Chapter 4
The Hogwarts Express Once More
"Oh, Harry dear, welcome back, I haven't seen you in so long, you look so much better than you used to," Mrs. Weasley fussed the moment Harry and Ginny had stepped out of the fire place.
"Mum, don't suffocate him just yet, he's only just arrived," said Ron from the top of the staircase.
"Hey Ron, Hermione here?" asked Ginny, slowly easing away from Harry and Mrs. Weasley.
"No, she just went out to do something, don't know what..." Ron replied with a frown.
"I'll bet you just weren't paying attention," Ginny while rolling her eyes.
"Ginny, don't be rude to your brother, Ron, please try to pay more attention to what Hermione says," George said after appearing in front of Harry with a loud crack! in a poorly imitated version of Mrs. Weasley's voice.
"You, you're finally back from that joke shop of yours, you told me you'd drop by last weekend but you never did!" Mrs. Weasley said angrily, turning her attention to the newcomer.
"Come on, let's go before she comes back to us," Ginny whispered to Harry and the two of them quietly tiptoed up the staircase.
When they reached the top of it, where Ron stood waiting for them, he motioned them over and they continued tiptoeing until they reached his room. Quietly, Ron closed the door and all three of them sank onto the bed.
"George hasn't been coming home as often as he tells mum anymore," Ginny explained to Harry in an undertone once she was sure Mrs. Weasley hadn't followed them up the staircase.
"Yeah, we reckon it's because Fred's... Fred's... Fred's, well- well- gone now, so he has to work more," said Ron.
"But mum isn't too pleased about that and she's been furious whenever he comes home late. We think that she finally realized that she likes the jokes Fred and George used to make, even though she thought she hated them. Now, with Fred gone, George has stopped making much of those jokes and spends a lot of his time in the joke shop, he rarely comes home anymore, so mum was bound to realize she missed their jokes now. We also think that George is trying to make up for Fred being gone by spending more time in the joke shop working and helping out," said Ginny.
"Oh and-" Harry began, but was cut off by Ron's sudden exclamation.
"Listen! Those are Hermione's footsteps!" and with that, Ron raced out to go greet her.
"And to think he used to mind other people snogging, with an attitude like that," Ginny smirked. "And how can you tell apart footsteps, anyways?"
"Well, let's go see her, I want to find out what school Ron applied for," Harry said and the two of them walked out of Ron's room.
"Hey Hermione," said Ginny by way of greeting when she spotted Hermione at the edge of the landing.
"Hey Ginny. So Ron, Harry's here now, so what did you sign up for?" Hermione asked.
"Well, I thought that it would be fun to, you know, be an auror too, it seemed kind of cool, so I signed up for N.E.X.T. as well, like you guys, and got accepted," said Ron rather quickly.
"Really? That's great mate! We'll all see each other then!" said Harry happily.
"Yeah, I think it calls for some celebration that 'Won-Won' got accepted into an auror school," Ginny teased before spinning and whirling down the stairs.
Ron's face, in the meantime, had taken on a very red hue along with his ears; this redness would have put even Uncle Vernon at his maddest points to shame.
A while later, the three of them had headed downstairs to find Mrs. Weasley in the kitchen, busying herself in the process of making garlic bread and a rather large cake at the same time.
"Hello Ron dear, why didn't you tell me you wanted to be an auror? You got accepted to, that needs to be celebrated. I got you a pair of new robes, by the way, for next year, and your school lists for the three of you," she pointed to Ron, Harry, and Hermione, "Have just arrived, we'll go get them tomorrow after sending Ginny off. I got you two," this time Mrs. Weasley pointed to Harry and Ginny, "Something special, by the way, you can open it later tonight. Mad-Eye and Hagrid are coming over in a while, by the way."
"Need help Mrs. Weasley?" Harry asked as he hurried over to lend a hand.
"Yes, thank you so much dear, there's so much to do! I'd be ever so grateful if you could help roast some of that beef over there, and perhaps Hermione, you could help season the mushrooms? Ron, be a dear please, take those cookies out of the oven. George, make yourself useful and help me with the tomato soup," Mrs. Weasley said.
Mrs. Weasley took out her large golden clock that had nine hands, one for each of the Weasley's family members, as she spoke and carefully examined the hands for a moment. Seconds later, the two that read "Bill Weasley" and "Charlie Weasley" switched to "Traveling." A few moments after that, a muffled crack! was heard from outside the doorway and Hermione rushed to open the door.
"Hey mum, we came to help out, what should we do?" asked Bill and Charlie.
"Excellent, Bill, please go set the table, Charlie, help me with the corn over here."
As everyone bustled around to do what they needed, Harry headed out of the door and cooked the beef as best he could. Later, when everyone had arrived, they enjoyed a lovely meal with quite a bit of talking. Percy and Mr. Weasley had come home for the day and were helping themselves to some of the beef while talking to Hermione about being a Healer, Mad-Eye was talking very sternly to Ron about the dangers of being an auror, and Mrs. Weasley was once more insisting that Bill's hair was much too long and rather ridiculous looking.
The night passed quickly, as things often did when you were having a nice time, and before he knew it, it was nine o'clock and Mrs. Weasley was ushering him and Ginny up the stairs to pack. More precisely, Mrs. Weasley was ushering Ginny upstairs to pack while Harry was being ushered upstairs to help Mrs. Weasley help Ginny pack.
An hour past, and at ten o'clock, everything was just about neatly and tidily folded up into Ginny's trunk the way it should have been. Mrs. Weasley was reading over Ginny's school supplies for that year to make sure they hadn't forgotten anything.
