Ron slipped on his shoes hastily. "Can you believe it, 'Mione? She's letting me drive the car! I never thought she would... not since that incident in our second year, that is. I mean... wow."
"Don't get too excited, Ron. You have to be careful. You can't just go and drive recklessly and bump into Muggles and get caught by the police and get kicked out of Hogwarts and get your wand taken away and..." Hermione trailed off, adding more terrible things that could happen.
Ron gave her a quick pat on the head, rushing to get his jacket. "Calm down. We'll be fine. I've driven before, you know."
She sighed. "Fine, fine. At least Ginny and I will be there to keep an eye out." She gave Ginny, who was still sleeping on the couch, a shake. "Wake up. Ron's taking us to Diagon Alley."
The younger girl's eyes widened. "What? Mum's home. Why can't she take us?"
Ron squared his shoulders proudly. "She's not feeling well, so she's entrusting me to drive you there."
Ginny eyes widened more, threatening to pop out if one more surprising thing was said. "No. Absolutely not. You'll kill us all."
"I will not!" he said, indignantly.
"Of course you will. Everyone knows what you did before with Dad's flying car. And if you're on the streets with the Muggles... oh, Ron, don't hit anyone!" Ginny shouted. "I don't want to go," she said decidedly.
Hermione stepped in. "Really, Ginny, it'll be fine. You and I will be there if Ron isn't being responsible." Ron opened his mouth to stand up for himself, but Hermione put a finger to her lips as a sign of silence. "Everything will be okay. We'll make sure your brother is driving carefully."
Ginny nodded. "I suppose you're right. We'll be there. And if he does do anything wrong, I'll make sure Mum knows of it." She shot Ron a wicked look. "And I'm sure Fred and George will be happy to help out in the punishment too. I hear they have a new product on the market: Invisible Itching Powder."
The older girl frowned. "I think Fred and George can stay out of this for now, Ginny. But, rest assured, your mother and father will know if anything happens. I'm sure nothing will though. Ron will be very careful, won't you, Ron?" She looked over at him with furious eyes, warning him.
He turned the shade of burgundy, then nodded. "Of course. I... uh... I don't see how you could... uh... think that I wouldn't be careful."
"Good. Ginny, put on some clean robes, then get into the backseat. We'll be out in a little bit." Hermione kept her gaze on Ron as Ginny hurried to her room.
Once the younger girl was out of hearing range, Hermione started to lecture. "You have to be careful. Do you realize how much trouble we could get in? I'm counting..." She hastily ticked off on her fingers. "Eleven ordinances broken."
Ron furrowed his brow in confusion. "But you only have ten fingers up."
"That's because I only have ten fingers, Ron. Honestly, how you can be so idiotic at times, I don't know."
"I was kidding!"
Hermione headed off upstairs. "Okay, fine then. Just get ready and get into the car. And put on a new shirt. That one has jam all over the front."
"You're starting to sound like my mother!" he called after her.
She slammed in the bathroom door in response.

The car had hurriedly acquired a painful unease when Hermione entered. "It took you long enough to get ready."
"Oh, really, Ronald! Your sister is still getting ready. Just because you dress faster than everyone else doesn't mean that you should yell at the rest of us for taking more than six seconds," Hermione said, rather sorely.
"I thought you were the one always worrying about being late."
"Well, maybe I actually want to look presentable in public, unlike you. I see you're still wearing that jam-covered shirt."
"It's not covered! It only has it on the sleeves!"
"You're supposed to spread the jam on the bread, Ron, not the shirt. I honestly don't understand how you managed to get it all over. You must have used the whole jar!"
"It's not my fault that the knife slipped! I was just... You know, I don't even want to continue this. You sound exactly like my mother. I don't want to even talk to you if all you want to do is complain about how I look." Ron turned the car on, then switched on the radio to a cheerful Muggle jingle for soap detergent.
Ginny opened the car door. "I'm ready. Let's go." Her smile quickly faded as she realized the tension. "Ah... another fight?"
It was going to be a long trip.