A/N: None of the here depicted characters are mine, they're all JK
Rowling's, lucky her, and blah blah blah...
:-D
Well, it appears I've finally got my story on a roll again! I told you about losing half my word documents and waiting until I could get back what was saved - well, it appears my friend's computer decided to crash as well, and as a result, I lost EVERYTHING.
BUT - this is where I marvel at my cleverness and see a tiny ray of hope for my absent-minded clumsy self - I remembered I had e-mailed myself most of my stories long before my computer died the first time. So, I was able to retrieve most of what was lost, and here it is now, THE NEW CHAPTER! Finally! LOL! After - four months? ;-)
Well, enjoy it very much! And please let me know what you think of it - good AND bad.
Personnal notes are at the bottom..
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A few seconds later Harry landed right on top of Ron, who was still laying on the floor of the Leaky Cauldron, rubbing his head. Ron let out a loud groan and yelled at Harry for not being careful.
"You could've waited a bit longer before following me!"
"Well excuse me for not wanting Fred and George to do the same thing to me as they did to you..."
A few people sitting at tables around sniggered at the sight of the two boys sprawled across the ground arguing. Ron's ears went pink and he stood up.
"Guess we'll just have to get back at the twins," said Harry, wiping the dust off his clothes.
"Yeah, like make them trip when they come out," said Ron keenly.
Harry nodded his approval, grinning, and both of them placed themselves on either side of the fireplace, waiting for Fred and George. When, however, several minutes later, the twins still hadn't showed up, they gave up and went to sit at a nearby table. They ordered a couple of butterbeers to pass the time, but by the time they'd finished them there was still no sign of the Weasleys.
"Do you think they missed the grate?" asked Harry.
Ron shook his head. "Wouldn't have happened to all four of them at once. It's happened to me only once before, and I've been travelling by Floo Powder for years and years. No, I reckon they're still at home and mum's telling off Fred and George for throwing me in - or at least I hope she is..."
Ron hadn't finished his sentence that two red heads emerged from the fireplace side by side, shortly followed by a third one.
"What took you so long?" said Ron once Fred, George, and Ginny had overcome the dizziness of travelling by Floo Powder. "Harry and I were about to leave on our own and let you catch up with us."
"Got an owl from Bill - just as we were about to leave," explained Fred excitedly.
"From Bill?" exclaimed Ron. "What did he say? Where is he? Is he coming back?"
"Well, that's why he wrote," said George, his eyes twinkling. "He's arriving at King's Cross Station at three o'clock this afternoon. We're going to meet him there to surprise him."
"He's coming back? And we're going to meet him?"
The twins nodded their heads in approval.
"Three o'clock - that's in less than an hour!" said Ron happily. "Where's mum?"
Fred sniggered. "Well, since we're going to get Bill, Charlie wanted to come too, but according to mum, he's 'completely out of his mind' and doesn't seem to realise how harmful it will be for his still weakened constitution to expose himself to the dangers of the crowd. They're having a bit of a squabble at the moment."
They waited for another ten minutes for a disgruntled Mrs Weasley and a triumphant looking Charlie to arrive, then set off into Diagon Alley.
"Now, we only have less than an hour until Bill's train arrives," said Mrs Weasley, speaking in a tone a little harsher than was probably meant; clearly she was still annoyed by her sons' lack of obedience. "So what I suggest we do, is go to Gringotts and get some money, for now, and then head to the station. We'll do our shopping afterwards."
Harry always hated going to the bank with the Weasleys. Seeing their nearly empty vault made him feel most uncomfortable, especially since his was full to the brim with gold Galleons. Charlie, Fred, George and Ginny waited at the entrance of the bank ("You keep an eye on your brothers, Charlie!") and Mrs Weasley, Ron and Harry stepped inside, enjoying the cool air after outside's scorching heat.
When the cart in which they rode stopped before the Weasley's vault, Harry avoided looking into it. The thought of it being hopelessly empty made Harry's throat feel tight. Barely a few seconds after the goblin had opened it, Mrs Weasley had already taken all the money she needed - or, more likely, all the money there was. Harry looked away when she climbed back into the cart.
When they arrived in front of Harry's vault, he had to make a great effort to keep his composure. He walked up to the door, gave his key to the goblin, and filled his bag as quick as he could and stepped away at once: the sight of the huge pile of gold stored in his vault sickened him.
He caught Ron's eye as he clambered back into the cart, but Ron quickly looked away, clearly trying hard to act casual. No one spoke a word as they rode back up to the first floor.
The sun outside the dimly lit Gringotts building blinded them for a moment, and Harry had to blink twice before he saw Charlie and Ginny sitting on the marble steps in front of them.
"Where are Fred and George?" Mrs Weasley demanded immediately.
"Not far," said Charlie offhandedly, "just went to say hello to a friend." Mrs Weasley stared suspiciously at Charlie and Ginny, both of whom were avoiding their mother's gaze.
"Oy! Charlie! Mum!"
Fred and George were waving at them through the crowd at the end of the street. Harry noticed the direction they were coming from and remembered there was a sweet shop right down that alley. He highly suspected that the bags Charlie had handed them earlier were full of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes and that they had taken advantage of Mrs Weasley's absence to try and sell some again.
However, Mrs Weasley, perhaps tired of fighting with her sons, pursed her lips but didn't say anything. As soon as the seven of them were together they went back to the Leaky Cauldron, from which they would be going back into the Muggle world for a while. It was the only way of getting to King's Cross Station, apart from apparating, which only Mrs Weasley and Charlie were capable of doing.
They took a Muggle taxi to get to the station. Ron, who was by far the tallest of the family, didn't understand why Muggle cars weren't more spacious and kept banging his head on the ceiling, while Fred and George complained loudly about the long traffic lines and how they could be skipping them if only the car were magical.
By the time they arrived at the station, Mrs Weasley was fuming so badly Harry thought it was a very good thing indeed they got out of the car: her sons complaining and talking about magic in front of a Muggle had worsened her mood, and the suspicious questions the driver had started asking in the end most definitely hadn't improved it.
"I can't believe you could be so irresponsible!" she burst out as soon as they were out of the car, not paying any attention to the stunned looks on the people around her - which was a bit rich of her, Harry thought, when she was reproaching that exact kind of behaviour to her sons. "Do you even realize what could have happened? Talking freely about magic in front of a Muggle! What he must have thought - "
"Don't worry, mum," said Fred, alarmed by his mother's slightly hysterical behaviour. "You heard him: he thought Ron, George and I were insane and you were sending us to some hospital by train, is all."
