near them or simply putting up Muffling Charms, so the person hearing wouldn't quite be able to make out the discussion. They were definitely talking about their joke shop, but they just didn't want anyone to know about their new inventions, in case someone else got wind of the formulas. Ginny just let them get on with it, while Ron bugged them every chance her got, and her mother warned them not to do anything stupid. Her father just stayed quiet, but looked on with amusement.
'Fine.' She put Pig's cage down on the floor, and received the hug off her brother. George's hug was next. When she pulled back, they were both grinning. Her eyes narrowed suspiciously.
'What did you do? Come on, whatever it is take it off, now,' she said forcefully.
'We don't know what you're talking.'
'Now.'
They both sighed and shook their heads.
'You're too good, Gin. You know, we have never got you once this summer,' George said disappointedly. She smiled.
'Well, at least we got Ron about a million times,' Fred added on a happier note. All three redheads grinned at the memory of a blue-haired Ron, or a leopard-tailed Ron, or a purple-with-yellow-stripy-faced Ron. It was true; Ron was the most gullible person in the world.
George bent round Ginny and removed, from her hair, a small plastic Muggle toy, which Ginny recognised as something her father had brought back from a day at work, and had suspiciously disappeared shortly after. The day at work had been particularly eventful for her father, as the toy in question had been charmed to grow every time someone screamed near it. Being planted in an old lady's bathroom, it had grown quite big and had managed to get out of the house and crawl down the street, which led through the middle of a small Muggle village in Wales. Her father and another man in his department, Perkins, had spent hours locating people who had been told through gossip over the telephone, and then memory charming them. All in all, it had been rather stressful and it was better that the troublesome object had been confiscated.
And then the twins had managed to snatch it.
'Mum will kill you if she finds out you were the ones that took that,' Ginny said, indicating the small spider that rested in the palm of George's hand. George grinned and after tucking the toy in his pocket, wrapped an arm around his sister's shoulders.
'She won't know if you don't tell,' he said, winking.
'And you wouldn't tell on your dear brothers, would you Gin?'
'The same brothers who have provided countless forms of entertainment.'
'.And joyous occasions your whole life.'
'Would you, Gin?' George finished. Ginny looked at the two insanely grinning, redheaded twins that stood before her and shook her head smiling. She loved it when they did they that. Every other person she knew hated when they shared sentences, but it had made her smile many times in the past.
'Ginny!' She frowned at her mother's call from the garden, and bent to pick up Pig's cage. The ball of fluff hooted excitedly and flapped its wings a few times.
'See you next year, I suppose,' Ginny said, shrugging her shoulders and backing towards the kitchen door.
'You might see us sooner than you expect,' Fred said mysteriously. Ginny raised an eyebrow.
'Ginny! Now!' Her mother now sounded angry, and she rushed out the house, shouting 'Bye' to the twins. As she rounded the corner to the road, her eyes laid upon the Muggle taxi that was parked up. Her father and the taxi driver were heaving Ginny's trunk into the back and Molly was lecturing Ron about being Prefect. As she neared the group, she caught the end of their conversation.
'.don't know who the Head Boy is!' Ron said angrily. Ginny frowned. Ron had not made Head Boy and neither had Harry. Her mother had been disappointed; Percy and Bill had been and she said it often enough.
'You should have! Percy and Bill were.' Ron interrupted.
'But Charlie, Fred and George weren't!' Molly spluttered for a few seconds, before opening her mouth to speak, but she was again interrupted. This time by an explosion from the house. Ginny turned around and saw pink smoke drifting out of a second floor window. The twins' faces appeared, covered in soot, and once again grinning insanely.
'Nothing to worry about!' Fred called.
'Just a minor hitch!' George said, before disappearing inside the house. Ginny smiled and turned to her mother, who was red faced and looked ready to explode.
'BOYS!' She shouted, before stomping towards the house, and slamming the kitchen door behind her.
'Well, at least she's off my back for a while,' Ron said as he bent and climbed into the back of the taxi, sitting next to Hermione. The taxi driver was stood next to the driver's door, frozen, staring at the pink smoke in amazement or horror; Ginny couldn't tell which.
'Dear oh dear,' Ginny heard her father mutter tiredly. 'Pass me that and you can get in,' he said to Ginny, holding his hand out. She passed him Pig's cage and got into the taxi, taking a seat opposite her brother. Her father bent to perch Pig's cage on the seat next to Ginny and sighed.
'I don't suppose I'll be able to tear your mother away, and I've got to go into work,' he said apologetically. 'Do you think you'll be able to manage getting there on your own?'
'Yes, of course, Dad,' Ron said. 'And I can look after Ginny.' Ginny frowned but kept quiet.
'Good. Well, I'll see you next year then. Your mother would say come home for Christmas, but I can tell you wouldn't want to. Owl your mother from time to time, you know how worried she gets.' Ginny leaned over to give her father a peck on the cheek, while Ron nodded his head and Hermione waved.
'Thank you, Mr. Weasley for letting me stay, and thank Mrs. Weasley too,' Hermione said, and Ginny's father shook his head.
'No need, it's been a pleasure to let you stay.' Ginny rolled her eyes.
'Bye Dad,' she said, hoping to hurry it along. Her father nodded and stood up, tapping on the roof of the taxi to get the driver's attention. He passed a few Muggle notes over to the driver and said, 'To King's Cross Station, please.' The taxi driver muttered something, collected the notes without even looking at them and stuffed them in his pocket. As Ginny's father stepped away from the vehicle, the driver got into the front and started the engine hurriedly. The taxi pulled away from the kerb quite quickly and sped off, giving Ginny only a few seconds to get a last look at her lopsided home. Her mother was hurrying out of the kitchen to join her husband, and they both stood there waving, as the taxi rounded the corner.