"And two pairs of black robes?" Mrs. Weasley pronounced at last.
"Yep, all packed," said Ginny.
"Alright then," Mrs. Weasley said. "Since Harry's owl died last year, I got you both an owl. They're a bit small and rather cheap, I'm afraid, but you won't be attending the same schools."
And with that, she presented them each a tiny little owl. Harry's was a tiny little snowy white owl similar to Hedwig (but smaller) and slightly bigger than Pigwidgeon but fortunately, much more well behaved and less hyper, and Ginny's was a golden-yellow one with white specks exactly the same size as Pidwidgeon.
"Thanks mum!" said Ginny excitedly.
"Yeah, thanks so much Mrs. Weasley, I owe you one," said Harry smiling.
"Oh Harry dear, you don't owe me a thing, think of it as a present for you two. They're for communicating, I waur good relationship, after all," Mrs. Weasley said, beaming. Then she glanced at the clock and said, "But dear me, look at the time! Off to bed, you two, Harry, we'll go get your new stuff tomorrow after sending Ginny off. You can pack the next day before leaving on the third."
"Well, goodnight then, Mrs. Weasley," said Harry, already turning to head out the door.
"Goodnight mum," said Ginny as well.
"Goodnight you two, and Harry, you'll be sharing a room with Ginny, she ever so kindly offered," said Mrs. Weasley and with a wave of her hand, sent the pair of them out of the room.
"Come on, my room's this way, we've already set it up for two. Ron thought you should stay with him, but I managed to persuade them to let you stay with me," said Ginny.
The two entered Ginny's bedroom and Harry pulled on his pajamas in the bathroom.
"Night," he said.
"Night," yawned Ginny before turning off the light. They each pulled their blankets tight around their bodies and fell soundly asleep.
"Time to get up!" Mrs. Weasley yelled the next morning. "Ginny dear, hurry up, you'll be late, Ron, get up- well, oh fine, if you must, continue sleeping, Harry and I'll see Ginny off ourselves then."
A couple minutes later Harry had pulled on his sweater and did his best to comb his hair as Ginny fed her new owl an owl treat.
"Pancakes, dear," said Mrs. Weasley as both of them hurried into the kitchen. Each grabbed and plate and Mrs. Weasley flicked her wand. A stack of pancakes soared onto both of their plates.
"Eat quickly, we'll have to go soon. Aurthor bought a new car this summer, we'll be able to ride it there," said Mrs. Weasley
They wolfed down their breakfast and Harry grabbed Ginny's trunk out the door while she grabbed her new owl which she had named 'Sunny' at around seven in the morning. Harry had decided to call his Hedwig the Second. Mr. Weasley was outside by the new car waiting for them. Mrs. Weasley hopped into the passenger side in the front while Harry heaved Ginny's trunk into the back and clambered into the back seats after Ginny. The car was much roomier than it had looked from the outside, much like the Weasley's old car, and the four of them fit in quite comfortably (five if you counted Sunshine), despite the fact the car was only supposed to be able to seat four people and no extra luggage.
"Have a nice day so far?" Mr. Weasley called from the front seat, tilting his hand around slightly to look at both Harry and Ginny.
"Aurthor, keep your eyes on the road," snapped Mrs. Weasley.
There was no more conversation after that until they reached King's Cross Station.
"Come on, this way you two, don't get lost now and follow me," Mrs. Weasley said while hurrying towards the barrier between the muggle world and platform nine-and-three-quarters.
Harry handed Ginny her trunk and she shut her eyes as she took off running towards the brick wall. Seconds later, she had vanished along with all of her luggage.
"Go on Harry, follow her, you're not ever going to go last again after what happened in your second year," said Mr. Weasley sternly.
Complying, Harry swallowed, and with his eyes opened wide, set off at a walking pace towards the barrier. At the last second, a group of muggle tourists passed by him and he swallowed hard once more before squeezing his eye shut and running through the wall.
He appeared on the other side of the barrier to find the Hogwarts Express and its scarlet engine sitting there as always, although truth be told, he did not know why he expected any differently. Perhaps, he reasoned, it was because Dumbledore was no longer headmaster, and he certainly hadn't been there to take the Hogwarts Express back when Snape was headmaster and Voldemort was at large.
Mr. and Mrs. Weasley appeared behind him as they too entered the barrier. Harry looked around and spotted Ginny a little to his right, waving to them.
The Hogwarts express and its scarlet engine blew some steam and gave off a whistle, signaling it was about time for departure.
Ginny immediately hopped aboard, and leaning out from the window, she yelled, "Bye mum! Bye dad! Bye Harry!"
The three of them all waved to her as the Hogwarts Express began to move, slowly at first, and soon picking up pace.
"Bye!" Harry yelled for what would be the last time in a while and Ginny waved and waved until the Hogwarts Express was out of view and she could no longer be seen.
Unknowingly, Harry had raised his hand and been waving. He felt it drop to his side as the Hogwarts Express disappeared from view.
"Well, come on, no time to be dilly dallying, we still have to get your school supplies along with Ron's and Hermione's," said Mrs. Weasley the moment the last bit of steam from the scarlet engine of the Hogwarts Express was gone.
"Yeah," agreed Harry, and with one last look at the spot where the Hogwarts Express was standing, followed Mr. and Mrs. Weasley back out of the barrier and to the car to go buy his, Ron's, and Hermione's school supplies.