This didn't seem to comfort Mrs Weasley in the least.
At last, fifteen minutes of scolding later, during which Harry, Charlie, and Ginny wandered around at a safe distance from Mrs Weasley and her sons (whose faces were as red as their hair) and the people staring at the scene, everyone finally entered the station, still followed by passer-bys' curious gazes.
"Which platform is it again?" snapped Mrs Weasley.
Charlie pulled out Bill's letter from his pocket and quickly scrutinized it. "He's arriving on platform... seven and half."
Harry turned surprised eyes on Ron:
"There are other platforms than nine and three quarters?"
"Of course!" said Ron. "Hogwarts isn't the only place people go to by train. I wonder where Bill's coming from. Never told us where he was in all the time he was gone, and mum and dad didn't drop a hint either."
"Well," said Harry, "it would have to somewhere in England since he's arriving by train."
"Not necessarily," said Ron thoughtfully. "I remember this one time we went to get dad at platform four something, and the train he arrived on came straight from Africa. This one strange-looking bloke even threatened to turn me into a snail-eating leopard when I laughed because his wand was made out of bamboo."
They soon arrived in front of the barrier between platforms seven and eight, and Harry wasn't surprised to see the access to platform seven and a half was the exact same as platform nine and three quarters.
"All right, Charlie, you go first. No, Fred, George, you can't go before him. I don't want you out there without supervision for even a half second!"
Mrs Weasley was being a bit harsh, Harry thought, as he ran next to Ron and through the solid barrier. After all, the twins were seventeen years old, and they might be unpredictable and sometimes annoying, but to embarrass them like that before Harry and the rest of the family was a bit unfair.
Platform seven and a half was packed with wizarding families. Harry had never witnessed so much hustle and bustle on a train platform before: important-looking wizards draped in long cloaks were discussing between them and regularly taking out their pocket watch to complain about trains always being late, young witches kept pulling out of their handbags anything from Melany Melon's Most Marvellous Mascara to entire chest of drawers in which they'd start searching frantically for new clothes, wild- looking warlocks were reading the Daily Prophet and quite often would suddenly rip out an entire page and slash it to shreds while crying out indignantly, and exhausted parents were trying to keep an eye on their luggage at the same time as going after their small children, who were running in between people's legs, knocking over luggage and cursing each other with fake wands, and in some cases, Harry noticed, real wands they must have nicked from their parents.
The Weasleys and Harry settled themselves as close to the rail as they could to wait for Bill. The whole Weasley family all looked impatient to see their brother again, although none as much as Ron. He kept craning his neck over the crowd to try and spot the train coming.
"Come on," he kept muttering. "The sooner he gets here, the sooner Fred and George'll get off my case."
Harry stifled a laugh. Ron, while possessing a very strong sense of family, as did all Weasleys, saw nonetheless in his brother's coming an opportunity to get away from the twins for a while, more than anything else.
"Aha! Here it comes!" Ron exclaimed suddenly.
Harry climbed up on a bench beside him and saw, in the distance, the shimmering tower of smoke escaping from the approaching locomotive.
There was a great turmoil as the crowd drew back from the rails. A scarlet engine not unlike the Hogwarts Express' came slowly into view. When the train finally came to a stop some fifty feet away from where the Weasleys and Harry were standing it was immediately assaulted by eager witches and wizards, to the great disarray of the ticket officers.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, please! Let the passengers get off the train before boarding it! Ladies..."
Harry watched in interest as a scrawny little witch set down a bag twice her size on the edge of the stairs descending the wagons and distractedly knocked it over on a officer's foot while blowing her nose.
"Where's it coming from?" asked Ron eagerly, standing on the tip of his toes to try and get a peak at the train, but just at that moment a particularly large warlock stepped in front of the sign hanging on the locomotive's door that indicated the provenance, and Ron, tall as he was, couldn't see the name written on it.
"There he is!" squeaked Ginny all of a sudden, pointing at a red-haired young man who stood out over the crowd by nearly five centimetres.
The crowd parted to let through six impatient Weasleys while Harry followed behind, and for a few minutes there was quite a commotion surrounding the lot.
"Bill!"
"Finally you're back!"
"Couldn't've written, could you?"
"Where are you coming from?"
"Was the trip long?"
"How about a nice toffee?"
"George!!"
Their nice reunion lasted until a harassed-looking ticket officer came over and asked them to free the platform for the upcoming train and its passengers.
"Hullo there, Harry," grinned Bill, finally managing to escape his mother's grasp. "Hope those terrible brothers of mine haven't been too much of a bother?"
Harry grinned back. "I think you need to ask Ron that question."
"Tell me about it," said Ron loudly. "I've been dying waiting for you to come back, you're the only one who can control the bloody gits!"
"Ronald Weasley! I never - "
"How long're you staying, anyway?" Charlie asked hastily, seeing the look of urgency on his youngest brother's face and wishing to distract his mother's attention.
Bill's ears reddened slightly. "Actually, I - I have to be leaving again tomorrow..."
Indignant cries met this announcement.
"But you haven't been here all summer!"
"Just got back today!"
"Now then, darling, see here," said Mrs Weasley reasonably, as though trying to make her grown-up son come to sense. "I know you're probably much needed in view of this new - situation, but is it really necessary you sacrifice the time you should be spending with your family?"
"Mum," said Bill, his eyes widening and his ears redder and redder every second, "you know what Dumbledore said... We've already talked about this."
Both him and Mrs Weasley looked at the rest of the family staring at them.
"But, I - well, we'll discuss this later," Mrs Weasley finally agreed. "In the meanwhile, I suggest we all enjoy our afternoon!"
"Are these all your luggage?" asked Charlie, swiftly taking hold of a large bag lying at Bill's feet while everyone started making their way toward the barrier through the still crowded platform.
"I'll carry this one with Harry," said Bill, and he grabbed the other end of the trunk Harry had started to lift but immediately put down, still feeling sore from his fall in the backyard.
"Harry, I have word of Sirius Black for you," Bill whispered in his ear as they started following the others at a distance.
Harry nearly dropped the trunk. "You - you do? Where is he? Is he all right?"
Bill indicated by a finger on his lips and a look at the crowd surrounding them that Harry shouldn't talk too loud, then continued, "I've just been to see Dumbledore: he's received a message from Sirius saying he's fine and should be coming back soon. Apparently he's had some trouble communicating, which is why no one heard from him for so long - wizarding networks and chimneys been tampered with, nothing's too safe anymore..."
