The wheels of the Hogwarts Express slowed squeakily down, and finally screeched to a standstill at King's Cross Station in London, on Platform Nine and Three Quarters. I stared glumly out the window, willing myself to get up off my butt and start hauling my truck off the train.
I was in the very last compartment with Harry, Hermione, Ron, Seamus Finnigan, Neville Longbottom, Dean Thomas (we were getting along nicely, considering that I had broken up with him 2 months previously), and for some reason (I suspected because she fancied my brother) Luna Lovegood.
We sat in silence for a few minutes, each of us lacking the energy (except Luna) to get up owing to the dusk-'til-dawn end of term party Seamus and Dean had organized the night before. Luna was sitting there, reading The Quibbler, quite unaware, I'm sure, that the train had stopped moving.
Neville shook his head as if clearing it, and stood up. "I'll help you carry your trunk, Ginny," he said brightly.
I was spared the necessity of answering, however, by the voice that drifted through the window.
"Neville Longbottom!" said a sharp voice from outside. "Hurry up and get off that train, we have a million things to do, not to mention going home and doing something about that plant you left here, it's eating your bed…"
Neville jumped up. "Coming, gran!" He yelled out the window. "Sorry, Ginny…" he said to me, and began shuffling his trunk out the door. "Bye everyone… have a happy Christmas!"
"Oh, it's okay, Neville, you have a good Christmas too," I replied, relieved. I had been hoping that Harry would offer to help me with my trunk.
Choruses of "Bye Neville!" were heard throughout the compartment. Even Luna stuck her head out of her magazine long enough to blink slowly at him and wish him a happy Christmas.
"Well, I suppose we should get going…" Hermione looked around and began to gather her belongings. Everyone else followed suit.
"Yeah, come on, Seamus, the muggle train to my house leaves in half an hour, we don't want to miss it," Dean remarked.
"Oh, are you two spending Christmas together?" I asked.
"Yeah," Seamus replied, glancing up at me from packing his bag. "Me mum's going to visit her Canadian relatives, and my dad's going with her." He said bitterly.
"Why aren't you going, too, Seamus?" Hermione asked absently.
Seamus was silent. Hermione instantly realized that the reason he was staying with Dean -whatever it was- was upsetting Seamus, so she began apologizing profusely.
"Look, it's not your fault," Seamus said shortly, cutting off Hermione's apology. "I just had a bit of a row with mum, and she said… well, she said if I was going to be sulky the entire Christmas break, that coming to Canada with them would be a waste of galleons. Also she still doesn't completely believe that You-Know-Who's back. Says that it's probably just a death eater or something, pretending. Bloody woman's so stubborn, won't believe anything she doesn't like even when the proof's shoved under her nose."
"I'm really sorry, Seamus," Hermione said quietly.
He shrugged. "Nah, it's alright, didn't really want to go me self.," he grinned. "Not like I want to go to a freezing cold place on the Atlantic Coast, to eat fish 'til I grow gills, and spend time bickering with mum and getting' me cheeks pinched by me relatives. Much rather just go to Dean's, his folks're normal."
Dean looked embarrassed. "they're muggles, mate. They don't got nothin' to bother me with, 'cause course they don't know nothin' out of the ordinary's happenin', and I don't plan to tell 'em, just so's they don't bother me."
"Have your parents noticed all the muggle deaths that have been going on?" Hermione leaned over and asked keenly.
"Well, seeing as they don't know it's all 'cause of a wizard, all they know is that the world is getting to be a more dangerous place. Oh, they've definitely noticed all the deaths going on, but they'd never connect them to the wizarding world. And like I said, I'm not thick enough to tell them." Dean finished up.
"That's really interesting," Hermione mused. "I'll have to ask my parents if they've noticed anything funny, I didn't really tell them about Cedric or anything. Just said that a friend of mine died in an accident, didn't go into details."
Harry grimaced. "You sound like Umbridge- 'Cedric Diggory's death was a tragic accident'."
Hermione looked stricken. "Harry, I didn't mean it-"
"Sheesh, Hermione, don't take me so seriously, I just said it reminded me of her, not that I was mad or anything," Harry looked annoyed.
