Chapter Three: On the Hogwart's Express

"Ginny, darling, wake up!" Mrs. Weasley's voice resonated throughout the house. "Breakfast is ready and we have to set out soon!"

Ginny turned over in her bed. Why did she have to get up so early for? As realization dawned upon her, Ginny jumped up from bed and fumbled for something to wear. She was going back to Hogwarts today! Hopping and putting on her shoe, Ginny entered the hallway. After completing her task of getting ready, she all but ran down the stairs. She did, however, slip down a few and managed to stay on her feet.

Gobbling down her food, her father grabbed her trunk and stuffed in the back of a non-magical car (much to Mr. Weasley's dissatisfaction). Noticing that Ginny was nearly finished, Mrs. Weasley cleared the rest of the table. "Ginny, darling, we need to hurry!"

Ginny quickly grabbed her book while her mother cleaned the remaining dishes. So this is what it would be like next year, Ginny thought. No one here but me. She managed to make it out of the door right before her mother did and they both practically ran to the car where her father was waiting. Mr. Weasley had taken the liberty to start the car and wait their. Ginny slipped into the backseat and strapped herself in a seatbelt by the time her mother had made it in the car. With the slam of the door, Mr. Weasley floored it. Mrs. Weasley grabbed the handle above the door (which Ginny had decided to call "oh shit handles") and they left the town of Ottery St. Catchpole.

)CaT(

Ginny and her parents rushed through the barrier separating platform 9 ¾ from the muggle train station King's Cross. Her father quickly placed the trunk onto the train. Ginny glanced around and saw only a few parents with their students and not many more watching the train that their students were on. Were the other parents afraid to watch their children off for fear of Tom? A bear hug from her mom brought Ginny back from her thoughts.

"You be good, dear," Mrs. Weasley squeezed her youngest child. "Don't you go following in your brothers' footsteps. I better not get any toilet seats in the mail or letters from Professor McGonnagall."

Her father hugged her once his wife let go of Ginny. "I'm sure we'll be proud of you. You keep up the good work."

After being released by both of her parents, Ginny barely managed to get on the train on time. She waved from her spot in the doorway. Once they were out of sight, Ginny wandered around looking for a compartment filled with friendly faces.

Ginny's heart fell into her stomach as she realized that most of the compartments were empty. The reason why so few parents were there was because they weren't going to be sending their students, not because they feared Tom. Hoping to find someone, anyone, she knew, Ginny frantically searched the compartments, scaring a few of the younger students in the process.

Finally acknowledging that she might be all along this year, she rested her back against a compartment door. Recognizing the voices of those in the room, Ginny flung open the compartment door and hugged the first person she saw.

"Are these…Ginny! How are you?" There was no doubting the dreamy voice of the blonde girl in front of her.

"Luna! Oh, you don't know how happen I am to have found you guys. I had thought I was the only one coming back! So how was your summer? Did you do anything exciting?"

"Well, hello to you to, Gin," Colin Creevey's voice held the hurt of her not acknowledging him. "I'm doing excellent, thank you for asking. You're so thoughtful. How do you do it?"

Ginny had the decency to blush. "Sorry, Colin. Hey Neville. I just got caught up in the moment is all. And, after Luna is done, I'll gladly hear what happened during your summer."

"Well, father and I went snorack hunting. Sadly we had to stop so I could go back to school. We decided that Hogwart's needed our support. Perhaps next summer, we'll be able to find a snorack…" Luna Lovegood's dreamy voice trailed off. There was little wonder amongst her friends why others called her Loony Lovegood. She always wore a far away look and talked about such creatures as snorack that the wizarding community insisted didn't exist.

"Mmm. Well my summer was incredibly boring. Dennis told mum all about you-know-who and we pretty much couldn't do anything exciting or fun. But I did manage to complete all my homework this year." Colin Creevey told them. Colin had been close friends with Ginny ever since he managed to find out what had happened to her in her first year. Even though the rest of the school had not found out about the truth of the Chamber of Secrets, Colin had a knack of getting to the truth of any story, something that could help him if he ever decided to take his camera skills into journalism.