Harry barely heard the end of Bill's phrase. He felt as though he could have screamed for joy right where he was, in the middle of a train station packed with hundreds of busy wizards, most of whom recognise him instantly if he drew attention to himself.
Bill smiled at him. "Dumbledore told me you'd probably be eager to hear the news."
"Are you kidding?" Harry exclaimed. "I've been waiting for nothing else since I got here!"
"So he's your godfather, is he?" asked Bill as they started walking again, and now in a much more serious tone. "Hasn't been cleared, though. What a pity... I never knew the whole story. I was quite shocked when I heard it, of course."
Gloom settled in Harry's stomach as he thought that even though Sirius was safe, he was still in constant danger from the Ministry - and most of all, the Azkaban guards, even if Cornelius Fudge had sent them back on their island over a year ago - but Harry didn't allow it to linger for long. He had just received the best news he had in a long time, and wasn't about to show himself ungrateful for it.
The journey back to Charing Cross Road was much less eventful than the first. They rode in a Muggle taxi again, but this time, perhaps because both eldest brothers were there and managed to keep their turbulent brothers under control, everyone was particularly careful about what they said in front of the driver and actually enjoyed speaking in riddles to try and communicate with each other. Everyone except Ron, who spent the trip looking out the window, brooding the whole time. Harry thought he was probably upset about Bill announcing he'd only be staying for one night at the Burrow - add that to the fact that he had managed to cross his mother yet again when he accidentally bonked his head while getting in the car and let out an exceptionally nasty curse, and Harry wasn't surprised in the least by his friend's bad temper.
In the Leaky Cauldron, Mrs Weasley distributed a few silver Sickles to each of her children before they crossed the magical gateway that led into Diagon Alley. They all agreed to meet in the pub two hours later and then left in different directions.
Harry and Ron first went to buy their new school equipment, which was mostly composed of Defence Against the Dark Arts material and books: The Rise And Fall Of The Dark Arts by Quentin Trimble; Why You Should Never Trust Anyone But Yourself and 1001 Ways Of Recognising A Foe by Alastor Moody; Some Of Today's Most Feared Curses And How To Fight Them by Academeus Prune; and Dementors: The Secret Behind The Hoods and What To Do When You Run Out Of Chocolate by Clarissa Giddyon.
They went by the Leaky Cauldron to drop off their newly acquired school books and then spent the rest of their time strolling through the curved alleys. They bought black-berry pie flavoured ice cream at Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour, which Ron only ate half-heartedly, and Harry spent a fun moment plucking out the feathers of a turkey which re-grew them instantly in the Magical Menagerie before the old lady at the counter said there were enough turkey feathers on the floor.
Ron was muttering non-stop under his breath ("Couldn't be a single child, like everyone else! Or at least be born into a normal family...") and glaring at everything that happened to be within his eyesight. And unfortunately one of the things Ron spotted in the midst of the crowded street turned out to be none other than -
"Malfoy..." Ron groaned.
Harry's eyes shot toward the direction Ron was glaring at. Malfoy was standing at the entrance of a shabby-looking shop and had apparently noticed Harry and Ron as well. He stared at them for a moment or two, and Harry was already preparing himself to grab Ron's robes in case Malfoy came over to nag him, but Malfoy abruptly turned around and walked away quickly in the opposite direction.
"Now why would he want to miss a chance to be his truculent old self?" asked Ron, dumbstruck.
"Dunno," shrugged Harry, quite puzzled. "It was almost like he was avoiding us. What do you reckon he's up to?"
"Knowing Malfoy, nothing good," muttered Ron, and he resumed his former attitude, glowering at everything from people chatting to the smudge on his shoe.
His mood was most definitely not improved when a tall cloaked wizard walked straight into them, making his way between Harry and Ron, and bumping painfully into Harry's arm as he did so.
Harry had to hold Ron back with both arms to keep him from going after the man, but barely managed to: Ron was fighting fiercely, and the man had bumped into the arm Harry had fallen on earlier, which was badly bruised and scratched. He gritted his teeth as Ron sent his aching arm flying into the air while struggling to get away from him, still cursing and shaking an angry fist at the cloaked wizard.
"You bloody-.!"
"Ron!"
"What...?"
Charlie and Bill had just turned around the corner and were coming to meet them. They both looked surprised.
"What's going on?" asked Charlie, watching Harry tug on Ron's shirt with a sceptic yet undoubtedly amused look on his face.
Ron got rid of Harry's grip and straightened his clothes. "Nothing," he said hotly, the tip of his ears reddening. "Just mind your own business, will you?"
Bill frowned. "Ron, what is it? You've been like this ever since we left the train station."
Ron didn't answer. He just kept brushing off his clothes needlessly, sulking.
Bill came closer to him and put a hand on his shoulder. "Look, Ron..." He sighed, and paused for a moment, as if unsure what to say. "How about you and I go for a quick stroll?"
Ron looked up at his older brother with an expression of half reproach, half gratitude. He finally nodded and Bill and him walked off, after telling Harry and Charlie they'd go straight to the Leaky Cauldron afterwards. Charlie watched them go for a while, then turned to Harry, a broad smile on his face.
"So, Harry - they say you're an excellent Quidditch player, and from what I've seen when you're on a broomstick, that compliment isn't even half worthy of you. How about a nice, professional, Quidditch conversation between Seekers? Want to go to Quality Quidditch Supplies and see what's new?"
Harry's expression lightened up immediately, despite the dull throbbing he still felt in his arm where the man had hit him. "Yeah, I haven't been in there for ages! That way I can buy a new polishing kit."
"And I can show you a few things worth seeing in there, that not everyone knows about," added Charlie with a conniving smile.
Harry had a most enjoyable time looking through articles in the shop and discussing techniques and anything Quidditch related with Charlie. It turned out Charlie knew the owner of the shop (a burly man called Oregon Winbourne) very well, and him and Harry were showed into a room that appeared magically when the door behind the counter was opened a certain way, where the owner kept all of his extra supplies - and, as Charlie showed Harry, a few other useful things that weren't displayed in the shop.