"Well, with the way that you go flying off the handle these days, you can understand why I was apprehensive, can't you?" Hermione snapped.
"Well- happy Christmas, have a good holiday," said Seamus hastily, snapping together his trunk and standing up.
Harry and Hermione glared at each other for a second, then wished Seamus and Dean a happy Christmas and said their goodbyes along with everyone else.
Once the two were out of the compartment, I rounded on Harry and Hermione, who were still shooting daggers at each other.
"Hermione, stop snapping at everyone that annoys you, and Harry, Hermione's got a point, you are losing your temper an awful lot about stupid things, so both of you, CUT IT OUT!" I finished. Those two were getting on my nerves, and I'm usually calm and collected. Harry always ruffled my composed feathers, though, so I was used to it. He never used to make me mad, though.
Hermione sighed. "I'm sorry, Harry, I don't know what's gotten into me lately."
"It's alright, Hermione," Harry said gruffly. "I know I'm been acting a bit of an ass this past while. I'm sorry."
Ron stretched in his seat and stood up, surveying the mess and things strewn about. "I suppose we should get going, mum'll be wanting help with supper. We've got all of the Order coming for dinner at Grimmauld Place tonight."
Hermione's eyes bulged out of her head, and my mouth opened in shock. "All of them?" I asked, amazed.
"Yeah," Ron made a face. "I don't know what mum was on when she invited the whole of them to dinner. Just imagine- spending time with Professor Snape on a holiday!"
The look of horror on Ron's face was enough to send everyone in the compartment into peals of laughter. Luna, laughed the loudest, as usual, because she thought everything that came out of my youngest brother's mouth incredibly witty.
Harry, Ron, Hermione, and I all jumped. We hadn't realized that Luna was still in the compartment with us. An awkward silence followed.
"Umm… so what are you doing this Christmas, Luna?" Hermione asked, I'm assuming, to break the silence.
Luna looked at her with her protruding eyes. "I don't celebrate Christmas." She declared. "I'm Jewish. We celebrate Hanukkah."
"Oh, cool," Hermione said pleasantly . "well- have a happy Hanukkah, I suppose. See you in the new year."
The four of us picked up our trunks, waved goodbye to Luna, and left the train.
"So," Mum beamed at me in the kitchen that night. "aren't you simply thrilled to go and live with Cole for a bit? I haven't seen him in ages! And it'll be such a good experience for your muggle studies course!" Mum obviously thought that I was happy about this. Wrong.
"Well- mum… I don't mean to sound ungrateful or anything, it's just…" I didn't know exactly how to put it, and I certainly didn't want to hurt my mom's feelings or anything by not being exactly ecstatic about this.
"What is it, Ginny?" Mum looked apprehensive.
"Well, it's just… I don't even know anything about the man! I mean, is he married, single, does he have kids… I've never even heard his name before!" I burst out.
"Oh, Ginny, honey, I'm sorry, I thought you knew all about Cole!" Mum hugged me. "Well, let's see… he's divorced, with two sons, Logan, and Colin. Colin's seven, and I think Logan's about 15, your age. Muggles, of course, the whole family. Only, Logan and Colin don't know about our magical family, so try not to-"
"They don't WHAT?" I was shocked.
"He doesn't know that we're magical, Ginny dear. You see, Cole does, but Logan never showed an inkling of magical power, and he never got a Hogwarts letter, so it was decided that it was better to not let him know. He's very happy in his life now though, I understand he's quite a good looking young man, and very popular. Very good at sports, too. Muggle ones, of course." She added hastily.
Oh great. From the sounds of it- I had to spend a week living with a 15 year old arrogant popular jock. And to top it off- he's a muggle that probably thinks magic is like abracadabra and a rabbit pops out of a top hat kind of thing…
"What about Colin?" I asked. "what's he like?"
Mum suddenly looked worried. "well, Colin… Colin is…" She stopped in mid-sentence, sniffing something in the air. She had left her wand in the sauce, and it was beginning to catch on fire. "oh! Oh no! Ginny, be a darling and go set the table… I have to attend to this." She bustled off, leaving me in a state of confusion and annoyance.