"Well, my summer was boring too. Gran let me work in the garden all summer. She was amazed at all that I had learned in Herbology. Apparently Professor Sprout had told her how much I enjoyed it and how much I had learned and she hadn't believed her at first. After watching me work, we went shopping for a plant of my own. That's how I got this," Neville Longbottom proudly displayed his new, potted plant. The plant happened to resemble a bunch of porcupine spikes sticking up from a plant. While one grade above the others, Neville liked hanging out with them better than the people in his grade.

"What kind of plant is that, Neville?" Colin asked.

"This? This is a…well, I don't really know. I'm going to ask Professor Sprout. I, eh, think it's a…uhm, well, I don't want to say. It's not supposed to exist."

"It's okay, Neville. It probably does exist and the government is trying to suppress the information," Luna encouraged in her own eerie way.

"Well, er, that is, it's a sporifica nesticia. That is, the uhm…commonly people would call it the Atlantis needle plant." With that, Neville lifted the plant up some more.

"Those are very rare. Daddy once was sent one." Almost as an after thought, Luna added, "It didn't live very long."

Neville, Ginny, and Colin just stared at her. Eventually, Ginny turned to Neville and asked, "So where did you get it?"

"Oh you won't believe this! There was an old hag selling plants along one of the streets in Diagon Alley. We had most of the plants that she had at home. Well, we had gone to the plant store and I didn't find anything that suited me. So Gran told me to look at the hag's wares. And I saw this plant. There was only one of it and when we bought she cackled something about me being very knowledgeable about plants. With that we left. But, funny enough, when I looked back she was gone. I figure she packed up for the day. It was getting late after all." Neville shrugged.

Colin scrunched his brows together, apparently deep in thought. Just as he was about to ask something, there was a tap at the window. They all looked to the window and saw an owl with a letter tied to its leg. Ginny stood up and opened the window; the bird flew in and circled above their heads. It was a gorgeous eagle-owl. Whoever owns this bird must have a lot of money, Ginny thought wistfully. She loved owls. She opened the door for the bird to seek its recipient and sat back down.

"Can I see your, er, Atlantis plant, Neville?" Colin asked.

"Sure," Neville gingerly handed over the plant to the eager hands of Colin. "Just be very careful with it. I might have the only one. And the needles might have some kind of poison in them."

Luna glanced over her upside down Quibbler paper. She was wearing a band of golden-colored feathers. "It's virtually indestructible and the tips of the needles are the only poisonous part." She retreated behind her paper.

"Oh and here's the original pot it was in. I thought it was too small for the plant, so I transferred it into a bigger pot so it could grow freely." Neville informed Colin.

"Can I see that?" Colin switched the plant for the pot. "Interesting."

"Hey Luna, what are you wearing on your head?" Ginny asked, catching another glint of the golden feathers.

"They're griffin feathers. Worn over the eyes, griffin feathers reveal illusions." Colin stopped looking at the pot to glance at Luna's head dress. Neville looked away from Colin to glance at what everyone else was talking about. It was rather peculiar looking, he had to admit.

"Oh," Ginny replied. "Ouch! What the…" Ginny had been pecked by the owl, who still hadn't left. "Look, I opened the door for you—" Ginny gesterured towards the hallway—"Why don't you go find the owner of that letter your carrying? I'm sure they'll find some treat for you…" Ginny was properly pecked again. "Ow! Stupid bird!"

"I think the letter is for you, Ginny," Luna remarked. "See who it's for?"

Ginny untied the letter from the owl, who promptly flew away. "It's addressed to me. Who'd be writing to me already?"

"Open it, Gin," Colin muttered, sniffing the dirt of the potted plant. Eyes widening, Colin asked Neville, "Wjo gave this to you?"

"Why?"

"Because I think—" Colin never finished his sentence. As soon as Ginny broke the seal, he disappeared. Neville looked up from his plant to see…nothing. All three of his friends were gone, vanished without a trace.