"Far too hard to find, and useful only to talented players who're serious about Quidditch," explained Winbourne to Harry as he proudly showed him a collection of books written by famous Quidditch captains years and years ago, High-Quality Gripping Gloves that enabled you to fly single-handed and secured you well onto your broomsticks ("Helped the Appleby Arrows win in 1932: it was raining so hard the opposing team all slipped off their broomsticks - they won by forfeit since they were the only ones left up in the air..."), aerodynamic robes specially designed for Seekers riding high- speed broomsticks, and Hex Detectors you could stick on the end of your broomstick that warned you in case an opponent was about to curse you while the referee wasn't watching.
"I don't sell these to just anyone," continued the owner, "but I know Charlie here'd be good enough to play for England if only he'd spend his time chasing Snitches instead of dragons, and I trust him enough to know that if he says you're good then you must be. But that's doesn't surprise me: your father already was a damn good player if ever I knew one."
"You - knew my father?" said Harry astonished. This man was most definitely a lot older than his father would have been now.
"Mostly by reputation," said Winbourne. "But I saw him playing more than once with friends of my sons; we former Quidditch players like to keep on top of things - always keeping an eye out for young talents... And if you're half as good as young James was, I reckon you also have a future in Quidditch."
He beamed at Harry who felt himself go red in the face, and threw a reproachful sideways glance at Charlie, as if still holding a grudge against him for not becoming a professional player.
Fifteen minutes before the settled meeting time in the Leaky Cauldron Harry and Charlie left Quality Quidditch Supplies, their arms full of robes, books, polishing bottles and Endurance-Enhancing Potions ("For players who've got fanatic captains...") the owner had insisted on giving them for free. Harry panted under the weight of his load, trying to keep up with Charlie's quick pace.
"We've got one more place to stop by before we head back to the Leaky Cauldron," said Charlie, and he turned into a twisted alley convergent to the one they had just been in.
"Uh, Charlie?" gasped Harry. "Could you - give me a hand?"
Quite apart from the fact that he had much to carry, Harry's arm was hurting terribly again. Cursing silently the wizard that had so carelessly bumped into him as well as the twins for making him fall in the first place, he handed Charlie half of his load and they set off again.
They soon arrived in front of Gambol and Japes Wizarding Joke Shop, and Harry understood why they had come when he saw Fred and George inside discussing with a middle-aged man wearing bright orange robes and a hat that looked like a clown's. Harry was strongly reminded of Ludo Bagman, the eccentric and boyish Head of the Magical Games and Sports Department at the Ministry. The twins must have spotted their brother and Harry outside, because they seemed to be wrapping up the conversation and were now sharing a hearty handshake with what Harry guessed must be the owner of the shop.
Charlie grinned conspiringly at the twins as they came out.
"So - how'd it go?"
Fred and George looked at each other. They were obviously so excited they didn't know where to begin.
"Well - " started Fred, bouncing from one foot to the other, a grin from ear to ear.
"We did it!" exclaimed George, barely containing his joy. "We showed him everything, all we brought with us, and he wants it all!"
"He wants everything?" repeated Charlie, looking just as excited as the twins.
"Yeah, we showed him the lot - " Fred pulled out of his pocket the two small bags Charlie had handed the twins at the Burrow and proudly displayed their contents in front of Harry and Charlie. Amongst them, Harry recognised a Canary Cream and some Screamers, as well as various other sweets unfortunate Hogwarts students had effectively tested the years before. "Of course, we said we were just proposing different items..."
"... that he didn't have to pick them all..."
"... that he didn't even have to pick any if he didn't want to but that he'd obviously be loosing the opportunity to make the best deal in his career..."
"... but he liked every single one of them! Look, he's having fun with one of our wands right now -"
George pointed at the orange-robed man, who was manipulating one of the twins' fake wands. A jet of something thick and white shot out of it and splattered all the windows in the shop. The owner looked delighted.
"Ah, yes, that's the Whipped-Cream Shooter model, isn't it?" said George, giving a small wave at the owner.
"He's kept a few samples of those," said Fred. "Wants to show them to his associate - reckons they could try and sell them elsewhere as well."
"Of course," said George, "he can't let us work with him yet - in the shop, I mean. We have to finish school first. But he says as soon as we're done he'll help us get started - just as long as we agree to continue supplying him with our products."
"In the meanwhile," said Fred in a very business-like manner, "he wants us to provide a stock of fake wands, a barrel-full or Wart Sprouting Caramels and fifty pounds of Screamers by the time we leave for Hogwarts; he liked those best."
They beamed at Harry and Charlie, who both grinned back - although, Harry thought, Charlie was probably smiling because he was happy for the twins, while he himself was trying hard to stifle his laughter as he thought of what households in Britain were going to look like if the twins ever had as much success as they were hoping.
Suddenly, Harry was brought back to reality by a fresh jolt of pain in his arm. He had forgotten how much it hurt. He thought of asking Mrs Weasley for another potion when they got back to the Burrow but immediately pushed that idea out of his mind: it was only a scratch, and he didn't want the Weasleys and especially Ron to think he couldn't handle a bruise or two.
"Harry, you all right? You look pale."
George was staring at him in concern, and Charlie had made a move to take the rest of his things out of Harry's arms, but Harry held them back.
"I'm fine," he said. "The heat just got to me for a second."
"You sure?" asked Charlie. "Now that I think of it, you've been looking kind of off-colour since we left Ron and Bill earlier."
"Look, I'm fine, really."
Harry was furious with himself: he'd had worse injuries than those caused by a thirty-foot fall off a broomstick, after all. He blushed as all three Weasley brothers kept staring at him in mild confusion and worry.
"Isn't it time to get back to the Leaky Cauldron?" he said, hoping this would distract them long enough for him to be able to regain his composure.
"Blimey, we were supposed to be there ten minutes ago!" exclaimed Fred. "Mum'll kill us, she wanted to get back home to dad as soon as possible."
With that, they all set back to go find the others, and Harry's arm, to his great relief, was spoken of no more.
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Ashley - thank you to my most faithful reader! LOL! Probably the only reader that was patient enough to wait those long months.. I appreciate your reviews very much! And don't worry - they WILL be getting to school before too long, if all goes well.
Carrie - hey you! Nice to see you found your way on here! Most of the regulars are reading on the other thread. And I'm afraid that with the kind of slow writer I am, you're going to have to be quite patient. But I promise to try and hurry! ;-)
Moonlight-Muse - aww, thanks! LOL! Especially fort the 'excellent humour'. Humour is definitely not what's going to dominate in this story later on, but there are some lines I do care for particularly.. Especially involving any and all Weasleys! Thanks for the pointer about spelling - I usually pride myself on it, but English isn't my maternal language, and it's very possible I've made quite some grammar/spelling mistakes. I appreciate your opinion!
:-D
Well, it appears I've finally got my story on a roll again! I told you about losing half my word documents and waiting until I could get back what was saved - well, it appears my friend's computer decided to crash as well, and as a result, I lost EVERYTHING.
BUT - this is where I marvel at my cleverness and see a tiny ray of hope for my absent-minded clumsy self - I remembered I had e-mailed myself most of my stories long before my computer died the first time. So, I was able to retrieve most of what was lost, and here it is now, THE NEW CHAPTER! Finally! LOL! After - four months? ;-)
Well, enjoy it very much! And please let me know what you think of it - good AND bad.
Personnal notes are at the bottom..
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A few seconds later Harry landed right on top of Ron, who was still laying on the floor of the Leaky Cauldron, rubbing his head. Ron let out a loud groan and yelled at Harry for not being careful.
"You could've waited a bit longer before following me!"
"Well excuse me for not wanting Fred and George to do the same thing to me as they did to you..."
A few people sitting at tables around sniggered at the sight of the two boys sprawled across the ground arguing. Ron's ears went pink and he stood up.
"Guess we'll just have to get back at the twins," said Harry, wiping the dust off his clothes.
"Yeah, like make them trip when they come out," said Ron keenly.
Harry nodded his approval, grinning, and both of them placed themselves on either side of the fireplace, waiting for Fred and George. When, however, several minutes later, the twins still hadn't showed up, they gave up and went to sit at a nearby table. They ordered a couple of butterbeers to pass the time, but by the time they'd finished them there was still no sign of the Weasleys.
"Do you think they missed the grate?" asked Harry.
Ron shook his head. "Wouldn't have happened to all four of them at once. It's happened to me only once before, and I've been travelling by Floo Powder for years and years. No, I reckon they're still at home and mum's telling off Fred and George for throwing me in - or at least I hope she is..."
Ron hadn't finished his sentence that two red heads emerged from the fireplace side by side, shortly followed by a third one.
"What took you so long?" said Ron once Fred, George, and Ginny had overcome the dizziness of travelling by Floo Powder. "Harry and I were about to leave on our own and let you catch up with us."
"Got an owl from Bill - just as we were about to leave," explained Fred excitedly.
"From Bill?" exclaimed Ron. "What did he say? Where is he? Is he coming back?"
"Well, that's why he wrote," said George, his eyes twinkling. "He's arriving at King's Cross Station at three o'clock this afternoon. We're going to meet him there to surprise him."
"He's coming back? And we're going to meet him?"
The twins nodded their heads in approval.
"Three o'clock - that's in less than an hour!" said Ron happily. "Where's mum?"
Fred sniggered. "Well, since we're going to get Bill, Charlie wanted to come too, but according to mum, he's 'completely out of his mind' and doesn't seem to realise how harmful it will be for his still weakened constitution to expose himself to the dangers of the crowd. They're having a bit of a squabble at the moment."
They waited for another ten minutes for a disgruntled Mrs Weasley and a triumphant looking Charlie to arrive, then set off into Diagon Alley.
"Now, we only have less than an hour until Bill's train arrives," said Mrs Weasley, speaking in a tone a little harsher than was probably meant; clearly she was still annoyed by her sons' lack of obedience. "So what I suggest we do, is go to Gringotts and get some money, for now, and then head to the station. We'll do our shopping afterwards."
Harry always hated going to the bank with the Weasleys. Seeing their nearly empty vault made him feel most uncomfortable, especially since his was full to the brim with gold Galleons. Charlie, Fred, George and Ginny waited at the entrance of the bank ("You keep an eye on your brothers, Charlie!") and Mrs Weasley, Ron and Harry stepped inside, enjoying the cool air after outside's scorching heat.
When the cart in which they rode stopped before the Weasley's vault, Harry avoided looking into it. The thought of it being hopelessly empty made Harry's throat feel tight. Barely a few seconds after the goblin had opened it, Mrs Weasley had already taken all the money she needed - or, more likely, all the money there was. Harry looked away when she climbed back into the cart.
When they arrived in front of Harry's vault, he had to make a great effort to keep his composure. He walked up to the door, gave his key to the goblin, and filled his bag as quick as he could and stepped away at once: the sight of the huge pile of gold stored in his vault sickened him.
He caught Ron's eye as he clambered back into the cart, but Ron quickly looked away, clearly trying hard to act casual. No one spoke a word as they rode back up to the first floor.
The sun outside the dimly lit Gringotts building blinded them for a moment, and Harry had to blink twice before he saw Charlie and Ginny sitting on the marble steps in front of them.
"Where are Fred and George?" Mrs Weasley demanded immediately.
"Not far," said Charlie offhandedly, "just went to say hello to a friend." Mrs Weasley stared suspiciously at Charlie and Ginny, both of whom were avoiding their mother's gaze.
"Oy! Charlie! Mum!"
Fred and George were waving at them through the crowd at the end of the street. Harry noticed the direction they were coming from and remembered there was a sweet shop right down that alley. He highly suspected that the bags Charlie had handed them earlier were full of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes and that they had taken advantage of Mrs Weasley's absence to try and sell some again.
However, Mrs Weasley, perhaps tired of fighting with her sons, pursed her lips but didn't say anything. As soon as the seven of them were together they went back to the Leaky Cauldron, from which they would be going back into the Muggle world for a while. It was the only way of getting to King's Cross Station, apart from apparating, which only Mrs Weasley and Charlie were capable of doing.
They took a Muggle taxi to get to the station. Ron, who was by far the tallest of the family, didn't understand why Muggle cars weren't more spacious and kept banging his head on the ceiling, while Fred and George complained loudly about the long traffic lines and how they could be skipping them if only the car were magical.
By the time they arrived at the station, Mrs Weasley was fuming so badly Harry thought it was a very good thing indeed they got out of the car: her sons complaining and talking about magic in front of a Muggle had worsened her mood, and the suspicious questions the driver had started asking in the end most definitely hadn't improved it.
"I can't believe you could be so irresponsible!" she burst out as soon as they were out of the car, not paying any attention to the stunned looks on the people around her - which was a bit rich of her, Harry thought, when she was reproaching that exact kind of behaviour to her sons. "Do you even realize what could have happened? Talking freely about magic in front of a Muggle! What he must have thought - "
"Don't worry, mum," said Fred, alarmed by his mother's slightly hysterical behaviour. "You heard him: he thought Ron, George and I were insane and you were sending us to some hospital by train, is all."
This didn't seem to comfort Mrs Weasley in the least.
At last, fifteen minutes of scolding later, during which Harry, Charlie, and Ginny wandered around at a safe distance from Mrs Weasley and her sons (whose faces were as red as their hair) and the people staring at the scene, everyone finally entered the station, still followed by passer-bys' curious gazes.
"Which platform is it again?" snapped Mrs Weasley.
Charlie pulled out Bill's letter from his pocket and quickly scrutinized it. "He's arriving on platform... seven and half."
Harry turned surprised eyes on Ron:
"There are other platforms than nine and three quarters?"
"Of course!" said Ron. "Hogwarts isn't the only place people go to by train. I wonder where Bill's coming from. Never told us where he was in all the time he was gone, and mum and dad didn't drop a hint either."
"Well," said Harry, "it would have to somewhere in England since he's arriving by train."
"Not necessarily," said Ron thoughtfully. "I remember this one time we went to get dad at platform four something, and the train he arrived on came straight from Africa. This one strange-looking bloke even threatened to turn me into a snail-eating leopard when I laughed because his wand was made out of bamboo."
They soon arrived in front of the barrier between platforms seven and eight, and Harry wasn't surprised to see the access to platform seven and a half was the exact same as platform nine and three quarters.
"All right, Charlie, you go first. No, Fred, George, you can't go before him. I don't want you out there without supervision for even a half second!"
Mrs Weasley was being a bit harsh, Harry thought, as he ran next to Ron and through the solid barrier. After all, the twins were seventeen years old, and they might be unpredictable and sometimes annoying, but to embarrass them like that before Harry and the rest of the family was a bit unfair.
Platform seven and a half was packed with wizarding families. Harry had never witnessed so much hustle and bustle on a train platform before: important-looking wizards draped in long cloaks were discussing between them and regularly taking out their pocket watch to complain about trains always being late, young witches kept pulling out of their handbags anything from Melany Melon's Most Marvellous Mascara to entire chest of drawers in which they'd start searching frantically for new clothes, wild- looking warlocks were reading the Daily Prophet and quite often would suddenly rip out an entire page and slash it to shreds while crying out indignantly, and exhausted parents were trying to keep an eye on their luggage at the same time as going after their small children, who were running in between people's legs, knocking over luggage and cursing each other with fake wands, and in some cases, Harry noticed, real wands they must have nicked from their parents.
The Weasleys and Harry settled themselves as close to the rail as they could to wait for Bill. The whole Weasley family all looked impatient to see their brother again, although none as much as Ron. He kept craning his neck over the crowd to try and spot the train coming.
"Come on," he kept muttering. "The sooner he gets here, the sooner Fred and George'll get off my case."
Harry stifled a laugh. Ron, while possessing a very strong sense of family, as did all Weasleys, saw nonetheless in his brother's coming an opportunity to get away from the twins for a while, more than anything else.
"Aha! Here it comes!" Ron exclaimed suddenly.
Harry climbed up on a bench beside him and saw, in the distance, the shimmering tower of smoke escaping from the approaching locomotive.
There was a great turmoil as the crowd drew back from the rails. A scarlet engine not unlike the Hogwarts Express' came slowly into view. When the train finally came to a stop some fifty feet away from where the Weasleys and Harry were standing it was immediately assaulted by eager witches and wizards, to the great disarray of the ticket officers.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, please! Let the passengers get off the train before boarding it! Ladies..."
Harry watched in interest as a scrawny little witch set down a bag twice her size on the edge of the stairs descending the wagons and distractedly knocked it over on a officer's foot while blowing her nose.
"Where's it coming from?" asked Ron eagerly, standing on the tip of his toes to try and get a peak at the train, but just at that moment a particularly large warlock stepped in front of the sign hanging on the locomotive's door that indicated the provenance, and Ron, tall as he was, couldn't see the name written on it.
"There he is!" squeaked Ginny all of a sudden, pointing at a red-haired young man who stood out over the crowd by nearly five centimetres.
The crowd parted to let through six impatient Weasleys while Harry followed behind, and for a few minutes there was quite a commotion surrounding the lot.
"Bill!"
"Finally you're back!"
"Couldn't've written, could you?"
"Where are you coming from?"
"Was the trip long?"
"How about a nice toffee?"
"George!!"
Their nice reunion lasted until a harassed-looking ticket officer came over and asked them to free the platform for the upcoming train and its passengers.
"Hullo there, Harry," grinned Bill, finally managing to escape his mother's grasp. "Hope those terrible brothers of mine haven't been too much of a bother?"
Harry grinned back. "I think you need to ask Ron that question."
"Tell me about it," said Ron loudly. "I've been dying waiting for you to come back, you're the only one who can control the bloody gits!"
"Ronald Weasley! I never - "
"How long're you staying, anyway?" Charlie asked hastily, seeing the look of urgency on his youngest brother's face and wishing to distract his mother's attention.
Bill's ears reddened slightly. "Actually, I - I have to be leaving again tomorrow..."
Indignant cries met this announcement.
"But you haven't been here all summer!"
"Just got back today!"
"Now then, darling, see here," said Mrs Weasley reasonably, as though trying to make her grown-up son come to sense. "I know you're probably much needed in view of this new - situation, but is it really necessary you sacrifice the time you should be spending with your family?"
"Mum," said Bill, his eyes widening and his ears redder and redder every second, "you know what Dumbledore said... We've already talked about this."
Both him and Mrs Weasley looked at the rest of the family staring at them.
"But, I - well, we'll discuss this later," Mrs Weasley finally agreed. "In the meanwhile, I suggest we all enjoy our afternoon!"
"Are these all your luggage?" asked Charlie, swiftly taking hold of a large bag lying at Bill's feet while everyone started making their way toward the barrier through the still crowded platform.
"I'll carry this one with Harry," said Bill, and he grabbed the other end of the trunk Harry had started to lift but immediately put down, still feeling sore from his fall in the backyard.
"Harry, I have word of Sirius Black for you," Bill whispered in his ear as they started following the others at a distance.
Harry nearly dropped the trunk. "You - you do? Where is he? Is he all right?"
Bill indicated by a finger on his lips and a look at the crowd surrounding them that Harry shouldn't talk too loud, then continued, "I've just been to see Dumbledore: he's received a message from Sirius saying he's fine and should be coming back soon. Apparently he's had some trouble communicating, which is why no one heard from him for so long - wizarding networks and chimneys been tampered with, nothing's too safe anymore..."
Harry barely heard the end of Bill's phrase. He felt as though he could have screamed for joy right where he was, in the middle of a train station packed with hundreds of busy wizards, most of whom recognise him instantly if he drew attention to himself.
Bill smiled at him. "Dumbledore told me you'd probably be eager to hear the news."
"Are you kidding?" Harry exclaimed. "I've been waiting for nothing else since I got here!"
"So he's your godfather, is he?" asked Bill as they started walking again, and now in a much more serious tone. "Hasn't been cleared, though. What a pity... I never knew the whole story. I was quite shocked when I heard it, of course."
Gloom settled in Harry's stomach as he thought that even though Sirius was safe, he was still in constant danger from the Ministry - and most of all, the Azkaban guards, even if Cornelius Fudge had sent them back on their island over a year ago - but Harry didn't allow it to linger for long. He had just received the best news he had in a long time, and wasn't about to show himself ungrateful for it.
The journey back to Charing Cross Road was much less eventful than the first. They rode in a Muggle taxi again, but this time, perhaps because both eldest brothers were there and managed to keep their turbulent brothers under control, everyone was particularly careful about what they said in front of the driver and actually enjoyed speaking in riddles to try and communicate with each other. Everyone except Ron, who spent the trip looking out the window, brooding the whole time. Harry thought he was probably upset about Bill announcing he'd only be staying for one night at the Burrow - add that to the fact that he had managed to cross his mother yet again when he accidentally bonked his head while getting in the car and let out an exceptionally nasty curse, and Harry wasn't surprised in the least by his friend's bad temper.
In the Leaky Cauldron, Mrs Weasley distributed a few silver Sickles to each of her children before they crossed the magical gateway that led into Diagon Alley. They all agreed to meet in the pub two hours later and then left in different directions.
Harry and Ron first went to buy their new school equipment, which was mostly composed of Defence Against the Dark Arts material and books: The Rise And Fall Of The Dark Arts by Quentin Trimble; Why You Should Never Trust Anyone But Yourself and 1001 Ways Of Recognising A Foe by Alastor Moody; Some Of Today's Most Feared Curses And How To Fight Them by Academeus Prune; and Dementors: The Secret Behind The Hoods and What To Do When You Run Out Of Chocolate by Clarissa Giddyon.
They went by the Leaky Cauldron to drop off their newly acquired school books and then spent the rest of their time strolling through the curved alleys. They bought black-berry pie flavoured ice cream at Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour, which Ron only ate half-heartedly, and Harry spent a fun moment plucking out the feathers of a turkey which re-grew them instantly in the Magical Menagerie before the old lady at the counter said there were enough turkey feathers on the floor.
Ron was muttering non-stop under his breath ("Couldn't be a single child, like everyone else! Or at least be born into a normal family...") and glaring at everything that happened to be within his eyesight. And unfortunately one of the things Ron spotted in the midst of the crowded street turned out to be none other than -
"Malfoy..." Ron groaned.
Harry's eyes shot toward the direction Ron was glaring at. Malfoy was standing at the entrance of a shabby-looking shop and had apparently noticed Harry and Ron as well. He stared at them for a moment or two, and Harry was already preparing himself to grab Ron's robes in case Malfoy came over to nag him, but Malfoy abruptly turned around and walked away quickly in the opposite direction.
"Now why would he want to miss a chance to be his truculent old self?" asked Ron, dumbstruck.
"Dunno," shrugged Harry, quite puzzled. "It was almost like he was avoiding us. What do you reckon he's up to?"
"Knowing Malfoy, nothing good," muttered Ron, and he resumed his former attitude, glowering at everything from people chatting to the smudge on his shoe.
His mood was most definitely not improved when a tall cloaked wizard walked straight into them, making his way between Harry and Ron, and bumping painfully into Harry's arm as he did so.
Harry had to hold Ron back with both arms to keep him from going after the man, but barely managed to: Ron was fighting fiercely, and the man had bumped into the arm Harry had fallen on earlier, which was badly bruised and scratched. He gritted his teeth as Ron sent his aching arm flying into the air while struggling to get away from him, still cursing and shaking an angry fist at the cloaked wizard.
"You bloody-.!"
"Ron!"
"What...?"
Charlie and Bill had just turned around the corner and were coming to meet them. They both looked surprised.
"What's going on?" asked Charlie, watching Harry tug on Ron's shirt with a sceptic yet undoubtedly amused look on his face.
Ron got rid of Harry's grip and straightened his clothes. "Nothing," he said hotly, the tip of his ears reddening. "Just mind your own business, will you?"
Bill frowned. "Ron, what is it? You've been like this ever since we left the train station."
Ron didn't answer. He just kept brushing off his clothes needlessly, sulking.
Bill came closer to him and put a hand on his shoulder. "Look, Ron..." He sighed, and paused for a moment, as if unsure what to say. "How about you and I go for a quick stroll?"
Ron looked up at his older brother with an expression of half reproach, half gratitude. He finally nodded and Bill and him walked off, after telling Harry and Charlie they'd go straight to the Leaky Cauldron afterwards. Charlie watched them go for a while, then turned to Harry, a broad smile on his face.
"So, Harry - they say you're an excellent Quidditch player, and from what I've seen when you're on a broomstick, that compliment isn't even half worthy of you. How about a nice, professional, Quidditch conversation between Seekers? Want to go to Quality Quidditch Supplies and see what's new?"
Harry's expression lightened up immediately, despite the dull throbbing he still felt in his arm where the man had hit him. "Yeah, I haven't been in there for ages! That way I can buy a new polishing kit."
"And I can show you a few things worth seeing in there, that not everyone knows about," added Charlie with a conniving smile.
Harry had a most enjoyable time looking through articles in the shop and discussing techniques and anything Quidditch related with Charlie. It turned out Charlie knew the owner of the shop (a burly man called Oregon Winbourne) very well, and him and Harry were showed into a room that appeared magically when the door behind the counter was opened a certain way, where the owner kept all of his extra supplies - and, as Charlie showed Harry, a few other useful things that weren't displayed in the shop.
"Far too hard to find, and useful only to talented players who're serious about Quidditch," explained Winbourne to Harry as he proudly showed him a collection of books written by famous Quidditch captains years and years ago, High-Quality Gripping Gloves that enabled you to fly single-handed and secured you well onto your broomsticks ("Helped the Appleby Arrows win in 1932: it was raining so hard the opposing team all slipped off their broomsticks - they won by forfeit since they were the only ones left up in the air..."), aerodynamic robes specially designed for Seekers riding high- speed broomsticks, and Hex Detectors you could stick on the end of your broomstick that warned you in case an opponent was about to curse you while the referee wasn't watching.
"I don't sell these to just anyone," continued the owner, "but I know Charlie here'd be good enough to play for England if only he'd spend his time chasing Snitches instead of dragons, and I trust him enough to know that if he says you're good then you must be. But that's doesn't surprise me: your father already was a damn good player if ever I knew one."
"You - knew my father?" said Harry astonished. This man was most definitely a lot older than his father would have been now.
"Mostly by reputation," said Winbourne. "But I saw him playing more than once with friends of my sons; we former Quidditch players like to keep on top of things - always keeping an eye out for young talents... And if you're half as good as young James was, I reckon you also have a future in Quidditch."
He beamed at Harry who felt himself go red in the face, and threw a reproachful sideways glance at Charlie, as if still holding a grudge against him for not becoming a professional player.
Fifteen minutes before the settled meeting time in the Leaky Cauldron Harry and Charlie left Quality Quidditch Supplies, their arms full of robes, books, polishing bottles and Endurance-Enhancing Potions ("For players who've got fanatic captains...") the owner had insisted on giving them for free. Harry panted under the weight of his load, trying to keep up with Charlie's quick pace.
"We've got one more place to stop by before we head back to the Leaky Cauldron," said Charlie, and he turned into a twisted alley convergent to the one they had just been in.
"Uh, Charlie?" gasped Harry. "Could you - give me a hand?"
Quite apart from the fact that he had much to carry, Harry's arm was hurting terribly again. Cursing silently the wizard that had so carelessly bumped into him as well as the twins for making him fall in the first place, he handed Charlie half of his load and they set off again.
They soon arrived in front of Gambol and Japes Wizarding Joke Shop, and Harry understood why they had come when he saw Fred and George inside discussing with a middle-aged man wearing bright orange robes and a hat that looked like a clown's. Harry was strongly reminded of Ludo Bagman, the eccentric and boyish Head of the Magical Games and Sports Department at the Ministry. The twins must have spotted their brother and Harry outside, because they seemed to be wrapping up the conversation and were now sharing a hearty handshake with what Harry guessed must be the owner of the shop.
Charlie grinned conspiringly at the twins as they came out.
"So - how'd it go?"
Fred and George looked at each other. They were obviously so excited they didn't know where to begin.
"Well - " started Fred, bouncing from one foot to the other, a grin from ear to ear.
"We did it!" exclaimed George, barely containing his joy. "We showed him everything, all we brought with us, and he wants it all!"
"He wants everything?" repeated Charlie, looking just as excited as the twins.
"Yeah, we showed him the lot - " Fred pulled out of his pocket the two small bags Charlie had handed the twins at the Burrow and proudly displayed their contents in front of Harry and Charlie. Amongst them, Harry recognised a Canary Cream and some Screamers, as well as various other sweets unfortunate Hogwarts students had effectively tested the years before. "Of course, we said we were just proposing different items..."
"... that he didn't have to pick them all..."
"... that he didn't even have to pick any if he didn't want to but that he'd obviously be loosing the opportunity to make the best deal in his career..."
"... but he liked every single one of them! Look, he's having fun with one of our wands right now -"
George pointed at the orange-robed man, who was manipulating one of the twins' fake wands. A jet of something thick and white shot out of it and splattered all the windows in the shop. The owner looked delighted.
"Ah, yes, that's the Whipped-Cream Shooter model, isn't it?" said George, giving a small wave at the owner.
"He's kept a few samples of those," said Fred. "Wants to show them to his associate - reckons they could try and sell them elsewhere as well."
"Of course," said George, "he can't let us work with him yet - in the shop, I mean. We have to finish school first. But he says as soon as we're done he'll help us get started - just as long as we agree to continue supplying him with our products."
"In the meanwhile," said Fred in a very business-like manner, "he wants us to provide a stock of fake wands, a barrel-full or Wart Sprouting Caramels and fifty pounds of Screamers by the time we leave for Hogwarts; he liked those best."
They beamed at Harry and Charlie, who both grinned back - although, Harry thought, Charlie was probably smiling because he was happy for the twins, while he himself was trying hard to stifle his laughter as he thought of what households in Britain were going to look like if the twins ever had as much success as they were hoping.
Suddenly, Harry was brought back to reality by a fresh jolt of pain in his arm. He had forgotten how much it hurt. He thought of asking Mrs Weasley for another potion when they got back to the Burrow but immediately pushed that idea out of his mind: it was only a scratch, and he didn't want the Weasleys and especially Ron to think he couldn't handle a bruise or two.
"Harry, you all right? You look pale."
George was staring at him in concern, and Charlie had made a move to take the rest of his things out of Harry's arms, but Harry held them back.
"I'm fine," he said. "The heat just got to me for a second."
"You sure?" asked Charlie. "Now that I think of it, you've been looking kind of off-colour since we left Ron and Bill earlier."
"Look, I'm fine, really."
Harry was furious with himself: he'd had worse injuries than those caused by a thirty-foot fall off a broomstick, after all. He blushed as all three Weasley brothers kept staring at him in mild confusion and worry.
"Isn't it time to get back to the Leaky Cauldron?" he said, hoping this would distract them long enough for him to be able to regain his composure.
"Blimey, we were supposed to be there ten minutes ago!" exclaimed Fred. "Mum'll kill us, she wanted to get back home to dad as soon as possible."
With that, they all set back to go find the others, and Harry's arm, to his great relief, was spoken of no more.
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Ashley - thank you to my most faithful reader! LOL! Probably the only reader that was patient enough to wait those long months.. I appreciate your reviews very much! And don't worry - they WILL be getting to school before too long, if all goes well.
Carrie - hey you! Nice to see you found your way on here! Most of the regulars are reading on the other thread. And I'm afraid that with the kind of slow writer I am, you're going to have to be quite patient. But I promise to try and hurry! ;-)
Moonlight-Muse - aww, thanks! LOL! Especially fort the 'excellent humour'. Humour is definitely not what's going to dominate in this story later on, but there are some lines I do care for particularly.. Especially involving any and all Weasleys! Thanks for the pointer about spelling - I usually pride myself on it, but English isn't my maternal language, and it's very possible I've made quite some grammar/spelling mistakes. I appreciate your opinion!